NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release: August 22, 2024
For further information contact:
Ryan Brown: Phone: 408-531-6172 | Email: ryan.brown@sjeccd.edu
SJCC, EVC Faculty Among Most Diverse in Nation
(San Jose, Calif.) —When students return to classes next week for the start of fall term at San José City College (SJCC) and Evergreen Valley College (EVC), they will be attending courses being taught by some of the most diverse faculty in the nation, according to new data from the Chronicle of Higher Education.
According to the Chronicle’s “Diversity Index,” which was published recently and ranks “colleges with the greatest racial and ethnic diversity among faculty members,” SJCC ranks No. 6 and EVC No. 8 nationally among all two-year public institutions.
“While we certainly benefit from being located in one of the most diverse regions in the country, we have also been very intentional with our faculty recruitment process in order to ensure that we are identifying the most highly qualified and talented faculty members to fill our available positions,” said Dr. Beatriz Chaidez, San José – Evergreen Community College District chancellor. “By taking steps to ensure we recruit diverse applicant pools, we are able to hire the best and brightest faculty from throughout the nation and world.”
According to research, having a faculty comprised of instructors who reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the students they teach is beneficial for multiple reasons. One study published in 2018 in the journal Intercultural Education concluded that graduation rates for students of color are positively affected by increased diversity of their faculty.
A more recent study published in the Community College Journal of Research and Practice found “a significant strong positive relationship between graduation, transfer, and drop-out rates” for community college students of color as faculty diversity increases.
“Representation matters,” Chancellor Chaidez said. “It’s important that our students have educational role models with whom they can identify and an opportunity to learn from faculty from a variety of backgrounds.”
The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Diversity Index measures “the probability that any two full-time instructional faculty members at an institution are from different racial or ethnic groups.”