IEC Members in the Texas State Capitol Annex
What a blockbuster week this was. A highlight was a presentation on Friday afternoon, November 22, 2019 of the
Independent Equity Committee (IEC) by its authors, all full professors at the University of Texas at Austin, to legislators and their staff at the Texas State Capitol. This is the same IEC report that I've posted on previously. Pictured here is History Professor and Committee Chair Dr. Alberto Martinez (second from right) and the remaining seven IEC members:
Prof. Alberto A. Martínez, IEC Chair
PhD Univ. of Minnesota; UT Dept. of History, and UTeach Natural Sciences. Director of the UndergraduateCertificate Program in History & Philosophy of Science
Prof. Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra
PhD Univ. of Wisconsin; UT Dept. of History, Alice Drysdale Sheffield Professor of History; Distinguished Luverhulme Prof., IAS, U. of London; Distinguished Prof., Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales
Prof. Emilio Zamora
PhD UT Austin; Depts. of History, CMAS and LLILAS; Fellow of the George W. Littlefield Professorship in American History; and Fellow and President of the Texas State Historical Association
Prof. Gloria González-López
PhD Univ. of Southern California; UT Dept. of Sociology and Center for Women's and Gender Studies; Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies
Prof. Francisco Gonzalez-Lima
PhD Univ. of Puerto Rico; UT Depts. of Psychology, Psychiatry, Pharmacology & Toxicology; George I. Sanchez Centennial Professorship in Liberal Arts; Distinguished Texas Scientist and Academic Director, Texas Academy of Science; Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow, Germany
Prof. Martha Menchaca
PhD Stanford; UT Dept. of Anthropology; Latin American Studies; Women and Gender Studies; Dept. of Mexican American & Latina/o Studies
Prof. Fred Valdez, Jr.PhD Harvard; UT Dept. of Anthropology; Director, Center for Archaeological and Tropical Studies; Dept. of Mexican American & Latina/o Studies; Chair, Archaeological Studies
Prof. John Morán González,
IEC Members
PhD Stanford; UT Dept. of English; Dept. of Mexican American & Latina/o Studies; Director, Center for Mexican American Studies; J. Frank Dobie Regents Professor in American and English Literature
This convening was historic in more ways than one, including bringing together the authors and luminary faculty to bear witness to the uncontested findings of the report, but also to bring us all into a room at the capitol itself. Others present (not shown) included myself, Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, Dr. Victor Saenz, and Professor Emeritus Dr. Mercedes de Uriarte. Dr. Karma Chavez was among the associate professors present.
Key members of our community were also present, including Martha P. Cotera, Nora de Hoyos Comstock, Cassie Clarich, Daniel Yañez, and Teresa Perez-Wisely.
Thanks to State Representative Gina Hinojosa, State Representative Eddie Rodriguez, State Representative Ray Lopez, State Representative Art Fierro, State Representative James Talarico, and State Representative Mary Gonzalez either for attending or sending their staff.
The IEC report got coverage by CBS Austin/KEYE News, as well, as you can see below. Click to link to view the video and a few graphics from the report.
UT Provost Maurie McInnis' response, as noted below, is encouraging.
All of this is very inspiring, to say the least. Many thanks to our community, in particular, for being present.
-Angela Valenzuela
#UTIndependentEquityCommittee
Hispanic professors at UT are demanding equal pay and equal opportunities 
Friday afternoon at the state capitol eight full time professors presented the Hispanic Equity Report. They say it illustrates serious inequities at UT in terms of pay, leadership, recruitment and retention. (CBS Austin) Professor Emilio Zamora pictured.
by BETTIE CROSS | KEYE Staff Friday, November 22nd 2019
AUSTIN, Texas (KEYE) -- Hispanic professors at the University of Texas at Austin are on the offensive asking for equal pay and equal opportunities.
The professors say they have many examples of how Hispanics are underpaid and underutilized.
Friday afternoon at the state capitol eight full time professors presented the Hispanic Equity Report. They say it illustrates serious inequities at UT in terms of pay, leadership, recruitment and retention.
The salary study by race or ethnicity of all employees at UT shows Hispanics had the lowest median salary in 2017 at $42,000 and again in 2019 at $47,000.
One specific example the report shows is that Hispanic full professors make an average of $25,000 a year less than their white counterparts. And they say that’s just the beginning of the disparities.
Hispanics who get rejected from tenure at UT often have longer resumes than white professors who do get accepted for tenure.
The committee of eight professors is asking UT to invest $2.3 million each year to achieve better equity in compensation. They also want UT to appoint more Hispanics to positions of departmental and university leadership.
UT released the following statement:
Over the past year, the university has been working to address many of the issues of faculty equity echoed by this independent report. Executive Vice President and Provost Maurie McInnis has committed the university to understanding the source of the disparity in salaries described in the report. The provost has also asked the deans to review and report about their processes and outcomes in leadership selection, to improve transparency into these processes and to consider equity in the selection of leaders. As the provost wrote the authors of the report, “We are focused on taking real action, action that will lead to sustained change, and that requires real care and a deliberate approach.”
There is more detail on UT’s faculty equity initiatives online at https://provost.utexas.edu/news/update-faculty-equity-initiatives.
