“A moving target”: a critical race analysis of Latina/o faculty experiences,perspectives, and reflections on the tenure and promotion process |
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| Authors: | Luis Urrieta Jr Lina Méndez Esmeralda Rodríguez |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USAurrieta@mail.utexas.edu;3. Center for Reducing Health Disparities, University of California at Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA;4. Culture, Curriculum, and Change, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA |
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| Abstract: | This article examines how Latina/o professors perceive, experience, and reflect on the tenure and promotion process. Findings for this longitudinal study are drawn from a purposive sample of nine female and seven male, Latina/o tenure-track faculty participants. Using a Critical Race Theory, Latino Critical (LatCrit) Race Theory, and Chicana Feminist framework, this article documents fundamental inequities in the tenure and promotion policies and practices that affected the Latina/o faculty in this study. Using narrative data, educational biographies, in-depth semi-structured interviews, and unstructured ethnographic interviews, this study found four common themes: (1) tenure and promotion processes functioned as a “tool of fear,” (2) the tenure and promotion process was like a “moving target,” (3) tenure provided limited forms of respect but not full membership, and (4) Latina/o supervivencia enabled the professors to thrive despite unsupportive and sometimes hostile campus and departmental climates. |
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| Keywords: | Latina/o faculty tenure and promotion supervivencia Critical Race Theory LatCrit |
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