Journeys of Black Women in Academe provides lessons that are instructive to faculty and administrators across race and gender boundaries relative to the successes and challenges that African American women continue to experience in academia.

Reflections from below the plantation roof / Menah Pratt-Clarke -- The adobe ceiling over the yellow brick road / Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs. -- The labyrinth path of administration : from full professor to senior administrator / Irma McClaurin, Victoria Chou, and Valerie Lee -- A view from the helm : a Black woman's reflection on her chancellorship / Paula Allen-Meares -- Reflections about African-American female leadership in the academy / Menah Pratt-Clarke and Jasmine Parker -- Re-envisioning the academy for women of color / Phyllis Wise -- Reflections about Asian-American female leadership in the academy / Menah Pratt-Clarke -- My climb to the highest rung / Cassandra Manuelito-Kerkvliet -- Reflections about Native American female leadership in the academy / Tanaya Winder and Melissa Leal -- Journeys into leadership : a view from the president's chair / Rusty Barcelo -- Thriving as administrators at America's land grant universities / Waded Cruzado -- Reflections about Latina leadership in the academy / Johanna Maes -- Closing reflections / Menah Pratt-Clarke and Johanna Maes.

This book explores the meanings, experiences, and challenges faced by Black women faculty that are either on the tenure track or have earned tenure. The authors advance the notion of comparative intersectionality to tease through the contextual peculiarities and commonalities that define their identities as Black women and their experiences with tenure and promotion across the two geographical spaces. By so doing, it works through a comparative treatment of existing social (in)equalities, educational (dis)parities, and (in)justices in the promotion and retention of Black women academics. Such interpretative examinations offer important insights into how Black women’s subjugated knowledge and experiences continue to be suppressed within mainstream structures of power and how they are negotiated across contexts.

When Mabokela (education, Michigan State U.) arrived in the US for post-graduate studies, she found that women of African descent labored under disadvantages that reminded her of apartheid in her native South Africa. As part of the struggle to overcome those barriers, she collects the experiences of 15 emerging African-American women scholars in education and related fields. Some look at the history of black women in the academy, while others consider a theoretical framework, coming to terms with conditions, racial identity, and other aspects. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

This edited volume seeks to interrogate the structures that affect the perceptions, experiences, performance and practices of Black women administrators. The chapters examine the nature and dynamics of the conflict within that space and the ways in which they transcend or confront the intersecting structures of power in academe. A related expectation is for interrogations of the ways in which their institutional contexts and, marginalized status inform their navigational strategies and leadership practices. More specifically, this work explores mentorship as critical praxis; that being, the ways in which Black women’s thinking and practices around mentoring affect their institutional contexts or environment, and, that of other marginalized groups within academe. A discussion of Black women in higher education administration as critically engaged mentors will ultimately diversify thought, approaches, and solutions to larger social and structural challenges embedded within academic climates. Praise for Mentoring as Critically Engaged Praxis: Mentoring as Critically Engaged Praxis: Storying the Lives and Contributions of Black Women Administrators, the authors present insights on the challenges Black women face and how mentoring networks and strategies help them transcend professional and institutional barriers. Each chapter intentionally creates a space to elevate their voices, depicts the reciprocity on how they are transforming and being transformed by their institutional context, and offers hope for improving the status of women leaders. The power of this book is that it is an acknowledgement of Black women being the architect of their lives and is filled with meaningful content that is nuanced and offers a glimpse into how black women leaders continue to lift as they climb. - Gaëtane Jean-Marie, Rowan University Mentoring as Critical Engaged Praxis perfectly captures a process that Black women have been facilitating, practicing and innovating prior to and since their entry into the higher education. Deirdre Cobb-Roberts and Talia R. Esnard have assembled a strong cast of scholars who eloquently speak to the role that Black women administrators play in their daily practice of “Lift as we climb.” Despite the limited number of Black women in senior leadership roles across academe, most, if not all of them must consistently tackle institutional and societal injustices that shape their experiences and influence their capacity to mentor. - Lori Patton Davis, The Ohio State University

A Black Woman's Journey follows Mildred Sirls as a young Black girl in rural east Texas in the 1930s who picked cotton to help her family survive, to her adulthood years as Dr. Mildred Pratt who influenced hundreds of students and empowered a community.

Individuals in mid-career positions in higher education typically feel that they are faced with fewer engagement endeavors and new initiatives with which they can participate in as institutions tend to find them not as new and their ideas no longer as cutting edge, even though they very well may be. For women in academia, this phenomenon is even more complex. Typically, by mid-career, women have survived the sprint to tenure while juggling family/caregiver responsibilities. Post-tenure they may find themselves in a space where they have more control over their work and can engage at a more comfortable pace. However, without institutional support and personal determination to remain engaged, women may find themselves facing stagnation in their career development. Thus, it is essential that mentorship opportunities are established and career trajectories put in place for mid-career women. Women in Higher Education and the Journey to Mid-Career: Challenges and Opportunities considers specific challenges, issues, strategies, and solutions that are associated with female academics during mid-career phases. The book includes a variety of emerging evidence-based professional practice and narrative personal accounts as written by administrators, faculty, staff, and students. The book considers strategies for remaining vibrant and productive and suggestions from successful mid-career women academics and reflections from women who have passed the mid-career phase. Covering topics such as tenure, self-care, and academic leadership, this reference work is ideal for administrators, faculty, policymakers, academicians, scholars, researchers, practitioners, instructors, and students.