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Counter-Narratives of Resistance for Women of Color in Higher Education: We Are Not Impostors explores how systemic inequities across socially constructed spaces in higher education are experienced differently by Women of Color, adding depth to the series’ examination of identity, practice, and student success. The book directly engages with themes such as racial and cultural identity development, student involvement, mental health, and the intersection of race, gender, and class in higher education. It offers counter-narratives and actionable solutions while advocating for institutional reforms that create equitable environments for students, faculty, and administrators. The book’s emphasis on community building, mentorship, and leadership development for Women of Color further aligns with the wider series’ commitment to fostering inclusive and transformative educational practices.
Counter-Narratives of Resistance for Women of Color in Higher Education recognizes that Women of Color in higher education bring multiple intersecting identities, including, but not limited to, first-generation status, socioeconomic background, LGBTQ+ identity, neurodiversity, and immigrant experiences. These intersections further shape the systemic inequities they face and the strategies they develop for resistance, survival, and success.
Whether serving as faculty, student affairs professionals, senior administrators, or graduate students, Women of Color across higher education contend with racialized expectations, institutional biases, and the emotional labor of proving their worth in spaces that often devalue their expertise, contributions, and leadership. This book amplifies their voices, not as a study of barriers, but as a testament to their power, illustrating how they disrupt, redefine, and reclaim their place in the academy.
Nicole Pulliam is a nationally recognized educator, scholar, speaker, certified executive coach, and consultant.
Section 1. Faculty Women of Color
Chapter 1. Breaking the Silence: Two Truths, One System, and a Title We Refuse to Own; Nicole Pulliam and Lori Nixon Bethea
Chapter 2. Who Do You Think You Are? Surviving Tenure as a Japanese Immigrant Woman Scholar in U.S. Academia; Ai Kamei
Chapter 3. ¡Aquí Estamos!: A Composite Testimonio of Latina Educators’ Teaching Experiences; Stephanie Hernandez Rivera, Berenice Sánchez, and Adrianna González Ybarra
Section 2. Early-Mid Career Practitioners
Chapter 4. Giving Back to Myself: Reclaiming My Voice in Navigating Institutional Politics as a Woman of Color in Student Affairs; Marie-Clare Ofoegbu
Chapter 5. Calling It What It Is: Emotional Labor, Cultural Taxation, and the Cost of Care Work; Romina Generali
Chapter 6. Beyond Misperception: A Black Afro-Caribbean Woman’s Counter-Narrative of Leadership, Microaggressions, and Resistance in Higher Education; Sharlene M. Smith
Section 3. Senior-Level Administrators
Chapter 7.Called to Lead, Positioned to Fall: Black Women and the Glass Cliff; Kyra Lobbins
Chapter 8. First, Only, Excellent - Still Deemed Insufficient; Isis Artze-Vega
Chapter 9. Brown Skin Girl, I’d Never Trade You for Anybody Else: A Black Woman’s Race, Class and Gender in Higher Education Leadership Spaces; Jordan Shelby West
Section 4. Reflections on the Graduate School Journey
Chapter 10. Reading the Room: Navigating Legitimacy and Belonging as a Woman of Color in Graduate Education; Sabina Khan
Chapter 11. Building What the Institution Would Not: The Melanin Scholars Retreat; Aiesha Lee, Brittany Williams-Grant, and Briana Gaines-Hill
Chapter 12. Un Nuevo Legado: Reimagining a Pathway to Academia Through Agency, Mentorship, and Collectivism; Mikaila Leyva, Jereny Mendoza, Laura Zamudio-Orozco, and Amy J. Nuñez