The absence of mentorship for Black women scholars could ultimately result in a dwindling pipeline.
There’s some good news in the academy regarding Black women: They occupy a number of high-profile executive posts in higher education. Dr. Ruth Simmons is president of Brown University; Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson heads Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum is president of Spelman College. Furthermore, in recent months, Dr. Pamela Trotman Reid and Carmen Twillie Ambar assumed the presidencies of Saint Joseph College in Connecticut and Cedar Crest College in Pennsylvania, respectively.
But whether Black women scholars want to follow in their footsteps or continue in a teaching or research capacity, the bad news is that many feel they are left to navigate the personal and professional politics of the academy on their own. Such an experience makes for a lonely and frustrating road to travel, and circumstances that could already be resulting in a dwindling pipeline of scholars of color.
Take the case of Dr. Heather Tarleton. In 2006, she earned a doctorate in molecular biology from Princeton University at the age of 26. She was the only Black student in her program. The rigor of her doctoral program would ultimately pale in comparison to the difficulty she had charting a career path. Absent a mentor, she made career decisions without the guidance of a more senior scholar.
“When I finished my Ph.D. at Princeton, I really didn’t know what to do next,” says Tarleton. “I hadn’t received the mentorship that I needed to really understand academia.”
She was offered a job at the National Institutes of Health, but instead accepted a nontenure- track faculty position in the Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
