The cost of being professors and administrators of color in predominantly white institutions: unpacking microagression,isolation, exclusion,and unfairness through a critical race lens

ABSTRACT

Teaching in predominantly white institutions is a terrific challenge for professors of color. In addition to being expected to fulfill professional obligations, including publishing, teaching, advising, and mentoring students, professors of color constantly have to fight against microaggression, lack of diversity, inclusion, and fairness in the academy. Drawing on critical race theory and testimonios from professors of color from diverse backgrounds, this essay seeks to examine ways in which these professors have experienced these intersecting forms of oppression in the academy. Their testimonios showcase their resilient spirit resisting institutional oppression. This essay presents a very complex portrait of the experiences of professors of color and goes on to offer suggestions that might be helpful to those interested in social justice issues in higher education.     

The 2000 Cohort of New Assistant Professors of Counselor Education: Year 3

This article is the 3rd in a series that has been focused on the experiences of assistant professors of counselor education who were at the conclusion of their 3rd year in the profession. Thirty‐six participants provided information about their experiences, sources of pleasure and displeasure, professional contributions, areas of change, and expectations for tenure and promotion. Prominent themes that emerged from the data included mentoring, balance and family focus, and scholarship. Recommendations are presented for counselor educators‐in‐training, candidates, new counselor educators (CEs), and veteran CEs.     

Mentor-shape: exploring the mentoring relationships of Black women in doctoral programs

Using a Black Feminist Thought framework, this phenomenological study focused on lived experiences with mentoring relationships among 38 Black women in doctoral programs in multiple disciplines across universities in the United States. Although emerging studies on Black women in academia acknowledge the significance of mentorship and the reality of discrimination at the intersection of race and gender, the literature lacks empirical support pertaining to the formation and outcomes of mentoring relationships, specifically for Black women in doctoral education. Findings from this study suggested four central themes in the mentoring relationships among Black women in doctoral programs: (a) organic evolvement, (b) shared identity/mutual interest, (c) personal transformation and (d) increase in access and opportunity. Implications for future research, policy, practice and education across disciplines are offered.     

From School Counselor to Counselor Educator: A Phenomenological Study

Through a phenomenological study, the experiences of 8 early‐career school counselor educators who entered academia directly from positions as P–12 school counselors were examined. Results revealed that the participants experienced numerous challenges and supports related to their transition. Recommendations for counselor educators, doctoral students, and new faculty are provided.     

The Cultural Work of Teacher Education

Engaging teacher education as cultural work positions teacher educators and pre-service teachers as cultural workers. Cultural workers foreground the cultural complexities of their situated experiences while aiming to produce cultures that transform prevailing inequalities and injustices in public education. Doctoral students are also cultural workers translating the world of academia and their role in it as they learn to educate teacher candidates. How doctoral candidates engage in this cultural work depends greatly on the degree to which their faculty mentors are able to reveal the contradictions and opportunities for expansive learning that co-exist within schools of education and individual departments such as curriculum and learning. This article looks at this conundrum from the perspectives of a doctoral student and a senior faculty member.     

Mentoring Undergraduate Researchers: An Exploratory Study of Students’ and Professors’ Perceptions

Mentoring is believed to be one of the most influential factors in US efforts to encourage college‐aged students to seek careers in science, yet the role that mentoring plays in this process has not been elucidated. The researchers were interested in understanding whether the long‐held beliefs about the importance of mentoring would be revealed as what actually occurs in an undergraduate research program. They describe students’ perceptions of the mentoring process and students’ beliefs about how it impacted their experiences as undergraduate researchers and their development as scientists. Also described are professors’ perceptions of their roles and effectiveness as mentors in students’ development as scientists. A multi‐case narrative analysis was conducted of two groups, undergraduate science scholars (n=5) and mentoring professors (n=5), who were each interviewed on two occasions at the beginning and end of the first year of a funded research program. As this grounded research study shows, students and professors described student gains as increased technical expertise and communication skills. Professors suggested that they were available to students on a regular and frequent basis. However, students’ experiences suggested a contradiction. They were often mentored by postgraduates, technical assistants, and other students; their meetings with mentoring professors were infrequent and at times distant. With respect to mentoring, this finding highlights the differences between beliefs and the reality of what was delivered. Professors discussed the challenges associated with mentoring including the recruitment of and difficulty of working with students whose first language was not English and concerns about the quality of instruction from graduate students.     

Reflective Teaching in the Early Years: A Case for Mentoring Diverse Educators

Student diversity in classrooms is on the rise and with it, a need for teachers who recognize the needs of diverse student populations. Teacher retention is a national crisis, with teachers of color at especially high risk for leaving the teaching profession early. This case study describes a collaborative mentoring approach used by a primary grades Latina teacher and two university professors. This approach focused on reflective discussion of classroom events and addressed the challenges of teaching for understanding in an age of accountability and changing demographics. Findings indicate that the beginning teacher’s enthusiasm combined with the expertise of teacher educators benefited the teacher, the students, other teachers in the school, and the participating university professors. Implications of this case study point towards the need to mentor diverse educators in the early years.     

Mentoring and Work Engagement for Female Accounting,Faculty Members in Higher Education

Women have comprised the majority of accounting graduates with bachelor and master degrees since the 1980s and 1990s, respectively, but currently only account for about 30% of doctoral students. Their representation in the accounting professoriate is essentially the same. Supportive strategies, such as mentoring, assist disciplines in which women are under-represented in attracting and retaining them in the work environment. Work engagement is one measure of a person’s commitment to their current employer. Therefore, understanding which aspects of mentoring increase the level of work engagement of those women currently in academia is important and can guide institutions in developing mentoring programs. In my study, I investigated factors that predict work engagement for female accounting professors.     

An Exploration of Themes That Influence the Counselor Education Doctoral Student Experience

The purpose of the present study was to explore the themes that counselor education doctoral students perceive as influencing their experience. The results of an exploratory qualitative study in which counselor education doctoral students provided their perceptions of what helped or hindered their progress are presented. Themes identified as both positively and negatively influencing their experiences were departmental culture, mentoring, academics, support systems, and personal issues. Recommendations are provided for counselor educators to consider in their work with doctoral students.     

Doctoral Students' Experiences with Pedagogies of the Home,Pedagogies of Love,and Mentoring in the Academy

In this article, a group of nontraditional and/or doctoral students of color and our advisor discuss how the advisor-advisee mentoring relationship has positively affected our experiences within academia. The mentoring relationship, cultivated within a group mentoring model, was integral to our acclimation of the hidden culture of our doctoral programs. We elaborate on the history and mentoring model of the group of which we are a part, and follow with a review of the literature on mentoring practices and a discussion of methodology. Finally, through autoethnographic vignettes, each author discusses his/her experience as a non-traditional and/or student of color and how our relationship with the group has provided us with the logistical, emotional, and psychological support needed to progress in and complete our programs.     

Relational Mentoring of Doctoral Social Work Students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

This article explores the distinctive mentoring experiences of social work doctoral students at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). With a philosophical emphasis on social justice, self-determination, racial identity and pride, and social integration, social work faculty at HBCUs mentor African American and other students in PhD programs for academic achievement and successful leadership in the professoriate. The mentoring experiences at HBCUs are underpinned by tenets from relational/cultural theory and the Black feminist theory of “other mothering.” Using Howard University as a case study, this article examines relational mentoring experiences of PhD students in preparation for the academy and for leadership in social work education and practice.     

Peer mentoring among doctoral students of science and engineering in Taiwan

This study describes the peer mentoring experience from doctoral student mentors?? point of view. Twelve science and engineering doctoral students participated in this phenomenology study. The findings suggest doctoral peer mentors served instrumental, psychosocial, buffering, and liaison roles; they passed on their social, professional, and academic knowledge to their mentees and tried to assist them in adapting to the culture of the lab and academia. The study identified a variety of factors that influenced their attitudes and behaviors as peer mentors and concluded this system would be beneficial to the learning and development of both individual students and lab teams. The aims of this study were threefold: first, to identify the importance and necessity of peer mentoring systems as part of the experience of working in labs in graduate school; second, to ascertain which interactions and factors in the peer mentoring relationship benefitted both peer mentors and peer mentees; and third, to explore what might constitute best practices in the peer mentoring relationship.     

Navigating marginality en route to the professoriate: graduate students of color learning and living in academia

The author contends that marginalization is a major issue for graduate students of color in their doctoral studies. She explains three forms of marginalization, and suggests some strategies for how each can be counteracted. These are physical, cultural and intellectual isolation, benign neglect and problematic popularity. Her analyses are informed by insights gleaned from her personal experiences as a student and professor of color in predominantly White institutions (PWIs), her observations and interactions with graduate students of color as an instructor and doctoral studies advisor, and from the research and scholarship of other scholars. The author makes an appeal for professors of color and their European American colleagues to make their curriculum, instruction advising, mentoring and relationships more culturally responsive to ethnically, racially and linguistically diverse students. By doing so they can teach these students more effectively how to navigate the marginality they encounter en route to the professoriate, and how to be more successful in executing their roles and responsibilities as professors of color.     

We Talk About It,But Do They Get It?

This article reports on the last of a series of iterative research studies involving students with learning disabilities in reform mathematics classrooms at the intermediate grade levels. This study reports the findings from a larger, year‐long case study that focused on ways to include students with learning disabilities and other students who are at risk for special education services in classwide discussions of problem solving. The data reported in this article detail the changes in teacher and student discourse over a nine‐week period in one classroom. Sources of data for this study included videotapes, audiotapes, and informal interviews with the teacher, a paraprofessional, and students. A quantitative analysis of the results indicates clear patterns of change in teacher and student discourse. Nonetheless, intentional efforts to include target students in the whole‐class discussions yielded instructional dilemmas that are underdescribed in the mathematics reform literature. Findings from this study have implications for special educators interested in mathematical problem solving, as well as math reformers who value the role of classroom discourse in daily instruction.     

Learning from Rookie Mistakes: Critical Incidents in Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Teaching Science to Teachers

While there is a growing literature focused on doctoral preparation for teaching about science teaching, rarely have recommendations extended to preparation for teaching science content to teachers. We three doctoral students employ self-study as a research methodology to investigate our developing pedagogical content knowledge for teaching science to teachers during a mentored internship in an elementary teacher professional development program. With our mentor, we examine critical incidents in the experience that supported new insights about teaching teachers and about ways in which beginning teacher educators need to develop their existing pedagogical content knowledge for teaching science to students in order to teach science effectively to teachers. We emphasize ways in which doctoral internships can support this learning and how our respective cultures shaped our interactions with and perceptions of teachers as learners.     

A Model for Collaborative Teaching Teams in Counselor Education

Teaching's importance has increased for faculty members and is reflected in the selection criteria for new faculty, particularly those in counselor education. Thus, graduate programs need to provide students with opportunities to obtain teaching experience and enhance their pedagogical training. The collaborative teaching teams model is intended to assist counselor educators in preparing doctoral‐level counseling students for careers in academia. Recommendations for model implementation are provided and specific examples are presented to demonstrate the use of this model in a counselor education and supervision doctoral program accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs.     

The Impact of a Pedagogy of Teacher Education Seminar on Educator and Future Teacher Educator Identities

Educators require support as they move from classroom to higher education settings. This collaborative self-study provides insight into one such support space, a doctoral seminar titled Pedagogy of Teacher Education, and how our identities as educators and future teacher educators developed through participation in the course. Several important themes emerged as we negotiated and adopted new identities as educators, and future teacher educators and researchers. These themes include our development of a collaborative mindset, a teacher educator-researcher perspective, and a critical self-awareness. The findings draw on our professional and personal histories to explore the prominent features that influenced and shaped our identities as educators and future teacher educator-researchers. In sharing our development as educators and future teacher educators, this article provides insights into the ways in which doctoral students in education begin to develop their identities and pedagogies through guided support from more experienced teacher educators.     

Invisible and hypervisible academics: the experiences of Black and minority ethnic teacher educators

This qualitative study investigated the experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) teacher educators in England and Australia working within the predominantly white space of the academy. Data analysis was informed by a multidimensional theoretical framework drawing on Critical Race Theory, whiteness and Puwar’s concept of the Space Invader. Findings suggest the participants in both national contexts felt marginalised, and encountered subtle everyday racism manifested as microaggressions that contributed to the academics’ simultaneous construction as hypervisible and invisible, and as outsiders to the academy. Vulnerability, insecurity and precariousness was generated through the participants’ positioning as space invaders within the university and borne from surveillance by students and managers. The paper argues that despite long-standing Equal Opportunity policies tenacious racism in the academy must be disrupted through structured career support and mentoring for BME staff and wider staff development on implicit bias and everyday racism.     

The Impact of Supply and Demand on Doctorates in Physical Education Teacher Education: The Future of the Profession

ABSTRACT

Quality preparation of doctoral students is a key to the survival of physical education teacher education. Past research has revealed a shortage of students graduating with a doctoral degree in physical education and a general reluctance of teachers to leave their jobs to pursue an advanced degree. As the number of universities preparing new physical education teacher education assistant professors decreases, those in the profession are concerned for the future of teacher education. Unlike other professions that prepare more doctoral students than the market can accommodate, this is not the case for physical education teacher education doctoral programs. This article will provide summary information on supply and demand, which will be used to identify trends and recommendations for the future. This article will explore the status of doctoral programs in the United States and whether university programs will be able to prepare a sufficient number of professors to replace the aging physical education teacher education professoriate.