A Validating Space for Latina Junior Faculty: A Collaborative to Advance Latino Education

• In Event: Overlooked No More: Postsecondary Educational Research Informed by Wisdom, Race, and Gender for the Greater Good

Abstract

Junior Latina faculty face challenges in attaining promotion and tenure in higher education environments. Accordingly, the Chronicle of Higher Education (2010) indicates that only 1 in 25 (4%) of tenured or tenure track faculty positions held by women in the 2007-2008 academic year were held by Latinas. As the ranks increase, the representation of Latinas decreases. During that same academic year, Female Latinas comprised 3.9% of assistant professors, 3.4% of associate professors, and 2.8% of full professors. One of the challenges to this is the socialization process of Latina women into higher education settings. The process of organizational socialization has traditionally been studied in organizational theory using a top-down approach. According to Gabriel (1999), organizational socialization "takes place through a sequence of sanctions, pressures, and rewards" (p. 195), similar to the tenure and promotion process in higher education. These sanctions, pressures, and rewards, however, are different for faculty of color who are, in many instances, still considered non-traditional to academia. In observing Thomas and Ely's (1996) three suggested stages of development of organizations creating diversity, research evidence suggests that even though higher education organizations demonstrate a concern for discrimination and fairness, very few organizations attain a stage where the organization "learns to take full advantage of the benefits diversity brings" (Hatch & Cunliffe, 2006, p. 318), or "actively works against forms of dominance and subordination that inhibit full contribution" (Thomas & Ely, 1996, p. 89).

Building meaningful relationships among faculty from diverse backgrounds is one way that the benefits of diversity can be leveraged. In this paper, we address how a collaborative of junior women faculty of color operates as an organization within a larger institution. In particular, we focus on how Latina faculty create a space of "validation" (Rendon, 1994; Rendon Linares & Muñoz, 2011), where they affirm one another's experiences and support one another in negotiating the academy. Validation theory typically has been applied to supporting students from underserved communities in the transition process (Rendon Linares & Muñoz, 2011); here, we argue that it can be extended to understanding how new Latina faculty members might also be supported during their professional transitions.

Validation theory is used in this research study to emphasizes the holistic nature of faculty members' experiences, the importance of faculty members' personal stories as ways of knowing (including our own auto-ethnographic work), strengths or "cultural wealth" (Yosso, 2005) and awareness their experiences in underserved communities. Also, validation theory is utilized to promote social justice, create supportive environments for faculty, and organizational transformation (Rendon Linares & Muñoz, 2011). In the example of our organization, junior Latina faculty members build a community through relationships involving validation. This community of scholars helps us to ease the isolation that women of color often face in higher education, and it offers us strategies for professional advancement and for promoting the public good.

Authors

• Anne-Marie Nunez, The University of Texas - San Antonio

• Elizabeth T. Murakami, The University of Texas - San Antonio