Abstract
While the goal of increasing numbers of underrepresented faculty members, especially Deaf professionals, has been accomplished to some extent, many are stymied in publishing their dissertation findings in peer-reviewed journals, and therefore have difficulty earning tenure. To address this need, a case study approach was utilized to investigate the development of Deaf professionals’ academic writing during a five-day writing retreat. This paper discusses specific academic writing challenges including organizing ideas, finding an appropriate journal, editing, submitting, as well as handling peer reviews, rejections, and revisions. Information is provided on the final writing products, types of support, guidance, and mentorship that were employed. Findings showed that 75% of papers worked on during the retreat were successfully published in peer-reviewed journals. The importance of published work by Deaf scholars and plans for future retreats are described.
Highlights
One reason seems to be the trauma associated with years of drill on auditory phonology while learning to read while another reason may be that Deaf academics find it a struggle to find the “right” writing mentor who can provide them with support and guidance to think, write, rewrite, rewrite, and rewrite again; the impetus for this writing retreat
Reviews of documents, and interviews with mentors and mentees who participated in the retreat we addressed the following two research questions: 1) What barriers did the mentors and mentees see to the writing/publishing process for Deaf academics?
The boundaries for this case study was the development of the PAH! Academic Writing Retreat, the mentors, the mentees, and the products that resulted from this event (Stake, 1995; as cited in Baxter & Jack, 2008)
Summary
While they are underrepresented, more Deaf professionals are accepting jobs in postsecondary programs and face the “publish or perish” dictum, as excelling at teaching is not enough. For Deaf professionals, this standard has become a barrier for tenure, promotion and raises (Smith & Andrews, 2015). In other cases, this has led to lawsuits because Deaf faculty are discriminated against and not provided with consistent mentoring as are hearing faculty One reason seems to be the trauma associated with years of drill on auditory phonology while learning to read (a skill that is typically not accessible; Paul & Wang, 2012) while another reason may be that Deaf academics find it a struggle to find the “right” writing mentor who can provide them with support and guidance to think, write, rewrite, rewrite, and rewrite again; the impetus for this writing retreat
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