Estimated Number of Departments in Surveyed Humanities Disciplines, Fall 2007 and Fall 2012

Data on trends in the number of departments and faculty in the humanities have traditionally been scarce. To address the need for this information, the Academy began in fall 2007 to survey departments about faculty, students, and other departmental characteristics. Despite recent concerns about the effects of the recession on the field, a follow-up survey of conditions in 2012 turned up very little evidence of decline in the number of humanities departments. (Note: this chart exaggerates any losses since the sample for the 2012 survey was not designed to account for new departments created between the two surveys.)