| Black women often face racism and sexism within majority of educational settings (BeharHorenstein et al., 2012) and this has potential to impact their careers significantly. For counselor
educators, faculty, staff, departments, and universities, the retention of Black women counselor
educators (BWCE) is important due to the inclusion of diversity, recruitment, and retention efforts
of departments and universities. There is a dearth of literature exploring the process of support
and retention of BWCE in predominately white institutions counseling programs, although
majority of studies have highlighted the ways that support and retention may help promote
retention in various roles. The current study employed a postmodern social constructionist
grounded theory using the methodology of Charmaz (2014) to explore the process of support and
retention of BWCE within CACREP-accredited predominately white institutions.
Four BWCE from CACREP-accredited programs contributed to the process consisting of
two semi-structed interviews and a group process interpretative dialogue that served as a member
check. A grounded theory of the process of support and retention of Black Women Counselor
educators was co-constructed. Two major subcategories were developed: a) support and retention
factors and b) supportive strategies. The results of this study have implications for counselor
educators, doctoral students, departments and universities as help retain and support Black
women counselor educators as they continue to advance in their careers, contribute to the field of
counselor education, and the counseling profession. Through intentional efforts such as exchange
of vulnerability, creating safe spaces, and building awareness from faculty, departments, and
universities, Black women counselor educators will be able to stay retained in their positions
along with receiving support. Recommendations for future research are also provided.
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Keywords: Black women, counselor educators, PWIs, counseling programs, grounded theorY |