Tenure in the Sacred Grove: Issues and Strategies for Women and Minority Faculty (review)

In the opening chapter of Tenure in the Sacred Grove: Issues and Strategies for Women and Minority Faculty, editors Joanne Cooper and Dannelle Stevens explain that they use the term "sacred grove" to honor, update, and extend the classic text about women faculty- Women of Academe: Outsiders in the Sacred Grove (Aisenberg & Harrington, 1988). Cooper and Stevens' book is about the history and context of tenure and the sacred grove, "a sane, safe, and open place that is holy and unable to be violated" (p. 4). The book focuses particularly on the issues women and minority faculty are likely to face in their quest to enter the sacred groves of academe and offers a compendium of advice to provide sound strategy for the journey.

Tenurein the Sacred Grove "encompasses multiple perspectives on the tenure process, and underscores the interconnectedness of the personal and professional" (p. 5). In this edited book, chapter authors offer perspectives about tenure that consider "political, scholarly, pedagogical, personal and interpersonal levels" (p. 1). The book provides insight and advice to untenured faculty, their colleagues, department chairs, deans, provosts, and others involved in faculty development. Sacred Grove is also likely to benefit graduate students and others considering an academic career. Although the focus is on women and minority faculty, all faculty stand to gain from reading this book. Indeed, the book could have been strengthened by addressing more forthrightly how issues for women and minority faculty connect to and reflect issues facing all faculty. Isn't the tenure track a challenge for everyone?

The editors assembled an informed group of professionals to assist them in the examination of the issues that face women and minority faculty as they negotiate the tenure process. The authors share perspectives based on their diverse experiences, representing "a variety of perspectives across ethnicities, faculty ranks, positions and institutional types" (p. 5). Represented are junior and senior faculty and an array of administrators including a university president and department chair.

The book encompasses fourteen chapters divided into three sections. In the first section, "Surveying the Landscape of the Sacred Grove," authors lay the groundwork for the book by providing an introduction to the personal and professional complexities involved in the tenure process as they relate to women and minorities in higher education. In Chapter 1, editors Joanne Cooper and Dannelle Stevens present an overview of the status of women and minority faculty in higher education, detailing their relative absence in academe and the specific tenure barriers they face. Chapter 2, written by Joanne Cooper and Jacqueline Temple, describes several tenure cases and offers advice for managing the tenure process and the surrounding politics. Although each tenure case is individual, common themes emerge that may be useful for junior faculty negotiating tenure. In Chapter 3, Phyllis Bronstein and Judith Ramaley place tenure in an institutional context, discussing variance across institutional type. In the final chapter of this section, William Tierney provides an historical perspective on tenure as it relates to academic freedom, a perspective that provides context for the tenure process.

In the second section, "Faulty as Individual Learners: Sharing Personal Perspectives," authors provide personal narratives of the tenure process. Chapter 5 includes two dialogues pertaining to finding a home in the academy. The chapter presents the transcripts of conversations between Anna Ortiz and Maenette Benham as they discuss race, gender, and cultural identity; and a conversation between Joanne Cooper and Mary Woods Scherr as they talk about their paths to tenure in light of the dynamics of ageism. In Chapter 6, Michelle Collay expands the discussion to encompass women and minority faculty whose lives include multiple demands of work and family, elder care and/or community responsibilities. Chapter 7, written by Janice...