Invisible Injustice

Given the juxtaposition of student demographic shifts in public higher education with the near stagnancy of postsecondary leadership demographics, this chapter illuminates and critiques scholarship at the intersection of equity and academic governance, specifically focused on boards of higher education. Implications, grounded in a comprehensive literature review, frame a new conceptually focused research agenda concerned with (1) challenging homogeneity and hegemony that slow institutional change efforts, (2) pushing for a board representative of and accountable to the public, and (3) extending the research, knowledge, and conversation centered on higher education boards in general and diversity of boards in particular. The chapter per the authors first highlights the prominence of higher education governing boards then shifts to a critique of how governance has traditionally been researched. Afterward, the authors discuss why a concentrated look at issues of diversity and equity within the governance context is of paramount importance.

Second to None

The purpose of this chapter is to foreground the experiences of women of Color who serve in full-time, contingent faculty roles and interrogate the policies and practices that present both barriers and opportunities for these faculty members within the academy. Using a conceptual framework of previous literature in combination with critical race feminism and structuration theory, the authors discuss the ways in which identity (race, gender, and age) and position (contingent vs. tenure-track) influence faculty life and teaching. Throughout this discussion, the authors also introduce results from a study they conducted on Black women contingent faculty. The chapter concludes with the authors offering suggestions for institutional policy and practice.

Here to Stay

Contingent faculty are an important part of the workforce in higher education because they are mainly tasked with teaching entry-level undergraduate courses. However, there is not much knowledge regarding their rise to majority faculty appointments in U.S. colleges and universities, the constitution of this new faculty, the past and present issues they face regularly, or what the future holds for them. This chapter will review the literature about the historical growth of non-tenure-track hiring in U.S. colleges and universities, provide a description of the composition of this faculty, and outline specific issues they deal with while addressing opportunities advancement as well as their overall satisfaction with their work conditions.

Developing LGBTQ Competence in Faculty

Contemporary college campuses can be hostile and unwelcoming places for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) faculty, staff, and students. This chapter examines through the lens of structuration theory the implementation of an LGBTQ professional development series for faculty as an impetus to change such unwelcoming environments. The LGBTQ professional development series was designed to foster individual and organizational change by first increasing the LGBTQ cultural competency of faculty members, and second by providing these agents encouragement and tools to change unwelcoming structures within themselves, their organization, and their disciplinary influence.

Toward a Liberatory Praxis for Emerging Black Faculty

Authors of this chapter offer Black junior faculty a praxis that thoughtfully supports their efforts to advance justice issues in their classrooms, whether a central or ancillary focus. Liberatory pedagogy supports the development of critical consciousness in students, which advances equity and justice in and beyond the classroom. Applying liberatory pedagogy with attention to the unique experiences of emerging Black faculty helps to mitigate the challenges these faculty may face as educators and change agents. This also empowers emerging Black faculty to mobilize their personal experiences and reflections for the interrogation, (re)construction, and delivery of content, strategies, structures.

Education, Community, and Social Engagement

In many higher education and student affairs graduate programs the responsibility for providing field-based learning often falls on the graduate assistantship. Programs often situate theoretical learning inside the classroom and practical engagement at the assistantship site. The growing urgency for educators to create transformative learning experiences and to integrate deep interactions with issues of social justice into the classroom challenges graduate faculty to re-evaluate their approach to teaching and learning. In this chapter, the author makes the case for adopting a creative, community-based, and culturally engaging approach to teaching in graduate education programs.

Inclusivity in the Archives

This chapter uses the experience of two undergraduate students conducting research in their university archives to consider the “hidden curriculum” entailed in archival research at some institutions. When diverse identities and experiences are not represented in our archives, we run the risk of communicating a lack of value for those identities, producing a feeling of marginalization and exclusion for some students and foreclosing an opportunity to build solidarity across difference for others. In light of the limited holdings at many university archives and the increased prevalence of archival research in the undergraduate classroom, the authors draw on research from writing studies, anthropology, archival research, and public memory to produce recommendations for students, faculty, and institutions working to compose inclusive archives and research experiences.

Campus Climate and the Theory of Gender Performativity

The objective of this chapter is to outline the theory of gender performativity and to discuss its implications for researchers and policymakers in higher education. This chapter will examine the manner in which the measurement tools and recruitment methods utilized by research in higher education may serve to reinforce particular ontological assumptions about gender. If institutions of higher education aspire to serve their diverse student populations as inclusively as possible, it may be valuable for researchers and policymakers to consider the notion that gender is a social construct that is continually open to experimental performance.

The Inclusion and Support of Students With Disabilities in the South African Higher Education System

The intention of this chapter is to contribute to the scholarship of diversity, equity, and inclusivity in contemporary higher education. Its purpose is to develop an understanding of pedagogical issues concerning the inclusion and support of students with disabilities in the South African higher education system through literature review. The chapter will contribute to debate on policy imperatives and how these have informed practice, the social model of disability and its role in shaping educational provision, access and support constraints as products of intersectionality of disability and disablement, and possible ways to re-culture higher education for support.

Making It Real

The urgent and ubiquitous call for White, middle class female teachers of immigrant students and families who are well versed in the strengths and struggles of this vulnerable population is one to which teacher education programs must respond with fervor. In a profession largely dominated by White, middle class mainstream females who work with children and families representing a wide variety of ethnicities, religions, sexualities, family structures, socioeconomic statuses, etc., it is imperative that higher education courses specifically prepare educators to empower, support, and learn from and with immigrant families. In this chapter, the authors share a study that examines the reactions of pre-service teachers to a teaching strategy that required their face-to-face interactions with Spanish-only speaking immigrant families. The pre-service teachers listened to the stories and authentic experiences shared by the English learner (EL) families and participated in a simulation activity with the families. Findings indicate that through their participation in the strategy, pre-service teachers experienced changes in their thinking about themselves and the children and families with whom they will one day work. Findings also suggest that after participating in the strategy, pre-service teachers began thinking differently with regards to their understanding of and preparedness for their future careers.