Author : Avila Dee Hendricks
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 270 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (415 download)
Book Synopsis The Influence of Professional Socialization on African American Faculty Perceptions of Academic Culture and Intellectual Freedom by : Avila Dee Hendricks
Download or read book The Influence of Professional Socialization on African American Faculty Perceptions of Academic Culture and Intellectual Freedom written by Avila Dee Hendricks and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Research on African Americans in academe rests on the premise that the success of Black faculty in higher education depends heavily on significant mentoring, and networking opportunities. However, weak mentoring relationships and fewer networking opportunities may only reflect an underlying socialization problem for African American faculty in higher education. The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not African American faculty perceive the academic culture and institutional climate as supportive and protective of their intellectual freedom. This study was premised on the perspective that the process of professional socialization is circumscribed by the culture of the academic organization. The theoretical framework for this study was based on research which viewed institutions of higher education as unique organizational cultures, and faculty as culture bearers' who are influenced by institutional values and beliefs. The participants for this study were nineteen (19) African American men and women employed at U.S. colleges or universities as faculty, or as administrators with teaching responsibilities. Grounded theory was the qualitative method used to collect the research data and to analyze key values associated with the culture of the academic organization. In-depth telephone interviews served as the primary data collection strategy. A focus group interview served as a secondary data source. The interview questions focused on the African American faculty member's involvement in the institutional culture, the disciplinary culture, and the culture of the profession-at-large. Two major findings may be extracted from the results of this study: (1) faculty who were intellectually stimulated and mentored by graduate school faculty, tended to perceive their early initiation and socialization into the academic profession as less stressful and less transformative, and (2) faculty who decided early in their academic careers to become college or university professors tended to view the academic culture and climate as more tolerant of their intellectual and academic freedom. The results provide support for attending to the preparation of African American graduate students for academic careers. This study also has significant implications for academic communities attempting to transform the culture of the academy in order to honor the social and intellectual diversity among faculty.
