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• 1 2018-12-09T22:39:47-08:00 First Female African-American Faculty Member 13 Dr. Adena Williams Loston is believed to be the first female African-American faculty member at A-State. plain 2018-12-10T18:03:07-08:00 Dr. Adena Williams Loston is believed to be the first female African-American faculty member at Arkansas State University. Her time at Arkansas State was brief, but it was a huge milestone for the history of Arkansas State University. [1]
  The University has extensive information on the first male African American faculty members, but there is very little to offer concerning the first female faculty members of any race. The absence of this information says a lot about the university's history and possibly even the university's priorities. The university's official timeline mentions the first white students, the first female African-American students, the first male African-American students, and the first African-American male faculty. There is no explicit mention of the first female faculty members. 
  
  This absence could imply that their positions existed as long as the first male faculty members have, but that does not seem to be the case. There is very little mention of any women faculty early on in the history of the university. However, if the timeline emphasized the first male African-American faculty members, it would be plausible to include the first female African-American faculty members as well. Instead, there is no mention of the first women faculty members at all. 
  
  This could mean a few things. First, it could mean that the university did not see this information as important enough to include in the official school timeline. Second, it could mean that this information was never tracked and so nothing has been published sharing it. Third, it could mean that this information was never digitized and shared online. Fourth, it could mean that this information is unknown to the university. There are probably several more reasons, but the trend leads to the idea that the university did not find this information important enough to track or share. 
  
  Does this indicate that the university values women faculty less than men? Not necessarily. Today there are many female faculty members in leadership positions paving the way for future successes for women within the university. 
  
  
  [1] Inside ASU: News For Faculty and Staff. Arkansas State University. Accessed December 9, 2018. http://asunews.astate.edu/insideasu022304.htm.