Cracking the Bamboo Ceiling: Examining the Academic and Professional Identity Development of Asian American Women Faculty

While Asian American faculty account for almost half of all full-time professors of color in the U.S., Asian American women account for only 3.84 percent of all full-time professors. Researchers speculate that Asian American women are often motivated to choose majors and careers considered “culturally valued”; majors that are focused more on STEM areas and careers that allow flexibility for them to manage their familial responsibilities. The implied message, that Asian American women should pursue a career guided by familial needs, hinders many Asian American women aspiring to pursue advanced professional careers in academia. Since traditional career development models have predominantly focused on a middle-class White heterosexual male perspective, no framework helps researchers understand how Asian American women faculty, and other women of color faculty, navigate through the systemic oppression that exists within the structure of higher education and the professoriate in the U.S. The purpose of this study is to examine the shared traits and experiences that led to Asian American women identifying their academic and professional identity in the professoriate. The Professional Identity Development Model for Asian Americans Women Faculty model was created to best illustrate the stages of academic and professional identity development for Asian American women faculty. For this qualitative study, 29 full-time Asian American women faculty in the social sciences were interviewed. A content analysis was conducted to determine how validation, social capital, and self-efficacy influenced their academic and professional identity development. Findings indicate that Asian American women scholars depended on a strong network of support, in the form of validation and social capital through family, educators and mentors, and peers of color, but specifically Asian American peers, to persist through the discrimination practices embedded in the academy. This study also showed that the self-efficacy of Asian American women faculty was built despite not experiencing a number of the factors outlined in Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy. While these sources of influence varied across the different stages of their academic and professional identity development, they were present at every stage. This data shows that opportunities to receive validation and access to social capital creating opportunities to receive validation, share social capital should be fostered in the home, by their educators and mentors, and by their professional peers. This builds upon their academic and professional abilities and strengthens their professional identity as faculty to persist through the discrimination of the academy that they face daily

Teacher Voice in Global Conversations around Education Access, Equity, and Quality

Despite public commitments internationally and nationally to include the voices of all stakeholders, the voices of teachers have continued to be marginalized in the literature and in policy-making related to global educational development. The purpose of the current study is to examine the process of invoking teacher voice using a sample of international teachers participating in a US-based teacher exchange program. Toward this end, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 teachers from 14 countries and four continents (all participants in the Teaching Excellence and Achievement [TEA] program). Results demonstrate that teacher voice was more personal rather than systemic, narrative rather than propositional, and utilized colloquial vocabulary rather than technical jargon. Teacher voice is also not always positive, but can be biased, critical, or judgmental. Nonetheless, the interviews also illustrate the critical necessity of including teacher voice in educational planning and decision-making

Global Psychological Distress and Risk of Atrial Fibrillation Among Women: The Women's Health Study

Background Symptoms of psychological distress and depression have been associated with risk of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Their relationship with atrial arrhythmias, however, is less well studied. Methods and Results We sought to assess the long-term relations between psychological distress and risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) in the Women's Health Study of female health professionals. We measured psychological symptoms with the Mental Health Inventory-5. Incident AF was assessed annually and verified through medical records. Among 30 746 women without history of cardiovascular disease or AF, 771 cases of AF occurred during a median follow-up of 125 months (interquartile range, 117–130 months). Global psychological distress was not associated with AF risk in age-stratified (P=0.61 for linear trend) or multivariable proportional-hazards models that included antidepressant use (P=0.34). A proxy measure for depression, consisting of Mental Health Inventory-5 score <53, antidepressant use, or both, was also not associated with AF risk in multivariable models (hazard ratio=0.99; 95% confidence interval, 0.78–1.25; P=0.93). In post hoc analyses of individual symptoms from the Mental Health Inventory-5, positive affect, “feeling happy some/a good bit of the time,” was associated with reduced risk of AF (hazard ratio=0.69; 95% confidence interval, 0.49–0.99; P=0.04); other depressive and anxious symptoms were not. Conclusions In this prospective study of women without known cardiovascular disease, global psychological distress and specific depressive symptoms were unrelated to AF risk

Depression and Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death and Coronary Heart Disease in Women Results From the Nurses' Health Study

ObjectivesWe assessed the association between depression and sudden cardiac death (SCD) and cardiac events among individuals without baseline coronary heart disease (CHD).BackgroundDepression is a risk factor for cardiac events and mortality among those with CHD, possibly from arrhythmia.MethodsWe studied depressive symptoms and a proxy variable for clinical depression consisting of severe symptoms and/or antidepressant medication use and their relationship to cardiac events in the Nurses' Health Study. Questionnaires in 1992, 1996, and 2000 assessed symptoms with the Mental Health Index (MHI-5), and antidepressant use was assessed in 1996 and 2000. Primary end points included SCD, fatal CHD, and nonfatal myocardial infarction.ResultsAmong 63,469 women without prior CHD/stroke in 1992, 7.9% had MHI-5 scores <53, previously found to predict clinical depression. Depressive symptoms were associated with CHD events, and the relationship was strongest for fatal CHD, where the association remained significant even after controlling for CHD risk factors (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.49; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.11 to 2.00 for MHI-5 score <53). In models from 1996 onward, our proxy variable for clinical depression was most associated with SCD in multivariable models (HR: 2.33, 95% CI: 1.47 to 3.70), and this risk was primarily due to a specific relationship between antidepressant use and SCD (HR: 3.34, 95% CI: 2.03 to 5.50).ConclusionsIn this cohort of women without baseline CHD, depressive symptoms were associated with fatal CHD, and a measure of clinical depression including antidepressant use was specifically associated with SCD. Although antidepressant use might be a marker of worse depression, its specific association with SCD merits further study

Towards a cross-cultural assessment of binge-watching: Psychometric evaluation of the “watching TV series motives” and “binge-watching engagement and symptoms” questionnaires across nine languages

In view of the growing interest regarding binge-watching (i.e., watching multiple episodes of television (TV) series in a single sitting) research, two measures were developed and validated to assess binge-watching involvement (“Binge-Watching Engagement and Symptoms Questionnaire”, BWESQ) and related motivations (“Watching TV Series Motives Questionnaire”, WTSMQ). To promote international and cross-cultural binge-watching research, the present article reports on the validation of these questionnaires in nine languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Hungarian, Persian, Arabic, Chinese). Both questionnaires were disseminated, together with additional self-report measures of happiness, psychopathological symptoms, impulsivity and problematic internet use among TV series viewers from a college/university student population (N = 12,616) in 17 countries. Confirmatory factor, measurement invariance and correlational analyses were conducted to establish structural and construct validity. The two questionnaires had good psychometric properties and fit in each language. Equivalence across languages and gender was supported, while construct validity was evidenced by similar patterns of associations with complementary measures of happiness, psychopathological symptoms, impulsivity and problematic internet use. The results support the psychometric validity and utility of the BWESQ and WTSMQ for conducting cross-cultural research on binge-watching

Understanding the Transfer Student Experience Using Design Thinking

Purpose: Discussion of a 2015-16 University of Washington Libraries project focused on understanding the needs and challenges of transfer students on the Seattle campus and developing innovative ways to support transfer student success. Design/methodology/approach: The study employs design thinking methods, including interviews and rapid iterative prototyping and feedback, to understand and emphasize the user experience. Findings: Transfer students at the Seattle campus identify themselves as a unique group separate from other undergraduates because of their prior experience, shortened timeline at the university, and their need to balance academic, work, and family commitments. Because transfer students often have little time to learn about and effectively use campus resources, the authors found that working with campus partners to enrich transfer-specific student orientations and events with educational and practical content was the most effective means of supporting new students. Research limitations/implications: This pilot study was conducted over an 11-month period with a small number of participants, but the iterative nature of design thinking allowed the authors to gather new feedback from a variety of students and staff at each phase. Originality/value: This study showcases how design thinking methods can increase understanding of transfer student and other user needs. The design thinking approach can also enable the rapid development of library and campus services, as well as outreach efforts, to meet user needs

Sparking Intentional and Antiracist Pedagogy: A Narrative Analysis of COVID-Era Interviews with Public Health Faculty

The COVID-19 pandemic and the racial justice uprisings of 2020–2022 created an altered and challenging landscape for teaching public health. Challenging and direct experiences with these public health issues and their reverberations shaped how some faculty and many students participated in both online and in-person classrooms. In this project, we conducted a narrative analysis of oral history interviews with eight faculty members at a public university in New York City to understand how they reacted to these events and reconsidered their public health teaching during this period. We map what propelled faculty along paths of change and where these paths led. We learn that participating faculty shifted in varied ways toward more intentional and sometimes more antiracist teaching practices. Two experiences were foundational to these shifts: (1) faculty attunement to student realities during this time, and (2) faculty reflection on their own social positionings (i.e., race, gender identity, sexual orientation, class, age, immigration status, etc.) and their development of critical consciousness. These findings provide insights into how faculty conceptualize, support, and change their teaching approaches during periods of upheaval, particularly in the context of limited institutional support for faculty development. Finally, we discuss key issues for institutions seeking to formalize and enhance shifts like those described