This qualitative study explored the perceptions, challenges, and lived experiences of women, in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, holding executive level leadership positions to inform tailored support strategies. As female educators aspire to higher levels of leadership in schools and districts, limited avenues of structured informal and formal…

Universities are expected to strive for excellence but also for gender balance. Narrow interpretations of excellence in universities hinder women's advancement in academia. In this paper, we ask if there are ways that these policies may be reconciled. Excellence is an "empty signifier" that must be filled with meaning. We have…

Women outnumber men in assistant professor positions at 4-year colleges and universities, but the story changes at the higher ranks. There are more men in associate professor positions and twice as many men than women at the full professor rank, the pinnacle of the faculty career and gateway to leadership and decision-making roles. Ample research…

This chapter describes individual and institutional strategies for faculty advancement in teaching-oriented institutions, with special attention to the experiences of Women of Color.

How can colleges and universities increase the number of women full professors? Criteria and expectations for promotion need more scholarly scrutiny. Through a game-based study, women associate professors from arts, humanities, social science, and STEM fields at a public urban research-1 university categorized different aspects of promotion…

Neoliberalism occupies the walls of academia, seeping into the pulse and pace of faculty work and engendering precarity into academic life and the promotion and tenure process, particularly for Women of Color (WoC) scholars. Building on research on early-career faculty and Faculty of Color and informed by the theoretical concept of liminality, we…

This study uses Black feminist thought to explore the experiences of Black women faculty that earned tenure and promotion to associate professor. We found that participants who reported positive experiences on the tenure track received strong support from various sources. Conversely, those devoid of competent support consistently reported negative…

This qualitative study examines the previous leadership experiences and professional training that helped prepare women faculty to become engineering department chairs. Colleges of engineering and institutions of higher education must better understand the professional development experiences of women who are department chairs to identify how to…

Women are well-represented in faculty development leadership positions, yet there are inconsistent support systems in place for women leaders. Faculty development requires a unique leadership skill set to work with stakeholders across the institution. We conducted a collaborative self-study to investigate how co-mentorship provides women faculty…

Historically, university systems have maintained gender inequities that facilitate promotion and advancement for Caucasian men, while creating barriers to career advancement for women and marginalised groups. Significant obstacles have existed for faculty mothers who have attempted to fulfill responsibilities as both mother and worker,…

We use CUPA-HR data to analyze representation and pay equity for women and racial/ethnic minorities in higher education full-time faculty from 2016-17 to 2022-23, across tenure status, rank, discipline, and total operating expenses of institutions. Results indicate that, despite some growth in the representation of women and faculty of color in…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of African American women in institutions of higher education in the state of Texas regarding career progression and potential barriers to leadership. Of specific interest is a more in-depth understanding of perceived barriers along the career pathway and strategies…

Mid-career faculty members often seek to advance to the highest faculty rank of "full professor," but research suggests women and Black, Indigenous and Other People of Color (BIPOC) faculty face inequitable patterns in advancement to the full professor rank. This study focuses on associate professors' perceptions of "promotion…

Many professors, especially at the associate level, say yes to service requests despite the pervasive advice to "just say no." Much of this service constitutes "invisible labor" that diverts time and energy from efforts required to advance to the full professor rank. Based on in-depth interview research with 25 tenured…

The professorate remains predominantly white, and predominantly male in 2023. Despite a perceived shift in educational practice towards the creation of inclusive climates and campus workplaces, Black women's career advancement to full professor over the past 25 years remained flat at a mere 2%. Black women's career advancement and well-being in…