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Keywords
Black women; adjunct faculty; doctorate degrees; visibility; white female faculty
Abstract
This study presents the voices of six graduate-educated Black female adjuncts from predominantly white institutions (PWIs) who were interviewed regarding their perception of barriers that prevent Black women from pursuing a Ph.D. degree in business that could lead to tenure/tenure track professorship appointments at four-year colleges or schools of business. What emerged was the complexity involving intersections of identity such as race, gender, and academic position that they perceived as reasons for lack of pursuance. Intersectionality Theory provides the theoretical framework for the study. In addition to the connection of intersectionality and Black female faculty, the findings from this phenomenological study brought forth themes of invisibility, lack of role models, and concrete ceilings that Black female adjuncts experience in higher education PWIs that can lead to a lack of pursuance of the business Ph.D. The study demonstrates a continued need to understand and hear the voices of Black female faculty in colleges and schools of business at PWIs in the United States.
Keywords: intersectionality, concrete ceiling, Black female faculty, predominantly White institutions, graduate education
Introduction
The purpose of this phenomenological study is to discover the barriers that graduateeducated Black female adjuncts at PWIs feel prevents Black women from pursuing the Ph.D. degree in business. At this stage in the research, barriers that prevent Black women from pursuance of the doctoral degree will be generally defined as obstacles that prevent them from entering a Ph.D. program in business from an AACSB accredited institution. This Ph.D. in business is the suggested terminal degree for tenure/tenure track positions in a four-year college or schools of business (Ph.D. Project, n.d.). Research findings indicate that race, as an identity element is an important component for understanding the experiences of people of color even as it relates to higher education (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002). However, it is not just about race for Black women. Research that investigates females and work must also inspect the distinctive experiences that women face at the intersections of race and gender (Walkington, 2017, p. 51). Crenshaw (1989) explains that intersectionality theory brings a voice to the experiences of Black women. Intersectionality discards the simplistic idea that one marginalized identity such as gender is...