President James J. Duderstadt cited at the opening of the Women of Color in the Academy Project research conference, focusing on women of color in the University and in the broader community. The Jan. 12 all-day conference was sponsored by the Women of Color in the Academy Project, a program of the Center for the Education of Women and the Women's Studies Program. The conference featured a number of research presentations by and about women of color. The three-year Women of Color in the Academy Project focusing on issues of concern to women of color in university settings provides a counterpoint to the political climate swirling around Washington and in state legislatures these days, Duderstadt said.
Women of color hold more than half of the fellowships.
I am still concerned that a large proportion of our women of color staff are in lower status and lower paying positions. This is evidence of how far the University still has to go. People of color now comprise 15.3 percent of total instructional faculty, he noted, and the number of assistant and associate professors who are women of color has almost doubled since 1990 for a total of 97. Unfortunately, we still have only 16 women of color who are full professors. Using Michigan Study Project data collected from students who entered the University in 1990, Lopez and her research partner Katrina Wade, a 1994 U-M graduate, examined the academic experiences of women students.