Chapter 2: Walking the Tightrope of Academe with no Net

Having diversity in the higher education setting is critical to the growth of all who are involved. It is a key ingredient of a quality education, scholarly discourse, and reflection. Faculty, staff, and students alike can benefit from learning within a setting that allows or demands that one adapt to the complex social structures of having to learn from, teach, or work with those who are not like oneself. Working with, or learning from or among diverse groups of people is an education in itself. With increasing ethnic diversity in the United States it becomes even more critical to have faculty and staff of color who can support students and serve as role models. And with efforts aimed toward increasing diversity in the U.S. workforce, institutions of higher education must identify and undertake efforts that will help ensure a climate that is inclusive, embracing a wide array of differences that will be “value added” to the institution. Efforts of recruitment and retention are necessarily interdependent and work together toward the goal of diversifying faculty and staff. James and Farmer (1993) state, as more women faculty of color enter the professoriate, they are evaluating, clashing with, and challenging old practices while simultaneously articulating and establishing new ones. However, women of color are still underrepresented in the professoriate ranks of higher education. Only 7% of all faculty positions in higher education are held by African American women and the percentages of faculty positions held by Asian American women (6.7%), Latina women (4%), and American Indian women (0.6%) are also shamefully low (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2010).