Journeys of Black Women in Academe: Shared Lessons, Experiences, and Insights

What advice or lessons learned would you want seasoned Black women in academe to impart to early and mid-career women faculty, researchers, and administrators of color, especially those of African descent?

This book is composed of narratives from Black American women professors who have been in higher education for at least two decades. Despite all challenges and obstacles, these scholars have enjoyed successful careers in the Academy. They share reflections on critical incidents and select lessons that they experienced and learned from throughout their accomplished careers. In this book, academic wisdom aligns with ancestral wisdom to benefit emerging scholars, faculty, and administrators in academia.

Journeys of Black Women in Academe provides lessons that are instructive to faculty and administrators across race and gender boundaries relative to the successes and challenges that African American women continue to experience in academia.

Brenda L. Walker is a Professor in the Exceptional Student Education Program at the University of South Florida, USA, and an attorney. Dr. Walker has been an educator and researcher in the academy for the past 32 years. She is currently Director of the University of South Florida’s Call Me MiSTER initiative to recruit men, and more recently women, to teach in urban and high-poverty elementary and middle schools. She is the Principal Investigator on Project RISES, an out-of-school suspension research study. She has published numerous journal articles, book chapters, and a co-authored textbook. Dr. Walker has mentored a host of doctoral students and faculty nationally on graduate program completion and tenure and promotion, respectively.