I was not the only one in the audience with tears streaming down my cheeks. Indeed, the heartwarming video of undergraduates opening and reading encouraging letters from their proud parents as they prepared to graduate was deeply moving. But this was not the reason for my tears at the conclusion of Dr. Mildred García’s keynote address at the Council of Graduate Schoolsannual meeting.
Rather, in Dr. García, I had finally found a role model who was, in many respects, just like me.
Archives for April 2018
Lessons From Starbucks’ Imperfect Response to Systemic Racism
Everyday acts of systemic racism such as racial profiling, racial microaggressions and racial violence are a terrifying reality for racially and ethnically minoritized students, faculty and staff at predominately White institutions across the United States. As these occurrences continue, these institutions have attempted to address the violence and blatant racism through hiring diversity consultants, offering workshops and establishing multicultural affairs departments.
Yet, the insidious and blatant forms of racism remain intact. As Black women scholars who have been invited to serve as campus consultants around issues of racial diversity, we often grapple with this work, knowing that despite our efforts, racism and White supremacy are here to stay.
New policies are needed to recruit racially and ethnically diverse faculties (opinion)
The national movement to increase the proportion of Americans who have postsecondary credentials is quite visible and laudable. As Lumina Foundation, the foremost champion of this idea, argues, learning beyond high school increases American talent and is essential for reducing inequality in our society.
Stanford seeks to improve graduate student advising
In changes aimed at improving the quality of graduate student advising, Stanford University’s Faculty Senate last week voted to require departments to spell out advising expectations for both professors and students.
Feeling Anxious? You’re Not the Only One
I am surrounded by workaholics.
At every college where I have taught, the unspoken mantra is that you must always have a project to work on — a new book, a journal article, a series of poems, or a grant proposal. In the faculty mailroom, the most common question is “What are you working on?” An unheard-of response is “Nothing.”
My adjunct colleagues are trying to publish themselves into a tenure-track position, while the tenure-track faculty members know that if they do not publish their way to tenure, they are done. Then there is the tenured faculty. They set the pace for everyone else by keeping their foot on the gas. Some of these people are in their 70s, with bags under their eyes, and CVs as long as Jack Kerouac’s scroll of On the Road. Yet, they never stop. As one of my colleagues once told me, “Academia is like a pie-eating contest where the reward is more pie.”
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next Page »
