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Finding Empowerment And Persistence

Technology January 2020 PREMIUM
Written by Tracy Arámbula Ballysingh, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Higher Education Student Affairs Administration College of Education and Social Services University of Vermont AAHHE Faculty Fellow (2019)

In 2008, I was a mid-program doctoral student struggling to find meaning and purpose in my chosen path. I had already stopped-out and re-entered graduate school once, and the idea of becoming a faculty member upon completion was never a reality I imagined possible. Like many other Latinas navigating majority white patriarchal spaces while lacking representative role models (i.e., faculty members who were also first-generation, low-income and raised by an immigrant working mother), I felt a palpable but unidentified yearning: the solidarity and empowerment that comes with being in a critical mass community of others with similar backgrounds and experiences. That year, I fortuitously was selected as a 2009 American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) Graduate Fellow, and I finally understood what had been missing. So transformative was the AAHHE Graduate Fellows experience that I proceeded to serve as co-chair of the program for the subsequent two years out of a desire to give back to an organization that had contributed so much to my persistence. Ten years later and with the benefit of hindsight, I can confidently state that I would not be a faculty member on the path to tenure absent my experiences in AAHHE.

As AAHHE Graduate Fellows Chair, I worked closely with the Faculty Fellows Program co-chairs and witnessed first-hand the impact these programs had upon multiple graduate and faculty fellows cohorts. Naturally, upon securing my first faculty appointment, I knew that pursuing a place in a future faculty fellows cohort would be an essential part of my pre-tenure path. As a Latina in the overwhelmingly white state of Vermont (94%), and as a single mother of young children striving to succeed on the tenure track within the norms of a patriarchal academy, participation in the AAHHE Faculty Fellows Program has empowered me to thrive as a scholar, educator, mentor and mother.

As the flagship institution of the state, the University of Vermont articulates commitment to diversity and inclusion. Yet, Latinxs are grossly underrepresented within the faculty ranks, comprising only 3.2% of 1,534 total faculty, according to institutional research data. Currently, there are zero tenured Latinx faculty in the College of Education and Social Services, and I am only one of two tenure-track Latinxs in the college. I was the first ever Latinx to be appointed to the faculty in the 50-year history of the Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) Program, and institutional records dating back to 2008 suggest no Latinx faculty members existed in the college prior to fall 2016, when I was appointed.

I knew from experience that participation in an AAHHE fellows program can promote resilience, empower participants to cultivate meaningful and lasting relationships, and broaden and strengthen their professional and peer networks. The AAHHE Faculty Fellows Program did just that for me, remaining an integral part of my success as a scholar, educator and community member. In turn, my ability to thrive in academia empowers me to mentor others on and toward the tenure track, to pursue careers in student affairs, and to pursue doctoral degree attainment.

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