The article presents a theoretical framework, "institutional phase theory", that charts the process by which higher education faculties in the USA were broadened by race, gender, and to a certain extent class over the past 40 years. Drawing upon institutional ethnographies of three very different universities--a top-ranked private university, a comprehensive urban university, and a top-ranked public university, the authors provide examples from the third, the University of Michigan. By taking a historical and institutional approach, the authors chart the movement from accepting "exceptional" women and faculty of colour on male terms to measurable changes in overly rigid structures and institution-wide policies; expanded visions and boundaries in traditional disciplines; interdisciplinarity as a mark of the university; and transformed scholarly research in selected disciplines. (Contains 18 notes.)