Leveraging the Mentorship Experiences of Black Males With Doctoral Degrees

Introduction

In this chapter, I posit that support and systemic mentorship models for Black male doctoral students create sustainability measures through methods of equity, programming, and career and research endeavors. Specifically, the aim is to examine how support through mentorship and systemic models, situated learning environments, and equitable measures shaped the experiences of Black male doctoral students in preparation for roles in the K-12 and higher education settings parallel to the Black male leadership pipeline. Parallelism to the Black male leadership pipeline concerns itself with the systemic and intentional movement in the professional and academic space. While there is limited literature specific to Black male doctoral holders in the K-12 setting, there is literature that begins to outline trends in mentorship models for Black males in academia. Though distributed leadership among Black males in higher education and the K-12 setting has changed over time, issues persist that continue to undermine true commitments to diversity, longevity, and the resilience of Black males in or seeking leadership roles in the academy. While some research gaps exist regarding the promotion of diversity and resiliency and well-being of Black male leaders, scholars offer varying viewpoints on the efforts that underpin the Black male leadership pipeline (Cokley, McClain, and Martinez, 2013; Strayhorn, 2012; Wright, 2016).

Making a case for faculty mentorship practices adjacent to Black male doctoral students provides context for the support necessary to empower and support students’ abilities to thrive in an ever-changing educational landscape. Black males comprise approximately two percent of all doctoral degree holders in the United States. Among those degree holders, there is variance in disciplines. There is also variance in the discipline track and the type of program that individuals attended.

To situate the necessity for distinctions in mentorship practices for Black male doctoral students, one must acknowledge aspects of each of the following as a precursor:

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  The social constructivism of Black males as individuals;

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  The development of Black males as students; and

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  The context around Black males with doctoral degrees

In this context, social constructivism refers specifically to the development of Black males due to shared and adjacent cultural and social experiences and interactions. While shared experiences may not always be the case, all experiences play a collective role in shaping what is perceived as the Black male experience. For instance, all may not have been the victim of police brutality, but the impact of police brutality works to create a collective narrative of a group, which may reinforce perceived societal norms. The perceptions of Black males in the media, communities, and the larger society are not holistically representative of most Black males. These social contexts are situated around beliefs about the world around them. Issues such as the justice system, socioeconomic status, and employment.