The Health Education Professoriate: Demographics and Projected Retirements

Abstract

Several demographers have projected a significant turnover within the professoriate during the next ten years or so due to anticipated retirements. In order to determine the extent of retirements and related demographics within the health education faculty, a national survey was conducted among administrators of all health education programs (N = 280). Seventy-one percent of the administrators returned completed questionnaires. The faculty cohort identified in this study totaled 1,796. The majority (1,129 or 63 percent) taught on a full-time basis while 667 (37 percent) were employed on a part-time basis. The full-time faculty consisted of 40 percent female, 60 percent male. Ninety-four (8 percent) of this group represented ethnic minorities and 53 (4.6 percent) were African-American. This faculty cohort is not loaded with aging academics as some studies indicate, and projected retirements will be distributed fairly evenly over the next two decades. Institutions will respond differently to impending retirements: some may be hard hit while the impact on others may be minimal. Academics for some specializations will be more difficult to employ than others. For the short term, the number of new doctorates produced annually appears to be adequate to fill positions opened through retirements.