Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Gender Pay Gap Shrinking for Some Female University Presidents

  • 06/17/19

CATONSVILLE, MD – While serious economic and societal issues continue to swirl around the gender pay gap, new research published in the INFORMS journal Organization Science shows one area where this inequality is starting to disappear—higher education. Researchers have found that the gender pay gap disappears at more prestigious universities.

The research, conducted by Dane Blevins of the University of Central Florida, Steve Sauerwald of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Jenny Hoobler of the University of Pretoria, and Chris Robertson of Northeastern University is based on 17 years of data from more than 1,100 university presidents working for more than 700 universities in the U.S. The status of universities in the study is determined by data collected from U.S News & World Report's Best College Rankings.

While the study reveals that in higher education there is typically a 9 percent compensation difference between male and female presidents, with women receiving less pay than men on average, at higher status universities, female presidents are receiving similar levels of total compensation as male presidents—and some are even earning more than male presidents at prestigious universities.

"Our research finds accounting for where the glass ceiling is broken is an important consideration in understanding the gender pay gap," says Blevins, an associate professor in the Department of Management at the University of Central Florida. "Higher status universities are often viewed as guideposts and their standard of compensation among female presidents may encourage other universities, businesses and organizations of all types, to follow suit and further reduce, if not close, the gender pay gap in the United States."

About INFORMS and Organization Science
INFORMS is the leading international association for operations research and analytics professionals. Organization Science, one of 16 journals published by INFORMS, is a leading academic journal that covers groundbreaking research about organizations, including their processes, structures, technologies, identities, capabilities, forms, and performance. More information is available at www.informs.org.

Featured

  • A digital silhouette works at a computer, immersed in a glowing, interconnected world

    How Will AI Transform Learning Space Design?

    For years, higher education has designed learning spaces around technology as a tool for display, capture, collaboration, and connectivity. AI changes that equation.

  • Stanford Online Reveals New Immersive Learning Studio

    Stanford Online recently marked its 30th anniversary with the announcement of a new immersive learning studio, according to a university news release. The studio takes advantage of AI-powered and immersive learning technologies to continue delivering personalized and faculty-led education.

  • Cal Poly Humboldt Starts Construction on Healthcare Education Hub

    California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, Calif., recently announced that work has begun on a renovation project that will turn the Stewart Building into a new Healthcare Education Hub, according to a news release. The university is partnering with Sundt Construction Inc. for construction services.

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.