The SOULS of Black Faculty and Staff in the American Academy

ISBN-13: 9783031392283 / Angielski / Twarda / 2023

Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh

Opis

This book employs a fiction-based approach to address the revolving door of Black faculty and staff in American colleges and universities as a national crisis that needs to be resolved systematically. Alex-Assensoh coins the acronym SOULS to promote the importance of safety, organizational accountability, unvarnished truth telling, love, and spirituality as the foundational ingredients for reimagining and rebuilding an Academy that harnesses the talents of Black faculty and staff. Chapters feature storytelling to illustrate common cracks in academic structures while interweaving interdisciplinary research to contextualize themes that the fiction-based method reveals. To conclude, the author provides a research-informed call to action within the context of institutional transformation, as well as reflective questions and recommendations for further reading.

Spis treści

Introduction 

Farewell Again 

Passage One: Institutional Responsiveness in the Absence of SOULS 

Exodus and The Day of Reckoning 

The Board Room 

The Cleanup Woman 

Passage Two: Safety In The Academy

Saving Our Children

A Profound Act of Self-Preservation 

Students Catalyzing Change  

Our Shared Responsibility 

Passage Three: Organizational Accountability 

The Heart Transplant 

What about the Students? 

Culpability 

Passage Four: Unvarnished Truth Telling in the Academy 

No Tea, No Shade 

Towering University Goddam 

Call and Response 

Passage Five: Love and Spirituality in the Academy: A Change Is Gonna Come 

A Change Is Gonna Come 

Out of the Ashes 

From Farewell Again to SOULS Celebration

Implications, Resources and Exemplars

O autorze

Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh is Vice President for Equity and Inclusion, Professor of Political Science, and Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Oregon, USA. A member of the Oregon and Indiana Bar Associations, she also serves as an elected Boardmember of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE).