It’s Complicated. Or Is It? Strategies for a Perplexing Problem

Abstract The intersectionality of race, gender, and class affects every aspect of the Black woman faculty member’s life in the academy. The fact is that she is not having the same experience as her white male colleagues or even as her white female colleagues. The experience instead is quite different, harrowing at times, with a heavy workload and significant internal and outside commitments. This chapter takes a unique approach in that it uses military doctrine as a model. Although some would prefer to believe that Black women navigating the tenure process are not at war, the similarities between their experiences and tactical military operations cannot be ignored. The chapter’s authors, two Black women who have successfully earned tenure and have reached the levels of higher administration, share tactical secrets to assist Black female faculty in securing tenure, having a thriving career after tenure, and preparing for the prize—full professor or an endowed chair. The aim is to not only offer solutions, strategies, and pathways that lead to a successful and fulfilling career for the faculty member, but also to provide strategies for institutions that are serious about cultivating and developing a faculty that is inclusive of women of color.