Female Faculty at Texas 4-Year Public Universities: Changes over Time

In this study, the percentages of female faculty at Texas 4-year public universities for the 2003 and 2014 academic years were examined to determine the degree to which changes might have occurred over time. Archival data were retrieved from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board on Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Full Professor faculty positions at Texas 4year universities. Inferential statistical procedures revealed the presence of statistically significant differences was between the percentages of female faculty in each of the three positions between the 2003 and 2014 academic years. A statistically significant higher percentage of female faculty members was present in the 2014 academic year than in the 2003 academic year. Interestingly, the percentage of female faculty members at the Full Professor position increased by 9.46% over this time period, compared to an increase of only 4.15% at the Assistant Professor level, and an increase of only 4.04% at the Associate Professor level. Based on these percentages increase, female faculty members at the entry level rank of Assistant Professors were not increasing at the same rate as female Full Professors, which indicates a gap in the pipeline of professorship for female faculty. Discussion and policy recommendations to address this gap are discussed in this study.