Hiring the Next Generation of Professors: Will Myths Remain Excuses?

By DARYL G. SMITH and JOS F. MORENO

Ten years ago, one of us, Daryl Smith, described in The Chronicle the myths that were impeding colleges' efforts to diversify their faculties — especially to recruit African-American, Latino, and American Indian faculty members. As she explained in that article, hard data from a national study simply did not support common assumptions about bidding wars, the appeal of often higher-paying jobs in industry, and the dearth of academic opportunities for all faculty members. Consciously