Early career faculty of color and promotion and tenure: the intersection of advancement in the academy and cultural taxation

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study examined how early career faculty of color in higher education departments of educational leadership and administration across the United States were able to manage the cultural taxation associated with faculty service and achieve promotion and tenure. In the U.S., receiving academic tenure promises faculty both academic freedom and job security. This study utilizes cultural taxation as a theoretical framework to explore how faculty of color navigated service demands at their institutions. Three commonalities were found among participants: (1) being strategic about commitments to students and promotion and tenure efforts; (2) making connections between faculty workloads and motivation for pursuing promotion and tenure; and (3) believing relationships with students were a benefit during the promotion and tenure process. The results of this study indicated that successfully navigating cultural taxation helped faculty in their pursuit of promotion and tenure.

KEYWORDS:

• Faculty of color
• students of color
• cultural taxation
• promotion and tenure
• collectivism
• cultural wealth
• departments of educational leadership and administration
• critical race theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.