Below is an excerpt of a post entitled “The Only One” at My So Called (ABD) Life:
I wrote some time ago about the concerns I had about becoming a professor as a person of color and I still carry some of those concerns–however, they have new dimensions now that I know where I’ll be working. Actually, the only one that has been largely alleviated (for now) is the issue of service obligations–I am very fortunate to have a chair who is extremely invested in protecting junior faculty. We are not even allowed to have service obligations in our first year outside of just one departmental committee. I am also even less concerned about the “oh she must be an affirmative action hire” BS–I’ve dealt with it long enough to see it coming, but I think it may be more of an outside of the department issue since my record is in the open for everyone in the department to see, and they chose me. However, I do wonder how my colleagues are going to feel about my salary which I know is on the high side for a new asst. prof (all salaries are very very public–I knew what everyone made before I even applied). But more importantly, I still have some concerns about:
* Finding a Mentor: I strongly believe that my chair is going to be a great mentor. But I can’t ignore our differences in terms of race and gender. How my chair experiences the academy will be different from my experience. Ideally, I would love to know that I have more than one senior faculty member I can go to/learn from–at least one of whom shares my race/gender. But I am aware that my options are limited. 1) The overwhelming majority of my department is young–I like that for my own social comfort and for the feeling that I don’t have to worry about too much “tradition” or “we’ve always done it this way” politics, but it does make for more peer relationships within the department than mentoring relationships. 2) I know the exact number of Black women on campus and they are all junior faculty–so again, good peer opportunities and I’m glad I won’t be the only one of the tenure climb, but little opportunity there for mentorship. Final analysis: It could be hit or miss. I will still have some mentors from other institutions, but I really hope I will find someone on campus with some institutional history that can assist me in navigating my New School.
* Being a Mentor: I have no doubt that I am going to be swamped by students. I look forward to that challenge–students are the #1 reason why I am in this biz. When I met with students during my interview, I could literally see the sparkle in their eyes when they realized I could be their professor. Without saying it, they told me “we need you” and that was an overwhelming feeling–especially coming from the women of color in the room. I’m only a few years (if that) older than some of these students, so slowly my concern is transforming from the obligation of mentorship to the knowledge of mentorship–what do I really know about being a mentor?? Especially for students of color?? I know one lesson I have learned through my process as a grad student is the danger of seeing mentorship as an opportunity to raise “mini-me.” I want to be a good support in helping these students achieve their best, not what I think is best for them.
* Being the “Black woman” professor: What is nice about my position is that I’m responsible for an entire subarea of my discipline–an area that is not predicated on my own interest in issues of race and gender. So I will get to “flex” a fairly large skill set that I do have in terms of disciplinary knowledge. But I know that what makes me different and “interesting” is my interest in African American women’s studies, and that is the primary area I will be working to get pubs out of. So the jury is still out on this one. I got a lot of questions during my visit about the race/gender stuff and I know I will have to work to show–“hey, I can talk about other things you know.”
* Being the “only one”: Man, I was really hoping this wouldn’t be the case, again. It isn’t anything I can’t deal with and my strategies are always the same. I’ll be close to family and friends and the school is located in an area rich with diversity–so even though I might be the only one in my department, I definitely won’t be alone. Academe is too often isolating, as an insidehighered piece just pointed out, and being a person of color can definitely increase those feelings of isolation. I do have concerns about managing the “social” aspect of being a faculty member. I don’t–on the surface–have a lot in common with my department. I’m not from the North or Midwest, I don’t have a husband or kids, I’m not in my 30s or above, and oh yeah I’m not White. Judging by the places I was taken for meals during my interview–we don’t share similar tastes. I still don’t know just how social my department is outside of the office. The vibe I got was that everyone was pretty friendly and that there were some folks who hung out with each other more than others. But as a person of color, I sometimes feel extra obligated to be social, because when I’m missing from an event, everyone really notices. Why? Because I’m generally the “only one.”
Read the whole post here.
