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Called to teach: an explanatory sequential study of racism-related stress and Black women's well-being in higher education ecologies
Dissertation   Open access

Called to teach: an explanatory sequential study of racism-related stress and Black women's well-being in higher education ecologies

Valdijah Q. Ambrose Brown
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Drexel University
Sep 2023
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00001831
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Abstract

Education, Higher--Administration Educational leadership Universities and colleges--Faculty Women, Black--Education Stress (Psychology) Black women faculty Embodied cognition Neuroprotective strategies Predominantly white institutions Racism-related stress
The professorate remains predominantly white, and predominantly male in 2023. Despite a perceived shift in educational practice towards the creation of inclusive climates and campus workplaces, Black women's career advancement to full professor over the past 25 years remained flat at a mere 2%. Black women's career advancement and well-being in predominantly white higher education spaces was hindered by racism-related stress' negative impact on brain, mental, emotional, and physical health. The work of diversity, equity, and inclusion is slow, but Black women faculty's need for neuroprotective strategies poses an immediate need in higher education ecologies to alleviate the harmful, life altering impacts of racism-related stress. The explanatory sequential mixed method study explores Black women faculty experiences with prejudice and discrimination at predominantly white colleges and universities and their use of meditative practices to metabolize racism-related stress. Results show significant evidence of scalability of neuroprotective strategies to support Black women's well-being more broadly in higher education ecologies. Black women faculty self-reported improvements in their ability to process and manage the emotional, mental, and physical stress that was precipitated by experiences of prejudice and discrimination in higher education ecologies.

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