Darshon Anderson, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Central Arkansas, received a grant from the American Psychological Association’s Commission on Ethnic Minority Recruitment, Retention, and Training in Psychology.
This research will assess the number of ethnic minority male and female faculty members hired within departments of psychology from academic years 2000-2012 for two- and four-year colleges and universities in Arkansas. This project will also investigate the number of tenure versus non-tenure track ethnic minority faculty. Other factors influencing ethnic minority representation will be gathered such as administrative support for hiring, retention, faculty development for this population and barriers for employment.
The grant award is $2,739 and is source of seed funding. Progress reports will be submitted by December 1, and a final report will be submitted within 60 days of completion of the project, which is anticipated to be May 2014.
“I am very excited about the implications of this work because it is connected to so many different areas of higher education such as student recruitment, retention, and performance. I look forward to the results of this work and assisting in initiatives to increase diversity in higher education,” said Anderson.
Data from this study will be used to demonstrate the need to increase the number of ethnic minority faculty members within departments of psychology in Arkansas, encourage departments of psychology to seek institutional support to recruit ethnic minority faculty members, increase the population of ethnic minority faculty members who are tenured and tenure-track, and support departments of psychology in identifying and accessing faculty development training opportunities aimed at addressing diversity and multiculturalism issues within academic psychology.
Research reports will be distributed to all participating universities in the research as well as submitted for publication in the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education hosted by the American Psychological Association.
“This grant is an excellent opportunity to better understand an important issue within higher education in general and the field of psychology in particular. I am looking forward to the results of Dr. Anderson’s research,” said Dr. Art Gillaspy, chairperson of the Department of Psychology and Counseling.
Pat Griffen, Ph.D., at Clinical Psychology Services, Inc. in Little Rock, and Loretta McGregor, Ph.D., professor of psychology and chairperson, Department of Psychology at Arkansas State University – Jonesboro are co-investigators.
