Chapter 9: Balancing the Call to Serve: The Costs and Benefits of Leaving a Legacy in the Academy

Black women doctoral students with faculty career aspirations should be advised of both the benefits and challenges of a future faculty career. For Black women, multiple identities, race and gender in particular, intersect (Crenshaw, 1989; Hill Collins, 2000) in ways that need acknowledgment during the doctoral student socialization process (Bertrand Jones & Osborne-Lampkin, 2013). Often Black women faculty are forced to invalidate stereotypes and legitimize their competence, intelligence, and overall worth (Benjamin, 1997; Hill Collins, 1986; hooks, 1989), especially at predominately White institutions. For these reasons, advising and mentoring relationships can be used to help mitigate the challenges that Black women doctoral students experience and potentially face as new faculty in academe.