african american counselor educators' job satisfaction and perceptions of departmental racial...

2 Counselor Education & Supervision • September 2005 • Volume 45

Professional Development

African American Counselor Educators’ JobSatisfaction and Perceptions of DepartmentalRacial Climate

Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy & Carla Addison-Bradley

Forty-eight African American counselor educators completed the Min-nesota Satisfaction Questionnaire–Short Form (D. J. Weiss, R. V.Dawis, G. W. England, & L. H. Lofquist, 1967), the Racial ClimateScale (R. J. Watts & R. T. Carter, 1991), and a biodata questionnaire.Results indicated that African American counselor educators’ percep-tions of departmental racial climate predicted their level of job satis-faction. However, African American counselor educators’ job satisfactionwas not related to their academic rank and tenure status. Implica-tions for counselor education and future research are discussed.

Faculty-of-color experience the work environment of college cam-puses very differently from nonminority or White faculty (Johnsrud& Des Jarlais, 1994; Turner & Myers, 2000). This difference stemsfrom the legacy of racial discrimination in predominately Whitehigher education environments, which have historically served theinterests and experiences of White male faculty (Aguirre, 2000).Racial discrimination against faculty-of-color may include restrictedopportunities, differential assignment of tasks, increased serviceactivities, restricted opportunities for leadership roles, social iso-lation, and the devaluation of research focusing on women andethnic minorities (Harvey & Scott-James, 1985; Turner & Myers,2000). In a national study that used survey data from 33,986 uni-versity faculty respondents, Astin, Antonio, Cress, and Astin (1997)found that faculty-of-color were twice as likely as White faculty toidentify subtle racial discrimination as a source of stress.

Research on the quality of life for faculty-of-color indicates thatjob satisfaction is an important variable to examine (Palepu, Carr,Friedman, Ash, & Moskowitz, 2000; Thomas, 1995). Job satisfac-tion, as described by the Theory of Work Adjustment (Dawis, En-gland, & Lofquist, 1964), is the way in which the person andenvironmental factors interact to predict an employee’s satisfac-

Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy, Department of Counseling and Personnel Services, Uni-versity of Maryland–College Park; Carla Addison-Bradley, Department of Coun-selor Education, Western Michigan University. Correspondence concerning thisarticle should be addressed to Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy, Department of Counsel-ing and Personnel Services, University of Maryland–College Park, 3214 BenjaminBuilding, College Park, MD 20742 (e-mail: [email protected]).

© 2005 by the American Counseling Association. All rights reserved. pp. 2–15

Counselor Education & Supervision • September 2005 • Volume 45 3

tion with his or her job. More simply put, job satisfaction is “theextent to which people like (satisfaction) or dislike (dissatisfac-tion) their jobs” (Spector, 1997, p. 2). Prominent researchers of jobsatisfaction suggest that job satisfaction can be measured eitherglobally or in dimensions such as one’s satisfaction with pay, su-pervision, benefits, promotion opportunities, working conditions,coworkers, or organizational practices (Griffin & Bateman, 1986).

Job satisfaction can also be conceptualized as an attitude thatdevelops in response to social cues and work conditions (Griffin &Bateman, 1986). Such cues may be differentially interpreted, de-pending on differences in the experiences and the attributionalstyles of individuals’ racial/ethnic backgrounds. For instance,Milliken and Martins (1996) found that people who differ from themajority race in organizations may experience less positive emo-tional responses to their employing organizations. In relation touniversity faculty, Liemann and Dovidio (1998) examined the jobsatisfaction of psychology faculty at institutions accredited by theAmerican Psychological Association. They found that among the435 faculty surveyed, faculty-of-color reported lower levels of jobsatisfaction than their White counterparts, especially when theywere the only minority faculty member in a department.

Two variables that might possibly relate to the job satisfaction offaculty-of-color are tenure status and academic rank. In general,tenured faculty members have been reported to be more satisfiedwith their jobs than were nontenured faculty members, as measuredwith subscales of the Job Descriptive Index (Tack & Patitu, 1992) andthe Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (Nussel, Wiersma, & Rusche,1988). Other research has found that full professors reported thehighest levels of job satisfaction and assistant professors reportedthe lowest (Steene, Guinipero, & Newgren, 1985). Nontenured fac-ulty, perhaps as a function of their probationary status, perceivedthemselves and their productivity to be more important and undermore scrutiny than that of their tenured colleagues. This tenuousstatus may have a negative impact on job satisfaction among fac-ulty-of-color when it is coupled with the experience of a negativeracial climate. The paucity of research on the relationship betweentenure status and job satisfaction of faculty-of-color, however, indi-cates that tenure and academic rank are not always predictors oftheir job satisfaction (Liemann & Dovidio, 1998).

There has been considerable research on the relationship betweenjob satisfaction and the racial climate of organizations (Ensher, Grant-Vallone, & Donaldson, 2001; Holder & Vaux, 1998). Most of the re-search in this area has been implemented in business andorganizational settings. For instance, Ensher et al. (2001) surveyedindividuals from different racial/ethnic backgrounds employed inbusiness and educational organizations; they found that racial cli-mate was significantly related to the job satisfaction of minority em-ployees. In one of the few studies that examined the relationshipbetween job satisfaction and departmental racial climate, Astin et


al. (1997) found that faculty-of-color who experienced more racialstress in their departments reported that they were less satisfiedwith their jobs.

Although the importance of having the presence of faculty-of-color in counselor education has been documented (Council forAccreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs[CACREP], 2001; Rogers, Gill-Wigal, Harrigan, & Abbey-Hines, 1998),there are no available data regarding their job satisfaction andperceptions of their respective departments’ racial climate. On thebasis of this void in the literature, we examined the following re-search questions: (a) What are the means, standard deviations,and ranges of African American counselor educators’ overall jobsatisfaction and perceptions of their departments’ racial climate?(b) What is the relationship between African American counseloreducators’ perceptions of racial climate and their job satisfaction?and (c) How do African American counselor educators’ academicrank and tenure relate to their job satisfaction?

Method

Participants

Participants were 48 African American counselor educators fromCACREP-accredited (n = 39; 81.3%) and non-CACREP-accredited(n = 9; 18.8%) counseling programs. More than 30% (n = 18; 37.5%)of the sample had between 1 and 5 years of counselor educationexperience, 29.2% (n = 14) had between 6 and 10 years of experience,12.5% (n = 6) had 11–15 years of experience, 8.3% (n = 4) had 16–20 years of experience, and 12.5% (n = 6) had more than 20 yearsof experience. Twenty-six (54.2%) were women, and a majority (75%,n = 36) of the participants had earned a doctor of philosophy degree,14.6% (n = 7) had earned an doctor of education degree, 4.2% (n = 2)had earned a master’s degree, and 6.3% (n = 3) reported having “other”counselor education experience. Twenty-five (52.1%) of the participantswere nontenured. Regarding counseling specialties, 33.3% (n = 16)identified community/mental health counseling as their specialty,31.3% (n = 15) identified school counseling, 20.8% (n = 10) identifiedrehabilitation counseling, 6.3% (n = 3) identified college student de-velopment, 6.3% (n = 3) identified family counseling, and 2.1% (n = 1)reported “other.” A majority of participants (85.5%; n = 41) reportedworking at either a Public Research I or II university, and 81.3% (n= 39) worked in CACREP-accredited counseling programs.

Measures

Biodata. We constructed a biodata sheet to collect information, in-cluding gender, age, tenure status, years as a counselor educator,rank, accreditation of counseling program, and highest degreeearned, that described the sample.

Job satisfaction. Job satisfaction was measured with the Minne-sota Satisfaction Questionnaire–Short Form (MSQ-SF; Weiss, Dawis,


England, & Lofquist, 1967). After an examination of the literatureand the empirically tested instruments available (e.g., Job Satis-faction Survey; Spector, 1997), the MSQ-SF was chosen for use inthis research because of its proven reliability and validity. Duringthe past 20 years, numerous researchers have provided support forthe continued validity and reliability of the questionnaire (Bizot &Goldman, 1993; Hirschfeld, 2000; Kulik & Oldham, 1988). Reliabil-ity coefficients (i.e., internal consistency) have ranged from .87 to.92 on general job satisfaction for the MSQ-SF. In the present study,an alpha coefficient of .88 was found for general job satisfaction.This alpha is within the range of the studies in which the MSQ-SFwas used (Chen, 2000). In addition, the MSQ-SF has been one ofthe most used multidimensional job satisfaction measures in thecareer and vocational field (Cook, Hepworth, Wall, & Warr, 1981),and it has been used to assess the job satisfaction of persons work-ing in higher education (Nussel et al., 1988; Robbins, 1998).

The MSQ-SF assesses the following 20 dimensions of job satis-faction: ability utilization, achievement, activity, independence, va-riety, compensation, security, working conditions, opportunity foradvancement, recognition, authority, social status, coworkers, moralvalues, social service, reactions to company policies and practices,the human relations aspects of supervision, the technical aspectsof supervision, creativity, and responsibility. Each item on the MSQ-SF represents 1 of the 20 dimensions and can be used to deter-mine satisfaction in relation to each dimension.

Participants were asked to rate their satisfaction with variousaspects of their work along a 5-point Likert-type scale, ranging from1 = not satisfied to 5 = extremely satisfied. Sample items include“The chance to be ‘somebody’ in the community” and “The freedomto use my own judgment.” The MSQ-SF was hand scored by sum-ming the scores on the 20 items to determine a total satisfactionscore that was used in analyses. According to Weiss et al. (1967),overall job satisfaction scores that are below 50 denote dissatisfac-tion, 50–69 are neutral (neither satisfied nor dissatisfied), and scoresgreater than 70 indicate that the individual is satisfied.

Racial climate. Racial climate was measured with Watts andCarter’s (1991) Racial Climate Scale (RCS). The RCS consists of18 items that measure decision-making processes, reward sys-tem, perceptions of “adverse impact,” and interpersonal processes.For example, one item states “Black and White employees gener-ally have good working relationships here.” Participants respondto the item using a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly dis-agree) to 5 (strongly agree). In the present study, Items 1, 2, 5, 8,9, 11–15, 17, and 18 were reverse coded so that higher scoreswould denote negative perceptions of racial climate and lowerscores were more representative of positive perceptions. Item re-sponses were then summed for a total score. A lower score on theRCS denotes a positive racial climate, whereas a higher scoredenotes a negative racial climate.


Watts and Carter (1991) reported an alpha of .83, and Holderand Vaux (1998) reported an alpha of .91 for this scale. For ourstudy, an alpha of .93 was found.

Hypotheses involving racial climate were confirmed in both Holderand Vaux’s (1998) and Watts and Carter’s (1991) studies, thuslending support to the scale’s construct validity.

Procedure

Because there is no available documentation or listing of AfricanAmerican counselor educators, participants (N = 48) were recruitedin three ways: (a) from a list of 45 African American counselor edu-cators in CACREP-accredited programs collected by the second au-thor for another study (see Bradley & Holcomb-McCoy, 2002), (b) byinviting members of the Diversity Counselor Education electronicmailing list to participate, and (c) by selecting African Americancounselor educators from CACREP counseling program Web sitesthat included faculty photographs. Overall, 112 prospective partici-pants were identified, and instrument packets were distributed tothese individuals. Fifty-three (47% return rate) instrument packetswere returned after two mailings, and 48 were usable (43% usablereturn rate). Although a 43% return rate is low, the informationprovided by this research is important because there is no avail-able literature that describes the experiences of African Americancounselor educators’ job satisfaction in relation to departmentalracial climate.

Results

Research Question 1: What Are the Means, Standard Deviations,and Ranges of African American Counselor Educators’ Levelof Job Satisfaction and Perceptions of Their Department’sRacial Climate?

Descriptive data from the MSQ-SF were analyzed to determinethe overall level of job satisfaction of African American counseloreducators (see Table 1). The findings indicated that African Ameri-can counselor educators were generally satisfied with their jobsas indicated by a mean overall satisfaction score of 67.08 (SD =11.79) and a median of 68. When placed on a 5-point scale, amean score of 3.64 (SD = 1.02) was derived. This mean score de-notes a job satisfaction score that falls between satisfied and verysatisfied. Highest ratings were given on the Ability Utilization (“Thechance to do something that makes use of my abilities”) and theCreativity (“The chance to try my own methods of doing the job”)items. The items receiving the lowest ratings were the Reactionsto Company Policies (“The way the company/department policiesare put into practice”) and Compensation (“My pay and the amountof work I do”) items.

The means, standard deviations, and ranges of the participants’perceptions of their respective department’s racial climate were


calculated and are presented in Table 2. The mean score on theRCS, after reverse coding, was 57.06 (SD = 13.99). Participants’scores ranged from 24 to 81. The possible range for this variablewas 18–90. The items that received the highest (negative aspectof racial climate) ratings included Items 5 (“It’s just as hard forWhites to get ahead here as for Blacks”) and 11 (“There are enoughBlacks in powerful positions here”). The items receiving the low-est scores (positive aspect of racial climate) or the items that theparticipants most disagreed with included Items 10 (“Blacks havelittle to say about decisions affecting this department”) and 8 (“Animportant job of the department chair is to help Blacks and othergroups get along”).

TABLE 1

Means and Standard Deviations for Job Satisfaction of AfricanAmerican Counselor Educators (N = 48)

Item M

1. Being able to keep busy all of the time. (Activity)2. The chance to work alone on the job. (Independence)3. The chance to do different things from time to time.

(Variety)4. The chance to be somebody in the community. (Social

Status)5. The way my boss handles people. (Supervision)6. Competence of my supervisor in making decisions.

(Supervision Technical)7. Being able to do things that don’t go against my conscience.

(Moral Values)8. The way my job provides steady employment. (Security)9. The chance to do things for others. (Social Service)

10. The chance to tell people what to do. (Authority)11. The chance to do something that makes use of my

abilities. (Ability Utilization)12. The way company policies are put into practice.

(Reaction to Company Policies)13. My pay and the amount of work I do. (Compensation)14. The chances for advancement on this job. (Advancement)15. The freedom to use my own judgment. ((Responsibility)16. The chance to try my own methods of doing the job.

(Creativity)17. The working conditions. (Working Conditions)18. The way coworkers get along with each other.

(Coworkers)19. The praise I get for doing a good job. (Recognition)20. The feeling of accomplishment I get from the job.

(Achievement)

General satisfactionRangePossible range

SD

Note. The names of the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire–Short Form subscalesare in parenthesis after each item. Items are rated on a scale ranging from 5 = extremelysatisfied; 4 = very satisfied; 3 = satisfied; 2 = somewhat satisfied; 1 = not satisfied.

3.693.95

4.17

3.442.60

2.83

3.714.024.022.83

4.19

2.272.252.963.85

4.133.04

2.582.77

3.77

67.0834–97

20–100

1.031.15

0.92

1.171.23

1.28

1.010.980.911.10

0.84

1.001.181.171.09

0.911.09

1.111.24

0.99

11.79


Research Question 2: What Is the Relationship Between AfricanAmerican Counselor Educators’ Perceptions of Racial Climateand Their Job Satisfaction?

When the correlation between scores on the RCS and job satisfac-tion scores was computed, a significant negative relationship wasfound: r(46) = –.41, p < .01. In the behavioral sciences, correlationcoefficients of .30 and .50, irrespective of sign, are by conventioninterpreted as medium and large coefficients, respectively. There-fore, the correlation between African American counselor educa-tors’ job satisfaction and perceptions of departmental/program racialclimate was between medium and large. In other words, there wasa moderately high correlation between the two variables.

TABLE 2

Means and Standard Deviations for African American CounselorEducators’ Perceptions of Racial Climate in Counseling

Departments (N = 48)

Item M

1. My department goes out of its way to make Blacks feel athome.

2. Blacks are given the respect they deserve from Whitesin my department.

3. Blacks are discriminated against through hiring practices.4. Race determines who gets the most desirable assign-

ments.5. It’s just as hard for Whites to get ahead here as for Blacks.6. In general, department-wide racism is a problem here.7. The racism here has caused me to consider quitting.8. An important job of the department chair is to help Blacks

and other groups get along.9. There are Black people in positions of power here.

10. Blacks have little to say about decisions affecting thisdepartment.

11. There are enough Blacks in powerful positions here.12. Black and White employees generally have good work-

ing relationships here.13. There is very sensitive understanding and acceptance

of differences about ethnic or racial groups here.14. Blacks get promotions they deserve.15. Many changes have been made to make services

(resources) available to Black people.16. Little has been done to change services or functioning to

serve the culture of Black faculty.17. The opinions of Black people are respected here.18. Racism is not tolerated here.

Overall scoreRangePossible range

SD

Note. Lower scores denote a more positive racial climate and higher scores denote anegative racial climate.

3.13

3.212.81

2.873.772.773.17

2.583.08

2.503.94

3.06

3.353.46

3.37

3.423.213.35

57.0624–8118–90

1.24

1.201.27

1.211.151.291.51

1.221.51

1.241.26

1.19

1.231.25

1.12

1.301.321.40

13.99


In addition to a correlation analysis, a linear regression analy-sis was conducted to evaluate the prediction of job satisfactionfrom the RCS scores of African American counselor educators. Ascatter plot for the two variables indicated that the two variableswere linearly related such that as overall job satisfaction increased,the overall scores on the RCS decreased (lower scores on the RCSdenote a more positive racial climate). The regression equation forpredicting overall job satisfaction of African American counseloreducators with racial climate as the criterion variable was

predicted overall job satisfaction = –.46 (overall RCS score) + 93.88.

The 95% confidence interval for the slope, –.71 to –.20 does notcontain the value of zero, and, therefore, overall racial climate wassignificantly related to job satisfaction. Essentially, African Americancounselor educators who were satisfied with their jobs tended tohave lower scores on the RCS. Approximately 25% (R2 = .246) ofthe variance of the scores on the MSQ-SF was accounted for by itslinear relationship with the scores on the RCS.

Research Question 3: How Do African American CounselorEducators’ Academic Rank and Tenure Status Relate toTheir Job Satisfaction?

Prior to analysis, correlation coefficients were computed among twoselected demographics (i.e., academic rank and tenure status), jobsatisfaction, and racial climate perceptions. Using the Bonferroniapproach to control for Type I error across four correlations, a pvalue of less than .01 (.05/4 = .01) was required for significance.The results of the six correlational analyses indicated that academicrank and tenure status and job satisfaction (MSQ-SF scores) andracial climate (RCS scores) were significantly correlated.

A multiple regression analysis was conducted with academic rankand tenure status as predictors of job satisfaction. The results ofthis analysis indicated that academic rank and tenure status didnot account for a significant amount of the job satisfaction vari-ability, R2 = .05, F(2, 45) = 1.26, p = .29.

Discussion

This investigation sought to provide information regarding AfricanAmerican counselor educators’ job satisfaction and their percep-tions of the racial climate in their departments. The findings sug-gest that the 48 African American counselor educators whoparticipated in this study were generally satisfied with their jobs.At the same time, however, their level of job satisfaction was sig-nificantly related to their perceptions of their department’s racialclimate. This finding is consistent with studies in higher educa-tion, in which the perceptions of faculty-of-color regarding theirdepartment or university racial climate were significantly relatedto their level of overall job satisfaction (Turner, 2002, 2003).


Also of interest were the means on the individual items of theRCS. The highest scores (negative perceptions) were on Items 5(“It’s just as hard for Whites to get ahead here as for Blacks”) and11 (“There are enough Blacks in powerful positions here”). Highscores on these items suggest that the 48 African American coun-selor educators who participated in this study perceived advance-ment as a difficult task for African Americans at their respectiveinstitutions. This finding is also consistent with the results of arecent study by Bradley and Holcomb-McCoy (2004) in which Afri-can American counselor educators used terminology related toracism, unequal treatment, and not being validated to describetheir advancement experiences (e.g., tenure and promotion). Sev-eral scholars (Alfred, 2001; Benjamin, 1997) have even acknowl-edged that racial bias in higher education settings, particularly inrelationship to advancement, is often a contributing factor to lowjob satisfaction among faculty-of-color.

The finding that tenure status and academic rank were not pre-dictors of job satisfaction is also noteworthy but not surprising. Infact, other disenfranchised faculty groups, such as White Americanwomen, have identified support and fair treatment as predominantthemes in their overall view of job satisfaction (Hill, 1984; Lease,1999). This finding is also consistent with Liemann and Dovidio’s(1998) study of minority psychology faculty whose job satisfactionwas not influenced by academic rank. This is an important findingbecause it contradicts a “myth” in higher education that tenure andpromotion are the most important aspects of African American fac-ulty members’ job satisfaction (Elmore & Blackburn, 1983; Liemann& Dovidio, 1998). It appears from the results of this study, however,that the participants were more influenced by their perceptions ofdepartmental racial climate than by academic rank or tenure sta-tus. Clearly, this is an area that should be examined further.

Implications for Counselor Education and Future Research

This study provided a starting point for understanding the workexperiences of African American counselor educators. The resultswere quite encouraging because the overall job satisfaction ratingswere in the “satisfied” range. Nevertheless, we believe that the mostsignificant aspect of this investigation was that racial climate wasa predictor of the participants’ job satisfaction. Specifically, the Af-rican American counselor educators participating in this study whowere not satisfied with their jobs tended to perceive a more negativedepartmental racial climate. Thus, this study’s findings support thenotion that African American faculty who experience racially in-sensitive work environments are also likely to report lower job satis-faction. Although it is unclear whether lower job satisfaction willresult in job termination, counselor educators should make everyeffort to provide and encourage positive departmental racial climates.To do this, counselor educators must first be able to identify and


recognize racially insensitive gestures, behaviors, and activities thatmight send negative or uninviting messages to faculty-of-color. Forexample, failing to systematically recruit diverse faculty or to imple-ment strategies to retain diverse faculty could be perceived by fac-ulty-of-color as an uncommitted stance on diversity objectives. Also,statements such as “We will have to lessen our program standardsto admit African American students” or “The African American coun-selor educator candidate was very articulate” may be interpreted asa negative perception of African Americans’ abilities and skills. Suchunintentional or intentional messages not only negatively influencethe psyches of African American faculty but also can createunwelcoming and intimidating work environments.

There is adequate consistency in the literature on what consti-tutes culturally sensitive and racially positive higher educationenvironments (Bell & Nkomo, 2001; Benjamin, 1997; Hurtado, Milem,Clayton-Pederson, & Allen, 1998). The common recommendationsoffered by researchers to improve the racial climate of academicdepartments focus on the practices of department chairs and thefaulty, stereotypical attitudes of White faculty (Blackwell, 1989;Turner, 2003). For counselor educators, biased views and attitudesabout other racial or cultural groups must be challenged and nottolerated. Furthermore, counselor educators may have the uneasytask of grappling with their participation in unintentional acts ofracism, as mentioned previously. This type of self-reflection mustalso include examining unspoken but explicit acts of discrimina-tion such as devaluing research related to race or neglecting toconsider African American colleagues for departmental and pro-fessional committees if the committee’s focus is not on multicultural/diversity issues. Department chairs can be instrumental in facili-tating structured dialogues on the culture and racial climate ofthe department and outlining policies and practices that will cul-tivate a more inclusive environment.

It is also critical that leaders within professional organizationssuch as the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision(ACES), the flagship organization for counseling faculty, pledge theircommitment to eradicate negative racial environments in counse-lor education. Special attention should be given to diversifying theleadership ranks within ACES at the state, regional, and nationallevels. It is important to note that although the multicultural move-ment in counseling has indicated the need for African Americanfaculty among the counselor education ranks, ACES leadership atthe national level has remained (with the exception of one AfricanAmerican ACES president within the last 20 years) primarily WhiteAmerican. Because ACES and its leadership set the standards thatare emulated by counselor education programs across the country,it is critical for the organization to focus attention on improvingthe racial diversity of its membership and executive body.

Finally, counseling programs can assist African American counse-lor educators to process their career and work environment concerns


by formulating mentoring relationships with senior counselor edu-cators who are committed to retaining faculty-of-color. Having amentor would give African American faculty members the oppor-tunity to discuss their interests and dislikes about their academiccareers with someone on an individual basis. Such collaborationwould be beneficial in identifying and addressing concerns relatedto job satisfaction. Additionally, this proactive approach could cir-cumvent the early departure of African American counselor edu-cators from the academy. It is important to note, however, thatresearch (e.g., Welch, 1997) has shown that cross-race/cross-gendermentoring relationships for African Americans are rarely success-ful. Given this fact, future research in counselor education shouldinvestigate comprehensive mentoring models for White and non-White senior faculty that will be effective with underrepresentedjunior faculty.

Future research in counselor education should focus on possiblevariables that significantly influence the job satisfaction of counselor-educators-of-color. For example, qualitative research that focuses onwhat constitutes racial climate, from the perspectives of both counselor-educators-of-color and White counselor educators would helpcounselor educators understand the possible differences in racialclimate perceptions across racial groups. Future researchers shoulduse critical race theory (e.g., Delgado & Stenfanic, 2001) in focusingon counselor educators’ narratives or “scripts” related to race and rac-ism in their departments. These narratives would inform counseloreducators’ understanding of the racial dynamics in their programs.Research is also warranted that examines how variables such asmentoring, self-efficacy, stereotype threat, tokenism, and solo statusare related to the job satisfaction of counselor-educators-of-color.

Although this study focused primarily on the job satisfaction ofAfrican Americans, future research should examine the job satisfac-tion of counselor educators who identify with other ethnic/racialbackgrounds and other diversity categories (e.g., gender, sexualorientation, ability level, age). Comparisons of counselor educa-tors’ job satisfaction according to cultural background, specialtyareas (e.g., school counseling, community/agency counseling), andother demographic variables might also help retain diverse fac-ulty. In addition, comparisons are needed of counselor educators’perceptions of departmental racial climate across cultural groups.

Limitations and Conclusion

Findings of the study indicate that further research is needed onboth the job satisfaction of counselor-educators-of-color and theracial climate of counselor education programs. However, thereare several fundamental challenges that should be addressed indesigning future research. First, the small sample size and rela-tively low return rate of African American counselor educators limitedthis study. Even though the response rate was low, thus limitinggeneralization of the findings, the information provided is impor-


tant because there is no literature that describes the experiencesof African American counselor educators as related to depart-mental racial climate and job satisfaction. In addition, given thatthere is no information regarding the number and demographicsof African American counselor educators, it is difficult to deter-mine whether or not the sample in the current study was repre-sentative of the population. An important point to consider wheninterpreting the results, therefore, is that the results could onlybe representative of the African American counselor educatorswho volunteered to participate. For the sake of future studies inthis area, information regarding the number and demographicsof counselor-educators-of-color should be gathered so that fu-ture studies will have a basis for determining the generalizabilityof results. In addition, it is imperative that strategies (e.g., follow-up e-mails) be used to motivate counselor-educators-of-color toparticipate in future studies of this nature.

Second, this study is limited because we used only one measureof job satisfaction. Job satisfaction of faculty-of-color may be con-ceptualized in many different ways (e.g., see Smart, 1990) and shouldbe investigated within other conceptual frameworks. Third, sole re-liance on a self-report measure of racial climate is a limitation thatought to be addressed by using direct observation, interviews, peerand student reports, and behavioral records. Assessments of theracial climate of entire counselor education departments are clearlyneeded in order to ensure work environments that are appealingto diverse counselor educators.

In conclusion, the rapid growth of diversity in the United States,particularly on college campuses, has placed pressure on institu-tions to develop diversity objectives. As a result, the challenge formany counselor education departments has been to create cul-turally responsive departments in which inquiry, teaching, and learn-ing flourish by virtue of interactive diversity. Interactivity impliesrelationships, dialogue, and contact across cultures. In seeking thisinteractivity, the recruitment and retention of counselor-educators-of-color should be paramount. Nevertheless, if the results of thiscurrent study are indicative of African American counselor edu-cators and counselor-educators-of-color, a closer examination ofcounselor educator job satisfaction and departmental racial cli-mate is greatly needed. If faculty diversity in counselor educationis achieved, then the monocultural nature of many counselor edu-cation departments will change. Whether this occurs through knowl-edge, curricula, or professional conduct, the impact on thesedepartments will be immense, and the education of students withinthose departments will be enhanced tremendously.

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