Racial Diversity and Retention Rates of Psychology Faculty in Washington State Public Universities

Racial diversity is extremely important in higher education; not only for the students but for the faculty, as well. Diversity within education is important because it can show students of color examples of people who look like them succeeding in higher education as well as giving White students a broader education of being taught by people who have different backgrounds than themselves. Along with diversity, it is important to know that Universities are also supporting their faculty so that their Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) faculty retention rates are as high as the White faculty. This paper reviews the results of a survey that was distributed to psychology faculty across 5 Washington State public Universities; Western Washington University (WWU), the University of Washington (UW), Eastern Washington University (EWU), Central Washington University (CWU), and Washington State University (WSU), that included questions about the diversity and retention of BIPOC faculty as well as resources that each University and department supplies for them. Many universities across Washington State have put an emphasis on hiring more diverse faculty yet have a lot of work to be done to support the faculty once they are within the institution. Specific items that Western Washington University could implement are expanding resources like mandatory annual DEI training, creating community and advocacy groups across campus, and focusing on what White faculty can do to be better allies to their BIPOC colleagues.