Barriers and Bridges to Inclusion: The Graduate Student Perspective
Kecia M. Thomas
University of Georgia
Cyrillene C. Clark
Hay Group
During the April 2003 meeting of SIOP, we met with ethnic minority graduate students and their advocates to discuss the barriers and bridges to inclusion within I-O graduate programs. The participants represented I-O programs nationwide. Most participants were first- or second-year graduate students. As suggested by our colleague
Bernardo Ferdman (2003), inclusion must be understood in the context of specific people and specific situations. To get a better sense of what inclusion looks and feels like for different people, we strongly advocate asking them (p. 81). Therefore, we asked ethnic minority graduate students about their experience as I-O psychologists in training. Specifically we were interested in the barriers they perceive to increasing diversity within our programs and our profession and what they thought we could do about it. They were eager to express themselves and work toward a more inclusive profession and society. Their feedback is summarized here.
Lack of Knowledge
Barrier. The students echoed Ann Marie Ryans concerns that there is a lack of knowledge and information disseminated about the profession of
I-O psychology. Many students indicated that they did not learn about the field until late in their undergraduate careers. Others were introduced to the profession by mentors and family members who worked within the broader field of psychology. Several students complained about the lack of information about I-O psychology on the Internet and suggested that the World Wide Web has a great potential to introduce those who are engaged in a career search to the field of I-O.
Bridge. Students were supportive of SIOPs recent efforts to establish relationships with minority-serving institutions such as the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Tribal colleges. Several of our participants were graduates of HBCUs and many of those students indicated that they have maintained contact with their undergraduate psychology departments in order to share information about their graduate student experience as well as to increase current student interest in I-O. The formation of an I-O Teaching Institute that would be offered to minority-serving institutions and which would open the lines of communication among faculty at these institutions, faculty who teach in I-O graduate programs, and I-O practitioners, was very well received and supported. Several students volunteered to participate in the institute when it was targeted to their alma mater or region.
Lack of Appreciation for Diversity and Diversity Research
Barrier. All of the students who participated in this forum expressed interest in conducting research related to diversity in the workplace as well as more conventional topics of I-O study. Students appeared to have different experiences in regards to their facultys support of their diversity research interests. Many students indicated that workplace diversity as a topic of study was not valued within their graduate programs. Students suggested that for them, developing a program of research on workplace diversity was perceived as merely acting upon a personal agenda rather than as a desire to conduct important research.
For those students who did conduct research in the area of diversity, they indicated that frequently their brown-bag presentations and thesis proposals or defenses were met by silence or very limited engagement on the parts of faculty and other students. This silence is difficult for students to interpret. Graduate student allies attending the session (professors in PhD and MA/MS programs) mentioned that faculty silence is likely a result of facultys ignorance of the diversity domain. These allies and supporters also discussed that students pursuit of a program of diversity research may bring out issues that many people have very strong opinions about and which they would prefer to keep private (e.g., affirmative action). Furthermore, allies suggested that some topics studied may also elicit feelings of guilt and discomfort. Yet these feelings and group dynamics are issues that really should encourage more research in the area rather than discourage it. Furthermore, the silence presented to minority students engaging in diversity work offers little that they can learn from in regards to improving their research questions, methodology, or interpretations. Silence denies students an important opportunity for feedback and subsequently for their development; a privilege provided to those students who may follow a more common research path.
In addition, students articulated that they experienced not simply a lack of appreciation for diversity research but for diversity overall. Several students indicated that faculty and peers did not seem to appreciate the diversity of experience and opinion they have offered. One student suggested that often diversity is present but not received. In other words, programs seemed to want to have students who look different around the seminar table but that their unique experience, attitudes, or perspectives were not well tolerated. At times unique perspectives or questions were evaluated as invalid. Therefore some students indicated that they now actively attempt to not bring too much of their own culture or experience to the table.
Bridge. A number of potential solutions were identified. Despite some facultys lack of interest in supporting students research on the topic of workplace diversity, students still need support. Networking at the SIOP meeting seemed to provide many students with the opportunity to meet other faculty and practitioners who are supportive of diversity as the emphasis of ones program of research. Networking and remaining in contact with minority graduate student peers was also highlighted. Yet these solutions leave the deeper issue of I-O psychology as a narrow and exclusive science unchanged. Perhaps our graduate programs should think seriously about how they develop students. The American Psychological Associations Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice and Organizational Change for Psychologists may help our graduate programs develop all future facultys ability to more effectively teach, support, and develop diverse students. APAs (1992) report Surviving and Thriving in Academia, provides useful guidance to female and ethnic minority graduate students and junior faculty on negotiating the academic environment.
Lack of Ethnic Minority Faculty
Barrier. This was an obvious barrier for our student participants. There simply does not seem to be enough minority faculty to go around in our graduate programs. Those ethnic minority students with aspirations for a faculty career are increasingly lured by business schools that not only pay significantly more than psychology departments but which may also have more supportive climates for diversity overall. The lack of minority faculty has a spillover effect in that it likely impacts minority student recruitment and retention, the diversity of courses taught, and the inclusiveness of research published in many I-O journals.
Students from programs with minority faculty and ongoing programs of diversity research expressed their discomfort with the profession when attending SIOP. For these unique students, the climate for diversity within their graduate programs did not match the climate at meetings of the society. The diversity within their graduate programs, they felt, constructed an image of I-O that was far more inclusive than the reality presented by the actual meeting of the society. In addition, students discussed their ambivalence regarding attending subsequent meetings and had questions about their future careers in I-O given that their graduate student experience seemed so ideal in light of the reality experienced at the conference.
Bridge. Although this barrier was easily recognized it is not easily remedied. All students have a right to pursue a career of their choice. Yet graduate programs and major professions do need to consider the extent to which the lack of support minority students experience subsequently hampers their interest to pursue a career in an academic environment. One student suggested that there should be a mentoring program and more networking opportunities sponsored by the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs (CEMA). Having an ethnic minority mentor may help satisfy ethnic minority students desire to have contact with I-O psychologists like them. Perhaps SIOP should follow the model of our colleagues in business schools and develop a program based upon the PhD Project (http://www.phdproject.com/index.html). The PhD Project is an alliance of corporations, academic institutions, and academic and professional associations that provide information and support to business students who are members of underrepresented groups. The PhD Project acts as an information clearinghouse and provides advising, mentoring, workshops, and conferences for minority doctoral students who aspire to a faculty career within a business school environment. The PhD Project has been extremely successful in increasing the number of minority faculty teaching in business schools today. Since its inception in 1994, the number of professors of color has increased from 294 to 623 and there are another 400 ethnic minority students in the academic pipeline (Cole, 2003). Another national initiative, the Compact for Faculty Diversity (http://www.sreb.org/programs/dsp/
dspindex.asp), may also present opportunities for graduate programs to recruit and develop minority students who aspire to faculty careers. Currently this faculty recruitment and development program provides funding for incoming future faculty as well as dissertation grants for these aspiring academics.
Students Reluctance to be a Solo/Token
Barrier. Several of our student participants expressed their reluctance to be a solo or token minority student within a program. Therefore not only is the lack of ethnic minority faculty a barrier to inclusion within the profession, so is the lack of ethnic minority students studying the field. Students who do have solo status in their programs discussed the experience of having to be a mouthpiece for an expert on the ethnic minority community and peers and facultys presumptions about their minority experience. The literature well documents the costs of being an only in regard to heightened visibility and stress (e.g. Pettigrew & Martin, 1987, Kanter, 1977).
Bridge. Students suggested that graduate programs engage in more aggressive recruitment of new minority students. Our participants again expressed their willingness to facilitate contact with ethnic minority students and serve throughout the recruitment process. Psychology departments that provide useful models of effectively recruiting and retaining ethnic minority students have been identified by APA (2000a). APA (2000b) also provides guidance in increasing minority participation in the society as well. In addition, our participants encouraged current minority students to initiate relationships with new students and to serve as peer mentors as well.
Conclusion
The participants agreed that it is important to take immediate steps to mitigate the feelings of isolation that some people of color feel within the society and the profession. The Teaching Institute will be a positive first step in broadening our reach.
To remain relevant as the demographics of our world shift, it is important that I-O psychology and SIOP have full participation from all sectors of the population. We must be in touch with multiple perspectives and reflect the work force that we study and serve. Fortunately, our current minority students are more than willing to assist in this process. These students look forward to assisting in recruitment and mentoring efforts by their programs as well as by the society. Like our minority alumni, these students are a valuable resource in helping our graduate programs and our professional society become more reflective of the world we serve.
References
APA (1992). Surviving and thriving in academia. Washington, DC: Commission on Women in Psychology and the Committee for Ethnic Minority Recruitment, Retention, and Training in Psychology.
[http://www.apa.org/pI-Oema/surviving/]
APA (2000a). Model strategies for ethnic minority recruitment, retention, and training in higher education.
Washington, DC: Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs, APA. [This report can be found at
http://www.apa.org/pI-Oema/modelstrategies.pdf.]
APA (2000b). Handbook for increasing ethnic minority participation in state psychological association and APA divisions.
Washington, DC: Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs, APA. [Handbook can be found at
http://www.apa.org/pI-Oema/handbook/introduction.html.]
Cole, Y. (2003). Want more students of color in your university? Get professors who look like
them. DiversityInc.com [Retrieved on April 20, 2003 from www.diversityinc.com].
Ferdman, B. (2003). Accounts of inclusion (and exclusion). The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist,
40(4), 8186.
Kanter, R. M. (1977). Men and women of the organization. NYC: Basic books.
Pettigrew, T. F., & Martin, J. (1987). Shaping the organizational context for Black American inclusion.
Journal of Social Issues, 43, 4178.
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