Faculty Peer Mentoring Study – Each One, Reach One

The importance of diversity in higher education has also heightened the awareness about the importance of supporting faculty of color. Faculty women of color do bring their own unique experiences to the workplace, where they often face specific barriers, such as limited mentoring opportunities, bias, and isolation, which negatively impact their job satisfaction and retention rates (Davis, 2022; Gutiérrez y Muhs, Niemann, González, & Harris, 2012; Settles et al., 2022; Turner et al., 2020). These challenges can undermine faculty diversity efforts and hinder the ability of colleges and universities to provide a supportive environment that fosters students' academic success and sense of belonging.

The Each One, Reach One study seeks to explore the effectiveness of peer mentoring between a female person of color full-time faculty member and associate faculty who identify as female people of color at a virtual university. In addition, this study furthers the work of the “Walk the Talk” University Fellows Program (2022) and will continue to work on strategies to ensure that efforts to support belonging and inclusion are a part of the culture at the University of Arizona Global Campus.

Thirty faculty women of color signed up for the multi-faceted study. First, faculty members completed an intake survey and participated in a focus group. Next, they participated in two professional development sessions (reading two peer-reviewed articles) and one-on-one interviews. Finally, the participants were given a post-survey. There are preliminary findings as the researcher is currently completing one-on-one interviews and is awaiting final survey results. Conference invitations have been received from the Virginia Tech University Faculty Women of Color in Academia Conference and the 35th Annual National Conference on Race and Ethnicity.

Motivation for the Study:

In 2022, one of the key findings from the “Walk the Talk” study was that “equity in the educational system for staff is still in need of a transformation to bridge the gap between the equity difference in positions, promotions, and key seats at the table.” What better way to help increase equity than by providing career support in the form of peer mentoring to help traditionally marginalized faculty voices? One of my key understandings from the study was that action is an important step in equity work. I know the important role peer mentoring has played in my own career, and I wanted to find out if this could be duplicated in the online community. Research has consistently shown that diverse faculty contributes to students’ academic success and sense of belonging, particularly for students from marginalized backgrounds (Cuyjet, 2019). However, even with the clear benefits, higher education continues to face challenges in supporting and retaining faculty of color, which has significant implications for student outcomes.

Bio

Teresa Leary Handy, Ed.D., is an Assistant Professor/ Program Chair in the School of General Studies at the University of Arizona Global Campus. Teresa has been a Turn the Tide Facilitator at UAGC, a Power of One Faculty member and she is a Donna Beegle Certified Poverty Coach. She earned the Ed.D. specializing in Education Leadership and the Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Memphis where she earned the distinction of Outstanding Leadership and Policy Studies Doctoral Student. She earned a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Chicago. Her undergraduate work in Sociology and Education was completed at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.

She is a published children’s book author of a book that helps preschoolers understand diversity. She is published in peer-reviewed academic journals and is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Research on Leadership Education. Dr. Handy was also selected to be a Subject Matter Expert Reviewer for the USDOE Open Textbook Pilot Grant. She serves as a board member of the Association for Distance Education and Independent Learning where she is also the Chair of the Research Committee. She is a member of the University of Arizona Assessment Committee and the Faculty Subcommittee on Student Conduct.

She has presented at national and international conferences on issues related to online education, private school education, and single-gender education. In addition, she is the Board Secretary for the Alumni Association Board of the University of Chicago Crown School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, and she serves as a board member of Promise Academy Schools. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, reading, and knitting scarves. You may contact her at Teresa.handy@uagc.edu

 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresa-leary-handy-ed-d-30277a4

 

 Davis, T. M., Jones, M. K., Settles, I. H., & Russell, P. G. (2022). Barriers to the successful mentoring of faculty of color. Journal of Career Development, 49(5), 1063-1081. 

Gutiérrez y Muhs, G., Niemann, Y. F., González, C. G., & Harris, A. P. (2012). Presumed incompetent: The intersections of race and class for women in academia. University Press of Colorado. 

Settles, I. H., Jones, M. K., Buchanan, N. T., & Brassel, S. T. (2022). Epistemic exclusion of women faculty and faculty of color: Understanding scholar (ly) devaluation as a predictor of turnover intentions. The Journal of Higher Education, 93(1), 31-55. 

Turner, C. S. V., Myers, S. L., & Creswell, J. W. (2020). Exploring the experiences of faculty of color in higher education: Challenges and opportunities for moving forward. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 13