Abstract

This paper presents data on the numbers of female and male professors at the 106 top US earth science PhD-ranting graduate programs during the 2010–2011 academic year. Overall, 20% of earth science faculty at PhD-granting research universities were women (470 female faculty members out of 2,324 total). By rank, 36% of assistant professors, 24% of associate professors, and 13% of full professors were women. Large ranges in percentages (0%–40%) of female professors were observed between departments. No geographic trends were observed, nor was there any correlation between the national ranking of department and the percentage of women faculty. A small positive correlation between the size of the department and the percentage of female faculty was present as department sizes increased from 5 to 30 faculty members, and a small decline occurred between 30 to 50 faculty. Percentages of tenured female faculty were generally lower than the total percentage of female faculty members in each department. The top 5 departments in terms of percentages of female faculty were SUNY Buffalo Department of Geology (40%), Louisiana State University–Baton Rouge Department of Geology and Geophysics (40%), University of New Hampshire Department of Earth Sciences (37%), University of Massachusetts–Amherst Department of Geosciences (36%), and University of Nevada–Las Vegas Department of Geoscience (35%).