Mentoring African American Women at Historically Black Colleges/Universities: Beyond the Misconceptions of Our Identity

Introduction

African-American women who serve as faculty within the academy face challenges that are unique to their male counterparts (Herbert, 2012; Lucas & Steinmel, 2009). Contextually, African American women have historically had to bear the weight of stereotypes, and negative perceptions which serve to diminish credibility within professional settings such as predominantly white institutions, colleges, and universities (Grant, 2012; Grant & Ghee, 2015). African-American women continue to focus their efforts to reframe and deconstruct, assumptions, biases, and stereotypes that still exist in today's society (Schwartz, Bower, Rice & Washington, 2003). Moreover, these barriers that African American women contend with in society also tend to find their way in professional settings such as the Academy and serve to impede further her ability to be seen as an equal colleague. Therefore, the African American woman in the academy, who has dedicated her career to thriving in higher learning institutions, finds herself at odds with what society expects her to be, and who she has become through extensive training and development (a professional).

Historically, a majority of tenured black faculty are employed at historically black colleges/universities (HBCUs). Despite the weak attempts of predominantly white institutions (PWI’s) to recruit black faculty, there continues to be little change in improving representation. Thus, HBCU's have provided a refuge for black academics to grow professionally, and strive for tenure. However, there are ongoing challenges that are faced by HBCU's. These issues are related to the limited resources, and the difficulty in recruitment of high achieving black students who are enrolling in traditionally white institutions (Mack, 2011; Riley, 2010). Although these challenges persist, a disproportionate representation of black faculty who are women contributes to the pool of role models, which have been found to have a positive influence on student success (Bettinger & Long, 2005; Mack, 2011).

That said, as African-American women in academia make strenuous attempts to negotiate their career, they also have to assert their ability to others in providing premier education with the use of sound pedagogy. To further complicate matters they are also faced with the dilemma of how to convey this message assertively. The aim of this chapter is to address identified disparities, give voice to these phenomena that serve to stagnate the professional growth of African American women in academe and bring awareness to barriers and negative perceptions held. Further, the goal of this chapter is to provide strategies to minimize the impact of these difficulties. Therefore, the objectives of the chapter are as follows:

Background

It has been a longstanding discussion regarding the importance of diversifying the professoriate on college and university campuses. As recently as 1993, differences in tenure and promotion characterized by gender and race/ethnicity continue to persist, and disparities related to African-American women who are tenured, let alone receive full professoriate ranking, continue to exist within the academy (Oakes, 2008; Perna, 2001). While the magnitude of womens’ growth in tenured or tenure-track appointments has grown, African-American women’s’ growth in tenured or tenure-track appointment is less impressive. According to a study conducted by the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA, 2016), which focused on faculty diversity of U.S. colleges and universities found that although there has been an increase in faculty diversity over the last 20 years, most of those increased have not been tenure-track.