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Benchmarking the Humanities: What We Know, and What We Don’t
The document presents an overview of trends in humanities education, including bachelor's degree completions, departmental changes, and faculty employment between 1948 and 2014. It highlights the declining share of humanities degrees, the rise of second majors, and employment patterns for graduates in various occupations. Additionally, it covers digital humanities engagement and the earnings of degree holders across different fields.
Benchmarking the Humanities: What We Know, and What We Don’t
- 1. Benchmarking the Humanities: WhatWe Know, and What We Don’t Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences 49th Annual Meeting San Antonio, Texas November 6, 2014
- 2. Bachelor’s Degree Completionsin the Humanities, 1948–2011
- 3. Humanities as aShare of All Degrees at Level, 1987–2013 Bachelor's Master's and First Professional Doctoral 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 Percent Humanities Indicators, 2014 · American Academy of Arts & Sciences
- 4. Humanities Bachelor’s DegreeCompletions as a Percentage of All Bachelor’s Degree Completions, by Control of Institution, 1987 to 2013 Public Institutions Private Institutions: Nonprofit Private Institutions: For- Profit 0 5 10 15 20 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 Percent Humanities Indicators, 2014 · American Academy of Arts & Sciences
- 5. Humanities Bachelor’s DegreesEarned as “Second Majors,” 2001–2013 Number of Bachelor's Degrees Earned as "Second Majors" Percentage of All Second Majors 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 10,000 12,000 14,000 16,000 18,000 20,000 22,000 24,000 26,000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 "SecondMajor"HumanitiesDegreesEarned Humanities Indicators, 2014 · American Academy of Arts & Sciences 0
- 6. Advanced Placement ExamsTaken in Major Fields, 1996–2013 0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000 ExamsTaken(Thousands) Humanities Social Sciences Natural Sciences Math & Computer Science Humanities Indicators, 2010 · American Academy of Arts & Sciences
- 7. Median College CreditsEarned in Selected Subjects, by Student Major 47 15 19 18 18 27 24 22 11 98 73 60 15 15 15 1718 9 16 12 18 60 21 20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 Humanities (including History) Engineering Biological & Physical Sciences Computer Science Business Social Sciences Education All Majors NormalizedCredits Student Major Humanities STEM Behavioral & Social Sciences Humanities Indicators, 2014 · American Academy of Arts & Sciences Credits earned in all subjects (median): 127
- 8. Estimated Number ofDepartments in the Discipline, Fall 2007 and Fall 2012 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1,000 1,100 1,200 1,300 1,400 Departments Fall 2007 Fall 2012 2007 Sample Population* Disciplines Only in 2012 Survey Humanities Indicators, 2014 · American Academy of Arts & Sciences
- 9. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Percent All Institutions Public Private Humanities Indicators,2014 · American Academy of Arts & Sciences Percentage of Humanities Departments Ceasing to Grant Degrees at Some Level, Fall 2007–Fall 2012
- 10. 0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 FacultyMembers Discipline Fall 2007 Fall2012 2007 Sample Population* Disciplines Only in 2012 Survey Humanities Indicators, 2014 · American Academy of Arts & Sciences Estimated Total Number of Humanities Faculty Members (Full- and Part-time), by Discipline, Fall 2007 and 2012
- 11. Number of AdvertisedJob Openings through Disciplinary Society, 2000–01 to 2013–14 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 English Lang. Other than English History Philosophy Religion Classical Studies
- 12. Percentage Humanities FacultyMembers Employed Part-time or Off the Tenure Track, by Discipline, Fall 2012 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Percent Discipline Part-Time Off the Tenure Track Humanities Indicators, 2014 · American Academy of Arts & Sciences
- 13. Engagement with DigitalHumanities, Fall 2012 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Offered Seminar Focusing on Digital Method Formal Guidelines for Evaluating Digital Pub's for Tenure and Promotion English Depts Foreign Language Depts History Depts Religion Depts Philosophy Depts Humanities Indicators, 2014 · American Academy of Arts & Sciences
- 14. Percentage of HumanitiesDepartments Offering Online Courses, by Carnegie Classification, Academic Year 2011–12 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Fully Online Courses Hybrid Courses Percent Course Type Primarily Undergraduate Comprehensive Primarily Research Humanities Indicators, 2014 · American Academy of Arts & Sciences
- 15. Median Annual Earningsof Full-Time Workers with Bachelor’s Degrees in Designated Fields, by Degree Status, 2012 $50.5 $70.7 $0 $20 $40 $60 $80 $100 $120 Education Arts Humanities Behavioral & Social Sciences Life Sciences Business Health & Medical Sciences Physical Sciences Engineering ThousandsofDollars Terminal Degree Recipients Advanced Degree Recipients Humanities Indicators, 2014 · American Academy of Arts & Sciences
- 16. Occupational Distribution ofHolders of Terminal Bachelor's Degrees in the Humanities, 2012 1 13.5% 2a 7.9% 2b 1.3% 2c 3.4% 3 9.4% 4 8.9% 5 3.0%6 2.8% 7 2.5% 8 1.6% 9 1.3% 10 0.7% Secretaries & Administrative Assistants 3.1% Customer Service Representatives 2.1% Other Office & Admin. Support 9.7% First Line Supervisors 3.0% Retail Salespersons… Other Sales 7.1% Food Service 3.3% Other Service 6.2% 6.4% Management, Professional, & Related 1 Management 2a Education—Precollegiate Teaching 2b Education—Postsecondary Teaching 2c Education—Other 3 Arts, Design, Media, & Entertainment 4 Business & Financial Operations 5 Computer 6 Community & Social Services 7 Healthcare 8 Legal 9 Sciences & Engineering 10 Other Management & Professional Office & Administrative Support Sales Service Other** 1 13.5% 2a 7.9% 2b 1.3% 2c 3.4% 3 9.4% 4 8.9% 5 3.0%6 2.8% 7 2.5% 8 1.6% 9 1.3% 10 0.7% Secretaries & Administrative Assistants 3.1% Customer Service Representatives 2.1% Other Office & Admin. Support 9.7% First Line Supervisors 3.0% Retail Salespersons… Other Sales 7.1% Food Service 3.3% Other Service 6.2% 6.4% Management, Professional, & Related 1 Management 2a Education—Precollegiate Teaching 2b Education—Postsecondary Teaching 2c Education—Other 3 Arts, Design, Media, & Entertainment 4 Business & Financial Operations 5 Computer 6 Community & Social Services 7 Healthcare 8 Legal 9 Sciences & Engineering 10 Other Management & Professional Office & Administrative Support Sales Service Other**
- 17. Occupational Distribution ofAdvanced Degree Holders with Undergraduate Degrees in the Humanities, 2012 1a 14.4% 1b 10.8% 1c 5.5% 2 13.8% 3 10.4% 4 6.5% 5 6.4% 6 5.7% 7 5.1% 8 2.9% 9 1.8% 10 2.5% 4.9% 4.3% 3.1% 2.0% Management, Professional, & Related 1a Education—Precollegiate Teaching 1b Education—Postsecondary Teaching 1c Education—Other 2 Legal 3 Management 4 Community & Social Services 5 Business & Financial Operations 6 Healthcare 7 Arts, Design, Media & Entertainment 8 Sciences & Engineering 9 Computer 10 Other Management & Professional Office & Administrative Support Sales Service Other** Humanities Indicators, 2014 · American Academy of Arts & Sciences 1a 14.4% 1b 10.8% 1c 5.5% 2 13.8% 3 10.4% 4 6.5% 5 6.4% 6 5.7% 7 5.1% 8 2.9% 9 1.8% 10 2.5% 4.9% 4.3% 3.1% 2.0% Management, Professional, & Related 1a Education—Precollegiate Teaching 1b Education—Postsecondary Teaching 1c Education—Other 2 Legal 3 Management 4 Community & Social Services 5 Business & Financial Operations 6 Healthcare 7 Arts, Design, Media & Entertainment 8 Sciences & Engineering 9 Computer 10 Other Management & Professional Office & Administrative Support Sales Service Other** Humanities Indicators, 2014 · American Academy of Arts & Sciences
- 18. Median Number ofYears Spent by Ph.D. Recipients in Their Doctoral Programs, by Field and Phase of Program, Graduation Years 2004–2012 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Humanities Engineering Life Sciences Physical Sciences Social Sciences All Fields YearsinPhaseofProgram Graudation Year/Field of Degree Courses/Exams Dissertation Humanities Indicators, 2014 · American Academy of Arts & Sciences '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 All Fields '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 Social Sciences '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 Physical Sciences '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 Life Sciences '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 Humanities
- 19. Visit us at:www.humanitiesindicators.org If you have questions: E-mail: rtownsend@amacad.org Phone: (202) 233-0817
Editor's Notes
- #3 And when you step back and look at the full indicator, you can see two important differences from the existing data. First, the peak from which the humanities fell in the 1970s was more the exception than the rule for the disciplines. And also, that they left out the second line here, which was our attempt to capture other disciplines—such as area studies which certainly count as the humanities, and account for some of the students that are no longer in our core four departments—English, foreign languages, history, and philosophy.
- #4 That said, when we step back and look at how the humanities are faring, you can see that there IS a notable decline in the share of degrees going to the humanities over the past few years—although what is most notable here is the rapid climb in the share of degrees going to the natural sciences.
- #5 Private colleges and universities have traditional conferred a larger portion of their degrees on the humanities, but over the past decade the decline in market share for the humanities has reflected a convergence between private and public institutions in the percentage of their degrees in the humanities.
- #6 And we see something similar in the trend among second majors, which have always had a disproportionate number of humanities—about 25%. There was a clear upward trend through much of the 2000s, though it has now flattened out (and in proportional terms actually started to decline).
- #7 It is notable as a point of contrast to note how the humanities compare to other measures, such as the significant rise in the number of students taking AP tests in the humanities relative to all other disciplines. Partially it is a function of the number of humanities topics that are tested, but the difference between the two trendlines is something we have been puzzling over.
- #8 Of course degrees are not the only measure of student activity, which is why we just recently released a tabulation of course taking activity in different fields developed by my colleague Carolyn Fuqua. One of the questions we would like to explore is how students become siloed in particular course tracks by their selection of major. As you can see, the differences are fairly pronounced in the three fields extracted here. We’d feared that the findings would cause a bit of a scrum, because the number of STEM students taking humanities courses is larger than the number of humanities students taking STEM courses. But in the end, the conversation focused on rather more interesting questions about how to measure the contributions of particular disciplines in the academy.
- #9 What we lack is any sort of systematic data gathering on departments and faculty, as the feds have cancelled a number of tracking studies. To try to fill the gap for our disciplines, we initiated a survey of departments back in 2007. Looking first at the number of departments, you can see we found very little evidence of decline in the number of departments—and mind you this exaggerates the losses, as the 2007 sample population does not include departments created in the interim.
- #10 While we did not find much in the way of statistically significant declines in the number of departments, we did find a fairly large percentage of departments reporting they had ceased to grant a degree at some level.
- #11 One of the larger areas covered b the new departmental survey was about faculty. Here again, among the departments surveyed in both years, the estimated number of faculty was down in most disciplines, though we cannot say how these numbers might represent in the full universe of departments. From my conversations with most journalists, these numbers were perhaps the most surprising finding in the study—as based on social media accounts, they expected a more precipitous plunge.
- #12 One of the questions lies in the general competition for staff in particular fields. As you can see, across the disciplines that track their job ads, there had been a significant decline in the number of jobs advertised across the humanities. And after a small recovery, those numbers are heading south again. Languages: Religion: MLA Office of Research, “Report on the MLA Job Information List, 2013–14,” online at http://www.mla.org/pdf/rpt_jil_1314web.pdf. History: Allen Mikaelian, “The Academic Job Market's Jagged Line: Number of Ads Placed Drops for Second Year,” Perspectives on History (September 2014), online at http://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/september-2014/the-academic-job-markets-jagged-line. Classical Studies Association, “Joint APA/AIA Placement Service Participation Statistics, 2003-2014,” online at http://www.apaclassics.org/sites/default/files/ckfinder/files/PlacementStatistics03-14(1).pdf Religion: Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion, “Job Advertisement Data 2013-2014,” online at https://www.aarweb.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/Career_Services/AARSBLJobsReport2013-2014.pdf
- #13 The next obvious question tends to be about how the overall numbers look when you break them down between tenure track and contingent faculty. As you can see here, in the 2012 survey we found less than half of the faculty employed in part-time positions or off the tenure track. Here again, this was a bit of a surprise, as the number generally used on twitter and elsewhere is that 75% of the faculty is in contingent positions. Among the departments surveyed—and bearing in mind that these are only 4-year institutions, and we were not counting TAs--42% of the faculty were employed off the tenure track, with only communication hitting 50%.
- #14 Alongside the questions about tenure, we also probed a bit about the departments engagement with digital forms of scholarship and teaching. Despite a considerable amount of attention to the digital humanities in the media, across the board, we found relatively little engagement with digital humanities at the departmental level. English was alone in reporting nearly a quarter of their departments were teaching at least one course in digital methods, and barely 20% had guidelines for evaluating digital publications for promotion and tenure.
- #15 While there was little engagement with digital humanities, a much larger portion of the humanities departments were engaged using digital tools as part of the teaching enterprise, with a substantial difference between liberal arts and comprehensive institutions. **the gap between the institution types was actually larger than the differences between the larger disciplines.**
- #16 Finally, here is a new item that we just posted up which answers one of the more frequent questions we receive: just what to do humanities majors earn. Looking at folks who only have a terminal bachelor’s degree and were employed full-time in 2012, the answer was roughly $51,000—which placed the field above education and the arts, and pretty much on par with the social, behavioral, and life sciences. But it is worth noting that humanities students who go on to earn advanced degrees—and about 44% do so—had a 40% boost in their median earnings.
- #17 Within the larger Indicators site, we try to treat the full life cycle of students majoring in the humanities discipline, using special data runs from the American Community Survey. Just recently we published an update on the occupations of humanities majors. One of the notable findings is the high proportion of humanities majors going on to positions in the education sector. Among those whose highest degree was a bachelor’s degree, almost 12 percent were in education.
- #18 Among former humanities majors who went on to earn an advanced degree, the numbers expand to nearly a quarter of the population, which is a much larger portion than among the disciplines generally celebrated for higher levels of compensation. At a conference Carolyn and I attended last week, there was some rather sharp division about the best measure of the value of a discipline, and in the economic value of education came out well ahead of disciplines and professions that might have significant social value. I’ll just toss that out as a potential area for discussion later.
- #20 SO, with that, let me just encourage you to visit the site and explore questions that might be of interest to you. And let me turn the floor over to you for your questions.