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Narrow hiring practices at US universities revealed

An analysis of faculty members employed at academic institutions in the United States reveals that most employees were trained at just a few universities. The finding provides insights into how hiring perpetuates inequalities.
  1. Cassidy R. Sugimoto

    1. Cassidy R. Sugimoto is in the School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30313, USA.

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For those hoping to land a coveted academic faculty position in the United States, a doctoral degree from one of just a few institutions can make a big difference. Writing in Nature, Wapman et al.1 demonstrate exactly how important this pedigree is. They examined tenured and tenure-track faculty members who were employed at US PhD-granting institutions between 2011 and 2020, and find that 80% of US-educated faculty members received their doctoral degrees from just 20% of universities. The authors’ data set provides sobering insights into how hiring practices perpetuate inequalities throughout academia.

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Nature 610, 37-38 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03065-0

References

  1. Wapman, K. H., Zhang, S., Clauset, A. & Larremore, D. B. Nature 610, 120–127 (2022).

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  2. Lamers, W. S. et al. eLife 10, e72737 (2021).

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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