Preparing African American counselor education students for the professorate

College Student Journal, Dec, 2007 by Phillip D. Johnson, Carla R. Bradley, Donald E. Knight, Elizabeth S. Bradshaw

The purpose of this article is to highlight the underrepresentation of African American faculty in CACREP-Accredited counseling programs and to discuss ways of creating and sustaining a pipeline of potential counselor educators for the academy.

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Over the last twenty years there has been an upward trend for the attainment of doctoral degrees by African Americans (St. John, 2000). However colleges and universities continue to struggle with the underrepresentation of African American faculty. For instance, of the 160,000 faculty members who are at doctoral extensive and intensive institutions, less than 3% identify themselves as African American (Antonio, 2002; Smith, Wolf, & Busenberg, 1996). In counselor education, a study by Bradley and Holcomb-McCoy (2004) revealed that only 41 (3.4%) counseling faculty out of approximately 1,200 in CACREP-accredited programs identify themselves as African American. As the U.S. becomes more diverse, building a diverse university faculty that more closely resembles the demographics of the nation as a whole becomes increasingly important (Holcomb-McCoy & Bradley, 2003).

When we consider the recent trend in doctoral degree attainment by African Americans as well as the continued shortage of African American faculty, it appears that African American doctoral students are not choosing the professorate as a career option. We are unable to know definitively whether this is in fact the case because there are no empirical data to ground such a discussion (Bradley & Holcomb-McCoy, 2004). Thus, the purpose of this article is to consider the extent to which African American students are actually represented in CACREP-accredited doctoral programs. Implications for the counseling profession will be discussed.

Counselor Education Doctoral Programs

In order to gain a sense of the status of African American doctoral students in counselor education programs, information was obtained to assist in the development of a future study. CACREP liaisons were contacted (via email) and asked to identify: the total number of students in their program, the total number of African American doctoral students, and the gender breakdown of African American doctoral students in their respective programs. Follow up phone calls were also made to program liaisons that did not respond to the original email.

Of the 45 CACREP-accredited doctoral programs in counselor education contacted, 29 (64%) responded with information on their program. This information revealed that a total of 825 students were currently enrolled in CACREP-Accredited counseling programs. Of the 825 total students, 148 (17.9%) were African American; 44 (5.3%) of which were men and 104 (12.6%) were women. Table 1 shows the distribution of African American doctoral students in CACREP-accredited programs by gender and region, based on programs, which responded to the email. The highest concentration of African American doctoral students, both male and female, was in the Southern region with a total of 93 students (25 males and 68 females). Of note was the Western region, which had only one African American doctoral student, who was male.

Discussion and Implications

The information obtained from the CACREP liaisons suggest that African American doctoral students are adequately represented (17.9%) in counselor education programs. This finding is consistent with the current upward trend for African Americans attaining doctoral degrees in general. The results also indicate that African American females are three times as likely than African American males to be enrolled in counselor education doctoral programs. This disparity has potential implications for the future of African American males in the professorate.

It is also important to point out that the majority of African American counselor education doctoral students are located in the southern portion of the United States. A possible explanation for this result is that most of the CACREP-accredited doctoral programs are located in southern colleges and universities. This finding also highlights the importance and unique opportunity for these particular doctoral programs to develop intentional mentoring programs to peak the interest of African Americans to consider the professorate as a career option.

There have been several national programs designed to address the lack of minority doctoral students who are being groomed to enter the professorate. One of these programs is the Holmes Scholars Network. Graduate students in the Holmes Scholars Network receive mentoring to help them with careers in academia but they are also expected to become a role model/mentor for graduate students after them (Lamb, 1999). Graduate students receive mentoring on the national, regional, and local levels. Information retrieved from the Holmes Scholars Network website indicated that 400 students have participated in the program and 100 are currently in tenure-track positions.

Compact for Faculty Diversity is made up of the Southern Regional Education Board, the New England Board for Higher Education and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education with the backing of the Pew Charitable Trust and The Ford Foundation (Roach, 1999). Compact for Faculty Diversity was founded in 1993 to create programs that support minority graduate students as they finish their doctorates and pursue job opportunities in academia. This program has two goals: to ensure that minority doctoral students have continuous funding, financial aid, and to foster a community of established minority scholars and peers who support minority doctoral students as they finish their doctoral programs and begin to work in their respective fields (Smith & Parker, 2000). The Compact for Faculty Diversity program also sponsors an annual Institute for Teaching and Mentoring. This institute is a forum that allows minority graduate students and minority faculty members to discuss their experiences in academia. The Compact for Faculty Diversity doctoral scholars program reported that by the end of 1999, 92% of their graduates had completed or were still finishing their doctoral studies. Eighty-four had completed their PhD and 70% were working in faculty positions (Smith & Parker, 2000).