Southern Coup: Recruiting African American Faculty Members at an Elite Private Southern Research University

Abstract

Competition for highly qualified African American faculty members among elite universities in the United States remains keen. Two of the most successful research universities at recruiting African American faculty members are located in the Southeast. Employing a conceptual framework grounded in organizational culture and climate literature, in this qualitative study the authors identified sets of tangible, intangible, and non-work-related factors that influenced the decisions of 12 African American faculty members in several disciplines to accept positions at an elite private research university in the Southeast. Study participants identified other factors not included in the original conceptual framework that also played significant roles in their decisions to accept positions at this university. Understanding such factors may assist other elite research universities in developing recruiting strategies to compete more effectively for African American faculty members.