Washington — College and university faculty of color in psychology face myriad obstacles in their pursuit of promotion and tenure, including financial constraints, workplace complexities, issues of retention and attrition and “inequity taxes” related to their engagement in social justice issues, according to a report from the American Psychological Association.
Faculty of color are also disproportionately expected to engage in “invisible labor,” such as educating white colleagues about diversity; mentoring and providing emotional support to students of color and junior faculty of color; creating or supervising affinity groups to support students of color; creating programming designed to affirm and engage students of color; writing letters of recommendation; intervening in crises to support students and colleagues from marginalized backgrounds; and responding to conflicts between students of color and faculty or administrators.
“These realities present a quandary for faculty of color,” according to the APA Task Force Report on Promotion, Tenure and Retention of Faculty of Color in Psychology. “On the one hand, engaging in such labor may indeed enhance inclusiveness for the campus, a goal that may be personally rewarding and that may help the faculty member feel more connected to the campus or a campus unit. On the other hand, such contributions require significant investments of time and emotional energy that are not required of other faculty.”
The report was prepared by a task force appointed by APA’s Board of Scientific Affairs and the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology, and echoes priority actions outlined in the APA Racial Equity Action Plan. This synchronicity underscores the comprehensive approach the association is taking to advance racial equity in the field of psychology.
Faculty of color who have earned graduate degrees in psychology often begin the probationary period of their tenure-track appointments at a disadvantage compared with their white counterparts. Many of them do not come from wealth and accrue large student loan debts to complete their training, according to the report. Furthermore, graduate students say that funding for tenure-track faculty positions is limited, pushing them to pursue research positions outside of academia.
When faculty of color do accept positions in academia, they discover there are inequities in salary and funding for research, the task force found. Because of the limited availability of funding for research vital to the advancement of the psychological science of marginalized communities, there are delays in the development of new theories and novel findings to address disparities in those communities, according to the report.
Psychology faculty of color often face social hurdles, including racial discrimination manifested through microaggressions, conflicting institutional values, social isolation, and challenges in finding mentors, the report found. “Navigating these obstacles adds further complexity to their professional journey,” according to the report. “These obstacles often contribute to low rates of retention and high attrition among faculty of color, primarily due to factors such as an unfavorable institutional climate, the burden of cultural taxation, underrepresentation within their institution or community, and a lack of adequate mentorship and support.”
There is also often a mismatch between the cultural values of the institution and those of faculty of color, the report found. “Institutional values are reflected in the emphasis on individual achievements and traditional achievement metrics, such as h-indices, journal impact factors, citation counts and books [published] in university presses,” it said.
In contrast, research conducted by faculty of color often is driven by a desire for findings to be meaningful to and relevant to the communities from which they come, leading them to engage in innovative qualitative research and to publish in specialty or non-mainstream journals that are more receptive to such work, according to the report. This can result in faculty of color paying a “leading edge tax,” “in the form of penalties, such as not receiving funding or institutional support for projects that focus on the community or on social justice issues, as well as enduring inequities in salary and access to leadership opportunities” within their academic institutions.
The report offers recommendations to address the concerns raised, including:
- Providing faculty of color with effective, engaged mentoring from the time of hire through promotion, tenure and advancement across all domains important to the institution;
- Reviewing promotion and tenure processes to evaluate the presence of implicit biases;
- Educating department colleagues and academic administrators about the prevalence and scope of invisible labor expectations and demands, and their toll on faculty of color;
- Including metrics beyond traditional metrics such as citation counts to evaluate impact of a promotion or tenure candidate’s work;
- Expanding the definition of scholarly excellence to include contributions to the public good;
- Identifying policies and procedures to address the conditions in an academic department that lead to attrition and retention challenges for faculty of color.
“It is imperative to act upon these findings and work towards fostering an inclusive and equitable academic environment where all faculty members, regardless of their racial or ethnic background, can thrive and contribute to the advancement of the field,” the report concludes. “The evidence clearly highlights that there is a need for longitudinal investigations to better [implement] the most effective approaches to reducing attrition and enhancing rates of promotion to the upper ranks.”
The beginning of the fall semester is a time during which colleges, universities and departments are typically refining their aims for the coming academic year. The BSA, task force members and Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology encourage academic leaders and teams to review the report and consider how to implement changes that will enhance the success of faculty of color.
The task force co-chairs were Margarita Azmitia, PhD, University of California, Santa Cruz, and Michelle Martin, PhD, University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Other members were: Shawn Blue, PsyD, Thomas Jefferson University; Jamila Bookwala, PhD, Gettysburg College; Marcus Lee Johnson, PhD, Virginia Tech University; Marisol Perez, PhD, Arizona State University; Andy Pham, PhD, Florida International University; and Paula Shear, PhD, University of Cincinnati.