UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. —The Penn State College of Education will host a panel discussion on the challenges Black women face in navigating academic career advancement across a range of institution types from 3 to 4:30 p.m. ET on April 21 in Foster Auditorium at University Park and via Zoom. The event will draw on a newly published, multi-author volume edited by Associate Dean Leah P. Hollis, titled "Disrupt the 'Not-Telling.'"
Penn State Associate Vice Provost Ann Clements will serve as moderator and featured discussant. Speakers include Hollis; Raquel Muñiz, a Boston College faculty member and Penn State College of Education doctoral alumna; and contributors and scholars from multiple institutions. The book also includes a chapter by LaWanda Ward, associate professor of education policy studies at Penn State.
In advance of the discussion, Hollis shared perspectives on the book’s key themes and their broader implications for colleges and universities.
Q: What inspired the development of the book, and what gap does it aim to address in existing research on faculty experiences in higher education?
Hollis: The book was inspired by a recognition that difficult faculty experiences are often treated as isolated incidents, leaving individuals to believe the problem is unique to them or tied only to a particular type of institution. This volume pushes back against that assumption by showing that troubling employment experiences can occur across colleges and universities of many kinds.
It also addresses an important gap in the existing research on faculty experiences in higher education. Rather than simply describing challenges along the tenure journey, the chapters examine these issues across different institutional contexts, ground the analysis in theory, and require authors to devote meaningful attention to solutions. In that way, the book moves beyond complaint and toward practical and scholarly intervention.
Q: While the book focuses on the experiences of Black women faculty, what aspects of the discussions do you see as most applicable to higher education more broadly?
Hollis: Although the book centers the experiences of Black women faculty, its broader relevance lies in how clearly it illuminates the workings of marginalization in higher education. Black women often sit at the intersection of multiple forms of exclusion, which makes their experiences especially revealing of how institutional cultures can reproduce inequity.
My research also shows that these patterns are not limited to Black women. Gender and sexual minorities are often wrongfully subjected to bullying, and faculty with disabilities may face acute forms of marginalization as well. Latinas, for example, remain significantly underrepresented among tenured faculty, comprising about 3% of all tenured faculty. Black women are similarly underrepresented.
So, while these narratives are by and about Black women on the tenure track, many colleagues whose identities are marginalized by mainstream academic culture will recognize similar struggles in these chapters and may also benefit from the recommendations offered in the book.
Q: What are you hoping attendees will take away from the April 21 panel discussion, and what conversations do you hope it will help to advance within higher education?
Hollis: I hope attendees come away with a strong sense of the urgency of knowing policy. That includes state and federal policy, hiring policy, tenure and promotion policy, family leave policy, as well as the faculty handbook and application materials. Too often, employers count on marginalized faculty not knowing these rules, procedures and protections well enough to advocate for themselves effectively.
I also hope the panel advances a broader conversation in higher education about recognizing that employment abuse is often systemic and recurring, not merely personal or incidental. When people understand that pattern, they are better positioned to respond strategically rather than internalize the harm. My hope is that the discussion encourages faculty and administrators alike to see policy knowledge as a form of protection, empowerment and professional fortification.