Ask for more than a campus-wide diversity percentage. Before comparing colleges, find out exactly who is counted as faculty, which year the figures represent, how representation changes by rank and employment status, and what students in your intended department will actually experience. Then ask about mentoring, advising, affinity groups and other support, and verify the answers with current students when possible.
For U.S. colleges, NCES’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) is a useful starting point, but its institutional staffing snapshots cannot describe classroom climate or guarantee that a particular department offers meaningful mentorship. Use the data to form precise questions, not as a substitute for talking with the college.
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Why a single faculty-diversity percentage is not enough
“How diverse are your professors?” sounds straightforward, yet the answer can change substantially depending on the denominator. One college may count only full-time instructional faculty; another may include part-time instructors or every employee with faculty status. Some reports combine professors, lecturers and instructors, while others separate academic ranks. A percentage without those definitions is not a reliable comparison.
IPEDS organizes staff information by occupational activity, faculty status and full- or part-time status. Its Human Resources component covers employees on an institution’s payroll as of November 1 of the current IPEDS Data Collection Year. That date is a snapshot, not a full-year headcount, and the survey has distinct parts for full-time and part-time staff. Institution type and size also affect which reporting requirements apply.
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Representation can look different at the level of a whole university, a school or college within it, a department, or the instructors assigned to introductory courses. A campus-wide figure therefore cannot answer what you will see in your major. Treat every number as a defined measurement and ask the college to explain the population, date and categories behind it.
Questions about who is included
1. “Who exactly is counted as faculty?”
Ask the admissions office, institutional research office or department for the definition used in its figure. Clarify each of these points:
- Does “faculty” mean instructional faculty only, or all employees with faculty status?
- Are part-time instructors included alongside full-time staff?
- Are clinical, practice, research, library or other academic staff included?
- Are visiting, adjunct, temporary or emeritus appointments part of the count?
- Is the figure a headcount of people or a full-time-equivalent (FTE) measure?
Request the underlying count as well as the percentage. A department with ten faculty members can show large percentage swings when one person joins or leaves; a university-wide percentage may conceal that volatility. Ask for the same definition from every college you are comparing.
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Ask for the reference date and publication year. The current IPEDS Data Center listing includes Fall 2024 files, while the survey methodology identifies November 1 of the collection year as the payroll reference date for Human Resources data. A college might also present a later internal snapshot, such as a spring directory or a date-specific strategic-plan report. Record the date next to every figure so that an older number is not mistaken for a current one.
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3. “How are race, ethnicity and gender reported?”
Ask the college to list its categories rather than assuming that two labels mean the same thing everywhere. Follow up on:
- Which race and ethnicity categories are used, and how are people who identify with more than one category recorded?
- How are unknown, unreported or declined responses handled?
- Are gender categories based on the institution’s current reporting system, and are any responses grouped for privacy?
- Were categories, definitions or collection methods changed between years?
IPEDS publishes staff data broken out by race or ethnicity and gender, but the categories and treatment of missing responses determine what a comparison means. Ask for a note explaining any apparent jump or drop that follows a reporting change rather than an actual staffing change.
Questions about rank, tenure and job security
4. “How does representation vary by academic rank?”
Request separate counts or percentages for professors, associate professors, assistant professors, lecturers and instructors. If the college uses different titles, ask for a crosswalk to its categories. A diverse faculty profile concentrated among lecturers may give students a different experience from one represented across the professoriate, because students often encounter different ranks in introductory, advanced and seminar courses.
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5. “How does representation vary by tenure status?”
Ask for the breakdown among tenured, tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty. Also ask whether the college combines full-time and part-time employees in that table. Tenure status and rank are related but not interchangeable: a lecturer may be full-time but non-tenure-track, while an assistant professor may be tenure-track. Seeing both dimensions helps you understand who is likely to teach, advise and remain in the department over time.
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The Fall 2024 IPEDS file listing describes full-time instructional staff tables that can be broken out by faculty and tenure status, academic rank, race or ethnicity and gender. When a college supplies a local table, ask whether it follows those same dimensions or uses a different population.
Questions about your intended major
6. “What will I see in my department?”
Ask the department chair or undergraduate coordinator for its current faculty roster and a demographic breakdown, if one is available. Then ask:
- Who teaches the first-year and introductory courses?
- How many sections are taught by professors, tenure-track faculty, lecturers or graduate instructors?
- Can I meet faculty members or current students in this department before enrolling?
- Are faculty members with backgrounds or research interests relevant to my identity, language, community or career goals teaching in the major?
- Does the department expect its roster to change before my first term?
National institutional data provide a comparison point, but there is no universal requirement that colleges publish comparable department-level diversity tables. If a school cannot provide a percentage, ask for a transparent explanation and a current roster instead of treating the absence of a figure as evidence of either strength or weakness.
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Look beyond the department’s website headline. Ask for recent syllabi, a sample schedule or the names and ranks of instructors for gateway courses. Introductory classes are often large and may be taught by a different mix of faculty than upper-level seminars. This question connects numerical representation with the people you are most likely to encounter during your first year.
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Questions about change, hiring and retention
8. “Are the numbers changing?”
Request a dated series rather than a single year. Ask the college to show faculty composition for several comparable reporting years and to identify any changes in definitions. A useful trend request specifies the same population, categories, rank and tenure status each year.
9. “How many faculty from different backgrounds were newly hired?”
Separate hiring from the existing faculty profile. IPEDS includes a category for newly hired full-time permanent instructional staff and specifies a hiring window. Ask which window the college used, whether the count covers only full-time permanent appointments, and whether it includes all ranks. A high number of hires in one year does not by itself show long-term representation if other faculty also depart.
10. “What do you know about retention?”
Ask how the institution tracks the continuation of faculty by race, ethnicity, gender, rank and tenure status, and whether it can share dated results. Hiring and retention answer different questions. The federal staff sources document new-hire reporting, but they do not establish a comparable retention figure for every college. If a school offers a retention statistic, ask for its cohort definition, time period and denominator.
Questions about mentoring and student support
11. “What mentoring can students actually use?”
Ask who coordinates mentoring, how students enroll or are matched, and whether participation is open to all students or limited to a program or cohort. Clarify whether mentoring is faculty-based, peer-based, career-focused or connected to a particular identity or major. Ask how often meetings occur and what happens if a match is not effective.
12. “What advising and affinity-group support exists?”
Ask for names of advising offices, cultural or identity-based centers, student organizations and faculty or staff coordinators relevant to your interests. Find out whether groups are active during the academic year, how students join, and whether they receive funding or dedicated space. Ask current students how easy these resources are to find and use; a list on a website does not show participation or quality.
13. “How does the college respond when students raise concerns?”
Request the process for reporting bias, harassment or exclusion in a class or department. Ask which office receives reports, what confidentiality rules apply, and whether students can obtain academic support while a concern is reviewed. This question addresses campus experience directly, something staffing tables cannot measure.
How to compare two or more colleges fairly
Use one worksheet for every institution and keep the comparison axes identical. Record the college’s answer, the source or office that supplied it, and the date you received it.
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| Comparison axis | What to record |
|---|---|
| Staff population | Instructional faculty or broader faculty-status staff; full-time and part-time inclusion; headcount or FTE |
| Reference date | Reporting year and exact snapshot date, such as November 1 for IPEDS Human Resources data |
| Categories | Race or ethnicity, gender, treatment of unknown or unreported responses, and any definition changes |
| Rank and tenure | Professor, associate professor, assistant professor, lecturer or instructor; tenured, tenure-track and non-tenure-track status |
| Academic scope | Whole institution, school or college, intended department, and instructors for introductory courses |
| Change over time | Comparable years, newly hired full-time permanent staff, and the college’s retention measure and cohort |
| Student support | Mentoring, advising, affinity groups, coordinators, eligibility and participation process |
Do not rank colleges until each figure has a definition. If one school reports full-time instructional faculty and another reports all faculty-status employees, ask both to recalculate or supply a matching population. When matching is impossible, label the comparison as limited rather than treating the larger percentage as proof of greater diversity.
How to use IPEDS without misreading it
- Open the NCES IPEDS Data Center and identify the institution by its official name and sector.
- Select the Fall 2024 or another clearly labeled collection year, then note the file title and reference date.
- Choose Human Resources staff tables that match your question: full-time instructional staff, part-time staff or newly hired full-time permanent instructional staff.
- Filter or review the tables by faculty status, rank, tenure status, race or ethnicity and gender where those dimensions are available.
- Save the population definition and category notes with each result; do not copy a percentage without its table context.
- Ask the college to explain any discrepancy between the IPEDS result and a current departmental roster, especially when the dates differ.
IPEDS is the primary U.S. source for information about colleges, universities and technical and vocational institutions, but its coverage and reporting requirements differ by institution type and size. A result from the Data Center is therefore a starting point for questions, not a complete account of a student’s likely classroom experience.
How to judge the answers you receive
Strong answers
- Define the population, categories and reference date in plain language.
- Separate full-time, part-time, rank and tenure status instead of combining unlike groups.
- Provide a department-level contact or roster and explain who teaches gateway courses.
- Distinguish new-hire data from retention data and identify the relevant time windows.
- Name coordinators, eligibility rules and participation steps for support programs.
Answers that need follow-up
- A percentage with no headcount, denominator or date.
- A campus-wide figure offered as the answer to a department-specific question.
- A trend line that changes categories or definitions without explanation.
- A hiring total presented as evidence that faculty remain at the college.
- A long list of programs without a person, office or process students can contact.
You can ask the same concise script at each college: “Please define the faculty population, give the reference date, show rank and tenure status, and tell me what the numbers look like in my department and introductory courses. Which mentoring and advising resources can I use, and who coordinates them?” Consistent wording makes the answers easier to compare.
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