Hi Professors,
I hope that you’re doing well, and that you are having a relaxing summer break. In this 23rd episode of the Rise with Clarity Podcast, I wanted to do something a bit different. For those of you who have been listening to the podcast for a while, you know that this show presents strategies and guidance to women of color faculty in higher education. I cover topics related to managing the tenure track, navigating workplace politics, reclaiming your time, and advancing your career.
I often like to cover things that I don’t think women of color faculty receive much guidance on in the academy, like “Crafting Your Tenure Self-Statement in a Meaningful Way” (Episode 6) and “Leading Graduate Seminars for Your First Time” (Episode 14).
I offer actionable tips that you can start to consider or to even implement. I also try to include additional resources for you that I incorporate into the written transcripts. So don’t forget to check out the full transcripts on my website!
So, for today’s episode, I won’t have my typical list of strategies for you. Instead, I want to open up a discussion by reflecting on some of the unique challenges that foreign-born faculty, in particular women faculty, face in universities and colleges in the United States.
I come from a place of seeing and knowing former classmates, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances who have gone through different hurdles than what I have experienced as an Asian American who was raised in the United States by immigrant parents from South Korea.
And I also come from a place of deep curiosity, because I know that there is a wide spectrum of experiences that we don’t hear very much about.
So I’d like to invite you to share your own stories, experiences, and challenges with me or more publicly if you prefer. I think that people in higher education—especially in the US context—can really benefit from hearing more of your candid stories and your experiences.
J’s Academic Journey in the US as a South Korean-Born Woman
Let me start by telling you about a woman academic who I will refer to as J. J was raised in South Korea and she attended one of Seoul’s most prestigious universities for her undergrad. She gained admission into a top-ranking graduate program in the social sciences in the United States.
J’s first few years in her graduate program as an international student were very challenging for her. Since English is her second language, she had difficulty keeping up with the assigned readings in addition to writing her seminar papers. She was told by her advisor early on to seek help at the Writing Center on campus in order to improve her writing skills.
There were numerous kinds of culture shock that she had to acclimate to. One big adjustment was participating actively in graduate seminars. In South Korea, she was used to listening to her professors lecture. That was the norm.
In her graduate program in the US, she found herself in small, intimate seminar settings, where it was expected that she would respond to the readings and to what her fellow classmates said. This mode of engagement was alien to her and she struggled at the beginning to keep up with these discussions.
Another big difference for her was getting used to being an international student at a PWI (Predominantly White Institution). It wasn’t just that J was foreign-born…she was perceived as a racialized foreigner in the classroom and on campus.
By default, she became absorbed by others into the broad categorization of a “Person of Color” or POC for the first time in her life. In the US, she became acutely aware of her minoritized status because it was framed as such by people around her.
When attacks against Asians began to occur with frequency after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she genuinely began to fear for her safety in certain parts of the United States.
These were just some of the significant challenges that J encountered during her graduate studies in the United States. She never really could have anticipated or prepared for these challenges while she was studying in South Korea. But she eventually persevered and was able to finish her dissertation and graduate with her PhD. A very proud moment!
Now I’m going to pause here. Because I want to turn to a set of questions based on what happens to J after she decides to apply for tenure track positions in the United States and ends up landing one?
A Set of Questions for J’s Next Chapter on the Tenure Track in the US
· What specific challenges does J face on the tenure track?
· What are some things we should know about J in order to better support her on her path to tenure and retention?
· In terms of her pathway to residency in the United States, what kinds of legal assistance can her university help to provide J?
· How are J’s lived experiences as a South Korean-born woman, an “international” academic, and a minoritized scholar based in the US different from other faculty of color on her campus? In what areas are there some overlap?
· How has J handled this experience of being both racially visible and invisible in the US academy?
· Where do initiatives of inclusion fall short for foreign-born faculty in higher ed in the US?
· What unique skills and life experiences does J bring to her work environment?
· What is J’s own unique story?
In my preliminary research for this podcast episode, I came across several helpful articles and a few manuscripts that I will link to in the written transcript. I was glad to see these kinds of resources out there, and I imagine there will be a growing body of literature on this topic.
In an article called “The Irony of an International Faculty,” Chenyu Wang, for instance, reflects on her positionality as a first-generation, Chinese migrant academic and how this intersects with the rhetoric used by many PWIs in the United States. She uses autoethnographic vignettes to provide examples along with her critical analyses.
An earlier article from 2012 by Dongbin Kim, Susan Twombly, and Lisa Wolf-Wendel, which is based on multiple data sources from international faculty, offers an overview of foreign-born faculty in relation to their experiences in the academy, their productivity, and their mobility.
And a recent edited book by Chris Glass, Krishna Bista, and Xi Lin includes chapters by authors who speak directly about their own experiences as international faculty in universities.
I hope to read more and learn about more individual stories. As I said earlier, I encourage you to share your own. Maybe this could be through your social networks, in a blog post, or in an academic publication. I would also love to hear from you if you feel more comfortable sharing with me privately. You can always reach out to me anytime at Katherine at RisewithClarity.com
Thanks so much. I look forward to hearing from you.
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Additional Resources
