Faculty of Color in Academe: What 20 Years of Literature Tells Us

 A survey of two decades of literature exploring faculty of color’s experience in academia.

Introduction

Academic institutions endeavor to increase diversity within their faculty as they attempt to better meet the needs of increasingly diverse student populations entering an increasingly diverse world. Still, in 2005, people of color comprised only 17% of full-time faculty. Of that 17%, 7.5% were Asian, 5.5% were Black, 3.5% were Latino, and 0.5% were Indigenous Americans. Moreover, only 12% of tenured professors were people of color; 6.5% were Asian, 3% were Black, 2% were Latino, and 0.3% were Indigenous Americans. 

The authors specify three levels of academia in which faculty of color disproportionately face discrimination:

1. “Departmental,” or within academic departments
2. “Institutional,” or within schools
3. “National,” or the more significant macroeconomic conditions of US academia

Caroline Sotello Viernes Turner is an Emeritus Professor at Arizona State University in the division of educational leadership and policy studies, Lincoln Professor of Ethics and Education, and Doctoral Program director for Higher and Postsecondary Education. Juan Carlos González is affiliated with the Division of Urban Leadership and Policy Studies in Education, University of Missouri Kansas City. J. Luke Wood is the president of California State University, Sacramento.

Methods and Findings

To understand the layers of the root of the underrepresentation of faculty of color, the authors reviewed 252 works published between 1988 and 2007. These works include journal articles, dissertations, books, reports, and book chapters. The authors wrote this article to be informative to people in the field. 

Help and difficulties come from all three levels of academia (the departmental, institutional, and national), which means that each level of academia can simultaneously support educators while also being detrimental to their careers. 

Within each level of academia, the authors highlight the help and barriers faculty of color face and recommend interventions to address the barriers directly. Support comes from the departmental and institutional levels. 

There are more mitigating aspects than helpful ones, and they exist at all three levels. Challenges come from the departmental, institutional, and national levels. 

In response, the authors make recommendations relevant to each level of academia. 

• Departmental recommendations are to:
  • Make yearly performance reviews more inclusive for faculty of color. This includes diversifying the processes and criteria for evaluating faculty before and after tenure. 
  • Provide opportunities for faculty to express themselves more authentically as individuals. For example, departments should consider research or writing styles that may not conform to “Western academic standards.”

• Institutional recommendations:
  • Commit to diversity goals
  • Promote leaders who promote diversity. This means designating 

• National recommendations:
  • Provide faculty of color with connections to diverse communities
  • Reduce salary inequities between faculty of color and white faculty

• Departmental and institutional recommendations:
  • Create diversity-centric recruitment, hiring, and retention plans 
  • Increase diversity in the student body and faculty
  • Provide training on handling the challenges faculty of color encounter
  • Provide networking and collaboration opportunities to faculty of color

Conclusions

This research demonstrates the complexities that faculty of color face within academia. Moreover, it outlines the steps that policymakers, institutions, and individuals should take to ameliorate the issues that faculty of color encounter. 

The authors also highlight sources for deeper research, including a literature review of older articles, websites, and videos not included in this study. Furthermore, they mention the following areas for future research:

• More in-depth research on faculty from specific racial groups and faculty women of color
• Research on faculty of color outside of 4-year universities like community colleges and technical schools
• Research into faculty of color with intersectional marginalized identities beyond race
• Research on mentorship outside of the academic settings