My 7-generation + 20 yr journey to TENure.

This week, I saw the words with my own eyes: [Laura Morgan Roberts] “associate professor of business administration without term” at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

Translation: My 20-year journey to TEN-ure is complete.

Before I get to my expressions of gratitude for the many angels who have uplifted me, here are 20 reasons this milestone was improbable.

One for each year.

My sharing is not a justification for why… Rather, an explanation of how. And acknowledgement of how improbable this journey has been. With hope and prayer that others on this journey don't face these same obstacles.

I’ve been asked to explain my career journey more times than I can count. With this recent promotion, I anticipate there will be even more questions. Listen, I am not a unicorn. But here’s my version of the stakes, the odds, the outcomes. The rest of the story goes in my book of “hindsight” reflections, sensemaking narratives & strategy.

Spoiler Alert:

The number one reason this is improbable? It literally took my family 7++ generations of laboring at UVA to get to this moment.

But let me build up to that one.

#20. I’m a career academic. I’ve been affiliated with universities since I was 15 in high school at IASMH @ Ball State U. But I never went up for tenure until now. Every year of the past decade it became less likely, even as my pubs & citations increased.

#19. I’ve taught at a variety of schools as an interdisciplinary/org psych scholar. I know there are many ways to approach academic life. I genuinely value them. And every move was costly for me (new protocols + courses + tech + classrooms + values + vocabulary = laborious ramp up time).

#18. Many people assumed when I chose to leave my tenure track position at Harvard Business School in my early 30s that I’d left academia altogether and closed the door behind me. I never left. More on that later.

#17. I’m a Black woman. We represent ~2.1% of all tenured faculty in US (vs ~6% of US pop). Not much has changed since I started college 30 ys ago, when we were 1.6% (see Inside HigherEd). Acc’d to AAUP, 21% of all faculty are tenured. Anyone who earns it has beat the odds. Our odds are far more extreme. While Black women represent 3.7% tenure-track faculty, 3.9% of full-time non-tenure-track faculty, and 5.1% of part-time faculty, we are often located in the most precarious academic positions.

#16. I’m a diversity equity inclusion (DEI) researcher. Always have been. Always will be. In spite of discrediting and devaluing. Most young scholars are advised not to cast all of their eggs into the DEI basket, if they pursue it at all. I was explicit about my DEI interest in grad school and faculty job applications. A risky move. There’s also a higher scrutiny for publishing DEI research; it’s harder and takes longer to get accepted in journals that falsely portray our research as “me” search. (Though I’m not ashamed to say that I AM the data when it comes to Black women’s career trends… 2x as long, ? as far).

#15. I’m a race researcher who centers Black leadership development. This is a taboo topic, especially in PWI business schools. (Diversity of thought and gender diversity are more palatable). Even after 2020. In 2000, I had to scrap my dissertation site and start over with a new data collection plan because the large bank which agreed to partner changed its mind. They realized they really didn’t want to know about people’s experiences of race at work. This added a year to my doctoral studies.

#14. I’m a positive organizational scholar who theorizes about best selves. We had to work hard(er) to prove POS is scientific. Oh, and I am a positive organizational scholar who writes about pain points and structural oppression in my quest to understand and practice liberation. Not just the happy = positive stuff. Finding the words and connecting the dots takes a lot of time and patience. Early career scholars are also cautioned against publishing in outlets for general audiences. I refused to put off engaging directly with practicing leaders for the faint hope of tenure. I did it anyway – learned to speak both academic and practitioner languages. I’m a far better thinker for stretching in this way, in addition to my racial codeswitching.

#13. I’m a micro-level organizational theorist. Yes, I can do math. And qualitative analysis. I can synthesize theories and tell stories with patterns of data even better. I’ve published mostly theory papers and review articles. This is unusual for untenured social scientists. Another risky career move, but I had to follow my authentic scholarly voice.

#12. I’ve been very involved in church life for most of my education and career journey. Academia and Church often clash. Especially among DEI scholars. I’ve gotten a lot of quizzical looks on my ideologies; I’ve given a lot on some theologies. Along the way, I’ve mentored several pastors / spiritual leaders & chaired dissertations on church and spiritual leadership. Not typical for business school tenured faculty (esp. Baptist [former] First Ladies).

#11. I’m at UVA, my alma mater, and the 3rd tenured Black woman in Darden’s history. My 1st Darden research talk serendipitously coincided with the first tenure announcement for @Erika Hayes James, current Dean of The Wharton School. The second tenured Black woman is my current area coordinator, full professor @Melissa Thomas Hunt. The first Black woman Darden prof @Robin Johnson advised me on my undergrad thesis. When it comes to Black women on PWI business school faculty, “It’s a small world after all.” And it’s a very high bar. But being at your alma mater is certainly no guarantee for tenure, especially when politics come into the fray. Remember Nikole Hannah-Jones’ tenure denial at UNC?

She wrote “To be treated so shabbily by my alma mater, by a university that has given me so much and which I only sought to give back to, has been deeply painful."

#10. I’m a recently divorced mom to a 14 and 9 year old. The isolation of Covid was hell. The fervor of the racial awakening - at the same time - was exhilarating and intensely pressure-filled to meet the moment and help it catalyze real movement. Finding the strength to go up for tenure in the midst of all of this, after nearly 2 decades in my field, seemed nearly impossible more often than not.

#9. Half of my career my research budget only covered conferences. It’s a good thing I’m a damn good theorist. At teaching-focused universities and for non-tenure track faculty, there aren’t many resources for large scale field research. I’ve also never had a research sabbatical. Years when I didn’t teach as much in degree courses were busier with exec ed due to financial pressures. I worked through accelerated maternity leaves: Writing Books. Chairing Defenses. Worrying about new babies + students + programs + livelihoods.

#8. I’m a business school prof who writes & shares poetry about racism, love, loss, justice, and intersectionality. In public forums w/ academic & practice/leader audiences. This is atypical.

#7. My undergrad honors thesis, master’s thesis, dissertation all analyzed data exclusively on Black people and Black experiences. Research and practice awards have come from my work on Black people, race and DEI in the workplace. Ironically, I was actively discouraged from this empirical approach – many times told to get a White comparison sample to validate my findings. I gave my race research less attention for several years (esp. my early HBS years); I finally put it front and center again in 2017, commissioned by HBS.

#6. I was raised in Gary Indiana. I attended public schools from grade 1 through my Ph.D. Gary public schools were (are!!!) grossly underfunded. At the time, Gary was also designated “murder capital of the U.S.” and the most extreme region of hyper-segregation in U.S. The effects of environmental racism further reduced vitality for many Gary students and families, evidenced by high cancer rates and premature mortality. Thank God I’m still here.

#5. I never applied for promotion with tenure until now. Which means I’ve had a very precarious career that could turn on a dime if my DEI efforts were viewed unfavorably. I’m being promoted across tracks and without term limit at the same time. I’ve been full professor (highest rank) at 3 universities. I went from Ass't Prof at HBS to Full professor at Antioch, my next institution. This fact is strangely disappeared because Antioch does not grant tenure to any faculty; then I was full rank Teaching Professor; and most recently, full rank Professor of Practice (again, not tenure-line appointments).

“Not having tenure, you are sort of quieted in a way. You’re always thinking about what it is that I’m saying and how, because there can be retribution.” @Paul Harris, fellow UVA Black alum who was denied tenure in 2020 but UVA later reversed its decision due to public outrage (4000+ petitioners).

#4. Pernicious racial and gender bias in student evaluations of teaching. A few disgruntled voices speak volumes; they pull down the course average and wield tremendous power over merit increases, contract renewal and promotion decisions. Instead of seeking advice from me, several of my earliest cohort of students felt entitled to come to my office hours to give me tips on how to be more effective (which included, ‘talk less,’ ‘smile more,’ ‘give us the answer to your Socratic questioning,’ and ‘give us more positive feedback about our class contributions during case discussions.’) (The nerve of me to ask a question of them that they cannot answer!!) Not all interactions were like this, but the ones that sought to shame me privately and publicly in front of students really stung. I still wince when I think of these moments – early career and recent.

#3. Teaching DEI is a double-bind in the classroom. It’s tremendously valuable; and very few faculty are able to do so well. Those that could, often avoid doing so in order to avoid risking their course evaluations (see point #4). But even scarier is the growing trend for widespread gag orders on DEI topics and inclusive learning techniques. I don’t have to go far from home to confront this reality – just see Virginia political leaders’ platforms that currently seek to censor scholarship on race, sexual orientation and other justice-related topics. Following suit with many other states, they seek to undermine inclusive learning by erasing the very history they wrote through their violent thoughts and acts. And the rationale? It could make [white] people uncomfortable. This current reality has everything to do with teaching, learning – and tenure - at public universities. While faculty who research and teach DEI are still aiming to knock it out of the park and silence the naysayers. Again, reference Nikole Hannah-Jones' tenure denial at UNC in 2021.

“History has shown that many Black academics find the path to tenure at predominantly white colleges daunting at best. Tenure ensures job security for professors; in some cases, this allows academics to research and teach subjects that may be considered controversial, including racial inequality, without the specter of losing their jobs.” - NBC News

“When faculty members can lose their positions because of their speech, publications or research findings, they cannot properly fulfill their core responsibilities to advance and transmit knowledge. Tenure provides the conditions for faculty to pursue research and innovation and draw evidence-based conclusions free from corporate or political pressure.” - AAUP

#2. I am a leadership and organizational behavior professor, and I do not look like the prototype. Skin color, gender, and so much more about my physical appearance don’t fit the mold. I often teach required leadership courses in business schools. Though I descend from family businesses on both sides, I have no family ties to celebrity or extremely wealthy corporate execs. Note, only 2 of Fortune 500 CEOs are Black women. White men are still nearly 8 times as likely as Black women to be an executive; White women are 4.5 times more likely than Black women to hold a leadership position, acc’d to USA TODAY. Black women leading is a rarity --- Black women teaching leadership in elite business schools? Truly an anomaly.

#1. The Number One Reason This Is Improbable? It Literally Took Seven ++ Generations Of Laboring At Uva To Get To This Moment.

My family labored at UVA over 150 years ago, at least 7 generations ago. My 7th great grandfather, Reuben Barber served students in Hotel A & F (dormitory and dining room waiter). He was listed as a “Free colored 17 or 18 year old in 1860.”

What did his freedom feel like?

How free was he?

He couldn’t study on the grounds of Mr. Jefferson’s academical village.

He was violently abused by students.

Paid pennies.

I wonder if my ancestors dreamed of student and faculty life at UVA for their descendants? My great grandmother never spoke of Charlottesville, even though she was born there like her foremothers. She knew her grandmother, Rosa, the daughter of Reuben.

There were great horrors inflicted upon Black laborers at UVA – enslaved and “free.” There was no such thing as a “free” colored man in 1860 Charlottesville. Free(r) perhaps, but not Free in the absolute sense. All Black people were treated harshly by students, faculty and even the Board of Regents, alongside their direct bosses (Hotel owners). Did they dream of this moment? They must’ve carried me here.

“The University of Virginia was built by enslaved laborers, on Monacan tribal land, and the enslaved people provided labor and knowledge that supported the students and faculty from the time of the University’s founding through the Civil war. In the twentieth century, UVA faculty were important contributors to the eugenics movement and supported segregated schools. The University itself only opened its doors to racial minorities and women when forced to by lawsuits in the 1960s and 1970s.” … “Charlottesville was the site of a white supremacist rally in 2017, where clashes with anti-racism demonstrators left a woman dead.”

From all of this, I conclude that it’s not about the pipeline. It’s about structural oppression, patriarchy, systemic racism, and just plain egoistic greed.

In the 1800s, faculty at UVA did everything they could to make sure that no one like me would ever have the most remote opportunity to make a living wage at UVA, much less attend and excel academically and socially. Much less teach. And definitely not for that very same so-called free woman of color to join the tenured ranks. Walking in the front door of the room. Having a seat at the table with a mic in my hand. “I, too, sing America. I am your darker sister.” Dear UVA, today is one day closer to the ultimate day Langston Hughes spoke of.

For all who encouraged my faith walk, I thank you.

To my brilliant coauthors and mentors who helped me learn, I am forever grateful.

To those who, in the wake of my fears and grief consoled me, I appreciate you.

For all the balls I’ve dropped while juggling clumsily and trying desperately to stay afloat - I sincerely apologize. I am not perfect. I am not a unicorn. I will never be.

Yet, I’m still trying. I’m still growing. I’m still building. I’m still hoping.

June 19 2022 #AlmostFree