Abstract
Based on a qualitative study of sixteen faculty of color at aprivate research university, this article argues that service,though significantly presenting obstacles to the promotion andretention of faculty of color, actually may set the stage fora critical agency that resists and redefines academic structuresthat hinder faculty success. The construct of `service,' therefore,presents the opportunity for theorizing the interplay of humanagency and social structures. The article suggests that facultymay seek to redefine oppressive structures through service, thus,exercising an agency that emerges from the very structures thatconstrain it. Faculty of color, in particular, may engage inservice to promote the success of racial minorities in the academyand elsewhere. Thus, service, especially that which seeks tofurther social justice, contributes to the redefinition of theacademy and society at large.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aguirre, A. (1987). 'An interpretive analysis of Chicano faculty in academe', The Social Science Journal 24(1), 71–81.
Alperson, E.D. (1975). 'The minority woman in academe', Professional Psychology 6(3), 252–256.
Altbach, P.G. (1994). 'Problems and possibilities: The American academic profession', in Altbach, P.G., Berdahl, R.O. and Gumport, P.J. (eds.), Higher Education in America (3d ed.). Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, pp. 225–247.
Banks, W.M. (1984). 'Afro-American scholars in the university: Roles and conflicts', American Behavioral Scientist 27(3), 325–338.
Blackburn, R.T. and Lawrence, J.H. (1995). Faculty at Work: Motivation, Expectation, Satisfaction. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press.
Blackwell, J.E. (1988). 'Faculty issues: The impact on minorities', The Review of Higher Education 11(4), 417–434.
Blauner, R. (1972). Racial Oppression in America. New York: Harper & Row Publishers.
Boice, R. (1993). 'New faculty involvement for women and minorities', Research in Higher Education 34(3), 291–341.
Boyer, E. (1990). Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. Princeton, NJ: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Butler, J. (1997). Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative. New York: Routledge.
Centra, J.A. (1993). Reflective Faculty Evaluation: Enhancing Teaching and Determining Faculty Effectiveness. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Cuadraz, G.H. (1997). 'The Chicana/o generation and the Horatio Alger myth', Thought and Action: The NEA Higher Education Journal 13(1), 103–120.
Davis, W.E. and Chandler, T.J.L. (1998). 'Beyond Boyer's Scholarship Reconsidered: Fundamental change in the university and the socioeconomic systems', Journal of Higher Education 69(1), 23–64.
Exum, W.H. (1983). 'Climbing the crystal stair: Values, affirmative action, and minority faculty', Social Problems 30(4), 383–399.
Exum,W.H., Menges, R.J., Watkins, B. and Berglund, P. (1984). 'Making it at the top:Women and minority faculty in the academic labor market', American Behavioral Scientist 27(3), 301–323.
Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Vintage Books.
Foucault, M. (1980). Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews & Other Writings 1972-1977. New York: Pantheon Books.
Garza, H. (1987). 'The barrioization of Hispanic faculty', Educational Record 68/69(4/1), 122–124.
Giddens, A. (1987). Sociology. New York: Harcourt Brace Javanovich.
Glassick, C.E., Huber, M.T. and Maeroff, G.I. (1997). Scholarship Assessed: Evaluation of the Professoriate. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the Prison Notebooks. London: Lawrence & Wishart.
Hutnik, N. (1991). Ethnic Minority Identity: A Social Psychological Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press.
Jarvis, D.K. (1991). Junior Faculty Development: A Handbook. New York: The Modern Language Association of America.
Johnsrud, L.K. (1993). 'Women and minority faculty experiences: Defining and responding to diverse realities', New Directions for Teaching and Learning 53(Spring 1993), 3–16.
Johnsrud, L.K. and Des Jarlais, C.D. (1994). 'Barriers to tenure for women and minorities', The Review of Higher Education 17(4), 335–353.
Lal, B.B. (1955). 'Symbolic interaction theories', American Behavioral Scientist 38(3), 421–441.
Menges, R.J. and Exum, W.H. (1983). 'Barriers to the progress of women and minority faculty', Journal of Higher Education 54(2), 123–144.
McKay, N.Y. (1988). 'Minority faculty in [mainstream White] academia', in Deneef, A.L., Goodwin, C.D. and McCrate, E.S. (eds.), The Academic's Handbook Durham, NC: Duke University Press. pp. 46–60.
Padilla, R.V. and Chavez, R.C. (eds.) (1995). The Leaning Ivory Tower: Latino Professors in American Universities. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Pollard, D.S. (1990). 'Black women, interpersonal support, and institutional change', in Antler, J. and Biklen, S.K. (eds.), Changing Education: Women as Radicals and Conservators. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, pp. 257–276.
Porter, J.R. and Washington, R.E. (1993). 'Minority identity and self-esteem', in Blake, J. and Hagen, J. (eds.), Annual Review of Sociology 19. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews, Inc. pp. 139–161.
Reyes, M.D.L. and Halcon, J.J. (1988). 'Racism in academia: The old wolf revisited', Harvard Educational Review 58(3), 299–314.
Strauss, A.L. (1987). Qualitative Analysis for Social Scientists. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Tack, M.W. and Patitu, C.L. (1992). 'Faculty job satisfaction: Women and minorities in peril', ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Reports 4. Washington, D.C.: Association for the Study of Higher Education.
Tierney, W.G. and Bensimon, E.M. (1996). Promotion and Tenure: Community and Socialization in Academe. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Tierney, W.G. and Rhoads, R.A. (1993). 'Enhancing promotion, tenure and beyond: Faculty socialization as a cultural process', ASHE-ERICHigher Education Reports 6.Washington, D.C.: Association for the Study of Higher Education.
Turner, C.S.V., Myers, S.L. and Creswell, J.W. (1997). 'Bittersweet success: Faculty of color in academe', Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, October, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
U.S. News and World Report (1995). America's Best Colleges.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Baez, B. Race-related service and faculty of color: Conceptualizing critical agency in academe. Higher Education 39, 363–391 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003972214943
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003972214943