The Undervalued Labor of Black and Hispanic Engineering Faculty

Maria L. Espino; Brian Le; Spencer Platt; Henry Tran

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Equity, Culture & Social Justice in Education Division (EQUITY) Technical Session 6
Tagged Divisions: Equity and Culture & Social Justice in Education Division (EQUITY)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 6
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--44492
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/44492
Download Count: 100

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Paper Authors

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Maria L. Espino University of South Carolina orcid.org/0000-0002-6217-9304

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Maria Luz Espino her doctorate in the Higher Administration Program in the School of Education at Iowa State University. She obtained her Masters’s degree in Educational Policy and Leadership at Marquette University in her hometown of Milwaukee, WI. She completed her Bachelors degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a double major in Community and Nonprofit Leadership and Gender and Women studies. As a scholar and a student advocate, Maria believes that centering, humanizing, empowering, and supporting the communities in which we serve through practical and policy reform.

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Brian Le University of California, Los Angeles

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Brian Le (he/him/his) is currently a Ph.D. student in the Higher Education and Organizational Change (HEOC) program at UCLA. Brian holds a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology & health from Iowa State University and a master’s degree in student affairs in higher education from Marquette University. Prior to attending UCLA, Brian worked at Iowa State University for 4 years as a student’s program coordinator for the Science Bound program, a pre-college through college program focused on working with scholars from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue a degree in STEM. He has been a research affiliate on multiple NSF-funded projects surrounding equity in STEM. Brian’s research interests are college access, retention, marginalized students, community colleges, first-generation, STEM education, STEM identity development and engineering education.

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Spencer Platt University of South Carolina

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Henry Tran University of South Carolina

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Henry Tran is an Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policies who studies issues related to education human resources (HR). He has published extensively on the topic, and holds two national HR certifications. He is also the co-lead editor of the book How did we get here?: The decay of the teaching profession, co-lead editor of the book Leadership in turbulent times: Cultivating diversity and inclusion in the P-12 Education Workplace, co-editor of the book Leadership in turbulent times: Cultivating diversity and inclusion in the Higher Education Workplace, editor of the Journal of Education Human Resources, and the Director of the Talent Centered Education Leadership Initiative. Prior to his professorship, Tran served as an HR practitioner in both the private sector and in public education. He draws from both experiences in his research and teaching.

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Abstract

As of 2020, there were 1.5 million faculty members in post-secondary institutions (NCES, 2022). There is only seven percent Black faculty and six percent Hispanic faculty (NCES, 2022). Black and Hispanic faculty are not only underrepresented at selective public universities but especially so in the areas of science and math (Li & Koedel, 2017). Engineering departments have slim or even zero numbers of underrepresented minority faculty members (Nelson & Brammer, 2010). While some of these problems can be attributed to the challenges of the recruitment of faculty of color, scholars have increasingly pointed to faculty attrition as a core problem (Whitaker, Montgomery, & Acosta, 2015).

This research study explores on two major areas. First, we aim to understand how engineering demographic characteristics are associated with those perceptions of Black and Hispanic engineering faculty (BHEF). Secondly, the team focused on how service affects BHEF as they are navigating the tenure process. These questions were investigated by a survey and longitudinal qualitative interviews. Through a national cross-sectional survey, we analyzed 1,161 engineering faculty responses. From this survey we focused on the open-ended responses of the survey portion of the study, 26 Black faculty members and 51 Hispanic faculty members responded. Looking at the breakdown more in-depth, the respondents were 21 Black men, 5 Black women, 35 Hispanic men, and 16 Hispanic women. On the qualitative side, we conducted two rounds of interviews, the first including 14 BHEF members and the second including nine to follow-up a year later. These interviews are used to further understand the survey information.

From the qualitative data, the open-ended questions and the two interviews, we highlight three themes 1) Service Overload, 2) Racial Battle Fatigue, and 3) Cultural Tax

Service Overload. The “Service Overload” theme refers to how BHEF often feels obligated to provide service work even though the institution undervalues it despite its centrality to the mission.

Racial Battle Fatigue. In this section, participants detailed how various racial and professional pressures tax and overwhelm BHEF. In one of the highlighted instances, the racial climate was known to be hostile. In the second example, the environment was thought to be inclusive until the participant was able to gain more experience.

Cultural Tax. Lastly, participants further encompassed how their identities added that extra level of responsibility to support Students of Color and be present at event that center their experiences. This extra tax is underlying through the work they do as well as wanting to give back through the service and self-need to be present.

Finally, we conclude by integrating our results to interpret the survey open-ended questions and the two qualitative interviews findings together.

Citation
Format

Espino, M. L., & Le, B., & Platt, S., & Tran, H. (2023, June), The Undervalued Labor of Black and Hispanic Engineering Faculty Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--44492

TY - CPAPER
AB - As of 2020, there were 1.5 million faculty members in post-secondary institutions (NCES, 2022). There is only seven percent Black faculty and six percent Hispanic faculty (NCES, 2022). Black and Hispanic faculty are not only underrepresented at selective public universities but especially so in the areas of science and math (Li &amp;amp; Koedel, 2017). Engineering departments have slim or even zero numbers of underrepresented minority faculty members (Nelson &amp;amp; Brammer, 2010). While some of these problems can be attributed to the challenges of the recruitment of faculty of color, scholars have increasingly pointed to faculty attrition as a core problem (Whitaker, Montgomery, &amp;amp; Acosta, 2015).

This research study explores on two major areas. First, we aim to understand how engineering demographic characteristics are associated with those perceptions of Black and Hispanic engineering faculty (BHEF). Secondly, the team focused on how service affects BHEF as they are navigating the tenure process. These questions were investigated by a survey and longitudinal qualitative interviews. Through a national cross-sectional survey, we analyzed 1,161 engineering faculty responses. From this survey we focused on the open-ended responses of the survey portion of the study, 26 Black faculty members and 51 Hispanic faculty members responded. Looking at the breakdown more in-depth, the respondents were 21 Black men, 5 Black women, 35 Hispanic men, and 16 Hispanic women. On the qualitative side, we conducted two rounds of interviews, the first including 14 BHEF members and the second including nine to follow-up a year later. These interviews are used to further understand the survey information.

From the qualitative data, the open-ended questions and the two interviews, we highlight three themes 1) Service Overload, 2) Racial Battle Fatigue, and 3) Cultural Tax

Service Overload. The “Service Overload” theme refers to how BHEF often feels obligated to provide service work even though the institution undervalues it despite its centrality to the mission.

Racial Battle Fatigue. In this section, participants detailed how various racial and professional pressures tax and overwhelm BHEF. In one of the highlighted instances, the racial climate was known to be hostile. In the second example, the environment was thought to be inclusive until the participant was able to gain more experience.

Cultural Tax. Lastly, participants further encompassed how their identities added that extra level of responsibility to support Students of Color and be present at event that center their experiences. This extra tax is underlying through the work they do as well as wanting to give back through the service and self-need to be present.

Finally, we conclude by integrating our results to interpret the survey open-ended questions and the two qualitative interviews findings together.
AU - Maria L. Espino
AU - Brian Le
AU - Spencer Platt
AU - Henry Tran
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - The Undervalued Labor of Black and Hispanic Engineering Faculty
UR - https://peer.asee.org/44492
DO - 10.18260/1-2--44492
ER -