Black students' understandings of the "pipeline" to the professoriate: Viable career option or perceived dead end?

Shavonne R Shorter, Purdue University

Abstract

Higher education is suffering from a lack of racial and ethnic diversity (Schultz, Hernandez, Woodcock, Estrada, Chance, Aguilar, & Serpe, 2011). To address the overall lack of diversity, scholars and practitioners have devised a strategic vocational mechanism- the 'pipeline'. The 'pipeline' is a prescribed career trajectory that denotes the successful movement of students from college to graduate school and then into the professoriate (Schultz et al., 2011). The literature has shown that Black students have had narrow success within the 'pipeline' (Council of Graduate Schools, 2012; National Center for Educational Statistics, 2011). It is possible that Black students' conscious decisions to consider, abandon, or complete this career trajectory have been informed by previously received career messages. As such this project uses and critiques the existing notions of Vocational Anticipatory Socialization (VAS). Vocational Anticipatory Socialization (VAS) is the way in which people receive information about a given vocation including what it entails, what preparation is needed, and daily responsibilities (Jablin, 2001). VAS is inherently and perhaps problematically premised upon the idea that this process is standard for all persons. One aim of this project is to understand if VAS is as homogenous of a process. VAS messages or the lack thereof may have a hand in framing the career choices of Black students. Framing is the way in which phenomena are presented and made sense of (Entman, 1993). A 'pipeline' brings to mind images of linear career models in which one moves from one level to the next in a hierarchical system (Barauch & Sullivan, 2008). But perhaps a linear way of conceptualizing this career path is the problem itself. The researcher posed the following research questions: (a) How do Black students frame career?, (b) Do Black students' understandings of careers provide evidence of 'pipeline' or other career framings?, and (c), In what ways does their knowledge about the professoriate or lack thereof impact their career decisions? Interviews were conducted with 50 Black students who are current undergraduate or graduate students. Findings reveal that Black students frame career in four ways: (a) motivated by incentives, (b) high paying, (c) a long-term commitment, and (d) a path. Black students do not talk about the 'pipeline' as a career framing, but rather as an academic path laden with hurdles including (a) lack of academic preparedness, (b) insufficient financial support, (c) lack of academic support, (d) lack of mentorship, (e) lack of family support, (f) needing to leave to support one's family, (g) seeing no value in higher education, (h) not wanting to continue in the academic struggle, and (i) the perception that a bachelor's degree will provide their ideal desired income. Black students choose not to become professors because: (a) no one talks to them about the professoriate as a viable career option, (b) they see no faculty members who look like them, (c) of perceptions that this career pays poorly, (d) of the perception that this career provides a poor quality of life, and (e) of a national sentiment that devalues of the work that professors engage in.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Connaughton, Purdue University.

Subject Area

African American Studies|Communication

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