Meghan J. Pifer

(Re)Defining Departure: Exploring Black Professors' Experiences with and Responses to Racism and Racial Climate.

A growing body of research demonstrates that many college environments present challenges for black professors, particularly as they face institutional and personal racism. While scholars have linked these experiences to their attrition, this qualitative study explores black professors’ larger range of responses to difficult professional environments. Twenty-eight black professors employed at two large public research universities participated in this study. Findings indicate that in addition to institutional departure, black faculty respond to personal and institutional racism though a form of psychological departure and acts of critical agency, specifically forming external networks, aiming to disprove stereotypes and engaging in service activities. Thus, institutions must be mindful of the full range of responses to the racism that black professors face, not assuming the climate is hospitable simply because faculty are not leaving the institution. Rather, campuses must improve their campus environments through ongoing strategic initiatives focused on cultural change.

Process Challenges and Learning-Based Interactions in Stage 2 of Doctoral Education: Implications from Two Applied Social Science Fields

This article reports on an exploratory study that examined the transition to independence in Stage 2 of the doctoral student experience in two applied social science fields. We rely on an interdisciplinary framework that integrates developmental networks and sociocultural perspectives of learning to better understand the connection between the challenges in Stage 2 of the doctoral education process and students’ learning-based behavioral responses to such challenges during this critical transition. Results indicate the presence of three types of process challenges in Stage 2: structural, interpersonal, and individual. Results also point to a range of behavioral responses to such challenges and their relative effectiveness in advancing doctoral student learning towards becoming independent scholars. We conclude with directions for future research and practice.

Antecedents and outcomes: theories of fit and the study of doctoral education

This paper explores fit as an important theoretical construct in the study of doctoral education and doctoral student development. We discuss how research based on three types of fit (person–environment fit, person–culture fit, person–vocation fit) may provide critical insights into the doctoral student experience, and offer a framework based on antecedents and outcomes to support future research. We conclude with an application of this framework to two understudied populations of doctoral students and future research directions.

Increasing Diversity in the Geosciences: Recruitment Programs and Student Self-Efficacy

Using a conceptual framework constructed around self-efficacy, this study explores specific recruitment programs that may contribute to the development of self-efficacy for students of color in the geosciences. This mixed methods study of geoscience education includes quantitative analysis of the Summer Experience in Earth and Mineral Science Program and qualitative analysis of the Summer Research Opportunity Program. Findings identify programmatic components that fostered self-efficacy, thus contributing to students’ continued interest in careers in geoscience. This study has potential implications for higher education institutions interested in cultivating programs that attract, support, and retain students of color through various stages of the geoscience education pipeline.

Faculty as Mentors in Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Work: Motivating and Inhibiting Factors.

In this study, we sought to contribute to research about the high-impact practice of undergraduate research from the understudied faculty perspective. We relied on focus group data from faculty members (N = 41) across five institutions to better understand the supporting and inhibiting factors that contribute to faculty members’ engagement in mentoring undergraduate research. We offer implications for research and practice.

Mentor-protégé fit Identifying and developing effective mentorship across identities in doctoral education

Purpose – The aim of this conceptual paper is to explore Mentor-protege fit as important to the selection and development of successful doctoral student–faculty mentoring relationships. We suggest that the student–faculty relationship in doctoral education is an additional and previously untested type of Mentor-protege fit. Design/methodology/approach – Generated from an existing framework of identity in the academy, we explore how three types of identity (professional, relational, personal) may influence students’ fit assessments as they seek to initiate and develop relationships. Findings – We offer propositions for research to further explore the potential application of the proposed framework to knowledge generation about the doctoral student experience. Originality/value – While the research about doctoral education has considered all three aspects of students’ identities individually, it has not explicated the ways in which these intersecting identities relate to students’ needs and expectations rel...

Academic departments as networks of informal learning: faculty development at liberal arts colleges

In this article, we consider the role of departmental contexts and relationships in faculty work within liberal arts colleges. Knowledge about how departmental networks relate to success and satisfaction may inform the work of those who support faculty work in liberal arts colleges, as well as other institution types. Analysis of quantitative and qualitative survey data from faculty members at 13 liberal arts colleges in the US suggests that informal departmental relationships influence faculty experiences. Findings suggest that departmental leaders and colleagues are sources of professional development and support, but that counter-productive behaviours interfere with such support and foster negative workplace cultures.

IDENTITY AS A THEORETICAL CONSTRUCT IN RESEARCH ABOUT ACADEMIC CAREERS

In this chapter, we review the ways in which scholars have conceptualized and relied on the notion of identity to understand the academic career. We explore the use of identity as a theoretical construct in research about the experience of being an academic. We discuss the individual and organizational factors that scholars have focused on when seeking to understand the role of professional and personal identity in academic careers, as well as recent and emerging shifts in the use of identity within this line of scholarship. Research suggests that if we are to understand the future of the academic career, we must understand the identities of its current and prospective members and, more importantly, how those identities shape goals, behaviors, and outcomes. We close with recommendations for future research and theory development.

Professional, Personal, and Relational: Exploring the Salience of Identity in Academic Careers

ABSTRACT This article explores the role of identity in lived experiences within the professoriate. While scholarship has given some attention to professional identity and personal identity, little in the literature has attempted to present a holistic view of identity and the complex ways that it defines and influences academic careers. The authors present findings from their analysis of interview data from 50 participants across career stages, from doctoral students to full professors. These findings suggest that three distinct but related, and potentially synergistic, components of identity are salient in shaping perceptions of and experiences within academic careers. The authors offer future directions for research centered on a rich conceptualization of identity as critical for understanding faculty development, experiences, and needs.

His, Hers, and Ours: Gendered Roles and Resources in Academic Departments

This article presents findings from an exploratory study of whether and how gender-based patterns were present in faculty members’ departmental networks. A network analysis approach was used to identify if women and men had ties to their departmental colleagues in similar patterns and for similar purposes. Findings from the analysis of network survey and interview data with 19 faculty members in two academic departments suggest that some participants held gendered expectations of collegial support and that perceptions of gender roles may have influenced departmental work and relationships. Gender was salient for women in ways that did not shape the experiences of men in the same departments. There was a tendency for participants to connect to colleagues who were women for teaching-related purposes more than for research purposes or other reasons. Faculty members’ relationships with their colleagues may be shaped by their own gender-based assumptions and behaviors as well as those of their colleagues. These differences across gender led to different networks of relationships for various functions of colleagueship, which participants used to obtain different resources that were important for their career success.