Women of Color in Academe
I recall a personal example of how multiple social identities may shape one’s opportunities in higher education. As a woman of color from a “no collar” class (I come from a farm labor background), when first exploring graduate school options I was discouraged from applying to a master’s level program in business by an admissions officer. The admissions officer stated that I would not fit. I was a woman, a minority, a single parent, I had a background in the public sector, and I had some but not enough math background. This would make it nearly impossible for me to succeed as others in the program fit another and opposite profile. Although all of this may be true, it did not occur to the admissions officer that this might not be an appropriate state of affairs for student enrollment in the program. It was merely accepted as the way things are and should remain. I remember being struck by the many ways I could be defined as not “fitting” and, therefore, not encouraged and, more than likely, not admitted. I was so easily “defined out” rather than “defined in.” I am now a faculty member at a major research university. My current work focuses on the experiences of faculty of color in higher education. While pursuing this work, I have had many opportunities to interview, converse with, and read about the lives of other faculty women of color. Many continue to speak, although in different ways, about the experiWomen of Color in Academe