The SOULS of Black Faculty and Staff in the American Academy

This book employs a fiction-based approach to address the revolving door of Black faculty and staff in American colleges and universities as a national crisis that needs to be resolved systematically. Alex-Assensoh coins the acronym SOULS to promote the importance of safety, organizational accountability, unvarnished truth telling, love, and spirituality as the foundational ingredients for reimagining and rebuilding an Academy that harnesses the talents of Black faculty and staff. Chapters feature storytelling to illustrate common cracks in academic structures while interweaving interdisciplinary research to contextualize themes that the fiction-based method reveals. To conclude, the author provides a research-informed call to action within the context of institutional transformation, as well as reflective questions and recommendations for further reading.

“While abundant research literature has focused on retention of faculty of color and Black faculty, little has changed. By embedding a fictional case study in the scholarly literature and using her SOULS framework as scaffolding, Dr. Alex-Assensoh has taken a powerful and highly creative approach in addressing this loss of talent. With an emphasis on humanity, as well as policy and practice that maintain the status quo, she illuminates the complexity of change while suggesting ways forward.” (Daryl G. Smith, Senior Research Fellow and Professor Emerita of Education and Psychology, School of Educational Studies, Claremont Graduate University, USA)

“SOULS reveals the exponential wealth and cultural gain realized when a traditional academic intuition leverages its full capacity to evolve via the rich Black kinetic energy of modern change.” (Sandra Finley, President and CEO, League of Black Women, USA)

“Alex-Assensoh examines how the American Academy canbe transformed into a racially, culturally inclusive and intellectually flourishing space. She signals how a transformed Academy would lead to a transformed society and politics, considering the capacity of higher education to change lives and generations. Expansive in its intellectual breadth—feminist studies, higher education studies, carceral studies, history, ethics, neuroscience, biology, psychology, law—and innovative in its approach that combines academic research with fiction or storytelling, SOULS is an engaging and extremely well-written book by an experienced scholar and university administrator on how to create inclusive excellence in the American Academy.” (Emmanuel Akyeampong, Ellen Gurney Professor of History and of African and African American Studies and Oppenheimer Faculty Director of the Center for African Studies, Harvard University, USA)

“Powerful! SOULS is a theoretical and practical framework that should be applied at universities to understand, recruit,and retain Black faculty. Rooted in the scholar-activist tradition of W.E.B. Du Bois, Alex-Assensoh draws upon a wide range of methodological approaches from the social sciences and humanities to capture the experiences of Black faculty. Read this book if you want to have a more equitable approach to faculty processes.” (Rashawn Ray, Vice-President, American Institutes for Research, Professor of Sociology, University of Maryland, and Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution, USA)

“This book employs a blend of research and fiction to investigate the historical and contemporary journey of African Americans in the American educational system. Dr. Alex-Assensoh examines the Academy's association with past racial inequity, emphasizing the impact of racial stigma on the Black community. The book delves into the notions of double consciousness and linked fate while shedding light on the experiences of Black faculty and staff as outsiders in American society. By utilizing fictional storytelling, the author navigates sensitive topics while avoiding the retraumatization of Black individuals who might be hesitant to share their personal stories. The engaging narrative centered around ‘Towering University’ resonates as genuine, effectively advocating for transformative change within the Academy and the pursuit of fair and strategic institutional reforms to enhance the retention of Black faculty and staff.” (Jessica Lavariega Monforti, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, and Professor, Political Science, California Lutheran University, USA)

“Dr. Yvette Alex-Assensoh slays it with The SOULS of Black Faculty and Staff in the Academy, shifting our understanding of W.E.B. Du Bois’ Souls of Black Folk to a new terrain. She is a gifted storyteller who can translate the dismal data on the lack of DEI progress in the Academy into narratives and five action principles designed to both guide and heal. The fictional stories she creates are drawn from real-lifeexamples that many of us doing DEI work can feel and understand, and from which others may learn. Now the question is this—will the Academy listen to this Truth Teller and change?” (Irma McClaurin, Editor of Black Feminist Anthropology, Founder of the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive at UMass, USA)

“Every university president, provost, and dean who is serious about attracting and retaining Black faculty and staff, and those from underrepresented backgrounds, should read this book. As a three-time college president, I have not read a more poignant, powerful, persuasive, practical, and timely treatise on this topic.” (Charlie Nelms, President-in-Residence, United Negro College Fund, USA)

Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh is Vice President for Equity and Inclusion, Professor of Political Science, and Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Oregon, USA. A member of the Oregon and Indiana Bar Associations, she also serves as an elected Boardmember of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE).