Principal Investigator:
Daphne C. Watkins, PhD (University of Michigan School of Social Work)

Funded by:
Not applicable

Project Goals & Approach:
The academic research enterprise is the systems, services, policy, and staffing dedicated to generating knowledge at a college or university. The academic research enterprise is exciting and career-enhancing within universities but often mysterious to faculty from historically underrepresented groups. Despite the recent uptick in developing academic leaders across colleges and universities, meager efforts have been made to develop leaders of the academic research enterprise in the context of their identities, research areas, productivity, and available resources.

We need to learn more about the experiences of academic research enterprise leaders — particularly those from historically underrepresented groups — and how they navigate research leadership development, their identities in a dominant space, productivity, and success. This project aims to answer how faculty members from historically underrepresented groups build research infrastructure, maximize their productivity, and define success in the research enterprise?

Study Aims

Of the many leading researchers in universities, only a small percentage typically makes the transition to research leadership. A successful research career does not happen by chance, and studies have identified factors contributing to the attainment of a successful research profile. The study aims to identify and understand the paths underrepresented researchers took to leadership and the factors that influenced their careers.

Initial Findings

Data Collection is currently in progress

Return to Projects Page