Two Decades of Progress for Minorities in Aviation

Journal of Aviation Technology and Engineering Two Decades of Progress for Minorities in Aviation David C. Ison Rene Herron Linda Weiland Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Worldwide Diversity within the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields has historically lagged behind that which is found in other vocational paths. Aviation has also suffered poor diversity with virtually no participation among professional pilots. With both the literature specifying the benefits of diversity in the aviation workplace and potential shortages of pilots looming, it is in the interest of aerospace stakeholders to have access to the most comprehensively diverse employee pool possible. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the trends in participation by minorities who completed professional pilot education programs in the United States. Data concerning the number of students who completed degrees at the associate's, bachelor's, and master's levels were collected via the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Participation rates were compared to those found within the aviation industry. In general, the participation rates by non-White minorities in collegiate aviation (27.3%) exceeds that reported in the professional pilot vocation (18.4%). Detailed trends over the past 10 years were evaluated. Between 2004 and 2014, minority (including women) participation increased from 17.1% to 22.2%, which was deemed to be statistically significant (z 5 3.7, p , 0.001). The greatest gains were exhibited among Hispanics (p , 0.001), specifically Hispanic men (p , 0.001), with marginal gains by Asians (p 5 0.06). Decreases were noted in Native American participation (p 5 0.03) as well as among women, albeit not significantly (p 5 0.31). When extending the analysis back another seven years, minority (including women) participation showed significant change from 1997 (16.5%) to 2014 (22.2%), z 5 3.7, p , 0.001. Minority participation in professional pilot education has shown steady gains over the past two decades; however, it appears that this trend is leveling, especially among women. Further study is recommended with particular interest in promotion and recruitment of a diverse aviation student population. aviation; women; minorities; participation; inclusion; higher education; statistics - and the Asian labor force increased by 55.8%. The Hispanic labor force tripled during this period. Female participation jumped 26.5% vis-a-vis an increase of 18.8% among males (Toossi, 2012) . Among four-year higher education institutions, similar trends have been identified. In 1961, 97% of students were White, 2% were Black, and less than 1% were Asian. Forty-four percent of students at that time were women. By 1984, women outnumbered men, representing 52% of students. Additionally, 86% were White, 10% Black, 1% Native American, 2% Asian, and 2% Hispanic (Altback, Berdahl, & Gumport, 2005) . From 1998 to 2008, there was a 31.7% increase in overall enrollments with a 14% increase among Whites, 55.2% among Blacks, 74.4% among Hispanics, 37.4% among Asians, 30.4% among Native Americans, and 34% among women (Kim, 2012) . This surge is also seen in numbers collected from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) report that examined the 1990–2012 years. The number of Whites enrolled in degree-granting postsecondary institutions fell from 79.9% to 60.3%. Increases were seen in Blacks, 9.3% to 14.9%; Asians, 4.3% to 6.3%; Hispanics, 5.8% to 15%; and other races and ethnicities, 0.8% to 0.9% (NCES, 2015a) . Even in light of these improvements, there are certain fields and areas of study in which minorities have consistently been underrepresented and in which growth rates in participation have historically lagged. One such example of underrepresentation is within the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields (American Institutes for Research, 2012) . Exploring these subject threads further, it is evident that few minorities are involved in the aviation industry. Among aircraft pilots, minority participation has been virtually nonexistent with principally diminutive participation rates (Hedge, 2008) . There is much within the extant literature that highlights the benefits of minority participation in the workplace as well as in higher education particularly within STEM programs (McMahon, 2010; Umbach, 2006) . These studies outline benefits of diversity that include more positive work conditions, potential competitive business advantages, and richer learning environments (Lockwood, 2005; Umbach, 2006; Willdorf, 2000) . Such diversity has been identified to be particularly important in fields in which few minorities are involved (Luedtke, 1993). In the case of education, it is argued that ‘‘with racial, ethnic, and gender diversity comes a diversity of life experiences, values, and ideas, and exposing students to these various perspectives has educational benef (...truncated)