UW–Madison’s Brian Burt has authored an article for Prism, the magazine of the American Society for Engineering Education, that is titled, “Who Wants to Be a Professor? One individual’s trajectory offers insights into broadening participation in academic careers.”
Burt is an assistant professor in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, and a research scientist with Wisconsin’s Equity & Inclusion Laboratory, housed in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.
The article is based on a paper that Burt published in the Journal of Engineering Education, which examines why some engineering graduate students choose faculty careers while others do not — focusing specifically on those from historically marginalized backgrounds.
Burt’s research explored the journey of “Allen,” a Black chemical engineering graduate student originally from Africa.
Though as an undergraduate Allen was not interested in a faculty career, Burt writes, his graduate research experiences with a faculty member “appeared transformative.” However, it was an interplay of factors that led to his decision to become a professor.
“My findings show that Allen’s thinking about the professoriate was shaped by his social identities and individual experiences, participation in research, identification of a faculty prototype, and social comparisons to that prototype and others,” writes Burt.
“These results suggest that the development of students’ intentions involves more than how they are socialized in graduate school, or their research experiences with their group and faculty supervisor, or their social identities and experiences prior to graduate school. Rather, students’ professorial intentions present a complex puzzle formed by the interaction of all of these factors.”
Read the full article on the Prism website, here.