Engineering Leadership Diversity

For its 2020 Profiles of Engineering & Engineering Technology (Profiles), ASEE asked institutions about the race and ethnicity of individuals in engineering leadership positions such as dean, associate and assistant dean, department head, and Engineering Research Center (ERC) director. This was the first year institutions could report information for associate and assistant deans and the second year they could specify race and ethnicity.
Moving forward, the Society aims to track demographic changes in engineering school leadership over time. For the 2020 Profiles, ASEE received responses from 150 institutions specifying race and ethnicity for their personnel. Among people of color, Asian Americans held the greatest percentage of the engineering leadership roles, making up about 20 percent of department heads and ERC directors and 13 percent of deans. African American/Black leaders served most often as associate deans, at 8 percent. African Americans comprise a greater percentage of deans, associate deans, and assistant deans than department heads or ERC directors. The greatest percentage of Hispanic leaders was among deans, about 6 percent; larger numbers of Hispanics serve as deans, departments heads, and ERC directors than as associate and assistant deans.