“It’s Me, Do You Have a Second?”: How Testimonios and Personal Narratives of Mentorship and Friendship Help a Tenure-Track Latina Navigate the Academy

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we explore personal testimonios from a Latina’s first year in a tenure-track position. We share testimonios and personal narratives based on mentorship and a friendship that was cultivated between a tenured white female professor who helped the Latina professor learn to navigate the landscape of a working at a Hispanic Serving Institution (HIS). Through dialogue and reflections of specific moments during that first year, our story reveals the following themes: (1) validating emotions and overcoming imposter syndrome, (2) strategizing and balancing scholarly opportunities, (3) how assessment and evaluation impact novice tenuretrack faculty members and (4) the role that a White mentor takes in helping a Latina faculty member when there are no other tenured Latinas in her department.