State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor Dr. Kristina M. Johnson and the Cuomo Administration this week received a legislative boost in one of their signature programs, which seeks to boost faculty diversity in the SUNY system to more reflect the diverse student population.
That after State Sen. Toby Ann Satvisky (D-Queens), chair of the Senate’s Committee of Higher Education, introduced Senate Bill S5927, which would grant student loan forgiveness to qualified students in order to recruit and retain faculty members from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds at some of the 64 SUNY campuses across the state.
The legislation is an addendum to the PRODiG program that Johnson and Cuomo rolled out in March. This is the first of its kind multi-faceted strategy at this scale for more diversity in campus hiring and retention programs with a goal of hiring 1,000 professors from underrepresented groups by 2030. These guidelines have been issued to all campuses.
Johnson said a diverse faculty is critical to academic excellence and is key to preparing all students to live and work in an increasingly global, inclusive, and interconnected world.
As of Fall 2018, 28.5 percent of SUNY students are from underrepresented minority groups, which Johnson defined as mainly black and Latino. However, the faculty at SUNY is only 7.2 percent meaning that the vast majority – or 92 percent- is more traditionally white, said Johnson.
“PRODiG is part of a longstanding civil rights iconic saying that you need to see it to be it,” explained Johnson. “We want to see them [students] have underrepresented minorities faculty women in STEM in the classroom so that they see somebody they can aspire to be like.”
Johnson, who received her B.S. with distinction, M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University, and has had a distinguished career in electrical engineering before moving into the field of higher education and becoming SUNY chancellor in 2017, said the idea of learning from faculty that reflected the students they are teaching cannot be underestimated.
“PRODiG is personal to me—during my eight years as an undergrad and graduate student I didn’t initially consider becoming a professor in my field in large part because there were no female faculty members in STEM. This first of its kind program delivers on a commitment that SUNY will continue to listen to the needs of students and faculty and find creative ways to expand their education experience at campuses across the state,” she said.
In order to increase diversity at SUNY campuses, Johnson has Vice Chancellor Terry Miller as the new chief diversity officer of SUNY to also increase diversity in the gender faculty, such as finding more women professors in STEM subjects and men in the library and nursing fields.
“So its’ really considering diversity in a very broad sense,” she said.
Johnson said to increase diversity through the PRODiG program the SUNY administration is taking a soup-to-nuts approach where search committees are centralizing their work to include diverse cohorts from various fields as opposed to finding faculty members in say psychology and then move subject to subject.
“What we’re trying to build is an inclusive community around excellence and inclusion, and that’s our strategy,” said Johnson.
Johnson said another approach is to develop a pipeline, much like college sports recruiters who follow athletes through junior high and high school.
“We want to work to get kids when they are in high school and as undergrads and in graduate school to say, ‘Look, you can be a professor. This a great life. This is a wonderful career and you can inspire and impact thousands of people, so who wouldn’t want to have that job,” said Johnson.
Stavisky’s legislation is expected to get through committee shortly before it moves on to a vote before the full Senate.
