Measurement of Participation Levels of Women And Minorities as Collegiate Aviation Educators

Abstract

This study analyzes U.s. Department of Education statistics on women and minorities in higher education and data on Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certificate holders. This data is then compared to data obtained on aviation faculty in higher education to establish whether or not women and minorities are under represented in the collegiate aviation faculty. The data collected demonstrates that the participation of women in the aviation faculty is representative of the participation of women in aviation overall. The fact that women comprise only 6.09 percent of all FAA certificated pilots demonstrates that they are as a group, under represented in aviation in relation to their proportion in society. Minority participation in the collegiate aviation faculty is also unrepresentative of the minority population in the United States. FAA certificate data is not maintained on ethnicity. However, data obtained on minority participation in the aviation faculty is compared to data on minority participation in higher education. The resulting fact is that minority involvement in the aviation faculty is below average in relation to the overall faculty population. This research effort confirms the assumption that women and minorities are not adequately represented in the collegiate aviation faculty. The resulting call to action must be to increase the participation levels of women and minorities as collegiate aviation educators.