Diversity in Master of
Public Administration Programs
at Minority-Serving Institutions
Sarmistha R. Majumdar and Michael O. Adams
Texas Southern University
ABSTRACT
The concept of diversity among students and faculty in Master of Public Administration programs
at minority-serving institutions has remained unexplored over the years. Past studies have reported
on diversity in public affairs programs at traditionally white institutions. Given the current emphasis
on diversity as the United States transforms itself into the most diverse advanced nation in the
world, this exploratory study was undertaken to fill the existing gap in the literature on diversity
at minority-serving institutions. Survey methodology was used to collect information from
administrators on various aspects of diversity. The survey findings offer some valuable insights into
the current status of diversity in enrollment and employment at minority-serving institutions along
with a variety of perspectives on the issue. The findings also make evident the need for more to be
done to promote and manage diversity in these institutions without losing sight of their original
mission and goals.
KEYWORDS
Diversity, demographics, public administration, minority-serving institutions
Gradual changes in the structural composition
of the U.S. population have made diversity one
of the hallmarks of our society. As a result of
increases in demographic diversity, the United
States is on a path of transformation into the
most ethnically diverse advanced nation in the
world (Kotkin, 2010). Scholars also predict
that demographic diversity in urban environ­
ments is likely to lead to higher wages and rents
and make U.S.-born citizens more productive
(Ottaviano & Peri, 2006).
Our use of the word diversity is not limited to
ethnic and/or racial diversity. It refers here to
acceptance and respect for differences in
individuals’ race, gender, physical abilities, and
sexual orientation. The media has played an
JPAE 21 (2), 215–228
important role in drawing attention to the var­
ious aspects of diversity and has called for greater
responsiveness at all levels of government to the
varied needs of a diverse population. Starting in
the 1960s, the federal government made con­
certed efforts through its Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 (Pub. L. 88-352) to prohibit
discrimination based on race, color, national
ori­gin, sex, and religion. The following year, the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC) was established to oversee enforce­
ment of the act. In 1972, with the passage of
the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, the
EEOC received additional authority to litigate
based on administrative findings and its
jurisdiction was expanded (Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission, 2013). In the 1990s,
Journal of Public Affairs Education215
S. R. Majumdar & M. O Adams
with the passage of the Americans With Dis­
abilities Act (Pub. L. 101-336, 1990), disability
was added to the existing list of conditions for
which discrimination was prohibited. Over time,
the EEOC’s responsibilities to prohibit discrim­
ination and promote diversity in a community
have enhanced the importance of the organiza­
tion. Affirmative action programs, which provide
opportunities to minorities, women, disabled in­
dividuals, and others, have helped to promote
and sustain diversity in the workplace and at
educational institutions. Currently, diversity in
the workplace has become one of the “corner­
stones of high organizational performance” that
“complement organizational values of teamwork,
leadership, empowerment, and service quality”
(Duncan, 2013, p. 1).
To foster diversity in the workplace and at edu­
cational institutions, scholars have recommend­
ed that diversity be adopted as an organizational
goal and followed by the development of pro­
cesses and decisions on how to effectively manage
strategies that are geared toward the attaining
and sustaining diversity in the long run (Morri­
son, 1992; Thomas, 1991). Such recom­mend­
ations have led to initiatives in both the private
and the public sector to recruit and retain a
diverse workforce that mirrors the diversity in
society (Ospina, 2001). These initiatives have
led to the corporate world and educational
institutions becoming increasingly demo­graph­
ically diverse over the last decade (Mannix &
Neale, 2005), and the trend continues unabated.
In educational institutions, the commitment to
promote diversity is often premised on the be­
lief that diversity among students and faculty
can help to optimize both teaching and learn­
ing and enhance both parties’ ability to attain
educational objectives (American Council on
Education and American Association of Uni­
ver­sity Professors, 2000). Evidence of this can
be found in an earlier survey that investigated
diversity in educational institutions and found
that 50% of the top selective liberal arts colleges
already have a mission statement that includes
“learn perspectives from diversity” (Gudeman,
2000, p.40). Findings from another national
and comprehensive survey of major universities
216
Journal of Public Affairs Education
revealed that students’ learning experiences are
enriched in a diverse environment and that fac­
ulty diversity is equally important in both teach­
ing and learning (Maruyama & Moreno, 2000).
Such evidence has led many researchers to con­
cur that diversity in educational environments
exposes students to a vast array of scholarly
perspectives that come from individuals’ differ­
ent life experiences (Humphreys & Association
of American Colleges and Universities, 1998).
Studies have been conducted on diversity in
public affairs programs at several universities.
However, these studies have focused on diver­
sity initiatives at historically white universities
(HWUs). Little or no information exists on
diversity in public affairs programs at minorityserving institutions (MSIs), which are mainly
historically black colleges and universities (HB­
CUs) and Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs).
Given this lack of information, this study has
made an attempt to investigate diversity in
public administration programs that offer Master
of Public Administration (MPA) degrees at
HBCUs and HSIs. The main research question
posed in this exploratory study is this: To what
extent have MSIs embraced diversity in their
public administration programs? In seeking an
answer to this question, various aspects of
diversity—ranging from recruitment of faculty
to curriculum content—have been explored,
along with respondents’ perceptions of diversity.
Survey methodology was used to collect
information for the study.
The utility of this exploratory study lies in filling
the gap in the existing literature on diversity in
public administration programs at MSIs. This
study is expected to shed some light on the topic
of diversity at MSIs and perhaps even initiate a
dialogue among researchers on diversity in the
fields of education and public administration.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The Need for Diversity in
Educational Institutions
In the United States, cultural diversity is often
con­sidered an asset. A nonhomogeneous popu­
lation tends to think, solve problems, and make
Program Diversity at Minority-Serving Institutions
decisions differently (Lazear, 1999), which
helps to spur innovations and greater creativity.
An earlier study by Pascarella, Whitt, Nora,
Hagedorn, and Terenzini (1996) on stu­dent
learn­ing and diversity revealed that students’ inter­
actions with peers from diverse back­grounds,
both in and out of class, helped to promote their
appreciation and acceptance of cultural, racial,
and value diversity. In the years since, several
studies on the impact of diversity in post­
secondary education have confirmed that stu­
dents’ exposure to diversity helps them to deve­
lop critical thinking skills, a salient goal of
high­er education (Astin, 1993a; Chang, 1999,
2001; Dey, 1991; Gurrin, 1999, Hu & Kuh,
2003; Hurtado, 2001; Jayakumar, 2008; Kim,
1995, 1996; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005).
In an educational environment, three aspects of
diversity—emphasis on the concept of diversity,
faculty diversity, and direct student experiences
with diversity—have the potential for signifi­cant
positive impact on a number of important
college outcomes (Astin, 1993b). In 2010, a study
conducted by the University of Wisconsin—
Madison’s Women in Science and Engineering
Leadership Institute (WISELI) confirmed that
“diversity adds to the strength, productivity,
and intellectual capacity” of edu­cational insti­tu­
tions and enriches the environ­ment for teaching
and research. These ideas were also found in a
study by Loes, Pascarella, and Umbach (2012).
Additionally, the aforementioned WISELI study
emphasized the need for an institutional policy
on diversity to expose students to a wide range
of individuals, ideas, and perspectives and there­
by advance students’ intellectual missions.
We reviewed the historical acceptance of the
idea of diversity in educational institutions and
found that its roots can be traced back to civil
rights legislation and social policy. Social policy,
coupled with the many benefits of diversity
and the strong support that it has received
from elites, the corporate world, and the mili­
tary (Lipson, 2007), helped many universities
to embrace diversity in the 1970s. Upon ac­
cepting diversity, many universities redesigned,
institu­
tionalized, defended, and transformed
their affirmative action policies to promote di­
versity in the educational environment (Lipson,
2007). Even universities with legal bans on
race-based affirmative action created innovative
race-neutral policies to promote diversity on
their campuses (Lipson, 2007). Such legal bans
even prompted some educational institutions
to include diversity as one of their guiding
principles, consequent upon the realization that
abandonment of race-sensitive admissions and
hiring would only hinder the creation of the
diverse environment that is conducive to
student learning.
Advancements in diversity in educational
institutions have not been without hindrances,
however. In some educational institutions, the
tendency to marginalize diversity still exists.
This is due neither to neglect nor to innocent
omission. It can be partly attributed to the
consequences of power relations within the
educational system and to the subtle presence
of institutional racism (Cummins, 1997),
which leads to the failure to detect connections
between personal, institutional, and cultural
levels of racism (Dominelli, 2002). In view of
such fallacies in institutional commitments to
diversity, what needs to be determined is
whether a positive institutional commitment to
diversity really exists or whether diversity
initiatives are just a type of defensive approach
to risk management (Rivera & Ward, 2008a).
There is an existing framework that helps to gauge
the climate of diversity in an educational insti­
tu­tion (Hurtado, Milem, Clayton-Peder­sen, &
Allen, 1998) and can be useful in this task. This
framework takes into consideration the histor­
ical legacy (inclusion and exclusion of different
racial and ethnic groups), structural diversity
(group numbers), psychological climate (percep­
tions, attitudes, and beliefs), and beha­vioral clim­
ate (interaction be­­tween groups) and then processes
the information to describe the prevailing climate
of diversity in colleges and universities.
Diversity and Public Administration
In the field of public administration, scholars
agree that diversity helps to promote democratic
citizenship by making students realize how their
lives are influenced by others (Gurin, Nagda, &
Journal of Public Affairs Education217
S. R. Majumdar & M. O Adams
Lopez, 2004). Some scholars have even con­tend­
ed that students’ exposure to diverse perspectives
helps to enrich their learning experiences and
enhances their competence as practitioners in
dealing with the problems and delivery of
public services in a diverse society (Brintnall,
2008; Carrizales, 2010; Rice, 2007; Rivera &
Ward, 2008b). Others have recommended that
the curriculum in public affairs programs
should help prepare students to meet their
democratic responsibilities for the efficient
governance of a diverse society (Gooden &
Portillo, 2011). Organizational diversity must
also be included in human resource curricula
since it is “an ethical and a pragmatic
requirement for effective public administration”
(Johnson & Rivera, 2007, p. 15).
Despite such recommendations, the concept of
diversity has been relatively neglected in curri­
cu­lum offerings and scholarship in public affairs
programs (Hewins-Maroney & Williams, 2007).
Faculty cannot be solely blamed for this, as the
decision to incorporate diversity-related mater­
ials into courses is based on faculty members’
perceptions of their department’s commitment
to diversity-related initiatives (Mayhew & Grun­
wald, 2006).
The lack of diversity existing in curricula and
hiring practices at both accredited and non­
accredited public affairs programs (Johnson &
Rivera, 2007) has been a concern since the 1960s,
and there has not been much change to the status
quo in the present century (Ryan, 2012). Also,
to reiterate, these studies on diversity have been
limited to public affairs programs at HWUs.
Prior to this study, our efforts to obtain inform­
ation on diversity at MSIs proved futile. The
only information available on diversity at MSIs
was on ethnic diversity (Pitts & Jarry, 2007).
Diver­sity is both a virtue and value (Nelms,
2012) that should not be overlooked, even at
MSIs, even in the current century. Although
the mission of MSIs is to provide educational
opportunities to minority populations, MSIs’
existence within a diverse society also carries
responsibilities to help prepare minority stud­
ents to meet the challenges of a diverse society.
218
Journal of Public Affairs Education
There have been limited efforts to promote
diversity at MSIs. In 1977, a federal court order
was issued that required what was then the
De­partment of Health, Education and Welfare
to devise guidelines for HBCUs to comply with
Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and to
attain racial diversity among both students and
faculty (Roebuck & Murty, 1993). Currently,
the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs,
and Administration (NASPAA) requires MPA
programs to fulfill the criterion of diversity to
attain and maintain an accredited status, whet­
her the program is located in an HWU or an MSI.
Other efforts to incorporate diversity in educa­
tional institutions—to reflect the diversity in
society and convey a message of acceptance—
include two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings
that have sent mixed messages to educational
institutions. In 2013, a Supreme Court ruling
in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin ren­
dered support for the maintenance of diversity
in educational institutions. It even prompted
the Obama administration to urge colleges
and universities to use admissions as a tool
to increase diversity on campuses, because a
rac­ially diverse educational environment is likely
to help students succeed in a diverse world
(Hefling, 2013). In early 2014, in another
ruling, the Supreme Court ruling contradicted
itself by upholding Michigan’s ban on racebased college admissions (Liptak, 2014).
Although the latter ruling dealt a blow to the
promotion of race-based diversity in educational
institutions, leaders in education have vowed to
find an alternative path to promoting diversity
in student bodies (Lewin, 2014).
METHODOLOGY
This study used a qualitative survey metho­do­
logy to collect information on diversity mainly
from HBCUs and HSIs that offer MPA degrees.
HSIs were included because there is a dearth of
literature on diversity at these institutions. A
questionnaire on diversity was developed to
probe the status of diversity and the online tool
SurveyMonkey was used to launch the survey.
There were 21 questions in the survey, and
most were closed-ended. A pilot survey was
conducted in early summer 2013, prior to the
Program Diversity at Minority-Serving Institutions
administration of the final survey. The survey
was e-mailed to MPA programs at MSIs and
took respondents 10 to 12 minutes to complete.
A stratified sample was used in the study with a
total of 49 MSIs that offered either accredited
or nonaccredited MPA programs. These MSIs
were identified and selected from NASPAA’s
list of schools, and their minority status was
confirmed with the U.S. Department of Edu­
cation’s list of MSIs. The survey was launch­ed
in the summer of 2013. After a few rounds of
e-mailing, the survey was finally completed in
early fall 2013. The response rate to the survey
was 63%. The official status of survey re­spond­
ents ranged from program chair to MPA director
to faculty in the MPA program. In answering
the survey questions, the re­spondents expressed
their personal opinions on diversity based on
their observations of diversity-related initiatives
in their program. Demographics of the programs
and the respondents are presented in Table 1.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
TABLE 1.
Demographics of Minority-Serving
Institutions Offering Master of
Public Administration Degrees
Types of MSI (n = 29)
Public: 86%
Private: 14%
Private—independent: 10%
Private—religiously affiliated: 4%
MSI classification (n = 25)
HBCU: 86%
HIS: 36%
MPA program accreditation (n = 29)
NASPAA accredited = 66%
Not NASPAA accredited = 34%
Faculty status (n = 27)
Full time: 55% (171)
Adjuncts: 39% (120)
Lecturers/instructors: 6% (18)
Faculty gender (n = 27)
Male: 60%
Female: 40%
Physical location (n = 27)
Large metropolitan area: 48%
Mid-sized city: 41%
Small city: 7%
Rural area: 4%
Status of survey respondent (n = 27)
Administrator (chair/director of MPA program): 67%
Faculty: 26%
Other: 7%
Notes. MSI = minority-serving institution. MPA = Master of Public
Administration. HBCU = historically black college or university.
HIS = Hispanic-serving institution. Number of responses to each
question varies as some respondents did not answer all survey items.
In the following sections, the survey findings
are presented along with discussion of each
topic under the respective headings.
Student and Faculty Diversity
Survey respondents from MSIs were asked
various questions on the topic of diversity.
One of the questions asked was if their
institution had a plan to admit students with
diverse backgrounds and recruit faculty and
instructors with diverse backgrounds into its
MPA program. As seen in Table 2, 37% of
respondents indicated that their MSI had a
plan to admit diverse students and 11% stated
that a plan was in the process of development.
Nearly half of the respondents indicated their
MSI had neither any plan for admitting
students of diverse backgrounds (30%) nor any
felt need to develop such a plan (15%). With
respect to faculty recruitment, about 63% of
the respondents indicated that their MPA
programs at MSIs had a plan to increase faculty
diversity, 4% stated that such a plan was in the
process of development, 26% had no such
existing plan, and 7% did not even perceive the
need for such a plan.
From the survey findings, it was evident that at
the MSIs offering MPA degrees, there is more
emphasis on initiatives to diversify the faculty
than to diversify the student body. Such a
finding is not surprising. The weaker emphasis
on student diversity can be partly attributed to
the fact that more nonminority students are
already attracted to professional degree pro­grams
in high-demand fields at MSIs than to the same
schools’ undergraduate programs (Closson &
Journal of Public Affairs Education219
S. R. Majumdar & M. O Adams
TABLE 2.
Plans to Promote Diversity in MPA Programs Through Student and Faculty Recruitment
of Students and Faculty
MSIs
Plan to
promote diversity
Have a plan
Plan being
developed
No plan
No need
for a plan
Other
Among students
37%
11%
30%
15%
7%
Among faculty
63%
4%
26%
7%
0%
Notes. MSI = minority-serving institution; MPA = Master of Public Administration; n MSIs = 27.
Henry, 2008). Also, MSIs already have a con­
siderably diverse student population, com­pris­ing
domestic minorities and nonmin­ority whites
along with international students who are nonAmerican Caucasians, Asians, Cari­b­beans, and
Africans from African countries (Nahal, 2009).
Tables 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, and 3e show the survey
findings on MSI faculty demographics in terms
of racial composition, gender distribution, dis­
ability status, sexual orientation, and urban­iza­
tion. In Table 3a, a gender imbalance is evident
at different types of faculty positions in the
MPA programs at MSIs. Of full-time faculty
TABLE 3a.
Gender Diversity of Faculty at MSIs
with MPA Programs
Gender
Faculty
status
Male
Female
Full-time
63%
37%
Adjunct
55%
45%
Lecturer/instructor
61%
39%
Total
60%
40%
Notes. MSI = minority-serving institution; MPA = Master of “Public
Administration; n MSI locations = 27.
220
Journal of Public Affairs Education
positions at all levels, 63% are held by male
faculty and only 37% by female faculty. A
similar difference exists at the ranks of lecturer
and instructor. Among adjunct faculty, the
gender gap is not as great. The gender imbalance
at all levels is partly attributed to fewer women
and minority candidates applying for faculty
positions based on their perceptions of the
likelihood of getting a job or of not being
welcome (Trower & Chait, 2002). A partial
remedy to the situation calls for the use of
different strategies to attract women and
minority candidates, but little or no institutional
efforts exist to attract these types of candidates
(Valian, 2004).
It is evident from Table 3b that the highest
percentage of faculty at MSIs are Caucasian
(29%), followed by Asian/Pacific Islanders
(23%), and African Americans (22%). The
high concentration of white faculty at MSIs
can be partly attributed to three things: First,
white faculty were the first to be recruited at
HBCUs, many of which were first started by
churches and missionary societies. Second, in
some states (e.g., Texas), many existing HWUs
have been recently designated as HSIs to serve
the increasing minority population of the state.
Third, diversity initiatives have been least
successful in recruitment of a diverse faculty,
despite the passage of affirmative action several
decades ago (Smith, Turner, Osei-Kofi, &
Richards, 2004).
Program Diversity at Minority-Serving Institutions
In a cross tabulation of faculty gender and the
geographic location of the MSIs, it becomes
evident that gender diversity tends to vary with
location type. As observed in Table 3c, despite
the overall predominance of men in faculty
positions at all location types, the difference in
gender diversity (i.e., the percentage difference
between male and female faculty in an MPA
program) is likely to be smaller in MPA
programs located in mid-sized (22%) and small
cities (26%) than in programs located in larger
metropolitan cities (28%). The difference in
gender diversity is most prominent in rural
areas (60%). The latter can be partly attributed,
perhaps, to greater reluctance among women
candidates to apply for jobs in rural areas.
TABLE 3b.
Racial Diversity of Faculty at MSIs
with MPA Programs
Race
Faculty
Caucasian
29%
African American
21%
American Indian
1%
Hispanic/Chicano/Latino
18%
Asian/Pacific Islander
23%
Other
8%
Total
Another cross tabulation, of the racial
composition of faculty with the geographic
location of the MSI (see Table 3d), revealed
that in mid-sized and small cities, there is likely
to be less diversity in the racial composition of
faculty than found in MSIs located in larger
metropolitan areas. It is also evident from Table
3d that MPA programs at MSIs located in rural
areas have little or no racial diversity in their
faculty composition.
Inquiry into disability status, another aspect of
diversity, revealed that only 11% of the MPA
programs at MSIs had faculty with disability
status, while 89% did not. In response to a
100%
Notes. MSI = minority-serving institution; MPA = Master of
Public Administration; n faculty = 27.
question on the sexual orientation of faculty,
37% of respondents reported that they did not
know, 37% stated that their program did not
have LGBT faculty, and only 26% reported any
LGBT faculty teaching in the program. See
Table 3e.
Curriculum Content
Student and faculty participation in diversityrelated activities is essential in maintaining a
TABLE 3c.
Cross Tabulation of Gender Diversity of Faculty and Location of MSIs with MPA Programs
Gender
of faculty
Location of MSI
Large metropolitan area
Mid-sized city
Small city
Rural area
Male
64%
61%
63%
80%
Female
36%
39%
37%
20%
100%
100%
100%
100%
Total
Notes. MSI = minority-serving institution; MPA = Master of Public Administration; n MSI locations = 27.
Journal of Public Affairs Education221
S. R. Majumdar & M. O Adams
TABLE 3d.
Cross Tabulation of Racial Diversity of Faculty and Location of MSIs with MPA Programs
Location of MSI
Large metropolitan area
Mid-sized city
Small city
Rural area
Caucasian
31%
27%
33%
33.3%
African American
24%
21%
17%
0%
American Indian
3%
0%
0%
0%
Hispanic/Chicano/Latino
18%
21%
17%
0%
Asian/Pacific Islander
21%
21%
33%
33.3%
3%
10%
0%
33.3 %
100%
100%
100%
100%
Race of Faculty
Other
Total
Notes. MSI = minority-serving institution; MPA = Master of Public Administration; n MSI locations = 27.
climate of diversity in any academic program in
higher education (WISELI, 2010). One of the
survey questions asked to what extent students
and faculty participated in diversity-related
activities. The survey found that 60% of the
MSIs’ MPA programs organized diversityrelated activities for both students and faculty
once or twice a year, and 14% hosted activities
three to four or more times per year, while 26%
did not host any diversity-related activities.
To probe the MPA programs’ commitment to
diversity, respondents were asked this question:
Does the MPA program offer student-related
activities such as exchange programs, outside of
course offerings, to promote and understand
diversity-related issues?
The majority of MPA programs at MSIs did
not offer student-related activities to promote
diversity. Only 7% of respondents reported
that their program hosted activities frequently;
another 7% reported doing so often; and 11%
reported occasionally arranging these types of
activities. All other respondents reported
hosting these activities rarely or never. This
finding points to a deficiency and hints at the
222
Journal of Public Affairs Education
need for MPA programs at MSIs to focus on
such activities to help students gain greater
competence in operating in a diverse world.
Perspectives on Diversity
Respondents were asked 10 survey questions
about their perspectives on diversity, and their
views are reported in Table 4. It is evident from
this table that the majority of MPA programs at
MSIs do consider diversity to be an ethical and
pragmatic requirement of the program and do
believe that it can help the program achieve
some of its educational goals and objectives.
The respondents agreed about the need to
incorporate diversity into the MPA curriculum,
and agreed that faculty and adjuncts with
diverse backgrounds contribute to the
enrichment of students’ experiences in the
program. Furthermore, the respondents believe
that diversity should be valued for its own sake
and ought to be used as a marketing tool in
recruiting students to the program.
In response to a question gauging the belief
that affirmative action law is adequate to
promote diversity in their MPA program, 37%
of the of respondents disagreed, 30% agreed,
Program Diversity at Minority-Serving Institutions
22% remained neutral, and 11% did not
answer the question. When respondents were
asked if they believed that activities and events
aimed at promoting diversity were a waste of
time and money in an MPA program, 66%
disagreed, 19% agreed, 11% remained neutral,
and 4% did not answer the question. Also, a
majority of the respondents (70%) disagreed
that an institutional plan on diversity was
sufficient to promote diversity in the program.
Apparently, respondents believe there is a need
for a distinct plan at the program level.
In probing opinions on NASPAA’s requirement
for a diverse faculty in an MPA program’s ac­cre­
ditation and maintenance of accredited sta­tus,
41% of the respondents rendered sup­port for
such an objective, 37% did not support it, and
TABLE 4.
Perspectives on Diversity Among Respondents to the Survey of MPA Programs at MSIs
Percentage of respondents
Perspectives on diversity
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Don’t know
n
Diversity is an ethical and pragmatic
requirement of an MPA program.
81%
11%
8%
0%
27
Diversity can help to define and achieve
some of the goals and objectives of an
MPA program.
85%
11%
4%
0%
27
It is important to incorporate diversity
into curriculum.
88%
8%
0%
4%
27
Diverse faculty and adjuncts can enrich
students’ experiences in classrooms.
96%
4%
0%
0%
27
We should recognize, value, and market
diversity to attract more students to the
MPA program.
74%
11%
11%
4%
26
Affirmative action law is adequate to
promote diversity in the program.
30%
22%
37%
11%
27
Activities and events aimed at promoting
diversity are a waste of time and money in
an MPA program.
19%
11%
66%
4%
26
A plan for diversity should exist only at
the institutional level and is not necessary
at the program level.
15%
11%
70%
4%
27
Faculty diversity should play no role
in accreditation and maintenance of
accredited status in an MPA program.
37%
18%
41%
4%
27
Lack of funding and other resources serve
as obstacles in recruitment and retention of
diverse students in the program.
67%
7%
22%
4%
27
Limited funding and a limited pool of diverse
candidates serve as obstacles to hiring and
retention of diverse faculty in the program.
59%
11%
19%
11%
27
Journal of Public Affairs Education223
S. R. Majumdar & M. O Adams
11% remained neutral. Additionally, a consen­
sus seemed to exist among most respondents
that the limited funding at MPA programs
posed obstacles to the admission of a diverse
student body and to recruitment of a diverse
faculty from what is believed to be a limited
pool of candidates. Such findings indicate that
awareness of diversity does not necessarily aid
in the implementation of plans to enhance it.
Ob­stacles such as resource shortages or conflict
with institutional goals may hinder an MPA
pro­gram from achieving its goals in terms of ad­
mission and recruitment of students and fac­ulty
from diverse backgrounds, as well as in terms of
the organization of diversity-related activities.
CONCLUSION
This study helps to provide information about
the status of diversity in MPA programs at
MSIs and about program faculty and staff
perspectives on several aspects of diversity. The
limitations of the study lie in its small sample
size, which makes the study exploratory in
nature. Many of the findings are worthy of
further investigation and validation with a
larger sample size. Nevertheless, the study
kindles a greater interest in diversity at MPA
programs at MSIs and the authors expect more
robust contributions to the topic in the future.
The overall findings suggest that awareness and
some amount of diversity exists in MPA
programs at MSIs. These findings share some
similarities with studies done on HWUs in the
past (Trower & Chait, 2002). It is important to
note that although MPA programs at HWUs
and MSIs are encouraged to promote the same
concept of diversity to its fullest extent, de­fic­ i­
encies continue to exist at both institutional
types. To address these deficiencies, several steps
can be taken, varying in magnitude and type.
Differences in the treatment of deficiencies can
be partly attributed to the availability of
resources to pursue diversity initiatives and to
conflict, if any, with an institution’s mission
and goals. In some MSIs, such as HBCUs,
frequent resource shortages hinder the adoption
224
Journal of Public Affairs Education
of diversity initiatives in MPA programs, and
sometimes their institutional goals and
objectives might conflict with their missions.
Nevertheless, just as more needs to done to
promote diversity at HWUs (Cummins, 1997;
Johnson & Rivera, 2007), the findings of this
study recommend the same for MPA programs
at MSIs. To make this possible, more money
should be made available to MSIs (Palmer,
Davis & Gasman, 2011) and to resource-poor
HWUs through grant funding from public and
private agencies committed to promoting
diversity. Any existing conflicts between
diversity initiatives and institutional or MPA
program goals should be negated through the
development of a strategic plan that is in
harmony with both.
In view of some of the challenging needs in the
field of higher education, MSIs need to take
measured and disciplined steps to attain and/or
sustain diverse climates in their programs and
on their campuses. For example, HWUs are
using race-based affirmative action as a
diversity-management technique despite the
debates over its morality and legality (Lipson,
2007). MSIs ought to adopt a similar approach
to managing diversity-related initiatives.
Additionally, HBCUs, which have a long
tradition of recruiting a diverse faculty and
admitting international students, cannot afford
to focus on race and ethnic diversity alone.
Although a linguistically and culturally diverse
environment helps students and faculty realize
and understand the need to collaborate and
negotiate among different groups (Cummins,
1997), other aspects of diversity, such as gender
imbalances, disability, and sexual orientation,
must be addressed to create a real diverse
environment. Such an endeavor will not lead to
deviation from MSIs’ core values and mission
to educate underrepresented individuals.
Increasing diversity can only help MSIs to
succeed in the highly competitive business of
higher education (hbcudiversity.org, 2004).
Additionally, MPA programs at MSIs need to
focus on integrating diversity into educational
Program Diversity at Minority-Serving Institutions
curricula, activities, and other management
initiatives. The latter can include organization
of activities and exploration of developing
exchange programs with MPA programs at
HWUs. Exchange programs are valuable in
that there is so much to learn from another’s
experiences, including perceptions of race and
racism, teaching style, administrative chal­
lenges, and feelings of isolation and uncertainty
in an environment where one is temporarily a
minority (Hall & Closson, 2005). Introduction
of study abroad programs, if possible, would
also prove beneficial and would enable many
minority students to experience a diverse
culture in a foreign land for the first time in
their lives; enhance their knowledge and
perspectives on public administration; make
them more appreciative of a diverse populace;
and prepare them to operate efficiently in a
diverse society. Gender imbalances in MPA
programs need to be addressed through plans
to recruit more female faculty members. The
other two aspects of diversity, disability status
and sexual orientation, merit equal considera­
tion in admission of students and recruitment
of faculty.
In view of MPA programs’ consensus on lack of
funding posing an obstacle to diversity initia­
tives, there exists a need to look into more
innovative and cost-effective techniques for
MSIs to embrace diversity beyond race and
ethnicity. Cutbacks in funding over the last few
years, along with increasing pressure to boost
the enrollment figures of minorities at these
institutions, have made diversity initiatives take
a back seat. Despite such challenges, to remain
viable in the field of higher education, MSIs
need to pay more attention to diversity by adopt­
ing it as a guiding principle in their approaches
to reducing incidences of margin­alization of
any single group and enabling both students
and scholars to make great strides in the field
of education.
To address the deficiencies in diversity in MPA
programs at MSIs, we recommend the use of
an existing framework on diversity (Hurtado,
Milem, Clayton-Pedersen, & Allen, 1998) to
gauge the current status and to develop a
strategic plan with diversity as an important
objective—without posing any threat of disrup­
tion to culture or deviation from the original
goals of the MSI. Later, a plan should be
developed, implemented, and monitored to
gauge its cost and effectiveness in achieving the
desired diversity outcomes. To help MSIs adopt
best practices in the management of diversity
initiatives, we recommend that future research­
ers look into best practices in the management
of diversity initiatives at HWUs and then
determine the feasibility of their adoption at
MSIs. Such research can help MSIs reap the
many benefits of diversity in a diverse society
like ours.
REFERENCES
American Council on Education and American
Association of University Professors. (2000). Does
diversity make a difference? Three research studies
on diversity in college classrooms. Washington, DC:
Author. Retrieved from http://www.aaup.org/
NR/rdonlyres/F1A2B22A-EAE2-4D31-9F686F235129917E/0/2000_diversity_report.pdf
Astin, A. W. (1993a). Diversity and multiculturalism
on the campus: How are students affected? Change,
The Magazine of Higher Learning, 25(2), 44–49.
Astin, A. W. (1993b). What matters in college? Four crit­
ical years revisited. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Brintnall, M. (2008). Preparing the public sector for
working in multiethnic democracies: An assessment
and ideas for action. Journal of Public Affairs
Education, 14(1), 39–50.
Carrizales, T. (2010). Exploring cultural competency
within the public affairs curriculum. Journal of
Public Affairs Education, 16(4), 593–606.
Chang, M. J. (1999). Does racial diversity matter?:
The educational impact of a racially diverse
undergraduate population. Journal of College
Student Development, 40(4), 377–395.
Journal of Public Affairs Education225
S. R. Majumdar & M. O Adams
Chang, M. J. (2001). Is it more than about getting
along?: The broader educational implications of
reducing students’ racial biases. Journal of College
Student Development, 42(2), 93–105.
EAE2-4D31-9F68-6F235129917E/0/2000_
diversity_report.pdf
Closson, R. B., & Henry, W. J. (2008). Racial and
ethnic diversity at HBCUs: What can be learned
when whites are in the minority? Multicultural
Education, 15(4), 15–19.
Gurin, P. (1999). Expert report of Patricia Gurin. In
The compelling need for diversity in higher education,
Gratz et al. v. Bollinger et al. No. 97-75231 (E.D.
Mich.) and Grutter et al. v. Bollinger et al. No. 9775928 (E.D. Mich.) (pp. 99–234). Ann Arbor, MI:
The University of Michigan.
Cummins, J. E. (1997). Cultural and linguistic diversity
in education: A mainstream issue? Educational
Review, 49(2), 105–114.
Gurin, P., Nagda, B.A., & Lopez, G. E. (2004). The
benefits of diversity in education for democratic
citizenship. Journal of Social Issues, 60(1), 17–34.
Dey, E. (1991). Community service and critical thinking:
An exploratory analysis of collegiate influences. Paper
presented at the conference on Setting the Agenda
for an Effective Research Strategy for Combining
Service and Learning in the 1990s, Racine, WI.
hbcudiversity.org. (2004). Principles and standards of
good practice to achieve diversity and multiculturalism
at HBCUs. Retrieved from http://www.
extension.org/mediawiki/files/c/cb/HBCU_
BestPractices051204.pdf
Dominelli, L. 2002. Anti-oppressive social work: Theory
and practice. London: Palgrave-MacMillan.
Hall, B., & Closson, R. B. (2005). When the majority
is the minority: White graduate students’ social
adjustment at a historically black university. Journal
of College Student Development, 46(1), 28–42.
Duncan, A. (2014, December 9 ). Memorandum to
all department employees: Policy statement on
diversity, inclusion and respect (U.S. Department
of Education Web posting). Retrieved from
http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/om/docs/
divpolstate.pdf
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
(2013). 35 years of ensuring the promise of
opportunity. Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/
eeoc/history/35th/history/
Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, 570 U.S. ___
(2013), Docket No. 11-345.
Frederickson H. G. (2008). Social equity in the
twenty-first century: An essay in memory of Philip
J. Rutledge. Journal of Public Affairs Education,
14(1), 1–8.
Gooden, S., & Portillo, S. (2011). Advancing social
equity in the Minnowbrook tradition. Journal of
Public Administration Research & Theory, 21(Suppl.
1), i61–i76.
Gudeman, R. H. (2000). College missions, faculty
teaching, and student outcomes in a context of
low diversity. In American Council on Education
and American Association of University Professors
(Eds.), Does Diversity Make a Difference? Three
Research Studies on Diversity in College Classrooms (pp.
36–60). Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from
http://www.aaup.org/NR/rdonlyres/F1A2B22A226
Journal of Public Affairs Education
Hefling, K. (2013, September 27). Obama admin­
istration pushes colleges on diversity. The Huffington
Post, Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com
Hewins-Maroney, B., & Williams, E. (2007). Teaching
diversity in public administration: A missing com­
ponent? Journal of Public Affairs Education, 13(1),
29–40.
Hu, S., & Kuh, G. D. (2003). Diversity experiences
and college student learning and personal develop­
ment. Journal of College Student Development,
44(3), 320–334.
Humphreys, D., & Association of American Colleges
and Universities. (1998). Higher Education, Race
& Diversity Views from the Field. Washington DC:
Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse.
Hurtado, S., Milem, J. F., Clayton-Pedersen, A. R.,
& Allen, W. (1998). Enhancing campus climates
for racial/ethnic diversity: Educational policy and
practice. The Review of Higher Education, 21(3),
279–302.
Hurtado, S. (2001). Linking diversity and educational
purpose: How diversity affects the classroom envi­
ron­ment and student development. In G. Orfield
(Ed.), Diversity Challenged: Evidence on the Impact
of Affirmative Action (pp. 187–203). Cambridge,
MA: Harvard Educational Publishing Group.
Program Diversity at Minority-Serving Institutions
Jayakumar, U. M. (2008). Can higher education meet
the needs of an increasingly diverse and global
society? Campus diversity and cross-cultural work­
force competencies. Harvard Educational Review,
78(4), 615–651.
Johnson, R. G., III, & Rivera, M. A. (2007). Refocus­
ing graduate public affairs education: A need for
diversity competencies in human resource manage­
ment. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 13(1),
15–27.
Kim, M. (1995). Organizational effectiveness of womenonly colleges: The impact of college environment on
students’ intellectual and ethical development. Un­
published doctoral dissertation, University of Cali­
fornia, Los Angeles, CA.
Kim, M. (1996). The effectiveness of women-only colleges
for intellectual development. Paper presented at
the annual meeting of the American Educational
Research Association, New York, NY.
Kotkin, J. (2010, May). Growing America: Demo­
graphics and destiny. Governing. Retrieved from
http://www.governing.com
Lazear, E. (1999). Culture and language. Journal of
Political Economy, 107(6), 95–126.
Lewin, T. (2014, April 22). Colleges seek new paths
to diversity after court ruling. The New York Times.
Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com
Liptak, A. (2014). Court backs Michigan on affirmative
action. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://
www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/us/supreme-courtmichigan-affirmative-action-ban.html?_r=0
Lipson, D. N. (2007). Embracing diversity: The
institutionalization of affirmative action as diversity
management at UC-Berkeley, UT-Austin, and UWMadison. Law and Social Inquiry, 32(4), 985–1026.
Loes, C., Pascarella, E., & Umbach, P. (2012). Effects
of diversity on critical thinking skills: Who benefits?
The Journal of Higher Education, 83(1), 1–26.
Mannix, E., & Neale, M. (2005). What differences
make a difference? The promise and reality of
diverse teams in organizations. Psychology in the
Public Interest, 6, 31–55.
Maruyama, G., & Moreno, J. F. (2000). University
faculty views about the value of diversity on cam­
pus and in the classroom. In American Council on
Education and American Association of Uni­ver­sity
Professors (Eds.), Does diversity make a difference?
Three research studies on diversity in college classrooms
(pp. 8-35). Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from
http://www.aaup.org/NR/rdonlyres/F1A2B22AEAE2-4D31-9F68-6F235129917E/0/2000_
diversity_report.pdf
Mayhew, M. J., & Grunwald, H. E. (2006). Factors
contributing to faculty incorporation of diversity
related course content. The Journal of Higher
Education, 77(1), 148–168.
Morrison, A. (1992). The new leaders. Guidelines on
leadership diversity. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Nahal, A. (2009). Tending to diversity at an HBCU.
Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, 26 (20), 24–24.
Nelms, C. (2012, November 26). Beyond the rhetoric:
Diversity matters. The Huffington Post. Retrieved
from http://www.huffingtonpost.com
Ospina, S. (2001). Managing diversity in the civil
service: A conceptual framework for public
organizations. In UNDESA-IIAS (Eds.), Managing
Diversity in the Civil Service (pp. 5–10). Amsterdam:
IOS Press.
Ottaviano, I. P., & Peri, G. (2006) ). The economic
value of cultural diversity: Evidence from US cities.
Journal of Economic Geography, 6(1), 9–44.
Palmer, R. T., Davis, R. J., & Gasman, M. (2011). A
matter of diversity, equity and necessity: The tension
between Maryland’s higher education system and
its historically black colleges and universities over
the office of civil rights agreement. The Journal of
Negro Education, 80(2), 121–133.
Pascarella, E. T., & Terenzini, P. (2005). How college
affects students: A third decade of research. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Pascarella, E. T., Whitt, E. J., Nora, A. N., Hagedorn,
L. S., & Terenzini, P. T. (1996). Influences on
students’ openness to diversity and challenge in the
first year of college. The Journal of Higher Education,
67(2), 174–195.
Pitts, D. & Jarry, E. (2007). Ethnic diversity and
organizational performance: Assessing diversity
effects at the managerial and street levels.
International Public Management Journal, 10(2),
233–254.
Journal of Public Affairs Education227
S. R. Majumdar & M. O Adams
Pub. L. 88-352, 88th Cong, 78 Stat. 241 (1964)
(enacted).
Pub. L. 101-336, 101st Cong., 104 Stat. 327 (1990)
(enacted).
Rice, M. F. (2007). Promoting cultural competency in
public administration and public service delivery:
Utilizing self-assessment tools and performance
measures. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 13(1),
41–57.
Rivera, M. A., & Ward, J. D. (2008a) Social equity,
diversity, and identity: Challenges for public affairs
education and the public service. Journal of Public
Affairs Education, 14(1), ii–viii.
Rivera, M. A., & Ward, J. D. (2008b). Employment
equity and institutional commitments to diversity:
Disciplinary perspectives from public administra­
tion and public affairs education. Journal of Public
Affairs Education, 14(1), 9–20.
Roebuck, J. B., & Murty, K. S. (1993). Historically
black colleges and universities: Their place in Amer­
ican higher education. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Ryan, S. E. (2012). Assessing diversity in public affairs
curriculum. Journal of Public Affairs Education,
18(4), 757–774.
Smith, D. G., Turner, C. S., Osei-Kofi, N., & Richards,
S. (2004). Interrupting the usual: Successful strat­
egies for hiring diverse faculty. The Journal of Higher
Education, 75(2), 133–159.
Thomas, R. R. (1992). Beyond Race and Gender:
Un­
leashing the Power of Your Total Workforce
by Managing Diversity. New York: American
Management Association.
Trower, C. A. & Chait, R. P. (2002). Faculty diversity:
Too little for too long. Harvard Magazine. Retrieved
from http://harvardmagazine.com/2002/03/facultydiversity.html
Valian, V. (2004). Beyond gender schemas: Improving
the advancement of women in academia. NWSA
Journal, 16(1), 207–220.
University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Women in Science
and Engineering Leadership Institute (WISELI).
(2010). Benefits and challenges of diversity in aca­
demic settings. Retrieved from http://wiseli.engr.
wisc.edu/docs/Benefits_Challenges.pdf
228
Journal of Public Affairs Education
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
is associate professor in
the MPA program at Texas Southern Univer­
sity. She specializes in analysis of policies related
to transportation, environment, and other soc­
ial issues. Her research has been published in
several peer-reviewed journals. She has also pre­
sented papers at many conferences and partici­
pated in several grant-funded research projects.
Sarmistha R. Majumdar
is interim chair of the de­
partment of political science, director of the
NASPAA-accredited Master of Public Admini­
stration program, and founding director of the
Online Executive Master of Public Admini­
stration program at Texas Southern University.
He serves as the interim director of the Barbara
Jordan Research Institute and is a tenured pro­
fessor, teaching classes in public admini­stration
and political science while contribut­ing to the
academic body of knowledge through research.
Michael O. Adams