Full, free, and unapologetic: Black women faculty navigating the tensions of full professorship promotion

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 7:45 am - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding and Supporting Black and Hispanic Faculty

Abstract

The severely small proportion of Black women faculty at full professorship rank begs for exploration of the factors they weigh when considering putting themselves forward for full promotion. This qualitative study employs a creative analysis technique grounded in Black Feminist Thought (Collins, 2000) to explore Black women faculty’s career and promotion decisions. Findings show that in addition to systemic barriers to promotion (Croom, 2017; Espino & Croom, 2022), Black women faculty also consider tensions of self-definition of their career, expectations of others, and status and power as heavily influential factors towards submitting for full promotion.

Authors

• Danielle Magasano, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Rachelle Winkle-Wagner, University of Wisconsin - Madison