Improving Black student outcomes: The multifaceted role of psychology professors in higher education

ABSTRACT

The opportunity gap has contributed to unequal educational opportunities and success among Black youth, college students, and early career professionals. The American Psychological Association, Association for Black Psychologists, and Academics for Black Survival and Wellness (A4BL) have called psychologists to act in support of Black lives in higher education. Most research and guidance on this topic are communicated in a siloed manner (e.g. content for multicultural psychology courses) and across single domains (e.g. teaching). However, closing the gap warrants widespread change at many levels, requiring psychology professors to have a multifaceted impact simultaneously through their many roles. This article reviews (1) the opportunity gap in higher education and among early career psychologists; (2) psychology’s contribution to this gap; (3) evidence-based strategies to address the gap in higher education and in training the next generation of psychologists; and (4) 1 psychology professor’s multifaceted plan and actions in response to A4BL call to action including notable outcomes and lessons learned.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional resources

1. Anti-Racist Pedagogy in Action: First Steps (website) https://ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-technology/resources/anti-racist-pedagogy/.

This website offers anti-racist pedagogical strategies for professors in higher education. This guide discusses 5 steps, along with in-depth resources that educators can use to implement in the classroom. It also includes reflective prompts to guide professors in anti-racist pedagogy.

2. Cisneros, D., Anandavalli, S., Brown, E. M., Whitman, J. S., & Chaney, M. P. (2023). Anti-racist mentorship: a multicultural and social justice approach to mentoring students identifying as Black, Indigenous, and persons of color in counselor education. Journal of Counselor Leadership & Advocacy, 10, 63–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/2326716X.2022.2162462.

This article was written to provide strategies on mentoring BIPOC students in counseling education and discusses important factors for mentors to keep in mind when advising BIPOC students. A case study is provided at the end for a more in-depth review of anti-racist mentoring.

3. Sarr, F., Knight, S., Strauss, D., Ouimet, A. J., Cénat, J. M., Williams, M. T., & Shaughnessy, K. (2022). Increasing the representation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour as students in psychology doctoral programmes. Canadian Psychology, 63(4), 479–499. https://doi.org/10.1037/cap0000339.

This article was written to evaluate whether there was bias in the selection of psychology graduate students, along with a discussion of systematic racial inequity. The article offers recommendations to prevent bias in selection for BIPOC psychology graduate students.

Notes

1. The authors researched appropriate terms for individuals from minoritized populations and found advantages and disadvantages to using different terminology. We have decided to use the term “minoritized populations” when writing about these topics broadly.

2. The report acknowledges harm done to several groups of minoritized populations. However, for the purposes of this paper, we solely focus on harm done to Black/African Americans.

3. APA did not acknowledge what the Cummings Center Group identified as the first use of psychology to promote racism as Dr. Samuel Cartwright (1852) identified 2 “mental diseases” that afflicted enslaved Africans: (1) Drapetomania: uncontrollable urge to run away from masters (treatment: whippings); and (2) Dysaesthesia Aethiopica: disobedience, answering disrespectfully, and refusing to work (treatment: forced to undertake difficult and hard labor).

4. These initiatives continue through The WELLS (Wellness, Equity, Love, Liberation, and Survival) Healing Center, a nonprofit organization that provides workshops, training, mentorship, training for mental health and wellness healers and incorporates scholarship and activism (https://www.wellshealing.org/).

5. Materials for the component are available upon e-mail request to Dr. Erin Girio-Herrera (egirioherreratowson.edu).

6. We use the term “Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)” when describing this activity in which we intentionally separated these students and White students.