Friday
January 9, 2009
Advertisement
News, Views and Careers for All of Higher Education
Aug. 8
‘The Black Academic’s Guide to Winning Tenure — Without Losing Your Soul’
In The Black Academic’s Guide to Winning Tenure — Without Losing Your Soul (Lynne Rienner), Kerry Ann Rockquemore and Tracey Laszloffy offer both empathy and “to do” lists for African American scholars seeking tenure — as well as some advice on what not to do. The book speaks particularly to black scholars who may be the only non-white professor in a department, or who are in a very small minority. The authors are Kerry Ann Rockquemore and Tracey Laszloffy, who are the co-founders of BlackAcademic.com, a Web site that provides advice and forums. Rockquemore is an associate professor of sociology and African American studies and founder of the Under-Represented Faculty Mentoring Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Laszloffy is a coach and therapist for black and Latino faculty at predominantly white institutions. Rockquemore recently answered e-mail questions about the book.
Related stories
- A Moderate MLA, Dec. 30, 2007
- Skepticism of Faculty and Tenure, July 12, 2007
- Friends and Colleagues, Jan. 2, 2007
- Who’s the Boss?, Nov. 21, 2006
- Soft Support for Tenure, June 9, 2006
Q: What are the main ways that the quest for tenure for black professors differs from the quest for other professors?
A: In a word: racism. While we may wish we lived in a post-racial world, race shapes every aspect of the tenure-track experience. Whether it’s in the classroom, in the lab, or in faculty meetings, the stories I hear from black faculty have recurring themes about the stress of having to prove yourself and not belonging. In addition to individual insults, black faculty describe not being given the benefit of the doubt, not being invited into networks and opportunities, being repeatedly mistaken for service employees or strangers on their campuses, and receiving a disproportionately high number of service requests because they are so few in number. Despite these challenges, black faculty must teach effectively, publish their research, and be good departmental citizens. The basic premise of this book is that racism exists and you have to succeed anyway.
Q: What are the biggest mistakes you see when you are advising black scholars who are talented, but having difficulty preparing for tenure reviews?
A: The biggest mistakes I see boil down to how people respond to the pressures of being under-represented in their department. First and foremost, taking a reactive (instead of proactive) stance to establishing professional relationships and networks of support. Black faculty cannot wait for others to welcome, mentor, or assist them because it may never happen. I encourage new faculty to figure out what their social and professional needs are and work aggressively towards getting them met. The second mistake I see is when faculty fail to align how they spend their time with the criteria by which they will be evaluated for promotion and tenure. All new faculty are vulnerable to spending too much time on teaching at the expense of research productivity. But because black faculty are under-represented they must be extra vigilant about formal and informal service demands that can cripple their ability to become productive researchers and count little towards their promotion. The third mistake I see frequently is an inability to engage in healthy conflict. We devote an entire chapter to this issue because avoiding conflict can quickly lead to isolation while engaging in repeated unhealthy conflicts can lead to being labeled as “hostile,” “angry” or “threatening.”
Q: You have a chapter about issues of “fit,” which seems especially timely given the criticism many faculty members make of “collegiality” requirements. How should black junior professors approach these issues?
A: All junior faculty should be aware that collegiality is a critical component of how they are perceived by their senior colleagues. Whether or not people “like” you can serve as a filter for the evaluation of your scholarship, teaching, and service. Black junior faculty will be highly visible in their departments, so it’s important that they know the explicit rules of how the institution is organized and how the promotion and tenure process works, as well as the unwritten rules of engagement which range from department-specific norms about working in your campus office to whether (or not) race can be explicitly discussed. Once new faculty understand the dynamics of their department, and consider how it fits with their own sense of what is “normal,” they are free to choose whether or not to work within those norms as long as they understand that there will be consequences when they violate them.
Q: You offer readers a list of good ways to say “No” when asked to take on new tasks. Why is this important?
A: It’s important for all junior faculty to learn to say “no” for the purpose of protecting their writing and research time but it’s critically important for black faculty because they will receive a disproportionately high number of service requests from all around their campus. Whether it’s starring in an admissions video, serving on a campus-wide diversity planning committee, or just having to BE the diversity on various committees — black faculty will be asked to participate in things that their white junior colleagues will never have to consider. Additionally, black faculty have to learn to negotiate the onslaught of minority students that will come to their office seeking support, mentoring, and a role model. For many, this ends up being an invisible layer of labor that will not be recognized or rewarded when they are evaluated for promotion and takes time away from the activities that truly matter (research and teaching). This can be the hardest area to set clear boundaries, but again is part of the structural problem of being “the only black professor” in a department.
Q: I’m intrigued with the second part of your book’s title — “Without Losing Your Soul.” The implication could be that some black academics think they can advance only by selling out. Do you see a lot of that? Why did you frame title in this way?
A: “Selling out” is a negative judgment made by others, so I don’t use that term. Instead, “losing your soul” refers to a person’s integrity and ability to hold on to their core self throughout the difficult years on the tenure-track. Because black faculty don’t fit the traditional professorial mold, they don’t receive the benefit of the doubt, and often feel they must do twice as much to be considered equal. This can create a vulnerablity to internalizing departmental values as their own, evaluating their self-worth according to those values, and losing integrity in the desperate attempt to prove they are good enough and deserve to receive permanent membership to the club. I know far too many black faculty who have sacrificed everything — their relationships, their voice, their integrity — in the process of pursuing promotion and tenure. They may win tenure but have become so alienated from their self, their politics, and their community in the process that they can no longer connect to who they are and why they entered the academy in the first place. In other words, they have so deeply internalized the expectations, attitudes and judgments of those around them, that they are unable to evaluate their own self worth beyond their next grant, publication or award. This is even more tragic for those who lose their soul in the process, and still don’t win tenure because at that point, they require both a personal and professional resurrection. The point of this book is help black faculty better understand the system in which they are embedded, recognize the racialized dynamics of it, clarify their strengths, and learn how to locate their own sources of power to navigate their way to promotion with integrity. I constantly remind junior faculty that being on the tenure track doesn’t mean that you are powerless. By understanding who you are and where you are located, you can avoid being passively controlled and devalued by developing a mental framework of independence, a personal definition of success, a clear plan for achieving it, and real support systems to lean on in difficult times. But none of these things will happen without conscious effort.
Q: Your book is addressed to black academics, but do you have advice for professors in largely white departments about the biggest mistakes such departments tend to make in treating black faculty members and how to instead help black faculty members thrive?
A: The biggest mistake departments make is failing to diversify their faculties. Most of the problems I’ve discussed are a result of having only one black faculty member in a department. Department chairs and concerned senior faculty can also work toward understanding the organizational pressures of “solo” faculty by reading the relevant faculty development literature, working with consultants who specialize in this area (like Joann Moody), and/or attending conferences to learn about innovative practices at peer institutions (such as the Keeping Our Faculties of Color Symposium). It’s also helpful to put yourself in situations where you are the only white person in order to develop an experiential understanding of how it feels to be “solo.” Ultimately, all junior faculty need meaningful support, accountability and professional development opportunities to help them make the successful transition from graduate student to new faculty member. For black faculty, there’s no silver bullet, magic policy, or perfect program. Instead, senior faculty must ask: Why there are so few black faculty on my campus? and What pressures do black faculty in my department face? The answer to those two questions can guide them towards constructing the support that black junior faculty need to thrive.
Want it on paper? Print this page.
Know someone who’d be interested? Forward this story.
Want to stay informed? Sign up for free daily news e-mail.
Advertisement
Comments
I used to care and get crippled by what others think, now, although I do, I have developed what the author calls “mental framework of independence"! This is America, racism is just part of life-like the air that we breath.
Jane, at 9:30 am EDT on August 8, 2008
In all this verbiage no mention of affirmative action, unless it is alluded to by the comment “black faculty describe not being given the benefit of the doubt.” Has affirmative action reached the point that we dare not speak its name?
Speak Up, at 10:55 am EDT on August 8, 2008
Exacerbation
Are black faculty and white faculty so different that a faculty member of color must “lose their soul” to fit in?
MIchele, Are we that different?, at 10:55 am EDT on August 8, 2008
White or “traditional” faculty do not necessarily get mentoring, are not reached out to by other faculty, etc., as is assumed in the quotes above. All new faculty must be careful about jucious conflict, must worry about losing their “soul” while attempting to demonstrate collegiality.
Being a member of a racial minority seems to dictate that everyday actions must be interpreted in a framework that attributes racism to every slight, even the ones that all new faculty endure. There is a danger to treating all colleagues in a department as if they were automatically racist until proven otherwise.
In my department (and most other places I’ve worked) I see people bend over backwards to be fair to members of ethnic and racial minorities. I wish members of committees would try to be as fair to everyone. I have no doubt that minority group members feel isolated, alienated, like outsiders, strange, perhaps a bit uncertain about how they will be received, when joining a new department. News flash — everyone feels that way because that is what it means to be new in an established department.
Lisa, at 1:20 pm EDT on August 8, 2008
Understanding Racism
While the comments of the P&T committee chairperson are well taken, I disagree with the contention that the authors are counseling junior faculty of color to assume their colleagues are racist. First of all, one can never truly know what values others hold. However, recognizing the reality of institutional racism does mean that a junior faculty member needs to parse the words of their colleagues for racist overtones. The reality of race in America is there continues to be a greater level of skepticism, a secret higher standard, when people of color access positions with power and prestige. Although we would all love to live in a world in which we could ignore the reality of race, it is unwise to decide to see no evil if trouble arises.
Jarod HM, at 4:05 pm EDT on August 8, 2008
Give me a break
In a society where black men are three times more likely to go to prison than college, why is anybody, especially an academic that should know better, dismissing racism as an excuse. Recently during my three year review I received a cryptic letter suggesting that I work harder even though I had exceeded the minimum requirement for tenure in my dept while several of my white colleagues who were not doing as well received attaboys from the dean. My dept head, a white man and 20 yr vet at the university, confirmed my concern and acknowledged that the university in general and the provost in particular had a record of singling out women and minorities for closer scrutiny. So, just give it a rest on the meritocracy argument. We DON’T live in that world!
Wake up, Professor, at 9:05 pm EDT on August 8, 2008
To Professor Wake Up
It sounds as though you have done well and that’s a good thing. I’m doing OK, too, but I sense this one difference between us. See if you agree.
In my life every mistake, every setback, every failure (and there were plenty of them, social, emotional, financial, professional. I’m old) was due to my bad judgment, cowardice, self-indulgence, stupidity or self-delusion, hard-headedness. I’ve never been injured by something or someone that prudence or common sense on my part couldn’t have helped me avoid. No acts of god, no bad luck; all my own doing. I will not share my failures and inadequacies with anyone. They are mine. If I was misused I can see how I should have prevented it.
Now successes, sure, I’ve had lots of help. But I won’t let anyone take credit for my failures.
You don’t see your life in these terms, do you? I have a friend who is a parole officer. He tells me that most of his clients feel they are getting a bad deal from the world, bad luck, misunderstanding. It’s not their fault. This ‘not my fault’ stuff, in cultural terms, can be debilitating, paralyzing. Nothing will ever change.
E. Moran, at 8:05 am EDT on August 9, 2008
A cautionary note to Wake Up
Prof. Wake Up-
I don’t doubt anything you said, but keep this in mind: Unless you actually read the “attaboy” letters to your colleagues (and, for all I know, maybe you did) you don’t know for sure that they really got an “attaboy", nor do you know what might have been written between the lines. Whenever I make assumptions about the positions that other people are in I tend to make mistakes. Moreover, you describe your letter as having a “coded” message, which is one more reason to wonder if there was something written between the lines of your colleagues’ letters.
Finally, people aren’t always as skilled as they think they are with sending subtle messages (and avoiding unintended subtle messages) and what may have been intended as a compliment, e.g. “We hope that you will continue to increase the effort put into this very promising project” can come out as a coded “We don’t think you’re doing enough.” My own recent review had a cryptic “We applaud this level of activity and expect that it is a sign that he will do even more in the future.” I tried to get an interpretation on that, without much luck, so I just did more.
Then again, I don’t know your situation. I’m only offering this based on my own experience with internal politics.
Assistant Professor of Physics, at 3:35 pm EDT on August 9, 2008
Anyone of a conservative bent worried about higher education faculty having too much of a progressive liberal bent need only read comments after IHE posts an article discussing the existence of and effects of racism in academia — especially in connection to African Americans — to see that on this issue, sadly, that is not the case.
a1000faces, Assistant Professor at Appalachian State University, at 5:00 am EDT on August 11, 2008
In all this discussion, I find it interesting that no one focuses the Black Academic on the need to do sustained, rigorous research, and publish papers consistently in the leading journals of their fields and present findings regularly in national and international symposia and meetings. Did I miss something?
Sandra, at 7:55 pm EDT on August 11, 2008
Naive About Discrimination
Dear Sandra and others: What is it about “Despite these challenges, black faculty must teach effectively, publish their research, and be good departmental citizens” do you not understand? Kerry Ann Rockquemore and Tracey Laszloffy do not ignore the basic requirements for tenure but they also describe the ADDITIONAL reality that white members of Promotion and Tenure Committees do evaluate not only African American but also members of other ethnic groups differently and sometimes discriminatorily. Such decision makers even have the temerity, within the same tenure and promotion season, to provide wildly different assessments of the same facts in different portfolios. They would never consider themselves racists, just reasonable people who “know” one candidate better than another. Since white faculty are often naive about the ways that discrimination enters into aspects of the tenure and evaluation process, it is important for black and other minority faculty to be aware of such things and proactively correct for such things in order to win tenure and promotion and become an agent in making the process fairer for everyone.
Member P & T Committee, Professor at Selective Liberal Arts Institution, at 5:00 am EDT on August 12, 2008
Having been both subject to unfair T& P review and serving on the committee, beholding directly the T & P process, I am dumbfounded by the capricious and biased decision making of a body of individuals who pride themselves on being data-based, impartial, and judicious. The T & P process is an “equal-opportunity exploiter", rewarding “bad” behavior, and punishing good behavior, regardless of gender or ethnicity. And money (how much is brought in) trumps everything.
both sides now, at 11:25 am EDT on August 28, 2008
How to get promoted without going crazy...
I am a faculty member at an HBCU — North Carolina Central University. Who has just received promotion and tenure. I laud the authors for their book. It is both timely and needed. Here’s some advice about PRT (Promotion, Reappointment, and Tenure): 1.) You are going to be judged by your publications. You can go to conferences, teach a million courses, advise a billion students, and complete enough service to start a non-profit corporation it does not matter. It all boils down to how you have pushed forward the body of knowledge by peer reviewed journals and other means (books etc.). This is the bottom line in our profession so do not get distracted or lose your focus. Here is how you get around this hurdle: 1.) If you are a newly minted doctor quickly find a senior colleague that you can trust and write with them. 2.) Use that plethora of courses as a means to conduct research on a chosen area. 3.) Carve out a neat and individual niche in research that you can become the “expert” on and focus your individual publications on that area. 4.) Return to your dissertation. There are a wealth of research topics in that body of work alone that can derive several articles or a book (even better). 5.) Partner with faculty at other institutions. If you are at a majority institution then seek out colleagues from HBCUs or organizational conferences that you have attended to get your work published or find persons that you can write with. 6.) Seek out you faculty mentor. Find that person that encouraged and inspire you in graduate school and tell them that you are interested in writing with them or getting published before they retire! They are a wealth of information and may be on the editorial board of a major journal (if not the editor). 7.) Look for journals and publishing opportunities at your place of work. Does the University have a press? Chances are they looking for interesting research from interested parties. 8.) Write from your unique perspective. If your are the sole person of your ethnicity in a department or discipline then you have a unique perspective that can breathe life into research and uncover some interesting areas. 9.) Partner with friends who are also faculty and create an organization with purpose of creating an authoritative refereed journal within 3-6 months time. 10.) Get you department’s PRT policies and start a conversation inmmediately with your Chair about promotion and tenure (what is required, expectations, etc.) 11.) Find someone in the department who has just gotten promoted and/or tenure and study their portfolio (and start compiling your own well before the deadline) 12.) Guard your ideas. It is okay to share. But in the “dog eat dog” world of higher academia you would be stunned at just how much theft goes on. Sometimes you just have to be quiet until things are published.If you follow these few guidelines you will do fine. Trust me on many of these things I learned “the hard way".
All the best!
James, Dr. at NCCU, at 7:15 pm EDT on September 9, 2008
Advertisement
Jobs Related to 'The Black Academic's Guide to Winning Tenure -- Without Losing Your Soul'
or search for jobs directly.
Assistant Professor — Political Communication
Ithaca College
Job Description: Ithaca College’s Department of Speech Communication invites applications for a ... see job
Romance Languages Lecturer in Portugese and Spanish
University of Pennsylvania
The nation’s first university, Penn is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. Situated on a ... see job
Assistant Professor of Humanities
Eastern Kentucky University
Eastern Kentucky University, located in Richmond, Madison County, Kentucky near the Heart of the Bluegrass, is a ... see job
Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences
American University in Cairo
About The American University in Cairo: Founded in 1919, AUC has recently moved to a new, state-of-the-art campus in the ... see job
Senior Fellow for Faith and Scholarship Professor of Humanities in the Honors College
Indiana Wesleyan University
Since Indiana Wesleyan University is a Christ-centered academic community committed to changing the world by developing ... see job
Instructor, Visual Arts: Ceramics/Three-Dimensional Design
Joliet Junior College
Joliet Junior College is located in the Chicagoland area. JJC offers over 100 degree and certificate programs in the arts and ... see job
History (DCC), Faculty Member Tenure-Track, Fall ‘09
Monroe Community College
MCC is located minutes south of Lake Ontario in Rochester NY. The College enrolls approximately 36,000 students each year. ... see job
Assistant Professor or Instructor of Art History — East Asian Art
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
The University of Minnesota is a premier employer and a talent magnet attracting leading faculty and staff from around the ... see job
Dean for Arts and Humanities
Lehman College
The Division of Arts & Humanities houses 10 departments, 4 interdisciplinary programs, an Institute, and Lehman Stages. see job
Assistant Professor, Music
Joliet Junior College
Joliet Junior College is located in the Chicagoland area. JJC offers over 100 degree and certificate programs in the arts and ... see job
Home
| Sign up | Log in
| About us
| Work for Us
| Press Releases
| Rights and permissions
| Contact us
| Advertise
| Partners
| RSS 
| Podcasts
| Links
| Privacy
| My Account
© Copyright 2009 Inside Higher Ed
I’m the chair of the P&T committee at my institution, and I think I can save people the cost of the book by divulging, for free, the secrets of how black faculty get tenure:
1. Demonstrate excellence as a classroom teacher. 2. Demonstrate a commitment to productive scholarship of teaching, discovery, integration, and application. 3. Demonstrate a willingness for and a track record of committed service to the institution. 4. There is no #4.
I can guarantee all tenure-track faculty that if you do these things (at least at my institution) and keep good records of your accomplishments in a portfolio that you submit for tenure, you will get tenure, and it won’t matter what your skin color is. And if you do these things at some other institution and still don’t get tenure, it’s likely that nobody in your position would have gotten tenure no matter what their skin color might have been.
I might even suggest that black faculty will be much better able to accomplish steps 1-3 above if they don’t begin their careers by assuming that all their colleagues are racists, as Lazloffsky and Rockquemore suggest they do. The authors are doing black faculty, and academia as a whole, a great disservice by encouraging black faculty to start with the assumption that racism is as rampant as they say, an assertion backed up only by “stories". For every one of the authors’ “stories” I can come up with 3-4 stories of my own where black and other minority faculty have entered academia and succeeded admirably with the full support of their colleagues.
P&T committee chair, at 9:30 am EDT on August 8, 2008