Faculty of Color

Book excerpt: This book provides a discussion forum for the experiences of faculty of color teaching in predominantly white institutions. The knowledge and insights gained from the narratives shared across a variety of colleges and universities provide faculty and administrators in higher education with helpful strategies for recruitment and retention. The experiences documented here extend beyond teaching in general to other areas such as administration, institutional climate, mentoring, recruitment, relationships with colleagues and students, and research. More importantly, the chapters offer a variety of recommendations so that predominantly white colleges and universities can continue to ensure that institutions change in substantive ways. A hallmark of this book is the diversity of knowledge, firsthand experiences, and insights provided by the faculty of color who contributed to it. The authors represent a variety of cultures, ethnicities, identities, and nationalities—African American, American Indian, Asian, Asian American, Chamorro, Jamaican, Latina/Latino, Mexican American, South African, Muslim—as well as disciplines—business, dentistry, education, engineering, ethnic studies, health education, political science, psychology, public policy, social justice, social work, sociology, and speech, language, and hearing science. This book also has the potential to impact the dialogue in academia on affirmative action and the institutional goal of achieving parity so that the faculty ranks in higher education mirror the minority talent represented in the nation. Faculty of Color makes recommendations for faculty development, instructional development, and organizational development practice, and raises issues for commentary and investigation.