Abstract: It is widely known that women of color faculty are underrepresented in academia across multiple disciplines and ranks at universities in the United States (Fries-Britt et al. 2011; Gasman et al. 2011; Kelly & Fetridge 2012). Despite significant attention and investment being made to improve the situation, the problem persists. According to the U.S. Department of Education (2022), there were only 5% Asian and Pacific Islander women on faculty as of fall 2020 and 4% Black women and Hispanic women. In addition, American Indian/Alaska Native individuals and individuals of one or more races each made up 1% or less of full-time faculty. Therefore, it's essential to consider the underrepresentation of women of color faculty in higher education as serious Human resources development (HRD) issue. One of the pillars of HRD is career advancement, which can play a vital role in the retention and advancement of women of color faculty in higher education (Alfred & Johnson, 2019). Furthermore, women faculty of color essentially hold the so-called less powerful, lower ranking, and less valued positions of the professoriate in U.S. universities, such as part-time, adjunct faculty, instructors, lecturers, and assistant professors (Bonner & Thomas 2001; Hamilton, 2004; Turner, 2001). According to Gregory, their underrepresentation hurts future generations of women of color faculty, given that tenure and promotion decisions in academia are made by existing faculty in those positions. Furthermore, women do not see themselves represented in academia because there are few of them in their respective fields. This can lead to the hindrance of social engagement necessary for academic and personal success (Gregory, 2001). A good amount of research has attempted to explore and understand the unique challenges of women of color faculty. For example, several authors (e.g., Aguirre, 2000; Medina & Luna, 2000; Turner, 2001) reported that women of color faculty are expected to serve in many races and gender-related diversity committees. In the book, Presumed Incompetent, based on 40 empirical studies and case studies that focused on the intersectional studies on race, gender, and class, Harris (2020) found that students, colleagues, staff, senior faculty presumed women faculty of color were intellectually incompetent until they proved otherwise by taking on complex tasks and heavy workloads. These unfair practices and demands of fulfilling departments' expectations in U.S. universities created high levels of stress (Thomas & Hollenshead; Turner, 2001) and increased isolation (Agathangelou & Ling, 2002) for women of color faculty. Additionally, historically primarily white institutions (PWIs) have conventional power structures in academia that promote ostracism of women of color faculty (Aguirre, 2000). For instance, when hiring faculty members, the top management in academia has historically favored whites over non-whites (Aguirre, 2000). A unique set of factors—bicultural stress, tokenism, microaggressions, and stereotype threat—frequently shape the experiences of early career scholars of color in the academe (Jean-Marie & Lloyd-Jones, 2011; Stanley, 2006). Due to these encounters, many scholars have attributed these factors as reasons that result in their experiencing poor or even hostile work climates for themselves and future women of color faculty. It is also essential to discuss the nuances of gender and race, two inherent qualities comprising their identities, often leaving them in a marginalized society where suppression and ostracism occur (Berdahl et al., 2006). One example of gendered racism is that departments recruit women of color faculty to take on heavy teaching loads, which demand new ideas and thorough preparation and often include heavy introductory courses compared to white women (Johnson et al., 2005). To better facilitate this marginalized population, it is critical to understand their unique challenges. A good number of research has been produced focusing on women of color, but there is a scarcity of scholarly efforts in synthesizing the relevant literature systematically. Thus, the purpose of this study is to synthesize empirical research that focuses on the experiences of women of color faculty and identify their unique challenges. We adopt an integrative literature review on a particular area using a systematic process of searching, selecting, and synthesizing the literature (Torraco, 2005). The databases searches included are ERIC via EBSCO host, Academic Search Complete JSTOR, APA Psych Info, Sage Journals, Springer, and Google scholar. Our Searching keywords were "women of color faculty" and "women of color faculty challenges" from the period from March to July 2022. Our initial search yielded 445 papers. Our inclusion and exclusion criteria are based on participants' race, positions, the context of the settings, research designs, type of data collected, etc. Findings and implications for human resource development (HRD) research, policy, practice will be presented.
