MacArthur Fellows, 1981-2018: Gender, Race and Educational Attainment

Abstract

This study examines the backgrounds of the winners of the MacArthur Fellowship grants from 1981 to 2018, from the conceptual framework of the term “genius”. The study finds that of the 1014 Fellows, Whites account for over eight out of every ten; minorities account for almost 20%; men account for almost 63%; White men account for 51.3%; Blacks account for 12.5%; Asians account for 5.9%; and Native Americans account for 1.2 percent. Of 965 terminal or highest degrees earned by 928 Fellows, 540 (56%) are doctorates, with the Ph.D. accounting for 514 (53.3%). White men earned the majority of all degrees (50.8%). Harvard University awarded the highest number of degrees, 119: Yale University, 61; University of California, Berkeley, 51; Columbia University, 44; and Princeton University, 41. All eight Ivy league institutions awarded 306 (31.7%) degrees to 300 (32.3%) Fellows. The 2020 U.S. News and World Report Top 25 institutions combined awarded 522 degrees (54.1%) to 514 Fellows (55.5%). There is a link among earned doctoral degrees, foreign-born males, and the overall gender gap in the study.