Overcoming Adversity in Academia

Elwood Watson is professor of history, African American studies, and gender studies at East Tennessee State University. He has edited or co-edited six anthologies. He is also the author and co-author of several academic scholarly articles. His book Outsiders Within: Black Women in the Legal Academy after Brown v. Board was published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers in 2008.

• PrefaceElwood Watson1. Only Human: My Experience in Higher EducationMartha Diede 2. Confessions of a Bakke Baby: Race, Academia, and the “Joshua Generation”Terrance Tucker3. Taking Chances: Gay, Male and Feminist in the AcademyDaniel Farr4. Tenured To Contingent: Life Choices and the Academic Career Annemarie Hamlin5. The Evolution of Tolerance: Growing Up as a White Southerner in the Aftermath of DesegregationAndria J. Woodell6. Reflections on Navigating Invisibility and the Consequences of Being Black and Gay in the Academy Darryl Holloman7. Reflections Upon One Experience Leading To a Career in AcademiaDouglas Mikutel8. Living Beyond The Dream Deferred: An Auto-Ethnography of My Experiences in the AcademyAntonio C. Cuyler9. In Search of the Abyss: Negotiating Xtra-Academic PotentialDavid Prescott-Steed10. Team Mollick: Our Two-For-One Academic JourneyKathleen and George Mollick11. My Ongoing Journey: A Black Generation X Professor’s Story In AppalachiaElwood Watson12. Leaving the Popular Culture Classroom: Why I’d Rather Keep My Fandom to Myself...Kristi Key13. Doogie Howser, Ph.D. in Identity CrisisZachary Snider14. Changing the State of Tomorrow Today: One Generation Xer’s Journey to End Racism and White Supremacy in the Academy and BeyondAimee Glocke15. Hopefully DriftingLance Alexis16. The Aftermath of AdmissionJenny R. Sadre-Orafai17. Notes From An In-Betweener Daryl A. CarterContributorsIndex

While some contributions are stronger than others, as a whole the book achieves its purpose through the insightful and honest author self-reflections. . . .As a whole, the book presents an appropriate and necessary diversity of experiences [such as] race, gender, sexual orientation, discipline. While some chapters were stronger than others, it was a worthwhile book to read and would be a valuable addition to a post-secondary library.