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There continues to be lower representation of faculty of color at research-intensive schools of social work across all ranks, and drastically lower at the rank of full professor. This is particularly true for those faculty members who identify as Black, Indigenous, and LatinX (BIL). We used content analysis of faculty biographies, CVs, and citation metrics to understand BIL scholar productivity and career preparation resulting in a case study of BIL faculty who remained in the academy and achieved the highest rank of full professor at these prestigious and well-resourced institutions.
METHODS
A purposive two-step sampling strategy yielded 1) SSW ranked in the Top 10 (including tied rankings) according to the 2023 U.S. News & World Report; and (2) their full tenured professors, inclusive of endowed and active emeriti, from which we selected a final data analytic sample of BIL W full professors with CVs and institutional data verifying their rank and status (n=24) by the end of sample selection [March 31, 2023]. Selection of SW faculty by race/ethnicity builds on and extends methodology for using publicly available data for selecting African American social work professors for scholarly citation analysis. Content analysis provided both: a) institutional-level data; and b) faculty-level data via curriculum vitaes (CVs) and biographies. Quality control included a combination of double-entry across coders, random selection of entries, and consensus coding in cases of uncertainty and discrepancy. These data are a part of a larger database, currently under development by this research team, of social work schools/programs (SSW) that have appointed, promoted, and retained Black, Indigenous, and LatinX faculty currently at the highest professorial ranks in the Academy.
RESULTS
BIL tenured full professors (n=24) often received doctoral training at a top 10 Schools, with nearly 40% having completed postdoctoral training mostly at a top 10 school. Promotion to full professor occurred as early as 1998 and as recent as 2023. All had evidence of use-inspired research, with mentions of research interests in race/ethnic, diversity, or disparities. The sample produced career averages of 82.96 peer-reviewed publications and other forms of scholarship and 94.3 presentations. Citation analysis reveal that since 2018, these faculty averaged: 6419.33 in citation counts with an H-Index of 33.1, and I-10 index of 45.8.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
Our findings show that current BIL full professors at the top-ranked schools of social work often attended these schools as PhD students or postdocs, with several remaining at or returning to these same schools having achieved full professor rank. These faculty members are some of the most productive scholars within SW research and their trajectories may serve as a guide to those who aspire to full professor at these prestigious institutions. This exploratory study while not providing causes or direct links to the success of these faculty members, does offer valuable data that may inform best practices for those considering doctoral and postdoctoral training and those seeking promotion to full professor.