Faculty Trends

A. Faculty Trends

The Full Faculty 

The FAS faculty comprises ladder, nonladder, and visiting faculty. The ladder faculty consists of tenured and tenure-track faculty.1 The nonladder includes senior nonladder members (i.e., those with renewable appointments in the voting faculty, such as professors of the practice, senior lecturers, and senior preceptors) and faculty with term-limited appointments (primarily lecturers and preceptors).[2] In addition, we have visiting faculty who contribute to our research and teaching mission.

In academic year (AY) 2023–24, the FAS includes 1,278 faculty members, grouped by appointment type in Table 1 below. 

Table 1. Number of Faculty, by Appointment Type 

Faculty RankNumber of faculty
Ladder Faculty730
Senior Nonladder Faculty 98
Lecturers and Preceptors 377
Visiting Faculty 73
Total1278

Faculty Demographics (Gender and Race/Ethnicity) 

In this section, we analyze the demographic diversity of the FAS faculty. 

Gender 

Regarding gender, 39 percent of the FAS faculty (ladder, nonladder, and visiting faculty) are women, and 0.2 percent are nonbinary. The tenure-track and nonladder faculty are more gender diverse than the tenured faculty, as shown in Graph 1 below.[3]

 

Graph 1. Fraction of Women Faculty

Long Description: Fraction of Women Faculty
Overview

The bar graph shows the distribution of women who are female faculty across tenured, tenure-track, and nonladder/visiting faculty in the FAS. The tenure-track and nonladder faculty are more gender diverse than the tenured faculty. 

Values
Faculty TitleFraction of women
Tenured29%
Tenure-track46%
Nonladder/Visiting48%
Presentation

The bar chart provides an overview of the total number of female faculty members within the FAS. It consists of three vertical purple columns, each denoting the percentage of female faculty among tenured, tenure-track, and nonladder/visiting faculty. The height of each column reflects this percentage. 

Race/Ethnicity

In terms of race/ethnicity, the FAS ladder, nonladder, and visiting faculty comprise 5.2 percent Black or African American faculty, 5.5 percent Hispanic or Latino faculty,[4] 0.3 percent American Indian/Alaskan Native faculty, 15.0 percent Asian or Asian American faculty, 1.6 percent faculty of two or more races, and 72.4 percent White faculty. 

As with gender diversity, the tenure-track faculty are more racially/ethnically diverse than the tenured faculty. Whereas the tenure-track and nonladder/visiting faculty have similar gender diversity (46 percent and 48 percent women, respectively), the tenured and nonladder/visiting faculty have similar overall racial/ethnic diversity (23 percent and 28 percent faculty of color [FOC][5], respectively). The tenure-track faculty are significantly more racially/ethnically diverse (44 percent FOC) than the other two faculty groups, as shown in the three pie charts in Graph 2.[6]

Graph 2. Race/Ethnicity of the Faculty 

Tenured Faculty
Long Description: Race/Ethnicity of Tenured Faculty
Tenured Faculty Overview

The pie chart shows the distribution of race/ethnicity across tenured FAS faculty. 76.6% are White, in green; 14% are Asian/Asian American, in blue; 5.5% are Black/African American, in crimson; 2.9% are Hispanic/Latino, in purple; 0.7% identify as two or more races, in gray; and 0.2% are American Indian/Alaskan Native, in light blue.  

Presentation

The pie chart shows the demographics of tenured faculty members. It comprises six segments, each depicted in distinct colors (green, dark blue, crimson, purple, gray, and light blue), representing the proportions of different racial and ethnic groups within the overall tenured faculty population. 

Tenure-track Faculty
Long Description: Race/Ethnicity of Tenure-track Faculty
Tenure-track Faculty Overview

The pie chart shows the distribution of race/ethnicity across tenure-track FAS faculty. 56.2% are White, in green; 23.5% are Asian/Asian American, in dark blue; 6.5% are Black/African American, in crimson; 9.2% are Hispanic/Latino, in purple; 3.9% as two or more races, in gray; and 0.7% are American Indian/Alaskan Native, in light blue. The tenure-track faculty are significantly more racially/ethnically diverse than tenured or nonladder/visiting faculty. 

Tenure-track Faculty Overview

The pie chart shows the demographics of tenure-track faculty members. It comprises six segments, each depicted in distinct colors (green, dark blue, crimson, purple, gray, and light blue), representing the proportions of different racial and ethnic groups within the overall tenure-track faculty population. 

Nonladder/Visiting Faculty
Long Description: Race/Ethnicity of of Nonladder/Visiting Faculty
Nonladder/Visiting Faculty Overview

The pie chart shows the distribution of race/ethnicity across nonladder/visiting faculty in the FAS. 72.4% are white, in green; 13.7% are Asian/Asian American, in blue; 4.6% are Black/African American, in crimson; 7.1% are Hispanic/Latino, in purple; 1.8% identify as two or more races, in gray; and 0.4% are American Indian/Alaskan Native, in light blue. 

Presentation

The pie chart shows the demographics of nonladder/visiting FAS faculty members. It comprises six segments, each depicted in distinct colors (green, dark blue, crimson, purple, gray, and light blue), representing the proportions of different racial and ethnic groups within the overall tenured faculty population. 

Ladder Faculty Trends 

In this section, we examine additional trends for ladder faculty, including gender and ethnic/racial composition over time, promotion rates, hiring, retirement, and size. Toward the end of the section, we synthesize these trends to understand how the proportion of tenure-track faculty among the ladder faculty has changed.  

Gender and Ethnic/Racial Composition of the Ladder Faculty Over the Last Decade 

While the ladder faculty has fluctuated slightly over the last decade from a low of 709 to a high of 739, standing now at 730, the numbers of women, FOC, and historically underrepresented faculty (HUF)[7] in the FAS steadily grew.

Graph 3. Number of Ladder Faculty, by Gender and Race/Ethnicity 

Long Description: Number of Ladder Faculty, by Gender and Race/Ethnicity 
Overview

The line graph shows the growth of the number ladder faculty by gender and race/ethnicity over time. Between the years 2021 and 2023, ladder faculty increased from 709 to 730, in red; women faculty increased from 230 to 241, in purple; faculty of color increased from 178 to 202, in blue; and historically underrepresented faculty increased from 71 to 85, in green.  

Values
YearLadder FacultyWomenFaculty of ColorHistorically Underrepresented Faculty
201371519113858
201473220014156
201573121015062
201673421515562
201773922316266
201873422517173
201972422617674
202072823017973
202170923017871
202272323818979
202373024120285
Presentation

The line graph represents the number of faculty by gender and race/ethnicity across multiple years. It displays four horizontal lines in different colors: red for the total number of ladder faculty, purple for women faculty, blue for faculty of color, and green for historically underrepresented faculty. The y-axis measures the faculty headcount, while the x-axis indicates the corresponding years. 

The number of women on the ladder faculty increased from 191 to 241, or 26 percent. The number of FOC increased from 138 to 202, or 46 percent. The number of HUF increased from 58 to 85, or 47 percent.  

Tenure Promotion Rates 

In AY22–23, 15 faculty stood for their tenure review: seven women and eight men, including eight FOC. 14 faculty, or 93 percent, received tenure. 

For a more robust understanding of tenure promotion rates, we look at cohorts of faculty[8] reviewed between AY14–15 and AY22–23. 78 percent of these tenure reviews were successful, including:

  • 83 percent promotion rate for women,
  • 75 percent rate for men,
  • 75 percent promotion rate for White faculty,
  • 86 percent rate for FOC, and
  • an 85 percent rate for HUF. 

In addition to focusing on those tenure-track faculty who stood for their tenure review, we also calculate tenure promotion rates for all faculty members hired as assistant or associate professors who would have come up for a tenure review between AY14–15 and AY22–23, whether they stood for that review or not. In that case, the unconditional promotion rate is 59 percent, including 58 percent for women and 59 percent for men. Likewise, the unconditional promotion rate is 55 percent for White faculty, 68 percent for FOC, and 69 percent for HUF. 

Searches and Offers: 

In AY22–23, the FAS conducted 53 ladder faculty searches and made 39 offers.[9] Of the 39 offers, 20 went to women (51 percent), 20 went to FOC (51 percent), and 16 went to HUF (41 percent). 

Retirement Trends: 

In AY09–10, the FAS introduced the Faculty Retirement Program (FRP). FRP is a phased retirement plan with a two- and four-year phased period for faculty who sign up between the ages of 65 and 72 and begin the phased period by the end of the year in which they turn 72. There is also a two-year half-pay option for faculty who are 73 and older.  

Following the plan’s implementation, the number of faculty retirements per year have been 50 percent higher than before the program’s implementation. As Graph 4 shows, there have been, on average, 12 retirements per year since the implementation of the FRP, compared to eight before the program began.  

Graph 4. Retirements by Year, 2003-2022 

Graph 4. Retirements by Year, 2003-2022 
Long Description: Retirements by Year, 2003-2022 
Overview

The line graph shows the number of faculty retirements over time before and after the implementation of the Faculty Retirement Program (FRP). The graph shows there have been, on average, 12 retirements per year since the implementation of the FRP, compared to an average of eight retirements per year before the program began.   

Presentation

The line graph shows the timeline of faculty retirements before and after the introduction of the Faculty Retirement Program (FRP). A horizontal orange line tracks the pattern of faculty retirements, with the y-axis indicating the number of faculty retirements and the x-axis denoting the respective years. The average number of retirements is in a blue dotted line in the preimplementation period, and a green dotted line in the postimplementation period. 

Despite the increase in faculty retirements due to the FRP, they have not kept pace with the number of faculty turning 65 or older. At the beginning of AY22–23, 199 tenured faculty members were 65 or older, and 77 faculty were 73 or older. In AY23–24, this has grown to 213 faculty aged 65 or older, with 83 faculty 73 or older.  

The shift in the age distribution (as a proxy for career stage) of the tenured faculty is displayed in Graph 5 below. 

Graph 5. Age Distribution of the Tenured Faculty 

Long Description: Age Distribution of the Tenured Faculty 

Overview

The bar graph shows the percentage of age distribution across tenured faculty comparing the fall of 2003 with the fall of 2023. Despite the increase in faculty retirements due to the Faculty Retirement Program, they have not kept pace with the number of faculty turning 65 or older. The shift in the age distribution (as a proxy for career stage) of the tenured faculty is displayed in the graph. 

Values

Age GroupFall 2003Fall 2023
30-396.3%2.9%
40-4925.8%20.3%
50-5934.1%27.4%
60-6415.8%12.5%
65-6910.1%15.1%
70-746.3%12.7%
75-791.5%5.9%
80+0.0%3.3%

Presentation

The bar graph compares the age distribution among tenured faculty for the fall of 2003 and the fall of 2023. It uses two vertical bars to indicate these percentages, with the tenured faculty figures from the fall of 2003 depicted in light blue and those from the fall of 2023 shown in dark blue. The x-axis categorizes the age distributions. 

This shift in the distribution of ages corresponds to a rightward shift in the time of retirement, as seen in Graph 6.[10]

Graph 6. Age at Retirement 

Long Description: Age at Retirement  
Overview

The bar graph shows the percentage of the age of faculty retirements for two 10-year periods, 1994–2003, and 2013–23. This shift in the distribution of ages corresponds to a rightward shift in the time of retirement, as seen in this graph. 

Values
Age Group1994–2003 Retirements2013–23 Retirements
60-648.9%2.7%
65-6935.6%16.1%
70-7452.2%37.5%
75-793.3%31.3%
80+0.0%12.5%
Presentation

The bar graph illustrates the distribution of faculty retirements across two distinct 10-year periods: 1994–2003 and 2013–23. The graph shows two vertical bars to depict these percentages, using light blue to represent the faculty distribution from 1994–2003 and dark blue for the faculty distribution from 2013–23. These bars are grouped along the x-axis, which is used to categorize age distributions. 

Size and Composition of the Ladder Faculty Over Time

Following a period of consistent growth (a 13 percent increase) from 2003 to 2009, the size of the ladder faculty has fluctuated slightly and currently stands at 730. The size of the tenured faculty followed a similar trend, while tenure-track faculty decreased before leveling off.

Graph 7. Number of Tenured, Tenure-Track, & Ladder Faculty 

Long Description: Number of Ladder Faculty 
Overview

The line graph shows the total number of ladder faculty over time. In 2009, the tenure-track faculty started to decrease as a proportion of the ladder faculty. This trend continued until 2013, after which the proportion has remained relatively steady with an average of 21%. 

Values
YearTenuredTenure-trackLadder
2003457181638
2004472185657
2005484198682
2006497206703
2007510200710
2008513208721
2009526196722
2010547179726
2011551173724
2012559154713
2013566149715
2014576156732
2015581150731
2016587147734
2017589150739
2018584150734
2019570154724
2020573155728
2021572137709
2022581142723
2023577153730
Presentation

The line graph shows the number of ladder faculty over time, represented by three horizontal lines. The top line in red represents the ladder faculty. The next two lines in blue represent the tenured and tenure-track faculty, respectively. The y-axis shows the total number of faculty, while the x-axis shows the years the data was collected.

In 2009, the tenure-track faculty started to decrease as a proportion of the ladder faculty. This trend continued until 2013, after which the proportion has remained relatively steady with an average of 21 percent. 

Graph 8. Tenure-Track Faculty as Percent of the Ladder Faculty, 2003-2023 

Long Description: Tenure-Track Faculty as Percent of the Ladder Faculty, 2003-2023 
Overview

The line graph shows the proportion of tenure-track faculty as a percent of total ladder faculty, which is influenced by hiring, promotion, retirement, and departures. After the Great Recession, the proportion fell due to a hiring slowdown from 2009 to 2013, during which time hiring did not keep pace with departures and internal appointments to tenure. From 2014 to 2023, when the fraction of tenure-track faculty remained roughly constant at an average of 21%, the FAS hired 218 tenure-track faculty and 214 left the tenure-track ranks, including 103 departures from the University and 111 appointments to the tenured ranks. 

Values
Year Start% Tenure-trackTenure-trackTotal Ladder
200328%181638
200428%185657
200529%198682
200629%206703
200728%200710
200829%208721
200927%196722
201025%179726
201124%173724
201222%154713
201321%149715
201421%156732
201521%150731
201620%147734
201720%150739
201820%150734
201921%154724
202021%155728
202119%137709
202220%142723
202321%153730
Presentation

The line graph illustrates the percentage of tenure-track faculty relative to the overall number of ladder faculty with a blue horizontal line. The y-axis represents the percentage of tenure-track faculty, and the x-axis corresponds to each year. 

Hiring, promotion, retirement, and departures affect the proportion of tenure-track faculty. After the Great Recession, the proportion fell due to a hiring slowdown from 2009 to 2013, during which time hiring did not keep pace with departures and internal appointments to tenure. Eighty-eight tenure-track faculty were hired compared with 147 who left the tenure-track ranks, including 76 departures from the University and 71 internal appointments to the tenured ranks. 

From 2014 to 2023, when the fraction of tenure-track faculty remained roughly constant at an average of 21 percent, the FAS hired 218 tenure-track faculty and 214 left the tenure-track ranks, including 103 departures from the University and 111 appointments to the tenured ranks. 

To better understand these dynamics, Figure 2 illustrates the effects of hiring, internal tenure appointments from promotions, and departures from 2014 to 2023. 

Figure 2. Average Annual Ladder Faculty Hires, Internal Tenured Appointments, and Departures (2014 to 2023)[11]

Long Description: Average Annual Ladder Faculty Hires, Internal Tenured Appointments, and Departures (2014 to 2023) 
Overview

This figure illustrates the average annual ladder faculty hires, internal tenured appointments, and departures from 2014–23.  

Presentation

This figure provides a visual representation of the average annual ladder faculty hires, internal tenured appointments, and departures between the years 2014 and 2023. External hires appointed are depicted on the left side of the diagram, outside the central brackets, while faculty departures are shown outside the brackets on the right side of the diagram. Inside the diagram, it indicates the average number of appointments adding to the faculty population either as tenured or tenure-track, and it also shows the average faculty losses from these populations. 

On average, external hires are slightly larger than departures, even though the size of the faculty fluctuated.[12] As one might expect, most tenured faculty departures are due to retirements, with 12 retirements on average per year. In addition, internal and external tenured appointments roughly balanced tenured departures, allowing the fraction of tenure-track faculty to stay steady. 

B. Professional Development and Programming: 

In this section, we describe new policies, orientations, professional development programming, and coaching programs to support faculty. 

New policies to support faculty 

Through the FAS Strategic Planning process, the Office for Faculty Affairs (OFA) has recently implemented the following new policies:

  • Off-Cycle Entry Into Campus Child Care Centers (CCC): The FAS will provide funding for up to one semester (five months, August through December) of child care at a Campus Child Care, Inc. (CCC) center for those faculty who incur costs because their child will not be age-eligible to enter the center by the enrollment deadline in late August. The FAS will pay 100 percent of this cost for tenure-track faculty and 50 percent for tenured and senior nonladder faculty. The child must be enrolled at a CCC center to receive this funding.
  • Appointment Extension and Teaching Relief for Tenure-Track Parents: Tenure-track faculty who take a medical leave of eight weeks or longer (including medical leave associated with childbirth) have the option of also taking a one-year appointment extension, and they are eligible for one semester of teaching relief during that extension. For faculty who give birth, this means that for each birth, they are entitled to two one-year appointment extensions, a term of course relief, as well as medical leave, bonding leave, and the FAS parental semester of leave (as described in the Faculty Appointment and Promotion Handbook, Section 3H).
  • Cohort Salaries: Internally promoted tenured faculty who took appointment extensions will have their starting tenured salaries set at a level commensurate with their incoming tenure-track cohort.
  • Sabbatical Recognition Program:  Each academic year, the FAS dean will award an additional sabbatical term to up to 10 tenured faculty members who are engaged in an extraordinary amount of nonresearch work to the benefit of our students, trainees, faculty, the FAS community, and Harvard more broadly. This sabbatical term can be used to extend their next eligible leave to one full year.  

Orientations 

The Office for Faculty Affairs hosts each of the below orientations annually: 

  • New Faculty Institute: Held at the end of August, the NFI is an intensive orientation for tenure-track and senior faculty. Speakers address teaching, research, the faculty and student body, working with graduate students, and career development. 
  • Navigating Harvard: Also held in August, the Navigating Harvard Orientation (NHO) is for new nonladder faculty and highlights teaching and advising resources. 
  • Chairs Training: This orientation includes an overview of the academic year, the role and responsibilities of chairs, and a discussion of search and promotion processes, mentoring, professional development, Title IX, and DEIB.

Professional Development Programming

To allow tenure-track faculty to present their work to the FAS community, the Standing Committee on Women hosts minisymposia, held twice a year and rotating among the divisions and SEAS. In fall 2022, four tenure-track faculty from the science division presented their work and fielded questions from an audience of fellow faculty, department chairs, and deans. In spring 2023, four tenure-track faculty from the science division and SEAS did the same. 

Coaching 

The Office for Faculty Affairs hosts or funds several repeating and one-time coaching opportunities for faculty: 

  • Time Management Tips for Parents: This virtual forum led by Susan Morris, MEd, CPCC, ACC, in the fall of 2022, gave attendees tools, tips, and techniques to manage time better and be productive while caring for family, teaching, researching, and undertaking service obligations.  
  • Professional Coaching Program: This program provides tenure-track faculty members with professional coaching. OFA funds up to nine sessions with a coach. Over 20 tenure-track faculty members took advantage of this program in AY22–23. 
  • Supportive and Inclusive Mentoring: This three-part workshop was held in the spring semester and facilitated by Dr. Fatima Alleyne, director of community engagement and inclusive practices in the College of Engineering at UC Berkeley, on how to foster a supportive and inclusive academic environment.
  • Faculty Success Program: OFA provided funding for tenure-track and tenured faculty members to attend the Faculty Success Program hosted by the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD). The Faculty Success Program offers tips to increase research and writing productivity while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.  

C. Support for Nonladder Faculty and Postdoctoral Fellows 

Childcare Support 

Effective this academic year (2023-24), the FAS has begun to significantly supplement University childcare scholarship awards so that the total awards will be triple the current University levels for researchers and nonladder faculty. This increase has been applied across the FAS academic divisions and SEAS.

Postdoc Salaries  

Effective August 1, 2023, the FAS increased the postdoctoral fellow salary minimum to $65,000 (from $54,840). This increase was applied across FAS academic divisions and SEAS. Postdocs are central to advancing our intellectual mission, conducting groundbreaking research with our faculty and training future generations of scholars. This increase resulted from several months of consideration and analysis and acknowledged the rising living costs in the Greater Boston area in recent years. 

To assist with the transition to this new salary minimum, the FAS and SEAS provided one-year bridge funding for tenured faculty with startup balances less than $500,000 as of August 1, 2023; two-year bridge funding for tenure-track faculty, regardless of startup balances; and three-year bridge funding for tenure-track faculty with startup balances less than $500,000 as of August 1, 2025, and who have not succeeded in raising incremental grant support. The Dean’s Competitive Fund for Promising Scholarship, for which the FAS has increased its support to $4 million, is another source for bridge funding. 

Pipeline 

As a member of the Research University Alliance (RUA), a consortium of nine partner institutions funded by an NSF-AGEP grant (researchuniversityalliance.org), Harvard has engaged in three activities designed to increase the diversity of the pipeline:  

  • In September 2022, Harvard FAS OFA organized the RUA Professional Conference, bringing together over 100 graduate students and postdocs from underrepresented minority backgrounds in mathematics, physical sciences, environmental sciences, and engineering. The conference provided opportunities to network and explore topics facing underrepresented academics. 
  • OFA was pivotal in developing the RUA Postdoc Portal (postdocportal.org). This platform facilitates connections between prospective postdocs nationwide and research groups at universities and government laboratories seeking postdoctoral researchers. Unlike traditional networking, the portal emphasizes a candidate’s research profile over personal connections, making it possible for postdocs to connect with research groups they might never have encountered otherwise. 
  • The FAS and SEAS actively participated in RUA’s research exchange visits. These exchanges involved hosting and sending late-stage graduate students and postdoctoral fellows for week-long visits to partner institutions to build connections and potentially identify future postdoctoral positions. Harvard intends to continue this work by inviting up to 30 graduate students and postdocs who are historically underrepresented in the U.S. research landscape to interact with FAS faculty. This initiative aims to forge new connections, foster collaborations, and potentially lead to future hires within our academic community. 

Notes

[1] For the purposes of this report, “tenured faculty” includes University Professors and Professors in Residence. Tenure-track faculty are Assistant Professors and Associate Professors.

[2] Non-renewable appointments also include Associate Senior Lecturers, College Fellows, Benjamin Peirce Fellows, and Briggs-Copeland Lecturers.

[3] The fraction of non-binary faculty is too small to disaggregate by rank and therefore is not shown in Graph 1.

[4] The Census Bureau designates the ethnicity of “Hispanic or Latino” as including “Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano,” “Puerto Rican,” “Cuban,” or “another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin.” In this report, we place faculty who identify as “Hispanic or Latino” into that ethnic designation. We do not double-count faculty who identify as both Hispanic or Latino and as belonging to a racial category.

[5] In this report, “Faculty of Color” refers to faculty who are Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian or Asian American, or Two or More Races.

[6] The fraction of American Indian/Alaskan Native is 0.2 percent for the tenured faculty and 0.4 percent for the nonladder/visiting faculty.

[7] Historically Underrepresented Faculty include faculty who identify as Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, American Indian/Alaskan Native, or Two or More Races.

[8] In this discussion, we use AY 2014-15 as the starting point for this cohort analysis, as AY 2013-14 was the first year that the Office for Faculty Affairs highlighted attrition rates for women in the Dean’s Annual Report. After that report, the FAS focused intensely on countering the problem.

[9] Of the 39 offers, 36 offers stemmed from AY 2022-23 searches, and three offers stemmed from AY 2021-22 searches.

[10] Mandatory retirement was abolished in 1994.

[11] The 11 internal tenured appointments shown in this diagram do not account for faculty who are promoted but then left Harvard before being appointed as a tenured professor. In addition, the years do not align with the cohort calculation in the promotion section. Therefore, an inferred promotion rate does not match the cohort rate provided in the promotion section.

[12] The first net increase included in this average is from 2013 to 2014.