"In order to break the cycle, we need to move forward and promote an environment in which historically oppressed and underrepresented groups are not only actively recruited in institutions of higher learning, but also in which members of these groups are mentored and encouraged to be full members of the academic community. It is our view that this process needs to start with an honest conversation about the different factors affecting the professional experiences of faculty of color” (Ceja et al. 2017, 1). Inspired by the recent article, A Critical Dialogue: Faculty of Color in Library and Information Science (Ceja et al. 2017), the MEHC SIG proposes a panel composed of LIS faculty of color who will share brief stories of what it’s like to be a faculty member of color in LIS, and they will put forth truths they would like the rest of the field and professoriate to know about their experiences and concerns. This will be an informally produced, but powerful, panel of stories that will shed light on the experiences of faculty of color while also generating discussion and avenues for support and advocacy. Panelists are faculty from around the United States, with an abundance of teaching, research, and service contributions. Among their commonalities are their desires to be productive and retained in an environment that isn’t always conducive to underrepresented or otherwise marginalized groups, their desire to recruit additional faculty of color, and their desire to transform the field for the better. The session will be moderated by one of the SIG’s conveners, who will give each panelist a story prompt: 1) Tell us about a time when you experience discrimination as an LIS faculty member. 2) What do you want the rest of the world to know about the experiences and/or needs of faculty of color? This panel will not have slides or other technology, so that panelists can really engage in a meaningful conversation, among themselves and with the audience. The stories of the panelists will be reflective and indicative of the below excerpt, which comes from an article co-authored by two of the panel speakers. "We present our stories here to breathe life into the aforementioned statistics and open up a larger discussion to engage academic administrators, faculty, and future faculty members across all racial and ethnic groups. We believe our stories can prepare future doctoral students of color entering LIS or at the very least address some their concerns about academia. As such, this piece sets out to engage in a much-needed critical dialogue about our hardships and positions of privilege as faculty members of color in LIS in the United States" (Ceja et al. 2017, 1). It is anticipated that this session will provide a necessary space and opportunity for faculty of color to express themselves, and provide an opportunity for the audience to learn from the panelists’ experiences and brainstorm new and significant ways to be supportive and serve as allies to their colleagues of color. Each panelist will have 3 minutes to respond to each prompt; the remainder of the session will consist of discussion between the panelists and the audience.
Reference Ceja Alcalá, J., Colón-Aguirre, M., Cooke, N. A., & Stewart, B. (2017). A Critical Dialogue: Faculty of Color in Library and Information Science. InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies, 13(2). http://escholarship.org/uc/item/1gq2s8q5
