Issues of Color in Academia

What problem or issue is being addressed? 
The problem addressed in Antonio’s “Faculty of Color Reconsidered: Reassessing Contributions to Scholarship” is the paucity of faculty members of color in collegiate settings. The author is examining the phenomenon in which there are few members of historic minority groups for race and ethnicity as faculty members in these environments. He is attempting to assess the effect that this phenomenon has on the quality and type of scholarship occurring in colleges and universities within the U.S. as a result of this shortfall. Implicit within this problem is the effect of a lack of diversity in teaching in university and collegiate environments.
What are the main research questions?
The main research question is “How do faculty of color and white faculty differ with respect to their involvement in and commitment to…scholarship,” (Antonio, 2002, p. 584). However, the author examines this question in the context of four different facets of scholarship. These include the “discovery, integration, application and teaching of knowledge” (Antonio, 2002, p. 584). The author is examining these factors as they relate to the way in which faculty belonging to the aforementioned codifications—colored and non-colored—approach them with their pedagogy.
What theoretical frameworks and methodologies are used? How do they help to illuminate the research question(s) (or not)?
The theoretical framework deployed is that of Boyer and his four stratifications of what scholarship entails. These were identified in the above section. This framework illuminates the research question because it provides the context for defining just what exactly scholarship is. It does so by focusing on the imparting of knowledge of the professorship. Next, the author attained data from the 1995 faculty survey with statistical variables pertaining to each of the four factors. He compared the results of those variables among faculty members of color and of non-color.
What are the main findings? To what extent are they expected or surprising? How so?
The main findings of the research is that faculty of color are more likely to place a higher degree of importance on the four aspects of scholarship identified by the author than their counterparts (Antonio, 2002, p. 591). Perhaps the lone exception to this finding is the fact that faculty of European descent are more likely to have been published (in scholarly, peer-reviewed journals) than faculty of color are. However, faculty of color spend more time researching, and seem to get more out of interacting with their students both inside and outside the classroom. These results are surprising because there are so many more faculty members of European descent than of color.
What are the implications of this research?
The implications for this research are that greater numbers of faculty of color would actually help the student body population learn more. Similarly, those increased numbers could help that population get more from their collegiate experience. Since minority faculty members seem to care more about integrating learning, teaching, discovering knowledge and applying it than their counterparts do, staffing more of these professors would help students achieve their scholastic goals.

Overall, what are the strengths and weaknesses of this article? Who (if anyone) would benefit from reading it?
The strengths of this article include the author’s writing style, statistical analysis, and general research methodology. The principal drawback is the work is 15 years old, which circumscribes its relevance to today’s generation. Those looking to increase diversity in academic would benefit from reading the article.
References
Antonio, A.L. (2002). Faculty of color reconsidered: Reassessing contributions to scholarship. The Journal of Higher Education. 75(5), 582-602.