A new book edited by three prominent education scholars provides readers with personal narratives, advice and useful strategies from a cohort of Black academicians who currently hold distinguished and endowed professorships at colleges and universities across the nation.
For years, Drs. Gail L. Thompson, Fred A. Bonner II and Chance W. Lewis—the editors of the newly published book titled Reaching the Mountaintop of the Academy—have fielded questions from curious faculty members from across the country who wanted to know how they were able to become distinguished and endowed professors.
Anxious to share their advice with others, in 2014, they reached out to other Blacks who hold distinguished and endowed professorships and asked them to contribute a chapter for the book.
“We wanted them to tell their personal story and provide practical tips and recommendations to junior faculty and graduate students,” said Lewis, who is the Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor of Urban Education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. “This book holds a special place for me because it is direct advice on how to be successful in the Academy.”
At a time when the Academy can be fiercely competitive and cut-throat, Lewis, Thompson and Bonner said that their motivation in publishing the 162-page book was to help the next generation of emerging Black scholars move into these prominent positions.
“We are not just about trying to advance our own careers,” said Bonner, who is a professor and endowed chair of Educational Leadership and Counseling at Prairie View A&M University. “We are interested in helping pull other brothers and sisters up. I feel like my work is partial unless I am helping others.”
For Thompson, who is the Wells Fargo Endowed Professor of Education at Fayetteville State University, mentorship is an important part of the work that she does. When she made the transition to higher education after years of teaching high school students, she was astonished when other Black scholars did not respond to her inquiries for career and scholarly advice when she reached out for guidance.
