African American Women Faculty Research Articles

African American Women Faculty at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs): Empowering through Mentoring

Recent movements that focus on social justice and racial equity have been the impetus for demands by students and faculty at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) to pressure institutional leadership to address how systemic racism plays out in policies and practices that pose barriers to persistence and success in higher education (e.g. promotion and tenure, administrative positions) for faculty from traditionally underrepresented groups (e.g. African American, Latino/a Indigenous people). There is increasing research in this area but there is still a paucity of research on specific factors that influence persistence, career development, and advancement for African American women faculty at predominantly White institutions. Racism and gender discrimination are significant barriers to the persistence and career advancement of African American women faculty at PWIs and this is even more pervasive in STEM. This paper will discuss challenges encountered by African American women at PWIs and highlight the role mentoring as resistance and resilience play in supporting African American women faculty.

Racial Battle Fatigue: The Unspoken Burden of Black Women Faculty in LIS

African-American women faculty are told that contemporary educational and professional institutions, particularly at historically White institutions (HWIs), are places where they can succeed. However, in these institutions, many Black women faculty are exposed to racial and gender discrimination and are subjected to Racial Battle Fatigue. This article explores experiences of Black female faculty and describes the challenges they endure in higher education.

Mentoring 101: advancing African-American women faculty and doctoral student success in predominantly White institutions

This article is purposed with operationalizing the concept of mentoring as a nuanced approach and attempt to promote the upward trajectories of African-American women in predominantly White institutions (PWIs). We struggled as African-American women to balance and decipher the various facets inherent in our respective roles – professor and doctoral student in a PWI – hence a mentor/mentee relationship emerged. This qualitative study explored the effectiveness of traditional and non-traditional mentoring functions for an African-American woman doctoral student aspiring for the professoriate, and the professional advancement of an African-American woman professor, who matriculate in the same PWI. Findings from our experience narratives indicate that both mentoring functions were helpful to our achievement. We proffer practical implications learned regarding mentoring strategies to aid other women and minorities’ succession at PWIs. Specific strategies are also offered to university administrators who desire to recruit, retain, graduate, and promote African-American women in PWIs.

African-American Women in the Professoriate: Addressing Social Exclusion and Scholarly Marginalization through Mentoring

African-American women and other underrepresented faculty members often report experiences of social exclusion and scholarly marginalization in mainstream institutions of higher education. This lack of inclusion challenges their retention and hinders them from becoming productive members of the professoriate, positioning them at a disadvantage for achieving tenure and promotion. In this article, mentoring is conceptualized as socialization and examined as a strategy for addressing social exclusion and scholarly marginalization as associated with the advancement of African-American women faculty in academe. Highlighting traditional and nontraditional mentoring initiatives and formal and informal networks, the discussion features the idea of a broad, flexible network of support. In addition, recommendations from the existing literature are offered for mentors, mentees, and academic department chairs to facilitate effective mentoring strategies.

Outsiders within the Academy: Strategies for Resistance and Mentoring African American Women

We, African American women professionals in higher education, make visible the continued presence of race and gender oppression, and the hegemony that supports systems of oppression the academy (Dillard, 2000; Patton, 2004ab). Race and gender differences in patterns of employment, rank, and personal experiences academic units are illustrative of the interlocking nature of race and gender oppression that have multiple influences (Combs, 2003; Wright Myers, 2002), including pathways to doctorate studies, institutional hiring practices, tenure and promotion processes, organizational behavior, and professional relationships. Further, Black women are more likely to report organizational barriers to advancement and have more negative views of academic or departmental climates. They also are less likely to indicate that their scholarship is valued, that they are respected by their colleagues, and that they are viewed as legitimate scholars compared to White women, men of color, or White men (Thomas & Hollenshead, 2001).Because career advancement and greater retention rates are among the most reported benefits of mentoring, mentoring is one form of resistance to systems of oppression, organizational barriers, and other negative dynamics experienced by Black women faculty. Mentoring also reduces social isolation and helps one to manage different academic roles (Bova, 2000; Holmes, Land, & Hinton-Hudson, 2007), making it one of the most viable coping and resistance strategies. Yet, a discussion of mentoring without acknowledging the intersections of race and gender, their implications predominately White institutions, and forms of resistance would not address fully the needs of Black women in the academy, beckoning the use of a cultural-inclusive approach to working with African American women in the academy.Therefore, to frame the current discussion on mentoring, we use core themes of Black Feminist Thought (Hill Collins, 1986; 1991) to situate Black women faculty in the academy. Part of our framework includes three sites of tension and resistance: (a) the Mammy-Sapphire continuum of existence, (b) inequality without reverence to credentials, expertise, and professional experiences, and (c) White privilege that dismisses the intersecting realities of racism and sexism. We then suggest a model of peer mentoring that allows for the careful integration of the socio-political tensions, such as race and gender as critical factors when mentoring African American women faculty (Benishek, Bieschke, Park, & Slattery, 2004). Inside the current article, we offer a few biographical narratives to place a face on the issues presented.Black Feminist Thought: Articulating the Outsider WithinPatton (2004a) argues that rather than the university being a place to explore diversity and to embrace diversity, universities often become complicitous in domination and oppression (p. 190). The fracturing between the politics, language, and practices of liberal universities is the uncomfortable nexus inhabited by Black women, which positions us as the academy (Dillard, 2000; Patton, 2004ab). Patricia Hill Collins (1986), in her classic essay on learning from the outsider within, argues that African American women scholars have the potential to use insight from their experiences at the intersections of race, gender, and class to ask new research questions, and to bring a new lens that reflects a Black woman's standpoint. Consistent with the promise of diversity and inclusion, Black women in higher education have the potential to challenge, innovate, and make evident that which was unseen by conventional disciplinary lens. Hill Collins (1986), however, acknowledges the status of outsider academe is inherently problematic if there are no transformations in institutions in which are a part of, and if the meanings assigned to Black women faculty remain unchanged. Thus, African American women as outsiders within the academy is a metaphor that not only evokes transformative promise but also exclusion, isolation, and subordination where one's work and contributions are viewed as less valued, less critical, and less deserving of compensation and recognition. …

Collaborating for Healthy Women of Low SES

Background: Women of low SES (socioeconomic status) are more likely to: have chronic stress, be sedentary, and experience chronic diseases, yet lack health care. As such, they are especially in need of health promotion services and comprise a vulnerable and underserved population. Collaboration between schools of nursing and community groups can create patient-centered and culturally sensitive interventions to promote health behaviors among low SES women. Purpose: To share collaborative processes between a school of nursing and community groups for the development and delivery of health promotion services to low SES women. Methodology: Using community-based participatory approaches with descriptive qualitative designs, faculty and staff met with leaders and clients of three community groups serving women of low SES, especially homeless, African-American and Latina women Faculty and staff assessed the acceptability of the focus, mode, and setting for a possible patient-centered, nurse-facilitated health promotion program. The program was based on prior health promotion research and complementary theories for initiation and maintenance of health behaviors. Community group leaders and clients provided formative evaluations in group sessions. Content analyses were conducted on responses. Findings: Informants welcomed a health promotion program, supporting foci on stress management, activity and diet, suggesting additional content on violence, and sharing ways for nurses to be culturally acceptable in their approach. Informants endorsed having group sessions for building knowledge and skills along with individual coaching for supporting behavior change. They wanted the programs held in their community centers. Research funds were procured to evaluate the program using a one-group pre- post-intervention design. Summary Concluding Statement: Collaboration between a school of nursing and community groups resulted in partnerships to offer patient-centered, culturally sensitive health promotion for women of low SES in different community settings. Implementation and evaluation of the program are ongoing.

The Sista' Network: African‐American Women Faculty Successfully Negotiating the Road to Tenure – By Tuesday L. Cooper

The Sista' Network: African‐American Women Faculty Successfully Negotiating the Road to Tenure – By Tuesday L. Cooper

Narrated Voices of African American Women in Academe

Introduction and Purpose The literature is becoming replete with studies that address the issue of sexism in the lives of women seeking full participation in the academy (Aguirre, 2000; Finkel, Olswang, & She, 1994; LeBlanc, 1993; Sandler, 1993). Volumes upon volumes record the injustices and frustration women have faced in higher education. There have been numerous reports of wage inequities, vague publishing expectations, ambiguous tenure requirements, limited access to certain academic disciplines, lack of mentorship and networking opportunities, and exclusion from strategic decision-making positions (Burgess, 1997; Finkel, et al., 1994; Warner & DeFleur, 1993). In much of this research, women are classified as a singular group not taking into consideration the impact that race may contribute to any one of these variables if the whole group were broken down into separate ethnic groups and investigated. For instance, based upon the long and turbulent history of race relations in the United States, a person would be remiss to assume historical ideologies (inferior vs. superior) created by a White male patriarchal system have no bearing on the experiences of African American and other women of color in higher education today (Amott & Matthaei, 1996). However, this is not to imply that White female academicians have not suffered because of the system in existence; rather, it simply infers that because of their ethnicity, their academic experiences have not been shaped by the intersections of race and gender as have those of women of color. It is precisely these overlapping socio-cultural factors (e.g., race, gender) that require an examination of the experiences of African American women to be placed within the proper social and political contexts in which their realities are constructed (Collins, 1990; Hurtado, Milen, Clayton-Peterson, & Allen, 1999). A number of studies have attempted to explain the status of African American women in higher education. However, what generally occurs in many of these studies is that the experiences of Black women are compared to those of other women, usually White women, to verify whether or not they are meeting some arbitrary standard of normalcy in the academy (Miller & Vaughn, 1997). Naturally, these findings will explain the experiences of some African American women in higher education. However, they are limited in their analysis because they do not take into account the legacy of race and gender relations in shaping the lives of African American women in society in general and in higher education more specifically (Collins, 1990; Gregory, 1995). Furthermore, these studies do not reveal how African American women interpret their experiences in predominantly White institutions, nor do they allow the women to discuss how socio-cultural issues affect their overall academic citizenship. These studies are also limited in their representation because they fail to consider the variation in responses that will be obtained from any two Black women as a result of their individual differences and personal experiences (Collins, 1990; Hurtado et al., 1999), which will ultimately influence how the women respond to interactions in their academic roles (Holmes, 1999). The purpose of this article is to present findings of a qualitative study conducted to investigate the academic experiences of selected African American women faculty employed by four-year predominantly White institutions. I started this line of inquiry as a graduate student attending a large predominantly White institution. As an African American woman, I was concerned with the small number of African American women faculty I encountered during my graduate program. Of equal concern was the lack of literature regarding Black women in the academy, as well as the substance of the available literature. I was particularly interested in examining the women's experiences within the context of race and gender because extant literature suggests that these constructs shape the academic roles of African American people in higher education (Collins, 1990; Thompson & Dey, 1998; Turner, Myers, Creswell, 1999; Miller, & Vaughn, 1997). …

Maids of Academe: African American Women Faculty at Predominately White Institutions

The presence of African American women at predominantly white institutions is one of historical relevance and continues to be one of first, near misses, and almosts. Individually and collectively, African American women at PWIs suffer from a form of race fatigue as a result of being over extended and undervalued. The purpose of this article is to present the disproportionate role African American women assume in service, teaching, and research as a result of being in the numerical minority at PWIs. Information is presented to provide an overview on racism in the academy, images and portrayals, psychosocial, spiritual, and legal issues for African American women faculty. Finally recommendations are presented to assist African American women faculty, and administrators, colleagues, and students at PWIs to understand and improve the climate at their institutions.

Contributions of Black Women in Political Science to a More Just World

African-American women represent fewer than 5% of the doctoral degrees awarded in political science. There are only a handful of tenured black women in the nation's top-rated political science departments (Sarkees and McGlen 1999). There is no major text in the field that deals exclusively with the public opinion, political behavior, or institutional contributions of African-American women. Despite some recent notable exceptions, black women as authors of and subjects of research inquiry are still largely absent from the pages of periodicals that define the field. Many black women in political science are laboring in obscurity relative to the profession. “African American women faculty continue to be concentrated among the lower ranks, primarily in non-tenured positions, promoted at a slower rate, paid less than their male and white female counterparts, located in traditional disciplines, and primarily employed by two year colleges,” according to Sheila Gregory (1999, 11). Even from this position on the margin, black women political scientists have contested the field, challenged the academy, and contributed to the development of more just communities.

The experiences of African American women faculty and administrators in higher education: Has anything changed?

AbstractThis chapter explores factors of concern for, and overall experiences of, African American female faculty and administrators, including salary issues, affirmative action, racism, sexism, homophobia, campus climate, isolation, tenure and promotion processes, and salary.

Differences in Perceptions of African American Women and Men Faculty and Administrators

This article maintains that African American women face dual burdens of racism and sexism in institutions of higher education and thus confront special challenges. It reports on a study that investigated gender differences in the perceptions of 413 African American women and men college faculty and administrators in critical areas such as promotion, tenure, institutional climate, and professional life. The study data indicate significant differences by gender in response to items assessing respondent views about these issues, with women noting lower satisfaction with their professional lives, a greater sense of isolation on campus, and differential and more negative treatment by colleagues. Recommendations are offered to address the concerns raised by African American women faculty and administrators in higher education. INTRODUCTION Gender and race equity are major issues facing higher education in the United States. Despite two decades of efforts on the part of the nation's postsecondary institutions, women and minorities still face special problems navigating their careers in academe. Women faculty and administrators are promoted at slower rates, and their earnings are lower compared to their male colleagues (Johnsrud & DesJarlais, 1994). Minority faculty and administrators are not only underrepresented in academic institutions, but their retention also poses a problem (Menges & Exum, 1983; Silver, Dennis, & Spikes, 1989). Despite heightened concern in higher education about retaining women and minorities in professional positions and nurturing faculty diversity, few studies have focused on the experiences and perceptions of African American women faculty and administrators in particular. When earlier studies have examined the concerns and perspectives of African Americans in the college professoriate and administration, they have treated them as one monolithic group (Bjork & Thompson, 1989; Blackwell, 1989; Brown, 1987, 1988). Most have looked at the special problems that minority faculty face as a group, ignoring the gender-based differences. Studies that focus on women faculty and administrators have also examined them as one group and have not examined differences based on race (Ekstrom, 1979). The result is a serious dearth of studies on African American women in academe, whose concerns and perspectives have remained largely unexamined and unaddressed. Our search to locate studies on gender differences among African American faculty and administrators yielded no empirical studies, yet anecdotal evidence suggests that African American women faculty and administrators face dual burdens of sexism and racism and confront special challenges in promotion and tenure (Sandler, 1986). Furthermore, the literature confirms that the rate of promotion and tenure among African American women is slower than that of either African American men or White women (Moses, 1989). It is important to document the perspectives of African American women faculty and administrators in order to develop strategies that address their concerns. Although many earlier studies have examined the actual rates of tenure/promotion and salary differences among men and women, the present study focuses on the differences in opinions and perceptions African American women and men faculty and administrators hold about such variables as the promotion and tenure process, professional environment, and institutional climate. Specifically, it examines three research questions: (1) Do differences exist in the professional characteristics of African American women and men faculty and administrators? (2) Do differences exist between these two groups in their perceptions of and views on the tenure and promotion process? (3) Do differences exist in the two groups' perceptions of the professional environment and institutional climate in academe, and if so, do these differences in perceptions hinder or facilitate professional development and promotion opportunities for African American women? …