Finding Work for Black Professors in the Academy: a Workshop on Diversity & Discrimination

By: Joan R. Cartwright

In July 2017, I completed my Doctorate in Business Administration/Marketing. I taught Speech Communication, since February 2016. However, I only taught this class every four months which did not sustain me. I taught at Keiser University in Pembroke Pines. But that was a commute of 100 miles per day, three days a week, and my car broke down. That commute cost me $250 in gas and tolls per month and the university would not reimburse me.In the past three years, I submitted hundreds of applications to schools in Florida like FAU, Palm Beach State College, Miami-Dade College, Strayer College, Lynn University, Broward College, and others out-of-state. I had one interview in 2016, and nothing else, until I interviewed the Equity Officer at PBSC who forwarded my resume to the Dean of Communication. I got hired! I begin teaching on June 27, 2019, for 14 weeks, and four classes in the Fall at two PBSC campuses. (The squeaky wheel gets the oil!)In actuality, very little has changed. White women continue to dominate the employment rolls. Black women are rarely seen waitressing, as airline stewardesses, on corporate boards, or as professors in the academy. Colleges and universities (in class or online) have no problem taking our money, signing us up for financial aid, knowing well that the policy of their institutions is to avoid hiring us. This is racial discrimination of the highest order. In addition, Black women suffer from gender discrimination and those who are middle-aged or above suffer from age discrimination.This studied showed that at three South Florida institutions, Broward College, Florida Atlantic University, and Palm Beach State College, black professors comprise less than 10% of the faculty, while black students are 30% of the 147,000 students attending these schools. Consequently, new teachers, mathematicians, scientists, and business majors are not getting a culturally-rounded experience in college.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1638216673
• ISBN13: 9781638216674
• Release Date: July 2021
• Publisher: Primedia eLaunch LLC