Chapter 11: Answer the Call

Similar to the researcher/scholars of these chapters, many of us have experienced the challenge of balancing the demands of our teaching, research, and service. Women educators of color must be prepared to deal with the expectations of serving as role models and leadership roles while balancing career and personal ambitions. Up to this point, one might consider that these woman are “persisting in the journey toward self-definition” (Collins, 2000, p. 121). Brock (2010) captured the essence of this journey as each searches for a personal place, a personal identity when she stated:

We have explored concrete experiences and acts of women of color, while at the same time striving to understand and extrapolate wisdom and meaning. As educators, writers, researchers, and mentors, our concrete experiences, uniquely individual, are at the same time intersecting and are collectively connected. Rogers (2002) adds to our assertion by saying: