A School of Education faculty member appeared on radio programs across the country this fall to promote her new book on how Black women create networks of support to survive and thrive in higher education environments.
Rachelle Winkle-Wagner, a professor in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, and her latest book, “The Chosen We: Black Women’s Empowerment in Higher Education,” were featured by more than a dozen media outlets across the United States in June, July, and August. The appearances included Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Wisconsin Today,” Michigan Public Radio’s “Stateside,” and Texas Public Radio’s “The Source,” as well as the podcasts “America Trends” and “Life Elsewhere: Art, Media, and Culture.”
Winkle-Wagner’s book is built upon oral histories from 105 college-educated Black women who graduated from college in the United States between 1954 and 2014. By blending oral histories with empirical social science and social theory, Winkle-Wagner presents a map for Black women’s success and offers ways institutions can more effectively support Black scholars.
In her Wisconsin Public Radio interview, Winkle-Wagner said many colleges and universities aren’t set up for Black women to be successful.
“And a lot of these institutions might even be set up in ways that put barriers in place for Black women,” she said.
In the course of her work on the book, Winkle-Wagner uncovered a disturbing trend: many of the women who attended predominantly White institutions (PWIs) experienced serious health crises during their academic careers, while none of the women attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) experienced the same.
Winkle-Wagner and Bridget Goosby, professor at The University of Texas at Austin, have received grants from the Spencer Foundation to continue exploring and potentially building upon that preliminary finding in a large, national mixed methods study of Black women faculty and health outcomes.
“The Chosen We: Black Women’s Empowerment in Higher Education” was published by SUNY Press in December. More information about the book is available here.
Select media interviews about the “The Chosen We” are available here: