Faculty of color in academe: What 20 years of literature tells us.

Abstract

To better prepare students for an increasingly diverse society, campuses across the country remain engaged in efforts to diversify the racial and ethnic makeup of their faculties. However, faculty of color remain seriously underrepresented, making up 17% of total full-time faculty. In the past 20 years, more than 300 authors have addressed the status and experience of faculty of color in academe. From 1988 to 2007, there was a continued rise in publications addressing the issue of the low representation of faculty of color. This article presents a literature review and synthesis of 252 publications, with the goal of informing scholars and practitioners of the current state of the field. Themes emerging from these publications and an interpretive model through which findings can be viewed are presented. The analysis, with a focus on the departmental, institutional, and national contexts, documents supports, challenges, and recommendations to address barriers and build on successes within these 3 contexts. The authors hope that this article informs researchers and practitioners as they continue their work to understand and promote the increased representation of faculty of color.

Answering the Call: Hispanic-Serving Institutions as Leaders in the Quest for Access, Excellence, and Equity in American Higher Education

“…Research on diverse students and faculty in academe invariably identifies mentoring as critical to their persistence and advancement (Turner & González, 2014;Turner, González, & Wood, 2008). Definitions of mentorship vary in concept and practice due to its complex and highly individualized nature.…”

Multi-Institutional Study of Women and Underrepresented Minority Faculty Members in Academic Pharmacy

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Latino Faculty in Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Where is the Diversity?

“…That is, it is equally critical to examine the infrastructural elements within colleges and universities that may better support historically underrepresented, first-generation Latino students to succeed in college. Faculty diversity (among tenure line faculty) has been noted as an important feature within postsecondary institutions (Hurtado & Ruiz, 2012;Turner, Gonzalez, & Wood, 2008;Turner, 2015) for student support through diverse pedagogies, perspectives, and course content, which is integrally intertwined with promoting academic excellence (Hurtado, 2001). …”