THE BLACK ACADEMIC'S GUIDE
TO WINNING TENURE --
WITHOUT LOSING YOUR SOUL 

by Kerry Ann Rockquemore and Tracey A. Laszloffy
Lynne Rienner Press

Individual faculty too often spend their first years and a great deal of emotional energy trying to figure out the basic elements of what it means to be a successful new professor: how to be teach well and efficiently, how to manage time spent on service, and how to publish prolifically. Because Black faculty must do all this and negotiate subtle and overt racial slights and assaults, the transition from graduate student to professor can be particularly difficult. The Black Academic’s Guide assists readers in mastering the necessary strategies to win tenure without compromising their integrity and sacrificing their souls in the process. 

The Black Academic’s Guide provides techniques for winning the tenure game that are rich, varied and incredibly useful, and in fact, can be successfully utilized by all junior faculty, irrespective of race, ethnicity or gender. But what makes this book an essential resource for Black faculty is the focus on how race creates unique barriers and burdens for faculty of color. Too often, being in a vulnerable position as both a junior faculty member and a racial minority can lead some Black faculty to sacrifice everything – their relationships, their voice, their integrity – in the pursuit of tenure and promotion. In the end, some win tenure but have become so alienated from their core self in the process that they can no longer connect to who they are and where they are going. They played the game to win so intensely that they compromised their core self in the process and internalized their institution’s values as their own criteria for determining self-worth. Worse yet are those faculty who have lost their soul in the process, and still didn’t win tenure. These are the saddest cases of all because they require both a personal and professional resurrection.

The first section of The Black Academic’s Guide examines how race, systems and power interact to shape life in the academy for Black faculty. The second section presents a core set of skills and techniques that all junior faculty need to successfully make the transition from graduate student to professor. Readers learn the nuts and bolts of effective time management, strategic planning, and developing an organizational system, in addition to specific strategies and skills for publishing prolifically, teaching effectively, and serving successfully. The third and final section focuses on the most critical and challenging component of life on the tenure track: protecting the core self of junior faculty member and the integrity of their relationships. Winning tenure without losing ones soul requires self-knowledge, clear-priorities and conflict-management strategies. Readers learn how to move from their unconscious Habits of Survival towards Strategies for Success at their institution. Additionally, they learn how to engage in constructive conflicts while pro-actively establishing and nurturing relationships with people who can provide professional, substantive, and emotional support. The Black Academic’s Guide is a long-overdue and essential guide for black faculty (and other faculty of color) who need to quickly master the techniques of teaching, research, and service while simultaneously resisting the pressures that threaten to strip them their voice, integrity and their very soul.
 

"This book should be required reading in the professional development courses offered by most graduate programs. It deftly addresses the subtle abuses of power and the always challenging-to-address racial politics that pervade all aspects of society, including academia."—Romney Norwood, Georgia State University

"A critical resource for black junior faculty who are attempting to negotiate the politics of promotion and tenure at their institutions. Both sensible and effective."—Rainier Spencer, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

"Provides valuable information and practical tips.... This book outlines concrete steps any junior faculty member can and should take to help them win tenure, but it is especially valuable for faculty of color."—Krista Johnson, Agnes Scott College