Ivory Towers Have Glass Ceilings

Institutional Responsibility in Promotion to Full Professor

Chardie L. Baird, Mangala Subramaniam

• Publisher: Purdue University Press
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9781626711648
  9781626711631
• eBook ISBN:
  9781626711655
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Higher Education

A must-read for higher education leaders committed to equity, Ivory Towers Have Glass Ceilings examines faculty members' experiences in promotion to full professorship. This volume discusses how structures, practices, processes, and policies pertaining to promotion from associate professor to full professor both presume and reproduce racialized and gendered inequity.

Women's teaching and service loads are often quantitatively and qualitatively different from white and some Asian men's experiences, which only serves to reinforce the status quo. This also extends beyond teaching and service to the types of intellectual contributions that are considered important, which often excludes the hands-on, engaged work that underrepresented faculty are more likely to perform. Contributors point out the unwritten rules that serve as hidden hurdles for promotion for women and underrepresented minorities. Additionally, what counts as professionalism is typically in favor of white, cisgender men. Inequities in assessment and value of scholarly output impact the promotion of gender diversity and underrepresented faculty.

This book asks what can be done at the institutional level by analyzing the policies, interactions, and everyday practices in the promotion process. Lessons can be learned from forward-looking institutions that have adopted policies to recognize and reward the broader contributions that women and gender diverse faculty make to academia. Any leader hoping to employ a truly representative faculty will want to consider which practices could work in their institutional context and culture.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Traversing Treacherous Terrain: Institutional Responsibility to Promote Women to Full Professorship
• 1 Hidden Hurdles and Gendered Recognition: Perceptions of Associate Professors
• Appendix 1.A
• 2 An Intersectional Analysis of Barriers, Opportunities, Operational Exhaustion, and Women’s Promotion to Full Professor at a Hispanic- and Minority-Serving Public Institution
• 3 The Rocky Road to Full Professor: Gender Differences in Promotion at a Small Liberal Arts College
• Appendix 3.A
• 4 More Than a Mentoring Program: An Integrated System That Helps Associates Navigate Toward Promotion
• Appendix 4.A
• Appendix 4.B: Links To Associate Professor Mentoring Resources At Wpi
• Appendix 4.C: Prompts For Annual Conversations Between Department Heads And Associate Professors
• Appendix 4.D: Resources That Department Heads Can Offer To Associate Professors—Prompts For Annual Conversations Between Department Heads And Associate Professors
• 5 Faculty Career Trajectories and Pathways to Promotion: Community College Perspective
• 6 What Matters and What Counts?: Feminist Sociologists Navigating the Path to Full Professor
• Appendix 6.A
• 7 Outing the Gendered Landscape in Higher Ed: The Experience of Two Individuals Who Challenge the Binary
• Conclusion
• Index
• About the Editors
• About the Contributors