Organizers of a recent symposium of promotion and tenure at Penn State said they hoped the event would bring attention to lower tenure rates for underrepresented faculty.

Female faculty members at Penn State are tenured at a 10 percent lower rate than male faculty, according to a recent report by the Senate Committee on Faculty Affairs.

The study, completed in February and released at the University Faculty Senate meeting late last month, included 1,341 faculty members who entered provisional status between the years of 1990 and 1999.

The study found that while 60 percent of the male faculty members received tenure by the end of their seventh year working for the university, only 49 percent of women did.

It also found that minority faculty members are tenured at a 52 percent rate compared to 57 percent of non-minority faculty.

Wanda Knight, facilitator of the second annual Promotion and Tenure Symposium called "What's Diversity Got to do With it?" said she hoped the event shed light on the issue of lower tenure rates for underrepresented faculty.

"It helps us understand not only what some of the problems are, but also the opportunities that are available for underrepresented faculty," Knight said. "In every challenge there lies opportunity."

Panelists for the conference included seven tenured Penn State faculty members.

Knight also said there are organizational and structural factors that preclude underrepresented faculty from being recruited and retained at Penn State at the rate they should be.

"In any organization where there is structure, there is hierarchy, and there is a reason why people are underrepresented," Knight said. "We have to ask ourselves why the underrepresentation exists."

Karen Keifer-Boyd, professor of art education and panelist at the symposium, said the lower tenure rate for underrepresented Penn State faculty concerns her.

"It's a very real problem," Keifer-Boyd said. "I am a witness to it in others and my own experience."

Keifer-Boyd said she encourages tenure track faculty "to develop a support network both at Penn State and beyond to help get through difficult times."

Faculty should share their concerns and ask advice of an ombudsman, a university official that counsels and assists the faculty of a particular college, she said. It is also important for faculty to keep careful documentation of important meetings, she said.

Furthermore, faculty members should ensure that their research, service and teaching record is equal or greater than their peers, she added.

Keifer-Boyd said that if a faculty member takes all of these steps but still has difficulty receiving tenure, discrimination may be occurring and the faculty member has a case to fight.

Blannie Bowen, vice provost for academic affairs, said he works closely with tenure-track faculty, and while he thinks the lower success rates of women and minorities is a problem, he has seen "tremendous signs of improvement" in his 19 years at Penn State.