Minority Faculty and Their Journey to Promotion, Tenure, and Leadership in the Institute of Higher Education

• In Event: 16.048 - Breaking the Code: Developing a Mentorship Network for Minority Faculty in Academic Settings

Abstract

1. Objective: To describe and discuss current issues for minority faculty seeking promotion, tenure and leadership trajectories in IHEs.

2. Theoretical Framework: Social learning theory (Bandura, 1977) concerning the role of learning and development through observation and modeling.

3. Modes of Inquiry: Narrative Inquiry - Connelly and Clandinin (1990) described narrative inquiry in "education and educational research as the construction and reconstruction of personal and social stories" (p. 2). We drew from the tenets of narrative inquiry to inform our process and method.

4. Data Sources: Narratives, stories and reflections, and Literature Review

5. Point of View: Perceptions and performance evaluations have a great impact on the promotion efforts for all faculty. However, research showed that in the case of minority faculty, White students’ may have biased perceptions regarding their level of competence (Thompson, 2008). There is a strong connection between students’ perceptions and evaluations impacting faculty member’s opportunities for tenure and promotion. Aguirre attributes these biased perceptions to side effects of affirmative action and that minority faculty are marginalized in the eyes and thinking of White students (Aguirre, 2000, p. 82). In addition, at the institutional level, there is a persistent perception that faculty of color is not as qualified as White faculty (Yoshinaga- Itano, 2006). Several sources of stress described by Aguirre (2000) for minority faculty include: time pressures, lack of personal time, teaching load, review/promotion process, research/ publication demands, child care, and subtle discrimination” (p. 59). In addition to these stressors, minority faculty are overstrained with excessive committee appointments, which may result in a lack of time to focus on scholarship (Stanley, 2006; Turner, 2006). It is imperative for minority faculty to be aware of these stressors and to seek mentorship and or support to address these challenges.

The presenters will share some effective resources and alternative avenues to develop a mentorship network to provide a sense of community and support for promotion, tenure, and leadership.

6. Scholarly Significance of the study or work: Institutes of Higher Education (IHE) continue to struggle with recruitment and retention of minority faculty, especially women in academia (Turner, Viernes, & Myers, 2000; Wu, Thorsos, & Kern, 2016). There is a disparity between the percentages of men and women faculty with tenure (48.6% and 34.6% respectively) and the low rate (28%) of women faculty who advance in rank to full professors (Curtis, 2011). The importance of mentoring networks for minority faculty in supporting their successful advancement toward tenure, promotion and leadership has been well documented (Agosto et al., 2015; Allen, Eby, Poteet, Lentz, & Lima, 2004; Bottoms et al., 2013; Esnard, et al. 2015; Unterreiner, Four-Babb, Kern, & Wu, 2015).

Author

• Ke Wu, University of Montana