The Berkshire Eagle
By Scott Stafford
January 23, 2019
NORTH ADAMS — An independent report from the Eos Foundation on gender equality in Massachusetts colleges and universities has ranked Berkshire Community College and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts as two of the top five public schools that have achieved gender equity in enrollment, employment and pay levels.
“Women’s Power Gap in Higher Education” examines the percentage of women enrolled at all Massachusetts public and private colleges alongside the percentage of female college presidents, senior leadership and boards of trustees. Of 93 schools, only 18 (19 percent of the total) were ranked as “satisfactory.” Only five of those schools were identified as reaching “gender parity.”
The report, which was released in September, ranks BCC and MCLA in the top category, and noted that they have achieved gender parity across all leadership categories. The report notes that women make up 40 percent of the most highly compensated professionals at both BCC and MCLA.
It ranks BCC number seven overall, and first among public colleges. BCC also has two past woman presidents and 50 percent of the board of trustees are women. And a woman, Ellen Kennedy, serves BCC as president.
