Alyssa S. Cortes-Kennedy
Alyssa S. Cortes-Kennedy is a native South Texan. She is a first-generation college graduate with a B.A. in criminal justice from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a master’s in administration from the University of the Incarnate Word. She is currently a doctoral candidate for a Ph.D. in education, with a concentration in organizational leadership and a specialty in adult learning and teaching at UIW. Her administration and leadership passions stem from military family history and working in corporate and small businesses, which include legal, medical, and corporate America areas. She is an ambitious and active advocate for lifelong learning, cancer awareness and research (specifically, Glioblastoma), veterans’ education (at all stages of service), and the application of faith and duty as a global citizen. If asked, Alyssa would say first, that she is a follower of Jesus Christ, a wife, daughter, sister, granddaughter, dog mom, and world traveler.
Educated Latina: A Poetic Narrative of the Experiences of a Latina Doctoral Scholar
Abstract
Latina women are still rarely found in higher educational settings. Statistics show Latinas or women who identify as a Hispanic race and/or ethnicity account for less than 3% of faculty at degree issuing higher education intuitions.[1] As female doctoral students and candidates continue to seek and complete their graduate degrees those journeys have not necessarily improved over time. There is still an underrepresentation of women, specifically brown women working full-time in academia as a faculty member. This essay uses a qualitative type of writing style fusing poetry and experiential storytelling together. It is an autobiographical poetic narrative which describes the real-life experience of one Latina doctoral candidates’ journey in a Ph. D. program in South Texas. These experiences are based on attending a Hispanic Serving Institute (HSI) with a lack of brown female faculty representation, breaking down of generally, unspoken sexism and power dynamics found in academia aimed towards women, how ageism plays a part in “trust” dynamics despite one’s education level, and female to female peer rivalries. These experiences depict a deeper understanding of the stresses Latinas face within institutional barricades. It will narrate the opportunities and self-dedication it takes to succeed as a female doctoral candidate while facing imposter syndrome and how mindfulness and creating one’s own safe space is essential to surviving academia. This is a raw experience story of success and failure in the hopes of becoming a Doctor of Philosophy.
Keywords: Latina, Academia, Higher Education, Experience(s)
Women of Color in Higher Educational Settings
It is not by any means a surprise; women of color are underrepresented in academics. While there are a significant number of women completing their college education and outranking men in their enrollment at universities in the 21st century.[2] Women are still a minority population within faculty departments in higher education.[3] The all-mighty “professorship” position is an honored and respected accolade but one which is becoming harder and harder to attain, especially for those women of color.[4] As Millennials and Gen Xer’s achieve higher education levels than any generation past these prestige academic positions become harder to come by. Additionally, universities are moving away from creating these fulltime positions as full-time faculty retire. Research suggests this has been because of a change of “declining in-person class enrollment, increased faculty who are at retirement age, and institutional tenure caps.”[5] Also, there is an under-representation for adequate pay for the work which goes into an academic field position. Within academia, the standard 40-hour work week does not exist. Therefore, the competitive nature of simply wanting the job, means an individual is more likely to accept less pay to get their foot in the door and hopefully have a long-term career in academia.
Women within academia is not a new concept but is less common in higher education even in the 21st century. Again, it is not a new idea but one which tends to have a stronger turnover and less relativism in most colleges. Ironically, there is a commonality between individuals who decide to go forward with these types of advanced degrees and scholarly abilities. Academic scholars or individuals who go after advanced degrees often have certain characteristics: they tend to be competitive, perfectionists, achievement oriented, and conscientious.[6] Because there is such a small group of women with advanced degrees or in higher educational settings there is comradery and competition that comes with these groups. Often there is a commonality of resilience and perseverance in women’s stories of higher education.[7] Vaughn, et. al.[8] mentions a found connection between impostor syndrome and academic motivation amongst women in higher education. Which suggests many women often feel, while they are an active member of the academic community, that they are not worthy or relevant in their environment. There is often a lot of questioning of self-worth and academic-worth within academia to essentially compete and stand out from other peers.
Coetzee & Moosa state while women are breaking the “glass-ceilings” in higher education, retention is an area in desperate need of improvement.[9] In addition, there is the unknown, yet spoken expectations which are expected from women, which often include multi-tasking family, professional, and other responsibilities.[10] Women of color are especially needed in higher education within faculty roles because they provide mentorship to those who identify like them and serve as strong role models within the university.[11] However, female scholars also face slower promotion or leadership advancement within institutions and because of this many female scholars grow frustrated and leave academia.[12] Research by Gutierrez y Muhs stated, “Women of color are celebrated, encouraged to academically strive in publication and merit “yet frequently find them- selves presumed incompetent as scholars, teachers, and participants in academic governance.”[13] In 2020, 26.5% of faculty identified as Hispanic women who accounted for faculty between adjunct employment up to full professor.[14] Despite how far women’s rights and educational backgrounds have grown (not counting the recent overturn of Roe vs. Wade) there are substantial systemic issues which plague women in academia. Most of which are swept under the rug or rarely openly addressed and resolved. The ever-growing pink elephant which no one looks in the face and addresses during the weekly meeting. Sexism, ageism, trust, or lack of, power dynamics, and construction of the overall academic space is one which often does not practice what is preached within the classroom.
The space of the university is unique in that it is a place of learning and leadership, where tomorrow’s leaders are taught, critiqued, and yet stressed. The space changes with each level of advancement and becomes more complex and isolated, spaces of accountability, diversity without a status quo to meet, and professional grow and leadership. Often these experiences are within the graduate level education, ironically where most students are learning how to deal with personality, community, and individuals on a leadership level, yet students are most often isolated writing and reflecting on text, research, and scholarly publication vs. real life experiences with others outside their program.
With this I share a personal reflection of my experience as a Ph. D. candidate and how it has and hasn’t shaped myself as a professional, student, and future scholar.
A Personal Narrative of a female PhD students’ Academic Journey
I was never the top student. In fact, I could barely hold a decent GPA in high school much less graduate with honors from my undergraduate studies in undergrad. So being in a graduate program as a doctoral candidate, who is one semester away from being called “Dr.” is an academic dream. As a first-generation college graduate, I am my great grandparents dream, my grandparents hope, and my parents first born, with a stubborn streak and a lot of determination. I am a female. I am Latina. I am first generation college graduate who is not afraid to take on a challenge. The journey of obtaining a Ph. D. is not one for the faint of heart. There are numerous papers, constructive feedback, hours upon hours of reading, writing, and then re-writing. There are countless times of self-doubt, imposter-syndrome, ageism and even the dreaded and swept under the rug…shhh… sexism. Sexism in a doctoral program? Yes, indeed. Not to mention balancing personal relationships, career aspirations and then just living day to day with all your other personal responsibilities. All of these are obstacles and opportunities I have personally experienced within the past 6 years of running in the academic mouse wheel, as it goes round and round trying to finish my doctorate degree.
My family heritage is long and complicated. What is now identified as blended families, existed in my life long before it was a hot topic or hashtag. My maternal great-grandparents, both Mexican immigrants came to South Texas for the American Dream. I mean the one where you come here for a better opportunity, safety, acceptance, and hard work. While still going back and forth between the Mexican and US-Texas border to visit family and friends they built a life in San Antonio and dreamt of the next generation. My great grandfather owned Cortes printing press in San Antonio, Texas. My great grandmother, a stay-at-home mom, devoted catholic, had minimum education, she became a U.S. citizen in her late 40’s. To this day I proudly have her citizenship certificate with a small black and white picture completely intact and stored away. While my maternal grandparents were a generation ahead and had more opportunities, high school and college diplomas were not something they were able to complete. They came from a generation of sacrifice and determination; hard work was embedded in their bloodline. My grandfather joined what once was the Army Air Core (now the US Airforce) when he was 15 years old, and my grandmother was married off to her first husband at the age of 16 and had her first of 7 biological children within a year. I often think about the differences between our lives and how now, somehow because of all of that, I am here today. Their parents had hard, difficult lives. Lives which in many ways were cut short of their full potential. Leading to my grandparents having yet still lacking opportunities because of generational trauma, hardship and poverty something very commonly found between the 1930’s and 1940’s of my grandparent’s young adolescent years.
I was raised in a blended family. Parents, bonus parents, many biological and bonus grandparents, aunts, and uncles, siblings, and cousins, you name them somehow, we were related. Many of my cousins had opportunities to go to college and others who respectfully didn’t. Primarily, a handful of female cousins and a few friends who married young or had children even younger. I often think of how I learned from them and why I so desperately wanted something different for my own life. Often bullied or made fun of because of my timid awkwardness yet loud expressive opinions when provoked. I was never the child who dreamed of their wedding day or having children. I dreamed of Paris at Christmas time, dogsledding in Alaska, the sky-scrappers of New York City at dusk. I dreamed of adventure and space, space from the place I called home. I felt, the further away from home was where I belonged and where I still feel the most like me. For me, I saw education as a window to all these things. However, to accomplish the academic and professional things I have so far, has not been easy. I have always felt like the underdog, never worthy even if I was invited. The truth was and is, when it comes to academics, as a female student in a predominantly and historically male field, I have had to work hard, harder than the men, and much harder than the other woman who are in the same academic space. The more time which passes with each semester, one becomes more isolated, they say it is “independent” or “candidate” ready, what it really means is you must become inter-dependent.
I look upon myself for motivation, advise, and the all-inclusive drive to continue this rigorous academic journey. Cohorts of peers begin strong, the excitement builds, and you create relationships which give you deeper insight and academic depth. Early on in my doctoral journey, I always heard horror stories of the competitive side to academics, especially at the graduate or professional level of education. I felt I was lucky to have not experienced these situations for much of my time as a doctoral student. After all my peers and I were in this together, right? Well, I was wrong. There are different dynamics in these types of academic programs. Some of the things we do not expect or are not told are so minute, yet dramatic. One of these dynamics is age. Your peers won’t tell you but in some cases age still matters. Sometimes I am too young and seen as not having enough experience, despite working in corporate America for several years, having a master’s degree, and being over 30 years old. Other times I have been overlooked as naïve and too modern for the more mature doctoral students in my program.
There have been times as a woman, I have had to sit and listen to grown men talk about women and our “antics” because we are “hormonal creatures”. This was right in the very classroom of where we were supposed to be “equals”. In the words of Elle Woods, “Did we not take the same entrance exams?” I have even been told “you probably will not get a job in academics after this, so what is your plan?”. By individuals who were to be advisors and well-wishers. For me, there is an urgency to escape the elementary drama of nay-sayers but the drive to still become an expert in your field of study. Hostile classrooms are found in doctoral programs to this day. There are differences in opinions which are supposed to be thoughtfully analyzed and synthesize that sometimes become yelling political or religiously driven matches of power. As a female I have sat in a classroom where two males spoke about how they only dated foreign women because they do not like American women, they are not “submissive.” On another occasion I overheard a conversation between two 40-year-old men advising a 20 something year old man “don’t get married, she’s probably a gold digger and will take all your money. Women cannot be trusted!” I have witnessed older women treat young women like children. Downright speak down and minimize their female peers in front of others on numerous occasions.
Unspoken but often felt power dynamics exist in higher education.[15] I have personally witnessed three women of color leave their tenure positions after only 1 or 2 years because of a lack of leadership support. Leaving a gap for students of color who identify with those faculty and look for mentorship and academic support. Women of color in higher educational faculty positions are hard enough to find. Women have often felt they carry more of these burdens than men in their departments.[16] And while female and racial solidarity are found in academia, there is still the fact of hierarchy, seniority or other gender issues which pin faculty of color against each other still happen.[17] Sometimes leading to micro aggression experiences for female color faculty. And while this can be experienced by anyone, at any time it is known that brave women have previously shared their personal/professional experiences which confirm these situations.[18]
Nearly 25 years ago a few authors wrote a chapter in their book entitled “Sexism in the genderless classroom.”[19] And yet, here is my piece for literature referencing sexism in the existence of my academic experiences. Researchers explain “males often dominate classroom discussions, are often more assertive than women, and resort to gender stereo-types in their arguments.”[20] As a graduate student, not all would assume this is the type of behavior experienced in such a prestige environment and it not always is. However, this is a raw reflection of what does often happen; yet is not loudly spoken about. It is important to know that “classroom inequalities are not often malice but have been learned through years and years of experiences in male dominated society”.[21] An example of this mentioned early in my personal reflection, dealing with male comments of the female gender and the stereotypes, which some men carry of the female persona. This is an issue when it comes to different genders having mutual respect for the position and educational setting, they find themselves in. Where this becomes an issue is it is often swept under the rug and dismissed as “casual talk” or “joking”, yet it is condescending and sexist on a multitude of levels.
Classrooms are supposed to be genderless and ageless in higher education. In my own opinion men and women are equally competitive in the academic circle yet often left to self-advocate for their worth within higher educational academic settings. I believe this is because of two things: power and competition. I have reached this conclusion in two fashions: first, academic research which suggests women are left behind, labeled un-fit for the job, and face a lack of gender equality within professional scholarly settings.[22] Meaning the competitive nature of female scholars must be more aggressive because of the competition of males and even other females. Second by personal experience because of my gender (female), lack of female faculty representation within my own graduate school, and lack of resume interest and job security within higher education as a graduating and published Ph. D candidate. There is power in who you know in academic leadership and a lack of power when you have a smaller network or affiliate of scholarly contacts. I know this will be challenged by someone, somewhere however what I have witnessed in the job market of academia in the last several years, is no job offers despite multiple scholarly publications, a 3.98 graduate GPA, and additional TA and GRA background with accommodations. While in the midst, someone with less experiences, no publications, yet a connection to a leader landed another individual a full-time faculty job. So yes, there is nepotism and power in who and what you know.
The sad truth is even with those letters behind my name, I am a woman. An academic, scholarly, published woman who will have to work harder than the average male Ph.D. in academia. A woman who has been used as a statistic to show the 1% of Latinas who chose this strange life of books, big words, and the never-ending deadlines. Self-doubt and imposter-syndrome are real. They sweep in like a dust storm over the Arizona landscape, unexpectedly and without much warning. The dreaded thought of “do I belong here?” and “what am I doing here?” or, my favorite, “I am just not good enough to be with these SMART people” are the questions I and notably other women have heard silently along the journey. And as if the cool brown and yellow undertone to my skin is not enough, the reality of my gender is my biggest blessing and curse. It is any doctoral student’s dream to be published before graduation. And we are often told publication is needed to be recognized if we plan to stay in the academic field. While the excitement and pride of your work is celebrated, it often comes with criticism and flak from your own cohorts. It then drives competitive spirits to become, in some cases more hostile towards the author. I know I am ruffling some feathers as I share my story. But this is my experience and I believe the experience of others who are just fearful to share such bad memories because of retaliation from peers, teachers, and even the institution. I don’t share these things lightly; in fact, I share them with deep solace and concern. I share them to show why the effort, work, and sacrifice which goes into a professional program, such as a Ph. D. should not be overlooked or thought of as easy. Also, to enhance the experience of a female scholar and how different it is from that of a male cohort.
I like to say and think, we women stick together until we don’t. From experiences this is often because of differences in ethnicity, or you’re considered bossy, or know what you want and don’t apologize for it. There comes a point where in some cases the competition gets “real” at this level of education. What I have found through this, is those Latinas, including myself have a very strong sense of self. Our research, like many, is based on passion, maybe some anger, and a want to teach others about the subject. Through passion comes fierce competitive drive. Academic cliques are common and when you are in, you’re in, and when you’re out, you know you are out. And the reality is not all your peers will make it out as Dr., Ph. D. and to stay in the academic race you must have “big energy”, to put it lightly. As a woman you quickly realize you are not going to be celebrated by all your peers, heck maybe not even most of your university faculty or advisors. You may lose a sense of self during the process. The self you once were at the beginning is not the self you are at the end of this type of education. I am in a sense re-incarnated, to see, hear, touch, heck even smells are different. The analytical part of me is a constant tug of pulling to analyze my surroundings, whether academic or not. I am changed by the idea of a better life informed by knowledge and the pursuit of understanding. My analytical expressions are different, it is something called code switching where I can turn my brain to different settings to speak in certain contexts and around certain audiences, much like a polyglot translating for multiple individuals at once.
If a stranger were to ask me, is a doctorate degree worth it, I would only be able to answer based on my own journey, their journey will be different. Though the letters behind your name for any other reason may quite possibly not make your end goals a necessary step. There are many successful individual’s, of any gender who do not have nor need a doctorate degree. There are multiple truths we could attest too but the journey is that a journey. It is not meant to be easy. One may say academic excellence is about succeeding but I would counter with, it is about failing. Because in your failures you come to a deeper understanding where the truth does finally reveal itself. The mere fact I am writing this short essay filled with sarcasms and academic gossip of my doctoral journey is not luck, but years filled with devotion, hope, and quite a few tears. It is a love story to me and other Ph.D.’s who never share the dark side of academics. The isolation, financial ruins or close too, long nights of literature review, and a few missed birthday parties or happy hours with friends and families all for the sake of the Ph. D. I lost my dad at the beginning of my third year to a very aggressive form of brain cancer. After 7 months from the original diagnoses, he passed on a Tuesday morning, and I went back to class on Wednesday night. I had my mom battle thyroid cancer right before my dad’s diagnoses and live. A global pandemic hit in 2020 forcing us to learn virtually, which meant after my spring break I would never return to campus because by then I would take my qualifying exams. And sadly, I lost my grandmother to dementia and my grandfather to COVID-19. I have had every possible negative thing happen to me during my time as a doctoral student. I have wanted to quit and run so many times. Walk away and feel relief from the stress and pressure I feel I need to live up too. It’s an academic pressure only those in academics will understand.
The truth is my journey started with an impression of financial gain, the more education, the more job, and financial security. Both of which I am still waiting for… While there is a sense of pride in my accomplishments there is also a sense of lost time. Personal time to which I cannot get back with loved ones who are no longer here. There is a deeper understanding of self-worth, who I am, and who I would like to continue becoming. With the good there has been opposition. I am a female. This female’s journey may or may not be like another female’s journey. I remember one of my very first semesters in my journey consisted of a course with a Latina female faculty member who looked like me. Brown skin, dark eyes, dark hair, married, no children, dog lover, bad-ass female. She said, “the goal is not to be me, the goal is to be YOU!” In that moment I knew I was lucky I finally encountered someone like me; someone who I felt understood my world and the choices and non-choices I had made for my life so far. Her words have stayed with me, and I often remind myself, “I can only be me.” Then I stop and think about the women who have not had that encounter, who have not seen another woman of color in their tenured faculty. It is still a fact and a reality that Latina females are a minority. Stephen Covey was quoted stating “Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principles that holds all relationships.”[23] Non-dependent of what type of relationship trust is in one sense the most expensive thing you can give to other individual, especially when it comes to your own personal emotions. In a professional program you built many relationships with staff, faculty in and out of your department/college. These relationships are ones which grow and develops over time. However, there are instances when trust cannot be built, and students feel it is them against their committee or a member of faculty.
Therefore, developing good, positive, trustworthy relationships is an essential piece to having a quality experience and successfully completing a professional program.
I, a brown skinned, female, raised in an English and Spanish speaking environment. Reminded of my long brown, frizzy hair as a young girl in a strict cultural environment but aspirations to move far from my circumstances to travel the world and figure out how to support my family as they aged. I grew up fast; I was a child who knew how to write checks, balance a checking account, run into to grocery store to pay the electricity or water bill, do my homework and listen to the fears or concerns of my family all while have a turkey and tamales on thanksgiving… While this my story, I want to be clear, we all experience things differently or have different perceptions of events and time yet we are so similar if we look hard enough.
It is important for audiences to understand the Latina doctoral journey is not like any other. There have been times of immense joy and pride in the work I have done as a doctoral student/assistant and candidate. I have been able to work with some of the most intellectual female, male, and non-binary individuals in South Texas. Academic faculty who devote their lives to research and impacting their communities in a positive light. One of the primary reasons I chose to attend my university was because of the community impact reputation they had since their humble beginning. Attending a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) was important for me at first, because of my own personal identity and maybe in some ways a sense of ethnic security. What I found was the opposite, in the sense of learning with other minorities from around the world. Doctoral students who had come from around the world to attain their Ph.D. and possibly return home when they finished. While I was at an HSI, Hispanic females were still a minority in my own cohort. How was this possible? A reality to many Latinas’ experiences trying to find where we fit.
The (De) Construction of Hispanic serving institutions
In “Business as Usual,” Marin explains how HSIs were incorporated by federal policy in 1992 as many colleges and universities within certain areas had high enrollment of Latinx populations despite a lack of funding.[24] This has been a trend throughout certain universities who serve a higher enrollment of specific race, it is not necessarily that they are only inclusive to one race but typically have a higher enrollment, in this case HSI’s do serve many communities in the United States. The minimum federal requirement is a university be no less than 25% of the student threshold.[25] Nationally 61.3 million Hispanics live in the United States, states including Arizona, New Mexico, California, New York, and Texas were a few who average over 1 million in population as of 2020.[26]
San Antonio, Texas is an exception to this, as we have several HSI’s which serve the metropolitan area, The University of Texas San Antonio, University of the Incarnate Word, and Trinity University only naming a few. South Texas, specifically San Antonio metro have a population of 1.4 million, of which 64.7% identify as Hispanic/Latino/a/x.[27] There is also a large group of individuals who relocate to San Antonio during their career as a full-time student, often these individuals come from surrounding areas within Texas. While students come from all over the world there is a larger advantage to many small-town Texas students who decide to stay in-state and study at one of the HSI’s in San Antonio. There is a unique culture which engulfs the State of Texas from its rolling hills, deserts, plains, and sandy beaches. The (De) construction of culture and education is as mixed and diverse as a small independent country. Yet, large enough to feel the political impacts of the infamous red and blue parties. There is a strong force in understanding environment, self, and the deconstruction of both. However, one’s own self-wellbeing is far more complex and a psychological progress.[28]
Conclusion
The journey through graduate school for a masters or doctoral degree is by no means easy. Each student has their own experience(s). Some good, others bad, and most a little bit of both. I have learned through my experience; I am stronger mentally more than I ever thought. While academics and GPA are one part of the journey, personal growth, a greater desire for excellence, personal achievement, professional advancement and financial or job security are the other. Who you are at the beginning of this experience vs. the end is a completely different being. Personally, it has taught me many things about myself I would have never known had I stopped my education after a bachelor’s degree: determination, leadership, perseverance, drive, patience, pain, kindness, and so much more. However, we women of color are still a minority in the field of academia and there are many issues that exist in and out of secret. While we women have progressed forward, we have also held ourselves and other women back. We must work together to change to stigma of female-to-female dynamics. We must be mindful of others and ourselves and create safe spaces for everyone to work and research together. This is how academics changes and begins to work better. The idea of being mindful is essentially a reset on how we as adults interact and come together for a greater good yet underutilized in some academic settings. How we do our part to change academic settings in higher educational programs by creating these safe spaces is another part of the puzzle. As many adult students find world events difficult to emotionally handle the elements of safe spaces and mindful interactions with one another will build mutual respect and dignity between many individuals in academia.[29]
This essay of my own personal experience demonstrates the space of an HSI is one defined by a governmental issue of a specialty and majority population of individuals who are studying yet have many systemic issues which also plague other universities. There is a division between genders in academic settings which would contradict many of the advance’s women, non-binary persons, and some men have made in years past. However, because these issues are often still unspoken, discussed, and solved we (women) have a different experience in higher education and often leave before we reach a certain level of success. Not because women cannot do it, but because we are grieved with a lack of support and environmental accountability. While the notion of an academic space is one of safety, learning, and achievement as a graduate student I have found all of those to be extremely questionable and challenging at different points in my academic career. They are also different and questionable depending on who you speak too and what their or your experience(s) have been. Nonetheless, many individuals, including myself continue to complete our education and degree programs in hopes of self-fulfillment and future successes. An oxymoron perhaps in someone’s opinion yet keeping a hope for the betterment and change in academic settings. I hope to be apart of that change, but the truth is I believe even my generation (mid-30’s) is beyond that. So once again we look to the youth, whom we hope will be that change and continue to grow the field of women of color in higher educational settings. We must work together to see changes in how many women hold tenure faculty positions, we must see ageism, sexism, and racism within academic walls and address it head on. We must work together to see female, male, and non-binary individuals be successful in their academic fields and see each other as equals based on our brains and not our societal labels. The de-construction of university requires a reconstruction of academic support and leadership abilities which stem further than ever before.
End Notes
[1] U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Spring 2019 through Spring 2021 Human Resources component, Fall Staff section. November 2021
[2] NCES. Race/Ethnicity of postsecondary college. https:/nces.gov/fastfacts/postsecondary. 2021.
[3] NCES. “Women are still”
[4] Axios. Hard truths: What it takes to get tenure. Retrieved from: https://www.axios.com/2021/08/21/axios-today-podcast-higher-education-tenure-black-academics. 2021.
[5] Baldwin, Roger G., and Chronister, Jay L. Teaching without Tenure: Policies and Practices for a New Era. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.
[6] Vaughn, A., Taasoobshirazi, G., & Johnson, M. Impostor phenomenon and motivation: Women in higher education. Studies in Higher Education (Dorchester-on-Thames), 45(4), 780-795. 2020.
[7] Polenghi, S., & Fitzgerald, T. Breaking boundaries: Women in higher education. Paedagogica Historica, 56(6), 724-728. 2020.
[8] Vaughn, A., Taasoobshirazi, G., & Johnson, M. imposter syndrome.
[9] Coetzee, M., & Moosa, M. Leadership contingencies in the retention of women in higher education. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 18(14), E1-E11 p.2. 2020.
[10] Coetzee, M., & Moosa, M. In addition.
[11] Bartels, L., Weissinger, S., O’Brien, L., Ball, J., Cobb, P., Harris, J., . . . Feldmann, M. Developing a system to support the advancement of women in higher education. The Journal of Faculty Development, 35(1), 34-42. 2021.
[12] Bartels, L., Weissinger, S., O’Brien, L., Ball, J., Cobb, P., Harris, J., . . . Feldmann. Female scholars.
[13] Gutiérrez y Muhs, G. Presumed incompetent the intersections of race and class for women in academia. Boulder, Colo.: University Press of Colorado: Utah State University Press. P. 1. 2012.
[14] NCES. Race/Ethnicity of postsecondary college. https://nces.gov/fastfacts/postsecondary. 2021.
[15] Lee, Ahlam. “Toward a Conceptual Model of Hierarchical Microaggression in Higher Education Settings: A Literature Review.” Educational Review (Birmingham), 2020, 1-32.
[16] Flaherty, C. Tenure, women, economics. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/12/14/new-study-finds-gender-gaps-tenure-rates-and-career-paths-economics. 2016.
[17] Gutiérrez y Muhs, G. Presumed incompetent the intersections of race and class for women in academia. Boulder, Colo.: University Press of Colorado : Utah State University Press. 2012.
[18] Gutiérrez y Muhs, G. micro aggressions.
[19] Gmelch, Sharon., Stoffer, Marcie Heffernan, and Yetzer, Jody Lynn. Gender on Campus: Issues for College Women. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1998.
[20] Gmelch, Sharon., Stoffer, Marcie Heffernan, and Yetzer, Jody Lynn. Gender on Campus: Issues for College Women. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1998. P. 28
[21] Gmelch, Sharon., Stoffer, Marcie Heffernan, and Yetzer, Jody Lynn. p. 28
[22] Van den Brink, M., and Benschop, Y. (2012). Gender practices in the construction of academic excellence: sheep with five legs. Organization 19, 507–524
[23] Stephen Covey Quotes. BrainyQuote.com, Brainy Media Inc, 2022. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/stephen_covey_450798, accessed May 27, 2022
[24] Marin, P. Is “Business as usual” Enough to be Hispanic-serving? Becoming a Hispanic-serving research institution. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 18(2), 165-181. 2019.
[25] Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. 2022 Fact sheet: Hispanic higher education and HSIs. Retrieved from: https://www.hacu.net/images/hacu/conf/2022CapForum/ResourcesMenu/2022_HSI_FactSheet.pdf. 2022.
[26] Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. 2022 Fact sheet: Hispanic higher education
[27] U.S. Census. 2022 Data fact sheet San Antonio. Retrieved from: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sanantoniocitytexas/POP060210.2022.
[28] Diener E, et al. Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychol. Bull. 1999; 125:276–302.
[29] Nikki Forrester. Mental health of graduate students sorely overlooked. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01751-z. 2021.