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Latino and Latina faculty members’ funds of knowledge: a qualitative study of empowerment agents’ experiences and practices

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Latino and Latina faculty members’ funds of knowledge: a qualitative study of empowerment agents’ experiences and practices

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Content Running head: LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 1

Latino and Latina faculty members’ funds of knowledge:
A qualitative study of empowerment agents’ experiences and practices
Marlon Fernandez Castro
University of Southern California

A Thesis presented to the
FACULTY OF THE ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFRONIA
In partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF EDUCATION
(POSTSECONDARY ADMINISTRATION AND STUDENT AFFAIRS)
May 2016

LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 2
Table of contents

Chapter 1: Overview of the study…………………………………………………………. 4
Problem statement…………………………………………………………………. 5
Purpose of the study……………………………………………………………….. 5
Background………………………………………………………………………... 6
Significance of the study…………………………………………………………... 7
Conceptual framework…………………………………………………………….. 7
Methodology………………………………………………………………………. 8
Organization of proposal…………………………………………………………... 9
Chapter 2: Literature review……………………………………………………………….. 10
A case for diversity among faculty members……………………………………… 12
Barriers for Latino and Latina faculty members. …………………………. 12
Institutional agents & empowerment agents.……………………………… 14
Themes in past research. ………………………………………………….. 16
Gaps in the research literature. ……………………………………………. 17
Funds of knowledge……………………………………………………………….. 17
Background. ………………………………………………………………. 17
Themes in the literature. ………………………………………………….. 18
Limitations & disagreements. …………………………………………….. 23
Conceptual framework…………………………………………………………….. 25
Faculty members’ funds of knowledge.…………………………………… 25
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………… 27
Chapter 3: Research design and methodology……………………………………………. 28
Research design…………………………………………………………………… 28
Methods…………………………………………………………………………… 30
Sample recruitment and selection…………………………………………………. 31
Data collection methods…………………………………………………………… 31
Interviews.…………………………………………………………………. 31
Reflection journal………………………………………………………….. 33
Data analysis procedures…………………………………………………………... 33
Thematic analysis………………………………………………………….. 33
Measures to protect informants……………………………………………………. 34
Data protection. …………………………………………………………… 34
Trustworthiness …………………………………………………………………… 34
Triangulation.……………………………………………………………… 34
Audit trail. ………………………………………………………………… 35
Limitations………………………………………………………………………… 35
Chapter 4: Findings………………………………………………………………………... 37
Sample……………………………………………………………………………... 37
Educational and professional experiences…………………………………………. 39
Educational development. ………………………………………………… 39
Relational support. ………………………………………………………... 43
Professional experiences. …………………………………………………. 45
Current practices…………………………………………………………………... 46
Critically conscious practices.…………………………………………….. 46
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 3
Institutional barriers……………………………………………………………….. 50
Institutional support……………………………………………………………….. 51
Benefits of Latino and Latina faculty……………………………………………... 52
Funds of knowledge practices…………………………………………….. 53
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………… 56
Chapter 5: Discussion & Recommendations……………………………………………… 57
Potential implication………………………………………………………………. 57
What experiences and relationships do Latino and Latina faculty
members perceive as important in navigating to their current position?………….. 58
Persistence through barriers.………………………………………………. 58
Empowering experiences & relationships. ……………………………….. 59
How do Latino and Latina faculty members draw
on their experiences to inform their practices? …………………………………… 60
Critical perspective to teaching, research, service.………………………... 60
Empowerment agents in teaching and mentoring…………………………. 60
Why are Latino and Latina faculty members’ funds of knowledge important
for institutions of higher education to consider and support? And how can
institutions be more inclusive of Latino and Latina faculty members’
funds of knowledge?………………………………………………………………. 62
Recommendations………………………………………………………………… 63
Recommendation 1………………………………………………………... 63
Recommendation 2………………………………………………………... 65
Recommendation 3………………………………………………………... 65
Limitations to study……………………………………………………………….. 66
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………… 67
Future Areas of Research…………………………………………………………. 67
References………………………………………………………………………………… 69

LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 4
Chapter 1: Overview of the study
Education, and higher education in particular, are often touted as the best route for
upward socioeconomic mobility, but navigating educational institutions can function as a
gatekeeper rather than a gateway for people of color. As arguments and pressures mount for
institutions of higher education to produce more equitable outcomes among student groups, the
funds of knowledge institutional agents draw on can support or hinder students’ experiences and
success (Stanton-Salazar, 2010; Turner, Gonzalez, & Wood, 2008; Bensimon, 2007; Gonzalez,
Moll, & Amanti, 2005). Furthermore, the funds of knowledge of institutional agents such as
faculty members also informs their research and service approaches in addition to their teaching
and mentoring practices. This study focuses on González, Moll, and Amanti’s (2005) theory of
funds of knowledge to consider how Latino and Latina faculty members’ educational and
professional experiences have influenced their current practices in academia. I also draw on the
concepts of institutional agents and empowerment agents (Stanton-Salazar, 2010) to argue why
focusing on Latino and Latina faculty is necessary for creating equitable outcomes and inclusive
higher education institutions (Bensimon, 2007).
Through semi-structured interviews, I engaged Latino and Latina faculty members in
discussions about their experiences navigating to their current position in academia. The study is
guided by the following overarching research question:
• What funds of knowledge do Latino and Latina faculty members draw from to inform
their practices?
To inquire more deeply into participants’ funds of knowledge, the following questions also
inform the study:
• What experiences do Latino and Latina faculty members perceive as important to their
practices?
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 5
• How do Latino and Latina faculty members draw on theses experiences to inform their
practices?
• How are Latino and Latina faculty members’ efforts to apply their funds of knowledge
supported or hindered by institutions of higher education?
Problem statement
This study focuses on the Latino and Latina faculty member for two primary reasons.
First, the Latino and Latina population has experienced the most rapid growth in United States
schools, but continues to experience inequitable educational outcomes throughout the education
pipeline (Covarrubias, 2011). According to the US Census, Latinos and Latinas comprise 17.3%
of the United States population (Pew Hispanic Center, 2014). Latinos and Latinas have
accounted for 56% of the United States’ population growth in the last decade and are projected to
comprise one of four students in United States schools by 2021 (Ponjuan, 2011; Gándara, 2010).
However, in 2014, only 10-15% of Latino and Latina students earn four-year degree compared to
40% of white students (Krogstad, 2015; Covarrubias, 2011). Secondly, despite the rapid growth
in the general and the student population, Latinos and Latinas are poorly represented among
educators, and particularly, among higher education faculty. Turner, González, and Wood’s
(2008) meta-analysis of over 250 pieces of literature of faculty of color found that fewer than
12% of full professors in the United States identified as people of color and only 2% were Latino
or Latina. Faculty members of color play a critical role in students’ experiences in higher
education and are crucial to mitigating equities among students of color. The lack of
representation of faculty of color in higher education institutions indicates a need to study their
experiences and practices to create more equitable and inclusive academic environments.
Purpose of the study
This study seeks to explore how Latino and Latina faculty members’ experiences
contribute to their practices in academia. The qualitative nature of the study provided
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 6
participating Latino and Latina faculty members the opportunity to discuss how their experiences
navigating to their current position are reflected in their current practices. The interviews began
to reveal how participants’ funds of knowledge have influenced their various research, teaching,
mentoring, service, and community efforts. Latino and Latina faculty members’ funds of
knowledge are “reflected in how [they] define problems, situations, and make sense of
phenomena…the ‘know-how’ that individuals call on (mostly unconsciously) to accomplish their
work” (Bensimon, 2007, p. 451). Participants’ experiences throughout their educational and
professional careers, whether positive or negative, have influenced how they approach their work
as faculty members. By drawing on the concepts of institutional agents (Stanton-Salazar, 2010)
and their funds of knowledge (Bensimon, 2007; Gonzalez, 2005), this study aims explore how
Latino and Latina faculty members’ educational and professional experiences contributed to their
practices in teaching, research, and service critical of inequitable policies and practices.
Background
To an extent, some institutions of higher education and state governments have
recognized the need to diversify their campuses. California, for example, committed $70 million
dollars in 2012 and $85 million in 2015 towards developing student equity plans intended to
reduce inequitable outcomes among a variety of populations on their campuses, including racial
and ethnic student group (Ching, Felix, Fernandez Castro, & Trinidad, forthcoming; California
Community College Chancellor’s Office [CCCCO], 2015). Student equity policies are not
incorrect in focusing on increasing student outcomes or creating equitable representation among
student populations, but in order to achieve these goals among students and create equitable
institutions, equity policy and research consider institutional agents such as staff, leadership, and
faculty, and the funds of knowledge that inform their practices and policies.
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 7
Significance of the study
The funds of knowledge approach originally sought to improve the outcomes of Latino
and Latina students by bringing teachers into their students’ community to learn about the to
develop more appropriate classroom practices (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez 1992). Although
research on funds of knowledge mostly focuses on students’ funds of knowledge, faculty
members also bring their funds of knowledge into educational setting as institutional agents
(Bensimon, 2007). Research has demonstrated that institutional agents play a critical role in
students’ experiences and success, and empowerment agents in particular, are critical to
underrepresented students (Stanton-Salazar, 2010). However, studies exploring institutional
agents’ funds of knowledge in higher education, such as faculty members’, are lacking in the
literature (Bensimon, 2007). By exploring the funds of knowledge Latino and Latina faculty
members draw on for their practices, the study provided evidence of how participants’ funds of
knowledge can benefit institutions of higher education as they attempt to create more inclusive
campuses and produce equitable student outcomes.
Conceptual framework
The theories of funds of knowledge and institutional agents were used to guide this study.
Drawing on the works of Wolf (1966) and Velez-Ibanez (1988), Moll, Amanti, Neff, and
Gonzalez (1992) applied the concept of funds of knowledge to educational settings by engaging
teachers as researchers in students’ households and communities. The approach sought for
teachers to learn from the funds of knowledge in students’ households –defined as “historically-
accumulated and culturally-developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or
individual functioning and well-being” (Moll, et al., 1992, p. 133) – to bridge school and
community practices.
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 8
While research on funds of knowledge has mainly focused on students and their
households, this research seeks to understand how faculty members’ funds of knowledge
influence their practices with students. According to Bensimon (2007), “funds of knowledge are
reflected in how practitioners define problems, situations, and make sense of phenomena. They
are the ‘know-how’ that individuals call on (mostly unconsciously) to accomplish their work. (p.
451). As institutional agents, faculty members develop their funds of knowledge through various
means. This framework focuses on the sources of funds of knowledge identified in current
research, including educational and professional development, relational and institutional
support, and critical consciousness.
Methodology
I used a qualitative approach to examine how Latino and Latina higher faculty members
make sense of their experiences to reveal their funds of knowledge. I chose a phenomenological
strategy of inquiry due to the study’s qualitative nature and focus on participants’ experiences
(Braun & Clark, 2013). Phenomenological research seeks to examine the meaning individuals
make of their lived experiences of a specific concept or phenomenon by identifying
commonalities to understand the ‘essence’ of human experiences concerning that phenomenon
(Creswell, 2003). I used phenomenological methods including interviews and reflective journals
to better understand the experiences of Latino and Latina faculty members. (Braun & Clark,
2013). The data collected underwent first- and second-cycle coding and was analyzed using
thematic analysis.
The sample for this study was selected using purposive sampling to select informants
able to provide information-rich data. The sample selected consisted of eight participants who
identified as Latino or Latina and were employed as by full-time faculty at a four-year university.
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 9
Organization of proposal
In the following chapter, I provide a review past research on faculty members of color
and the role of institutional agents, the funds of knowledge theory. Chapter three then details the
study’s research design, methodology, and procedures to collect and analyze data. Chapter four
describes the study’s sample of Latino and Latina faculty members and highlights the findings
from participants’ interviews about their experiences, current practices, and funds of knowledge.
I conclude by discussing the implications of the findings, providing recommendations
institutions of higher education, and suggesting steps for future research.
The study’s revealed participants experienced challenges and barriers throughout their
educational and professional career, but empowering experiences and relationships allowed them
to persist. Participants also expressed critical, social justice oriented approaches to their research,
teaching, and services practices as faculty members that often aim to challenge the deficit
perspectives and inequities closely related to participants backgrounds and experiences. The
funds of knowledge that inform Latino and Latina faculty members’ practices can benefit
institutions of higher education as they seek to create more inclusive and equitable campuses.
However, participants expressed institutions generally provide research support and need to
provide more support for critical approaches to teaching, mentoring, community work, and
university service.
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 10
Chapter 2: Literature review
According to the United States Census, American citizens of Latino descent are projected
to increase nationally by as much as 15% and constitute upwards of 31% of the population by
2050 (Morton & Martin, 2013). In education, Latino and Latina students are the fastest growing
student group. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Latino and Latina student population is
already becoming the majority of all students, and by 2021, one in four U.S. student will be
Latino and Latina (Gándara, 2010). Institutions seeking to educate their diversifying students
populations, such as Latino and Latina students as well as other historically underrepresented
groups, need to examine why academic achievement gaps persist between racial/ethnic groups
and how produce more equitable outcomes.
Turner, et al.’s (2008) meta-analysis twenty years of research on faculty members of
color indicated studies have explored the benefits of diversity in educational settings (Stanley,
2006; Umbach, 2006; Antonio, 2002); the importance of diversity among student bodies,
educators, practitioners, and institutional leadership (Hagedorn, Chi, Cepeda, & McLain, 2007;
Antonio, 2000; Alger & Carrasco, 1997); and the contributions of diverse perspectives to
engagement of new scholarship and approaches to teaching (Urrieta & Mendez Benavidez, 2007;
Umbach, 2006; Vargas, 2002; Antonio, 2000; Garcia, 2000; Turner, 2000). The ideal of an
environment inclusive of diverse groups and perspectives, however, remains far from a reality as
faculty of color comprise fewer than 12% of full-time faculty and Latinos and Latinas constitute
only 3.5% of full-time postsecondary faculty (Turner, et al., 2008). Among other findings from
their study of 20 years of literature on faculty of color, Turner, González, & Wood (2008) found
that “increasing the campus presence of students and faculty of color may lead to a synergy that
supports the retention and development of both groups as well as attracting others” (p. 150-151).
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 11
Researchers have also found some optimistic evidence of institutional efforts to understand and
improve issues related to diversity, but despite such efforts, gaps in representation, academic
achievement, and equity persist.
Among the many studies and theories pertaining to academic success of students of color
and Latinos and Latinas specifically, the theory of funds of knowledge offers a unique approach
to better understand students by engaging teachers as researchers to develop better
understandings of students’ communities. Understanding students’ funds of knowledge –defined
by Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez (1992) as “historically-accumulated and culturally-
developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual functioning and
well-being” (p. 133)–can offer educators insights to practices, resources, and other forms of
capital students bring to the classroom. The approach not only reveals the deficit perspectives
present in many practices and policies through self-reflexive activities, but also engages
educators as researchers to link the theoretical research to teachers’ classroom practice (Hogg,
2011). A funds of knowledge approach offers an appropriate framework to examine the bodies of
knowledge, experiences, and resources Latino and Latina educators draw from to inform their
practices when working with diverse students.
In this chapter I first provide an overview of the contributions and importance of diverse
faculty members to an increasingly diverse population, as well as barriers hindering Latinos and
Latinas faculty members. I then describe the funds of knowledge theory and address gaps and
areas of disagreement in the literature. Lastly, I offer a funds of knowledge framework used to
explore faculty members’ experiences, relationships, and approaches.

LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 12
A case for diversity among faculty members
Despite the continued underrepresentation of educators of color, studies have repeatedly
noted the need to diversify faculty due to the increasing diversity of the student body (Cook &
Cordova, 2006; Cora-Bramble, 2006), compelling arguments about the need to prepare all
students for a diverse society (Antonio, 2002; Stanley, 2006; Umbach, 2006), continuing
evidence that a diverse faculty is important to the success of a diverse student body (Hagedorn,
Chi, Cepeda, & McLain 2007), evidence that a diverse faculty assist in the recruitment of
students of color to higher education (Antonio, 2000; Alger, & Carrasco, 1997), and the
contributions of diverse faculty to the engagement of new scholarship (Urrieta & Mendez
Benavıdez, 2007; Turner, 2000; Alger, 1999; Christian- Smith & Kellor, 1999) and approaches
to teaching (Umbach, 2006; Vargas, 2002; Antonio, 2000; Garcia, 2000; Turner, 2000)..
However, while some institutions have recognized and attempted to increase diversity among its
faculty members, the overall representation and inclusion of faculty members of color remains an
issue (Morton & Martin, 2013; Turner, et al, 2008).
Barriers for Latino and Latina faculty members. Faculty members of color often
bring new perspectives critical of practices and policies contributing to the reproduction of
inequities (Gomez, Rodriguez, & Agosto, 2008). However, diversity among educators lags
behind the diversity of the students they serve. Past research has noted the lack of Latino and
Latina educators and the barriers preventing more Latinos and Latinas from pursuing careers in
education. For example, Austin, Willett, Gebhard, and Montes (2010) discussed some of the
challenges faced by Latino and Latina educators including competing discourses, historical
institutional inequities, and boundaries limiting interactions between universities and
communities. In their review of twenty years of literature, Turner, Gonzalez, and Wood (2008)
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 13
described some of the negative factors affecting the work experience of faculty members of
color, such as (1) undervaluation of their research, (2) challenges to their credentials and intellect
in the classroom, (3) isolation, (4) perceived biases in the hiring process, (5) unrealistic
expectations of doing their work and being representatives of their racial/ethnic group, (6) lack
of campus student/faculty diversity, (7) being the token person of color, and (8) perceived lack of
departmental/institutional effort to recruit, hire, and retain faculty of color, among many others.
Morton & Martin’s (2013) investigation of the student experiences of Mexican-American
PK-12 educators drew from critical race theory (CRT), Latino critical theory (LatCrit), and
social capital theory (SCT) to examine how “entrenched majoritarian notions of color blindness
and meritocracy inherently disadvantage minorities through racial inequality” (p. 2). The study
found the critical need for relational and institutional support to improve recruitment of Latino
and Latina educators. As reflected in the literature, relational support from educators, family, and
community is necessary for more Latinos and Latinas to persist through K-12 and higher
education in order to be able to pursue successful careers as educators. Institutional support is
fostered through an authentic commitment to educate diverse populations, increased expectations
for students, building capacity, improved cultural and socioeconomic awareness and validation,
and perhaps most importantly, critical collaboration among PK-16 educational leaders and the
populations they serve to identify and challenge policies and practices that marginalize Latino
and Latina students and other marginalized student groups. Albers and Frederick (2013) describe
the importance of relationships between teacher and students, understanding of culture and
community, and a critical consciousness to improve the success of both Latino and Latina
students and educators.
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 14
Institutional agents & empowerment agents. The poor representation of educators of
color is especially troubling considering the potential of institutional agents to impact students’
success. Studies have repeatedly noted the significant role of teachers, faculty, counselors,
advisors, and other practitioners in students’ academic success (Bensimon, 2007; Stanton-
Salazar, 1997). The diversity of faculty members also contributes to the recruitment and success
of diverse student populations (Hagedorn, Chi, Cepeda, & McLain, 2007; Alger & Carrasco,
1997; Antonio, 2000) and to better preparation to participate in a diverse global society (Antonio,
2002; C. A. Stanley, 2006; Umbach, 2006).
Stanton-Salazar’s (1997, 2001, 2004, 2010) research in particular offers a social capital
perspective of the importance of institutional agents to minority and low-income students.
Institutional agents are defined as individuals “who occup[y] one or more hierarchical positions
of relatively high-status and authority” and who “ac[t] to directly transmit, or negotiate the
transmission of, highly valued resources” such as course requirements for admission to four-year
universities (Stanton-Salazar, 2010, p. 5). Through a social capital framework, Stanton-Salazar
(2010) examines how institutional agents provide students with access to these resources and
networks through their relationship, and also demonstrates the importance of institutional agents,
specifically empowerment agents, to the success of students of color.
Institutional agents play a role in students’ socialization process during adolescence, in
which students engage various agents and significant others in different sociocultural worlds and
learn to effectively participate in each of these worlds. Through institutional agents, students can
access important resources, privileges, and rewards –social capital “consisting of resources and
key forms of social support embedded in one’s network or associations, and accessible through
direct or indirect ties with institutional agents” (Stanton-Salazar, 2010, p. 5). This social capital
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 15
is necessary for students to receive social and institutional support critical to their academic
achievement. Stanton-Salazar (1997) found that in schools “the potential for ‘success’ and
reward is evaluated on the basis of whether the student can demonstrate and exercise the
dominant discourse in society (i.e., white, middle-class, male-centric discourse, with its stress on
individualism; in Stanton-Salazar, 2010, p. 13). As a result, low-income minority students may
find developing relationships with institutional agents and accessing key resources especially
complex and problematic.
Faculty members, as institutional agents, play a critical role in the development of their
students’ social capital, but also have the potential to contribute to stratification and inequality
between different groups. Faculty members can develop the relationships with any students to
help them accumulate social capital, but often, unconsciously and uncritically, gravitate to
students “who exhibit high-status social characteristics (race, gender, class background), and
who successfully exercise the proper discourse [or display the right cultural capital]” (Stanton-
Salazar, 2010, p. 28). Interventions can focus on helping students construct networks with
institutional agents to develop their social capital, but unless institutional agents are critical of
how their social capital can reproduce or mitigate of inequalities, academic gaps will persist as
students who display the ‘proper discourse’ are privileged.
To counter social structures that reproduce the status quo, institutional agents need to
deliberately seek to understand and act against the reproduction of inequality. Stanton-Salazar
proposes the concept of empowerment social capital–defined as “resources and forms of
institutional support which are embedded in ‘connections’ or relationships with high-status,
resourceful, institutional agents oriented to go counter to the system.” (p. 30-31)–and
empowerment agents–institutional agents who “strive to empower low-status youth with varied
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 16
forms of institutional support, …are willing to dis-embed themselves from the reproductive
practices … and to become a moral agent for positive change in the world that both agent and
youth inhabit” (p. 35-36). The concepts correctly point out the need for institutional agents to
empower students from non-dominant groups, and to work to understand how inequalities are
perpetuated by practices and policies and act to create the necessary changes.
Themes in past research. The review of literature on Latino and Latina educators
revealed three key themes: (1) diverse faculty and diverse student bodies symbiotically benefit
each other (Hagedorn, et al., 2007; Antonio, 2000; Alger & Carrasco, 1997); (2) relationships are
particularly important to build the social capital of Latino and Latina students (and other low-
income, students of color (Morton & Martin, 2013; Stanton-Salazar, 2010); and (3) institutional
agents are key in providing these resources and relationships, but need to also critically examine
how practices and policies negatively affect students of color (Albers & Fredrick 2013; Morton
& Martin, 2013; Stanton-Salazar, 2010). These themes may not comprehensively describe the
experiences and contributions of Latino and Latina educators, but they do illustrate the
importance of actively recruiting and supporting Latino and Latina educators (including faculty
members), as well as other educators of diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds to better serve an
increasingly diverse student population. By learning from the educational and professional
experiences for Latino and Latina educators, institutional agents gain another way to learn about
their students’ culture and communities and how to better serve them. Since educators of color
are more likely to be social-justice oriented (Morton & Martin, 2013; Gomez, Rodriguez, &
Agosto, 2008), Latino and Latina faculty members can play key roles in identifying and
challenging deficit perspective in practices and policies that contribute to the persistent academic
achievement gaps between racial and ethnic groups.
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 17
Gaps in the research literature. While there has been abundant research on faculty of
color, more research is needed on their role as institutional agents in higher education. For
example, Bensimon (2007) calls for higher education researchers to consider how institutional
agents influence student success and proposes a project to develop new funds of knowledge to
combat inequity. All institutional agents internalize certain funds of knowledge that they call on
to inform their work and their understanding of students’ behavior, which have important impact
students’ experiences. The following section further explores the concept of funds of knowledge.
Funds of knowledge
The funds of knowledge theory originated from Velez-Ibanez’ (1988) work with
economically vulnerable Mexican communities in the United States and Mexico, which drew on
Wolf (1966) definition of the term funds of knowledge as “resources and knowledge that
households manipulate to make ends meet in the household economy” (Hogg, 2011). Velez-
Ibanez’ (1988) research inspired anthropology and education scholars from the University of
Arizona to apply the concept of household funds of knowledge to educational setting in Tucson,
Arizona and lay the foundation for the future studies on funds of knowledge.
Background. The studies conducted by Moll et al. (1992) built on the Velez-Ibanez
(1988) description of funds of knowledge as “an operations manual of essential information and
strategies households need to maintain their wellbeing” (p. 2). Moll, Velez-Ibanez, Greenberg, et
al (1990) expanded on the function of funds of knowledge to include that funds of knowledge
enable the household “to survive, to get ahead, or to thrive” (p. 2). Furthermore, funds of
knowledge apply to communities as well as households as Moll and Greenberg (1990) explained
how funds of knowledge are socially distributed through a community and exchanged between
families based on bonds of trust and shared expectations of reciprocity. Moll et al.’s (1992)
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 18
foundational work defined funds of knowledge as “historically accumulated and culturally
developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual functioning and
wellbeing” to highlight the concept’s relevance to the individual in addition to households and
communities (p. 134). Funds of knowledge, according to Gonzalez & Moll (2002), are related to
important life knowledge and skills, and are fundamentally connected to practice.
The original funds of knowledge studies by Moll et al. (1992) brought education and
anthropology researchers together with teachers to organize ethnographic visits to students’
communities and households, and learn from knowledge constructed in the homes and families
of their students. The funds of knowledge approach sought to challenge traditional deficit
discourses in schools and validate the social and cultural capital of communities often viewed as
lacking such forms of capital (Gonzalez, Wyman, O’Connor, 2011). By using the teachers as
researchers to explore students’ households and communities, teachers and researchers were able
to learn about the funds of knowledge in their students’ lives, as well as engage in reflections and
discussions to apply this new knowledge to their schools and classrooms (González, et al., 2005).
The aim of the funds of knowledge approach is to improve the relationships between teachers,
students, and communities by viewing educational issues in marginalized communities from a
strength-based perspective and recognizing the knowledge students bring with them from their
households and communities. The following sections discuss themes in the funds of knowledge
literature as well as areas of disagreement or inconsistency. I then describe theoretical framework
based on faculty members’ funds of knowledge.
Themes in the literature. The anthropological origin of the funds of knowledge theory is
reflected in the many studies following Moll, et al. (1992) initial work with working-class Latino
and Latina households. As Gonzalez, Wyman, and O’Connor (2011) stated, “Anthropology –in
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 19
education or otherwise–is concerned with understanding how people relate to one another in
particular social contexts, and with what these relationships mean to the participants” (p. 483).
As a key focus of anthropology and Moll, et al (1992) foundational funds of knowledge studies, I
highlight the role relationships have played in funds of knowledge approaches for the first theme.
Understanding relationships in particular social contexts, such as students’ household or
classroom, also requires managing the complexities bound to emerge in any study of
communities, organizations, or social groups. This is particularly important to prevent the
complexities of students’ households and life worlds, for example, from being oversimplified
into stereotypical or deficit-minded explanations of student behavior. Since the funds of
knowledge approach is meant to counter deficit-minded practices and policies, theme two
reviews past approaches addressing the dilemma of presenting the complexities participants’
experiences for practical use. Lastly, I discuss the social justice orientation of funds of
knowledge approaches in theme three. Since the work Moll, et al (1992), subsequent research on
funds of knowledge approaches aimed not only to recognize and understand deficit-minded
policies and practices, but also to lead to transformations (Gonzalez et al., 2005, p. 485).
Funds of knowledge approaches aiming to transform educational practices and policies
need to understand why and how relationships matter to students’ academic success. Successful
students’ development in present-day higher education requires “resource-ful relationships and
socially organized activities within a network…of institutional agents throughout the extended
family, school, and neighborhood, neighborhood, community, and society” (Stanton-Salazar,
2010, p. 8). Stanton-Salazar’s (1997, 2001, 2004, 2010) research on the importance of networks
and relationships with institutional agents demonstrated the difficulty minority and low-income
students have in accessing that social capital. According to traditional views (Bourdieu, 1986),
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 20
social capital functions to reproduce existing social inequality by privileging certain
characteristics and relationships based on hierarchical social structures.
Stanton-Salazar (2010) visibly illustrates how relationships uncritical of social capital
reproduce social inequality by favoring characteristics that privilege historically dominant groups
in educational settings: “In the context of the school and its social structures, teachers and school
personnel, usually in an unconscious and uncritical manner, regularly gravitate toward and
reward those students (e.g., grades, knowledge funds) who exhibit high- status social
characteristics (race, gender, class background), and who successfully exercises the proper
discourse” (p. 28). As a result, uncritical institutional agents can develop deficit perspectives of
low-income and racially underrepresented students who may have difficulty developing
resource-ful relationships. (Oughton, 2010; Stanton-Salazar, 2010; Akom, 2006).
In developing the funds of knowledge approach, the researchers were cognizant of the
reproductive tendencies of the dominant discourse (González et al., 2005) and sought to gain a
better understanding of students’ households to “build respectful and pedagogically fruitful
relationships between schools and communities” (Rios-Aguilar, et al., 2011, p. 175). Funds of
knowledge approaches not only recognized students’ relationships within their families and
communities, but also collaborated with teachers as researcher to transform the relationships
between schools and communities. According to Gonzalez, et al. (2011), the funds of knowledge
approach is “firmly grounded in the sociocultural principle that knowledge and learning are
embedded in social relationships, and that transforming those relationships would enhance
learning and the co-construction of knowledge” (p. 483). Other studies have also supported the
importance of relationships to funds of knowledge approaches (i.e. Hogg, 2011; Kimaya, 2010;
Bensimon, 2007; Gonzalez & Moll, 2002).
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 21
Relationships between students and educators of diverse backgrounds strongly depend on
an understanding of complex communities to counter stereotypical or deficit minded assumptions
of historically marginalized groups (Bensimon, 2007). The anthropological roots of the funds of
knowledge approach exposes the complexities of learning that occur in students’ households and
communities, but must also present these complexities practically while avoiding oversimplified
generalizations. Balancing between the inherent complexity of students’ lives and the practical
need to allow educators to apply research findings is crucial for funds of knowledge approaches
since the seeks to mutually transform relationships between schools and communities (Gonzalez,
et al., 2011).
To develop a better understanding of students’ communities, researchers and teachers
participated in ethnographic studies of households with the intention explore funds of knowledge
that could improve educational practices (Gonzalez, et al., 2005). As opposed to “parent/family
involvement” approaches, which often attempt instill capital perceived to be lacking in families,
teachers-as-researchers approaches aimed to learn from their students’ households before
reflecting on and discussing how this new knowledge is academically valuable (Gonzalez, et al.,
2011). The ethnographic approach of many funds of knowledge studies (Bensimon, 2007;
Gonzalez, et al., 2005; Gonzalez & Moll, 2002) provides teachers and researchers the
opportunity for deep exploration and discussion of the complexities of community funds of
knowledge while being critical of deficit discourse. In everyday practices, teachers rarely have
the opportunity to explore the complexities they may witness in their students and can resort to
deficit explanations of student behavior (Gonzalez, et al., 2011). While there is a need for more
opportunities and spaces for these discussions (Gonzalez, et al., 2011), the funds of knowledge
approach crucially underscores the importance of recognizing and validating the knowledge
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 22
within students’ complex communities, as well as inquiring into how this new knowledge can be
put into action to challenge structures and relationships contributing the continued academic
achievement gap.
Embedded in a social justice perspective, the theory of funds of knowledge is intended as
a counter-discourse to the dominant, deficit-minded discourse (Rios-Aguilar, 2011; Gonzalez, et
al., 2005). Studies often draw on theories of capital (i.e. social capital or cultural capital) to
illustrate how social inequalities are reproduced through educational practices and institutions
and propose funds of knowledge approaches to disrupt the deficit discourse, reconstruct teachers
understanding of students’ communities, and transform the relationships critical to student
success (Rios-Aguilar & Kimaya, 2012; Oughton, 2010; Moje et al., 2004). Oughton’s (2010)
conceptual critique of the funds of knowledge theory acknowledged these benefits of funds of
knowledge approaches, but also encouraged teachers and researchers to “proceed with the
‘critical self-consciousness’” to their own approach (p. 75). Institutional agents hoping to apply a
funds of knowledge approach face a dilemma: focusing on attainment solely from a capital
perspective that perpetuates inequities and deficit thinking, but ignoring current power structures
in the dominant system can hinder students’ socioeconomic advancement (Rios, Aguilar, et al.,
2011).
The funds of knowledge researchers sought to challenge the dominant discourse by
altering teachers’ understanding students’ knowledge and relationships through teacher
household visits and connecting the community research to classroom practices. Applying funds
of knowledge without collaboration with ethnographic researchers or the opportunity to reflect
on the funds of knowledge observed, as would be the case in most classrooms, possess the
possibility of teachers’ resorting to entrenched deficit perspectives to understand students’
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 23
behavior, or engage in traditional social capital relationships favoring students with privileged
characteristics. Studies drawing on the Tucson academic’s original work have recognized this
dilemma. For example, Zipin, Sellar, and Hattam (2012) propose funds of knowledge approaches
that not only connect teachers to students and schools to communities, but also “fund aspirations
for imagined fund aspirations for imagined future lives beyond dominant terms” to empower
students and work towards a more just vision of community (p. 187). Drawing on the funds of
knowledge theory among others, Bensimon (2007) recognized that higher education institutional
agents could hold deficit-minded “implicit theories” (or funds of knowledge) that impact the
educational outcomes of students of color. Bensimon proposed the equity scorecard project to
build equity-minded funds of knowledge through discussions of how policies and practices may
contribute to continued achievement gaps. The funds of knowledge approach provides teachers
and researchers a framework to understand communities, validate unrecognized knowledge and
relationships, and challenge the deficit dominant discourse to empower historically marginalized
student populations.
Limitations & disagreements. The ‘funds of knowledge’ theory is not without some
limitations or disagreements throughout its sizeable body of literature. Studies have noted the
approach’s tendency to focus on one methodological approach, on adult household practices as a
unit of analysis, and on the limited recognition of funds of knowledge (Esteban-Guitart & Moll,
2014; Hogg, 2011; Rios-Aguilar & Kiyama, 2011). Rios-Aguilar and Kiyama (2011) elaborate
that such emphasis on recognition of funds of knowledge fails to address power relations within
educational institutions. While Bensimon’s (2007) work addresses deficit thinking among
institutional agents in higher education, she points to the lack of studies focused on institutional
agents at all levels of higher education institutions or on how they affect students’ experiences.
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 24
In addition to these limitations, the current research on funds of knowledge disagrees on
four main areas: (1) whether funds of knowledge are conceptualized as sources of knowledge or
areas of knowledge; (2) what knowledge should be incorporated in funds of knowledge; (3)
whose knowledge is incorporated in funds of knowledge; and (4) what is the conceptual basis of
the work (Hogg, 2011). Aligning with Wolf’s (1966) original concept, most studies use areas of
funds of knowledge, such as households (Gonzalez, et al., 2005; Moll & Greenberg, 1990). Other
studies, however, have viewed the term as sources of funds of knowledge and examined peers,
popular culture, and student interests, for example (Barton & Tan, 2009; Moje, et al., 2004;
Gonzalez & Moll, 2002). This divergence from the original conceptualization raises the question
of appropriate scope of funds of knowledge as sources. Moll, et al. (2005) acknowledged that
households do not provide a comprehensive understanding of students’ funds of knowledge, so
researchers have explored much broader sources of funds of knowledge such as community,
culture, and life experiences (Zipin, 2009; Andrew & Yee, 2006; Upadhyay, 2005). Additionally,
researchers have also had to consider whose knowledge should be in included in the definition of
funds of knowledge. Studies have typically focused on household adults (Gonzalez, et al., 2005),
but some studies also encompass teachers, students, and other adults in the community in the
development of funds of knowledge (Zipin, 2009; Civil & Bernier, 2006; Ayers, et al., 2001;
Boullion & Gomez, 2001).
Research on funds of knowledge and institutional agents has largely ignored Latino and
Latina faculty members’ funds of knowledge. Essentially all of the funds of knowledge literature
covered in this review focuses on K-12 settings, but none focus on faculty members in higher
education. The literature on instructional agents perhaps inquired into the educators’ higher
education, but also tended to focus on the K-12 sector. Thus, a gap exists regarding research
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 25
examining the funds of knowledge Latino and Latina higher education institutional agents such
as faculty members.
Conceptual framework
Faculty members’ funds of knowledge. This study drew on areas of overlap between
themes in the literature of faculty members of color, institutional agents, and funds of
knowledge. The review of the literature on Latino and Latina faculty members revealed the
importance of understanding of community culture, building relationships between institutional
agents and students, and being critically consciousness of how inequitable educational structures.
Faculty of color are more likely to engage in practices such as these to serve underrepresented
students, but diversity among faculty and institutional agents lags behind the growing diversity
of the student population (Morton & Martin, 2013). To increase the recruitment, retention, and
inclusion of faculty of color, the research literature suggests working to increase both student and
faculty diversity, providing relational and institutional support, and recognizing the contributions
of faculty members of color (Turner, et al., 2008).
A funds of knowledge approach focusing on higher education institutional agents, such as
faculty members, allowed this study to explore how participants “define problems, situations,
and make sense of phenomena,” or in other words, “the ‘know-how’ that individuals call on
(mostly unconsciously) to accomplish their work” (Bensimon, 2007). Since faculty members
develop their funds of knowledge through various means, this framework focuses on the sources
of funds of knowledge that faculty members draw on to inform their practices. The sources
considered for this framework include the following:
Educational and professional development. Experiences participants found significant
during their educational and professional trajectories reveal some of the important relationships
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 26
and institutional agents that contributed to participants’ persistence to their current position. The
experiences are a source of funds of knowledge since they influenced how participants
developed their views and approaches to practices in their current position.
Relational and institutional support. The support participants described from their
relationships, institutions, and other organizations throughout their educational and professional
careers was particularly important as participants navigating the unfamiliarity of traditionally
white institutions both as students and professionals. The type, quantity, and quality support
participants felt they received contributed to their persistence to their current position as well as
how they apply their practices to their teaching, research, and service responsibilities as faculty.
Critical consciousness. Lastly, critical consciousness is considered as a source of funds
of knowledge to explores participants’ experiences with the dominant discourses, deficit
perspectives, and other forms of discrimination, as well as how they have addressed these
throughout their educational and professional careers. As faculty members of color, participants
are able to apply their critical consciousness to their practices in research, teaching, and service.
This funds of knowledge framework for faculty members appropriately differs from the
original conceptualization of the theory in that it focuses on institutional agents, but is grounded
on the original premise that “people are competent and have knowledge, and their life
experiences have given them that knowledge” (Gonzalez & Moll, 2002, p. 625). Latino and
Latina faculty members’ funds of knowledge, like those of other racial/ethnic groups, have
historically been underrepresented in higher education. This framework provides support for
recognizing and validating the funds of knowledge of faculty members of color in order to better
serve the rapidly diversifying population.

LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 27
Conclusion
Student populations are becoming more and more diverse, yet diversity among faculty
and institutional leadership drastically trails. For students of color who have been historically
underrepresented in higher education, developing relationships with institutional agents is
particularly important to develop the social capital critical to success. However, students from
non-dominant groups often have difficulty developing these relationships since institutional
agents tend to favor students who already demonstrate traditional social capital, and those
desired characteristics tend favor dominant groups. However, the increasingly diverse student
body and the need for similarly diverse institutional agents have resulted in the need to counter
the dominant discourse. Yet, the dominant discourse persists in higher education along with the
academic achievement gaps between racial/ethnic groups it perpetuates.
Challenging the dominant discourse requires critical self-reflection and challenges to
deficit-minded practices and policies. Latino and Latina faculty members tend to enter their
profession aware of the issues affecting students of color and are more willing to challenge
structures hindering students’ success. However, faculty members can face their own issues
within their institutions and with colleagues as they work to help students of color. Institutions
have a need to recruit and retain Latino and Latina faculty and other practitioners in order to
better serve their Latino and Latina students, but institutions also need to actively strive to be
more inclusive of the institutional agents’ needs, perspectives, and contributions. By exploring
Latino and Latina faculty members’ funds of knowledge, this study delved into the experiences,
resources, and support networks Latino and Latina institutional agents perceive as important to
their own success and their students’ academic achievement.

LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 28
Chapter 3: Research design and methodology
In this chapter, I describe the research design, methodology, and specific procedures used
to collect and analyze data of the funds knowledge Latino and Latina faculty members possess
and utilize. I first discuss the rationale for a qualitative approach, followed by a description of the
theoretical framework guiding the methodology. I then describe the procedures used to select
informants, collect data, and analyze the findings in more detail. I also discuss the measures
taken to protect informants and to ensure the trustworthiness of the study. Lastly, I consider the
potential limitations of the study.
As previously stated, the following research questions guide this study:
• What funds of knowledge do Latino and Latina faculty members draw from to inform
their practices?
And the following questions were also considered throughout the study to inquire more deeply
into participants’ funds of knowledge:
• What experiences do Latino and Latina faculty members perceive as important to their
practices?
• How do Latino and Latina faculty members draw on theses experiences to inform their
practices?
• How are Latino and Latina faculty members’ efforts to apply their funds of knowledge
supported or hindered by institutions of higher education?
Research design
This study seeks to explore participants’ experiences to understand the funds of
knowledge they draw on to influence their practices. Creswell (2003) illustrates how worldviews,
strategies of inquiry (or methodology), and the methods “all contribute to a research design that
tends to be qualitative, or mixed” (original emphasis; p. 16). The study’s focus on participants’
experiences makes it inherently qualitative, and thus uses the philosophical assumptions from an
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 29
advocacy/participatory worldview, employ a phenomenological strategy of inquiry, and uses the
methods and practices for data collection and analysis.
The advocacy/participatory worldview aligns closely with critical realism and
contextualism, all of which support the aims of funds of knowledge and critical qualitative
research. An advocacy/ participatory worldview is underpinned by the ontological and
epistemological assumptions of critical realism and contextualism, respectively. Historically, the
advocacy/participatory researchers “felt [a] constructivist stance did not go far enough in
advocating for an action agenda to help marginalized peoples” and believed that “the research
should contain an action agenda for reform that may change the lives of the participants, the
institutions in which individuals work or live, and the researcher's life” (Creswell, 2003, p. 9).
The belief that research should have a political agenda to make a difference in the world implies
the approach assumes a critical realist position. Critical realism holds “that we need to claim
some ‘authentic’ reality exists to produce knowledge that might ‘make a difference’” (Stainton
Rogers & Stainton Rogers, 1997; as cited in Braun & Clarke, 2013, p. 27). According to Madill
et al., 2000), the critical realist position invokes a “real and knowable world which sits ‘behind’
the subjective and socially-located knowledge a researcher can access” and because “knowledge
is viewed as socially influenced, and it is thought to reflect a separate reality we can only be
partially accessed” (as cited in Braun & Clarke, 2013, p. 27). Furthermore, the epistemological
assumption of contextualism “doesn’t assume a single reality, and sees knowledge as emerging
from contexts (hence the name) and reflecting the researcher’s position, so that it is local[ly]
situated, and therefore always provisional” (Madill et al., 2000; Tebes, 2005; as cited in Braun &
Clarke, 2013, p. 31). Since knowledge is assumed to be true in certain contexts, contexualism
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 30
aligns with the critical realism view that reality exists ‘behind’ subjective knowledge and the
advocacy/participatory worldview that aims to create changes for marginalized groups.
By drawing from an advocacy/participatory worldview and its philosophical assumptions,
phenomenological strategy of inquiry can appropriately be used to explore participants’
experiences (Creswell, 2003). Phenomenological research seeks to examine the meaning
individuals make of lived experiences, such as a specific concept or phenomenon, by identifying
commonalities to understand the ‘essence’ of human experience (Creswell, 2003). Methods for
phenomenological research include studying a small number of subjects to develop patterns and
relationships of meaning (Moustakas, 1994) and “bracketing” of the researchers “experiences in
order to understand those of the participants in the study” (Nieswiadomy, 1993; as cited in
Creswell, 2003, p. 13). This study included interviews and reflective journals in order to explore
the experiences of higher education Latino and Latina faculty members.
Methods
In order to apply a phenomenological approach to the funds of knowledge framework
described in the previous chapter, the interview questions were designed based on themes
identified in the literature review: 1) educational and professional development, 2) relational and
institutional support, and 3) critical consciousness. I also bracket my research experiences,
influences, and biases before and after interviews through reflective journals. I then analyzed the
collected data using a thematic analysis, which is intended to “for identifying themes and
patterns of meaning across a dataset in relation to a research question” (Creswell, 2009). In the
following sections, I describe the study’s sample, methods, and procedures.

LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 31
Sample recruitment and selection
Samples for phenomenological research tend to be small in order to develop patterns and
relationships of meaning (Moustakas, 1994). I utilized purposive sampling to select participants
who were able to provide information-rich data for the study. Informants were recruited with the
goal of generating a sample most likely to provide “insight and in-depth understanding” (Patton,
2002: 230) of the topic of interest: Latino and Latina faculty members’ funds of knowledge
(Braun & Clark, 2013, p. 55). I selected participants according to their identity (Latino or Latina)
and professional position (full-time faculty members at four-year universities). The sample
provided data of Latino and Latina faculty members’ experiences in various, yet significant
contexts. The eight participants participating in this study were contacted via an email explaining
the purpose and details of the study, the measures to protect informants, and what is being asked
of the informants should they chose to participate (described below).
Data collection methods
Interviews. I used a flexible protocol with open-ended questions to conduct semi-
structured, 45 to 60 minute interviews with each of the eight participants. Braun and Clarke
(2013) describe the importance of the interview location. Participants and I chose to conduct in-
person, phone, or video interviews in locations where we could speak comfortably, but privately
so participants could speak openly about their experiences. (Braun & Clarke, 2013).
I also sought to establish rapport so a free flow of information may occur. I used
Spradley’s (1979) model of the rapport process to recognize and address issues that may arise in
the process of moving from apprehension to cooperation and participation. To relieve any
apprehension informants may have, I clearly stated the purpose of the interview, asked to audio-
record the interview, and began by asking descriptive questions to get the informant talking. By
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 32
asking descriptive questions first and keeping the informant talking, I had the opportunity to
listen, show interest, and respond in a nonjudgmental fashion (Spradley, 1979). In the
exploration stage, I asked for explanations of my interests, restate what the informant says, and
ask about use of language rather than meaning, so that the participant would move through the
exploration stage and to cooperation. To varying degrees, interviews reached a stage of
cooperation in which informants offered personal information and felt free to ask questions.
During the interviews, I used an interview protocol to guide the discussion thing
informants about themes found in the literature review of funds of knowledge research: (1)
educational and professional development, (2) relational and institutional support, and (3) critical
consciousness. The protocol was intended as a guide rather than a script to adapt as necessary.
The protocol consisted mainly of descriptive questions to collect a “sample of informants’
language”, but also included structural questions to “find out how informants have organized
their knowledge,” and contrast questions to “discover the dimensions of meaning which
informants employ to distinguish the objects and events in their world” as necessary and if
possible (Spradley, 1979, p. 61). Descriptive questions were the bulk of the protocol and
included grand tour questions, mini-tour questions, example questions, experience questions, and
native-language questions. The protocol also included questions to explore (Seidman, 1991)
responses by asking for “examples (‘Could you give me an example…?’), specific details (‘How
did that make you feel?’)” (Rubin & Rubin, 1995), or simply ask[ing] for more information
(‘Can you tell me more about that?’)” (Braun & Clarke, 2013, p. 95). Furthermore, I asked
unplanned questions to explore points brought up by informants that relevant to the research
question to “offer a more thorough, thoughtful or unexpected commentary on the topic” (Braun
& Clarke, 2013, p. 34). The interviews aimed to capture the richness of informants’ experiences.
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 33
Reflection journal. To bracket my experiences, I wrote a reflection journal of the
interviews. The bracketing process involves periodic and reflexive journals (Lincoln & Guba,
1985), which can be distinguished into forms of reflexivity: functional and personal (Wilkinson,
1988). Journals written before interviews focused on functional reflexivity, such as interviews
tools and assessment of protocol in past interviews. The journal written following the interviews
reflected on the my influence on the production of knowledge during interviews, as well as initial
thoughts about that participant’s responses (Burns, 2006; Rice, 2009; Burns, 2003; as cited in
Braun & Clarke, 2013). The reflexive journals function as one form of quality control by
recognizing procedures that may be improved and by addressing the researcher’s biases and
assumptions (Braun & Clarke, 2013).
Data analysis procedures
Thematic analysis. I conducted a thematic analysis of participants interview responses to
explore Latino and Latina faculty members’ experiences navigating their educational and
professional institutions to their current positions. Thematic analysis studies tend to focus on
experiences, draw data from small homogenous samples, and provide both descriptive accounts
of a phenomenon (Braun and Clark, 2013). A thematic analysis was appropriate due to this
study’s qualitative approach, small homogenous sample size (eight Latino and Latina faculty
members), and interview data.
Braun and Clarke (2013) describe the stages of thematic analysis: (1) data preparation
(i.e. transcripts), (2) reading and familiarization of transcripts while taking notes of potential
interests, (3) complete coding across dataset, (4) search for themes, (5) review themes and
produce a map of provisional themes and subthemes, and (6) define and name themes. To create
codes and develop themes for stages three through six, I conducted first- and second-cycle
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 34
coding methods, which consisted of attribute, structural, descriptive, values, holistic, and In Vivo
coding during the first cycle coding, and pattern coding to organize codes and create themes
during second cycle coding (Saldana, 2009). The thematic analysis revealed important
experiences and relationships to participants’ persistence and current practices.
Measures to protect informants
Informants face very low risk participating in this study. Confidentiality is the central
concern for protecting informants, so I used measures such as pseudonyms of any identifying
data, password protection of electronic files, use of secure online analysis software, and
elimination of all documents one year following the conclusion of the study to ensure
participants’ confidentiality.
Data protection. Data collected for the study is stored in password-protected folders and
programs. Although most transcripts, journal, and research documents were stored in secured
electronic formats, any physical copies were stored in locked files. All email correspondences
were conducted through a university email accounts, which are also password-protected. I will
destroy all data one year after the completion of the research project.
Trustworthiness
Triangulation. For this study, I drew from data sources (i.e. diverse sample and past
research) to strengthen analytic claims and get “a richer or fuller story” (Smith, 1996; cited in
Braun & Clarke, 2013, p. 286). Silverman (1993) views triangulation as “a way of capturing the
multiple ‘voices’ or ‘truths’ that relate to the topic, rather than being understood as a way to
access the right ‘result’” (as cited in Braun & Clarke, 2013, p. 286). I used triangulation to
collect data from a diverse sample of Latino and Latina faculty members ranging in gender,
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 35
experiences, faculty status, and discipline. Triangulation helped provide insight into the
complexities of participants’ experiences and practices.
Audit trail. I stored all research documents to maintain an audit trail and ensure
dependability and confirmability of the study. The reflexive journals and field notes also serve as
another form of documentation to track my experiences, decisions, justifications, and process.
Limitations
Easton, McCormish, and Greenberg (2000) describe the most common potential errors
experienced by qualitative researcher: equipment failure, environmental hazards, and
transcription errors. Easton, et al (2000) also provide measures to avoid these pitfalls. Although
very limited technology was used in the study, I took precautions such as checking recording
equipment thoroughly and by bringing backup equipment. I also informed participants of ideal
interview conditions regarding location and time to avoid potential environmental hazards to
interviews such as interruptions or loud noise. Lastly, a professional company transcribed the
interview recordings to ensure accurate and quality transcripts.
Researcher bias common in qualitative was a possible pitfall of this study, but bracketing
procedures (i.e. reflective journals) helped reduce research bias. The reflexive journals and field
notes aided in reducing researcher biases by providing the researcher a context to reflect on
interview processes, personal identity and background, initial impressions, and research
experiences that may influence interactions with informants.
This study was also limited due to its small sample size. Like most qualitative research,
this study was not meant to be generalizable. The study was exploratory in nature, and meant to
represent and interpret the experiences of participants, not Latino and Latina faculty members in
general. While there are benefits to exploring Latino and Latina faculty members’ experiences,
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 36
such as giving voice to participants and addressing gaps in the past studies, this study’s findings
cannot be applied to other settings or populations because of the small sample size.
Phenomenological approaches also contain certain weaknesses that must be addressed.
According to Braun and Clark (2013), phenomenology may lack depth, richness, substance, and
sophistication due to its dual focus and small sample sizes. In order to reduce these weaknesses,
the study’s sample was selected purposively to generate thick and rich data.
The research design, methodology, and specific procedures used in this study explored
the experiences of Latino and Latina faculty members. Despite limitations to the study, the
phenomenological design “offers us the possibility of plausible insights that bring us in more
direct contact with the world” of Latino and Latina faculty members (Van Manen, 1990, p. 8).
The experiences described provide insights into the funds of knowledge participants draw on to
inform their practices.

LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 37
Chapter 4: Findings
The phenomenological approach of this study (described in chapter three) provided a
glimpse into the lived experiences of the study participants. This chapter is organized
thematically to describe the nature of the experiences of the eight participating Latino and Latina
faculty members. I first describe the sample of participants, and then share participants’
responses according to three themes. The three themes deconstruct the experiences of faculty
members who identify as Latino or Latina by exploring participants’ 1) educational and
professional development, 2) current practices and experiences, and 3) relationships with their
respective environments.
Sample
The participants in this study all identify as Latino or Latina and currently hold faculty
positions at four-year universities. Beyond those two factors, the participants varied in
educational and professional trajectories, type of faculty position, area of expertise, and years of
experience. The sample included four female and four male participants from public and private
universities in the United States Southwest, East coast, and Midwest. Participants were only from
social sciences fields, including education, counseling, sociology, Latin American studies, and
ethnic studies. Participants also held different faculty positions including assistant professors,
associate professors, and full professor as well as one clinical professor and one lecturer.
Participants’ responsibilities included the research, teaching, and service duties of faculty
members, but some participants also took on other responsibilities such as directing research
centers, overseeing academic departments, and engaging in clinical or community work. While
all participants took leadership roles within their universities and professional organizations, the
participants focal responsibilities tended to relate to their years of experience: the five
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 38
participants with fewer than 10 years of experience focused mainly on the research, publishing,
and teaching aspects of the position while the three participants with more years of experience
also hold positions with research centers, academic departments, or other external projects. The
following table and descriptions provide an overview of the sample:
Name
(pseudonym) Faculty position Department
Years of faculty
experience
Jon Clinical professor School of Education 42
Tony Professor
Sociology and American
Studies & Ethnicity 31
Jessica Faculty lecturer Department of Social Sciences 17
Miguel Professor Department of Sociology 9
Lucia Assistant Professor Department of Counseling 8
Sophia Associate Professor Higher Education department 7
Gladys Assistant Professor School of Education 5
William Assistant professor Latin American Studies 5
Participants in the sample provided diverse perspectives since individuals were at
different points of their career, had expertise in different social science fields, and came from
different backgrounds. Jon has the most experience as a faculty member of all the participants:
42 years. He is currently a clinical professor of urban education and the director of a research
center and a research program in the school of education at a private research university. Tony is
the second most experienced with 31 years as a faculty member. He is a professor of sociology
and American studies & ethnicity at private research university. He also directs a research center
and a research program. Jessica is currently an academic senate faculty member and lecturer with
17 years of experience at a public research university. She is also a coordinator of a social
science major and director of an honor’s program. Miguel has the fourth most experience with 9
years at a public, four-year university and is now a full professor in the department of sociology.
Next, Lucia is an assistant professor of student affairs in the department of counseling at a public
research university with eight years of experience. Sophia has 7 years experience and is an
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 39
associate professor of higher education at a private research university. Lastly, both Gladys and
Williams have 5 years of experience. Gladys holds an assistant professor position in the school
of education of a public research university, while William is assistant professor of Latin
American Studies at a public liberal arts university.
Participants’ responses during the interviews provided insight into their experiences as
Latino and Latina faculty members. The data from interviews are presented in three thematic
sections, and each addresses this research question: What funds of knowledge do Latino and
Latina faculty members draw from to inform their practices? The first section examines
important experiences and relationships in participants’ educational and professional trajectories
to gather insight into important sources of funds of knowledge. The second section focuses on
participants’ practices and experiences in their current position to consider how funds of
knowledge inform their practice. The third section explores the relationship between participants
and their institutional environment to explore how participants’ funds of knowledge are
supported or hindered by institutions of higher education.
Educational and professional experiences
This section describes significant experiences during participants’ educational and
professional careers to explore where participants’ funds of knowledge developed. Participants’
responses provided insights into significant experiences that influenced their trajectories to their
current position as faculty members as well as their current practices.
Educational development. The experiences and relationships recalled by participants
during interviews revealed significant influences from their K-12 education through their
graduate studies. Although participants varied in their educational trajectories, they commonly
recalled the importance of empowering experiences and relationships. Participants revealed
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 40
forms of persistence through barriers at each level of the educational pipeline. Some of the
participants such as William struggled academically during in their K-12 studies:
In K through 12, I was not an excellent student, but I don't think I ever really struggled
with education. It was more like I wasn't really motivated, like I was okay just getting
by...yeah, it wasn't very good in high school. In junior high, I was in honors classes, but,
again, I wasn't really interested in excelling, so then by high school, I was kicked out of
them. Then, in high school, I basically cheated a lot. I ditched class a lot, especially
freshman and sophomore year, got involved with the wrong crowd. Then, in junior year
of high school, I tried to explicitly breakaway from that crowd, to make new friends.
[William]
Tony also recalled not being tracked as a student bound to college or further:
When I was in high school, I was not college tracked so there was not an expectation I
was going to go to college, at least on the part of the high school. When I was an
undergraduate I was not tracked to go to graduate school or get a fellowship—both
happened. When I was in graduate school I was not tracked to wind up at a major
research university. [Tony]
Others participants such as Jessica performed well academically but recalled experiencing a lack
of resources in their schools and communities.
So when you look at the academics, they were lacking from the standpoint of
opportunities. I was a very top student. I had a very solid GPA, but there was only one
class that I could do an AP Test. One only, and that was Spanish. Okay, and so that tells
you how limited that was. [Jessica]
Participants also mentioned persisting through barriers during their higher education and
graduate schools careers. Lucia, for example, mentioned the difficulty she experienced
navigating the admission process into higher education:
So I went to school at [Rattler University in Texas], and I definitely had no thoughts
about being a faculty member. I thought I was going to go actually into diplomacy. I was
international relations major. But I didn't understand how college really worked, because
I only applied to St. Mary's as a senior, because they kept calling me. [Lucia]
Jessica, on the other hand, described difficulty integrating into her postsecondary institution:
But I never really was as integrated as I should have been. I never got into a whole lot of
student involvement. I did mostly study, and it wasn't until my third year that I got a
mentor, and so that was really hard. My first two years, I felt disconnected, I felt
invalidated. I was a typical commuter that would just come and go, do my schoolwork,
and that was it. [Jessica]
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 41
Some participants such as William recalled the hostile environment of graduate school:
When I got there, though, it felt like a really hostile environment. There were very few
graduate students of color ahead of me, and not just students of color but the graduate
students, in general, were not succeeding. There were only two graduate students of color
ahead of me…they were the only two. The whole graduate class before me, half of them
dropped out by the end of the first year. So, there were very few students of color, very
few that were succeeding, and not a lot of the graduate students were succeeding either.
[William]
Despite confronting barriers, participants were able to succeed in navigating their educational
institutions. Participants’ success in education was due in part to institutional support services
such as the Educational Opportunity Program, the Mathematics, Engineering, Science
Achievement (MESA) program, Latino resources centers, and summer bridge programs, as well
as their individual agency to persist despite barriers. Across interviews, participants pointed to
empowering experiences and relationships as key factors that enabled them to persist through
their education. In K-12 education, for instance, Jessica, William, and Miguel indicate the
importance of learning to empower themselves and how their communities motivated them.
Jessica, for example, recalls the empowering experiences of an all-girl high school:
The board said I'm a woman –hear me roar –and so these messages of when I was
growing up in K through 12, particularly in high school, how I can do it, how women
were worthy. [Jessica]
William and Miguel, on the other hand, described the how their relationships with teachers and
student mentors empowered them to be politically conscious, personally and academically.
William recalled the political awareness he gained from visiting a cultural center:
For me, going to an African American cultural center was a big deal. I went there, and I
was just really impressed with how nice everyone was to me. The lecture that [Dr.
Morrison] gave –a lot of it was very relevant to me. It was about the Latinos and Blacks
shouldn't fight... It was just insightful for me to think about the world as bigger than just
the community that I grew up in, to see a bigger picture of how we're all poor and all
dealing with poverty in different ways, and there's all this crime and violence and all this
stuff, and we're not helping each other by keeping each other down. After that, I started
getting more politically conscious, which motivated me to do better in school. [William]
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 42
While Miguel noted the peer mentors from a local university who inspired his academic work by
raising his political consciousness:
When I felt like someone was doing something for me was actually when a teacher took
the time to connect me with these I met college students that happened to be volunteering
their time in mentoring. A lot of whom were some Latino college students at [Oski
University]. I think if I had not met those students, and if they weren't informally
volunteering, I wouldn't have made it to college. Maybe even not even graduated high
school…they just taught me about my history, man. They taught me about the movement.
They taught me about oppression. They taught me about racism, structural racism. They
taught me about inequality. They taught me about the bigger picture of the world, and not
just think about my local environment and local context, but how really the world that I
lived in was the world where there was a lot of injustice. That I need to be an agent of
change in that world to help to fight against injustice. [Miguel]
Similarly, participants expressed how empowering experiences during their undergraduate and
graduate education supported their persistence. William, for example, was able to be politically
involved through student organizations and community work as an undergraduate student:
There [at Azure University], I got involved with other student organizations, too. I got
involved a little bit with MEChA there. By then, I think, the politics of the state was
Proposition 227 and Proposition 221. Those are, basically, the three-strikes law and the
English-only law. I got involved with MEChA, sort of some activism there…I also got
involved with [a Mexican folkloric dance group]. It's actually the oldest student group at
[Azure University]. Then, I also helped start or revive an organization called CHE,
Chicanos for Health Education. With that, we weren't actually so much focused on
health, more focused on education. One of the major things we did is we would bring in
students – the children of farm workers, because it's more agricultural up there –the
children of farm workers and at-risk youth from schools in the area. We'd bring them to
campus, give them a college tour, and have Latino college students, who were themselves
children of farm workers or former at-risk youth, talk to them about the possibility of
college. [William]
Gladys’ graduate school experience, on the other hand, motivated her to conduct scholarly
research on Latina and Latino populations:
I also realized in my graduate school experiences that nobody was really writing about
Latinas and Latinos. I felt like there wasn't that much scholarship around myself, and so
that was one of the influences for me. [Gladys]
The educational barriers participants experienced as well as the empowering experiences
contributed to participants’ persistence to their current position. Throughout participants’
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 43
education and professional careers, relationships were also key sources of funds of knowledge
that influenced participants’ success and practices.
Relational support. Most participants indicated some relationships that played important
roles during their educational and professional careers. Those relationships included familial,
mentors and teachers, and peer relationships.
Family influence. All eight participants mentioned the importance of family
relationships and the influence of family on their practices. Tony, for example, drew on his
relationship with his father to frame his perspective of marginalized populations:
I would say the most influential relationship didn't happen in school, and I've spoken
often about it, but I had a father who was an undocumented immigrant –got documented
during World War 2 –who had a sixth grade education and was very smart and sort of
made me realize how much potential there is in everyone. [Tony]
Lucia’s research aims to provide a positive representation of her family and background in the
literature:
I think really all the work I do is about honoring my family, and where we came from.
And I'm really trying to get our story into the literature. [Lucia]
Family relationships also informed participants teaching and mentoring practices, as Jessica
described:
I think that my family has had an instrumental element to how I inform and how I teach
and how I exchange my relationships, how my relationships evolve with my students
[Jessica]
Family relationships played an important role in shaping trajectories, perspectives, and
approaches throughout participants’ educational and professional experiences.
Mentor relationships. Participants often spoke of the importance of the mentor
relationships they were able to cultivate outside of their families. Each participant indicated
being mentored in some capacity throughout his or her educational and professional careers.
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 44
Tony and Jon were two participants who did not have many mentors, but recognized the
importance of mentorship nonetheless:
It's very hard to establish relationships with faculty outside of the University because it's
so busy. If I meet a faculty member in the elevators, I'm lucky. I had far more contact
with faculty when I was a student at [Oski University] than I do here. [Jon]
Tony also mentioned the generational differences in finding mentors:
So there's a generation like your generation, which seems to have benefited from
mentors. And there's a generation, like several [people] in my generation, who there
really weren't that many mentors [for]. [Tony]
Other participants were able to find mentors in teachers, professors, and other institutional
agents. Jessica, for example, mentioned a faculty member who mentored her through higher
education and provided the opportunities to pursue higher degrees:
“It wasn't until my third year when I had a peer who said, “You've got to meet Dr. [Isaiah
Wilkes]”…and so I pursued this mentor. I went to see him and from there on out, he's
been my mentor. So, Dr. [Wilkes] was the one who talked to me about grad school. I
didn't know. I didn't even know there was grad school. I thought a BA was all that people
could get. And then he told me; he's like, “Well now, you're going to go and get a
Masters or a PhD.” And I'm like, “you mean I'm not done? You mean that this is not it
[laughter]?” And so it was a very enlightening process for me. Dr. Wilkes also introduced
me to multiple mentors. [Jessica]
Some participants experienced a lack of mentors while others benefited from mentor
relationships, but all participants recognized the importance of mentor relationship.
Peer mentors. As Tony mentioned above, younger participants had more mentor
relationships and were very aware of the importance their mentors played in their trajectories.
Participants mentioned peer mentors who helped them navigate both their educational and
professional careers. Jessica, for example, noted a friend in high school who was able to guide
her through the university admissions and financial processes:
So there was also the peer influence for me–my best friend. I went to [Peter University]
by chance. I didn't know that [Peter University] was a top university, right? At the time,
[the university system] was better than the other schools that were public. But my best
friend picked [Peter University], and then I just picked [Peter University], because she
picked it. Can you imagine this is how I got to college? And she was very instrumental
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 45
because she helped me fill out my financial aid. She helped me to know when those
deadlines were. She was a very strong encourager for me. [Jessica]
William recalled the peer support he and the Latinas in his graduate program were able to
cultivate to persist through a hostile climate:
When I came in, there were three Latinos–two women and myself–and we pretty much,
early on, recognized the challenge and made sure to work with each other, to help each
other out to make sure we'd succeed, and then we did. I mean, we did our best. [William]
Gladys also mentioned the role her peer relationships played in navigating her doctorate program
as well as her work as a faculty member:
We [groups of peer scholars] all started the doctorate program together and we're all
faculty members of different institutions. So it's the tenure process, that, and just classes
and courses, and so we are all just sort of this family, you know? We're intentional about
how do we award each other when we get publications. How do we help each other when
we're stuck? That has been my safety net. That has been my lifeline in the academy in
terms of how I've been able to not only survive, but thrive in this system. Those are two
things I think are immensely –has been supportive of where I am today [Gladys]
The relationships described by participants were crucial to providing access and opportunities to
persist through their education and professional careers. Relationships also played a key role in
participants’ professional experiences.
Professional experiences. Participants generally spoke positively about the individuals
and institutions they encountered as professionals, but also indicated some difficulties navigating
the institutions as faculty of color. Lucia and Gladys discussed struggles they experienced, such
as isolation, invalidation, and tokenism. Lucia described the hidden curriculum she experienced
in academia:
When I started as a faculty member, even before then as a grad student, I would go these
academic conferences and it felt very lonely, and I didn't really understand how these
conferences really worked. There was just a hidden curriculum. The hidden curriculum in
the conferences. So it really angered me. [Lucia]
Gladys pointed to the invalidation, the lack of representation, and the pressure experienced by
faculty of color:
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 46
There’s always a moment in being a faculty member that you always feel like you don't
belong or someone's going to find out that I'm really not that bad-ass, or somebody's
going to find out that I'm not all the hype that they maybe see on paper. So there's always
that doubt that sometimes seeps into our thoughts as faculty members because as a
Latina, I'm not–I don't see myself represented vastly in my institution, so I think it takes a
toll sometimes on your spirit in terms of, is this where I should be? Is this where I
belong? [Gladys]
Lucia also went on to describe how she sought to challenge the barrier she experienced
navigating the traditionally white spaces higher education:
I said, "I am not going to let other Latino, particularly Latino students and faculty,
experience what I experienced." So then I said, "Well there's one night during that
conference that I'm going to really celebrate the fact that we've survived another year in
the Academy." So I created the Latino Scholars Collective Dinner, and we started with 14
people in 2008 in Jacksonville, Florida. Last Friday in Denver, we had 112 people, and
I'm talking about from Masters' students all the way to full professor, and all Latinos.
[Lucia]
Like Lucia, other participants’ educational and professional experiences influenced their
practices addressing issues experienced by Latinos, Latinas, and other underrepresented groups.
Current practices
Critically conscious practices. Participants offered rich insights into their practices as
faculty members. The teaching, research, and service responsibilities of the faculty members
served as opportunities to engage with critically conscious practices and social justice projects.
Often these practices are aimed at countering deficit perspectives within the institution directed
towards colleagues, communities, and communities. For example, Miguel pointed out the need to
call out deficit perspectives among colleagues and other people within an institution:
You've got to step up and confront people. I'm going to go to my faculty meeting on
Monday and bring this issue up. You just got to confront the institution. Confront the
institution, confront the individuals and make sure they're not getting away with it. That's
what you do when you have a little bit more power. As a full professor I can say
whatever I want against these people, and they can't come after me anymore. That's what
I'll do on Monday, man. I'm about to–and you've met people who say, "Oh, he's playing
the race card." And then it becomes like, wake up, you know? Like, not good, you know?
[Miguel]
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 47
Jessica recognized the need push institutions and faculties to adopt practices and policies that
address the changing needs of a diversifying student population:
The downfall to that is that faculties think–particularly faculties who are in the system for
a long time, they fail to recognize that the students' demographics are changing and by
default, their needs are changing. And then, unfortunately, they don't see the need to be
re-trained, re-educated, or educated about this growing community because they don't
find that to be a necessity within their own teaching or mentorship. And I think that's
where the gap or a large portion of that gap lies. [Jessica]
Furthermore, Sophia also recognized the need to challenge deficit perspectives directed at
underrepresented communities, in addition to students from those communities:
I think it's less often directed at me and more often directed towards the communities, or
the families that I work with. So, all of my work is really based on challenging these
deficit notions. I think one of the biggest things is this ridiculous concept that Latino
families don't value education. And so, everything that I do is in direct response to that, in
showing through my work how much Latino families are engaged in education. How
within their family units there's this constant learning, and that even though it might not
fit in to these older traditional notions of what involvement looks like, our family are
engaged in multiple ways at teaching their children daily. [Sophia]
Participants engaged in critical practices such as these because of their own experiences with
discrimination. As a result, participants such as Miguel described constantly being aware of
deficit perspectives in their environments:
It's everywhere, man. It's everywhere. It's normalized. My first instinct is not even answer
you because it's normalized. Like, what are you talking about? It's like everywhere. I can
just go to yesterday if you want, yesterday…that yesterday I read a letter from a grad
student that said that she overheard a white faculty member say that there's too many
Latino faculty in my department. There's only three of us. This is yesterday. [Miguel]
As Gladys describes, her critical conscious practices are a result of all her experiences and
identities, and the deficit perspectives she has had to address:
That started like way back, so it's not that–like after my [?] position then I'm going to
address deficit perspective. It's been me being an immigrant, me being light-skin Latina,
me being first generation. It's all these experiences I've had in my educational upbringing
that I wasn't supposed to go to college. I'm not supposed to get a doctorate. But there
have been some people in my pathways that always would've believed in me. But there's
definitely, addressing these deficit perspectives has been about defending my trajectory.
Defending my culture, defending my language, defending my immigration journey.
[Gladys]
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 48
Participants’ experiences with deficit perspectives and other forms of discrimination influenced
their practices and approaches with students. Participants were aware of their impact of on
students, such as Tony:
I–because of the way I came up–didn’t realize what an influence I might have on
students. My first job was at [Shore Coast College]. There was a young woman who
came up to me when she was graduating...I'd said one simple thing [at a student retreat],
which is, "You belong here. Don't let anybody tell you, you don't belong here." She had
been having a difficult time. It gave her great confidence. She graduated. And so I think I
became more aware of the influence that you could have on people. [Tony]
Furthermore, participants also recognized the role they play as institutional agents and
empowerment agents. Jon described it as taking on the role of a “broker of opportunity”:
You can see yourself as a broker of opportunities, whether they're educational or career
opportunities for the students you have in your class. [Jon]
Jessica also recognized the how her presence and practices can specifically impact
underrepresented students:
I was doing a talk, an introductory talk about my research, and the student came up to me
–she’s a Puerto Rican student–and she said "I'm taking your class." and I said "Okay,
great she's interested in college access." and she's like "I'm taking the class because you're
Latina," and I was like "Okay, no pressure right?" But I think it helped me to realize we
just don't have very many Latina women especially–and men, right? There's very few
Latinos also as faculty, standing in front of us, teaching, and I think that that makes a
difference for students just to see and hear and have somebody who they might relate
to… I think that has shaped my understanding of my role within a faculty position.
[Jessica]
Furthermore, Miguel recognized the importance of faculty of color to advocate for the
appropriate practices, policies, and resources for students of color:
That's why it's important to bring people that come from those places, or haven't been
marginalized. That come from the places where students come from. Because the chances
are that if you've lived the life of struggle, man, you can empathize more with people that
come from the struggle. You could figure out and set a curriculum, policy, program,
practices that are going to be supportive and provide the right kind of protective practice
for the students that come in and need that extra emotional support to make it through the
academic program. [Miguel]
Participants also described how their practices are meant to empower Latino and Latina students
and communities by challenging deficit perspectives in the dominant discourse. Jessica described
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 49
challenging the dominant discourse by applying strength-based approaches to their practices and
research:
The fact is that we can't continue to see Latinos from a deficit approach, but instead, from
a strength-based approach to see how culture and values and beliefs brings an added
value to education. [Jessica]
Furthermore, participants also described being cognizant of the experiences of their students of
color and how their teaching practices impacted these students specifically. William, for
example, describes his experience with his Latino students:
Here, it was a very different experience teaching Latino history to 99% non-Latinos. I
think, at first, I was self-conscious about treating the Latino students with special
treatment, but what I started noticing right away is that my Latino students were not
doing well. They would just not do well or drop out, or that kind of thing. It became
evident to me that treating them like everyone else, I was doing them a disservice. Now,
I'm much more forward about getting to know them early on and following up with them,
as much as I need to make sure that they do well, or as best as possible. [William]
Participants’ awareness of issues of race and other forms of discrimination led many to
incorporate intersectionality into their practices to be critical of other forms of discrimination and
privilege, as Lucia describes:
I think one of the things I thought was really interesting was, the class was
multiculturalism, it wasn't just about race and ethnicity –and so there were times when I
would call out students of color for not considering their aspects of preparation, and that
was often really hard for them to stomach. So I would get it from both sides. I would get
it from my students who were at the very minimum of awareness if anything…some
students who couldn't even stomach the things that we were talking about, to students of
color who were really upset that we would call them out on aspects of privilege like
ability, sexual orientation, gender, and religion. It was just really challenging. It was hard
to deal with on a regular basis, but that didn't stop me from talking about
intersectionality, because I think that's an important component of the work that we need
to talk about with student of color. So I think that was an aspect. [Lucia]
Participants’ descriptions of their practices were strongly social-justice oriented and focused on
addressing the needs of their students, communities, and colleagues. The practices and projects
participants engaged in, however, occurred within complex institutions of higher education. How
participants were able to apply their practices was influenced by their relationship with their
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 50
respective institutions. Participants described some formal institutional support, but more often,
participants described having to develop their own informal support to persist through the
institutional barriers they experienced.
Institutional barriers
The barriers most commonly identified by participants included a lack of representation,
a lack of mentoring for faculty members, and a lack of support to mentor students and engage in
social justice efforts. For example, Gladys recalls the lack of Latino and Latina representation in
research and institutions of higher education:
I don't see myself represented vastly in my institution, so I think it takes a toll sometimes
on your spirit in terms of, is this where I should be? Is this where I belong? [Gladys]
Other participants, such as Sophia, indicated the lack of mentoring for faculty of color at her
institution until only recently:
I have never taken a class ever with a Latina, period, let alone a mentoring relationship.
[Sophia]
I was thinking about formal mentoring programs for faculty of color and those have not
existed at either institution I have been at. [Sophia]
It's only been in the last few months, that here at [Crimson University] that we instituted
a formal mentoring policy for junior faculty. [Sophia]
Furthermore, participants discussed the lack of training or support to mentor and teach students,
much less students of color, even noting the negative consequences of working with students.
Miguel discussed the lack of training faculty members received to teach or mentor as well as
how research universities discourage dedicating too much time with students:
No one teaches you how to be a good mentor, and no one cares. The institutions don't
care if you're a good a teacher or a good a mentor. In fact, what they care about is that
you gain national and international recognition with your publication, and then you bring
in money. That's all they care about. Not only do they not care about if you are a good
mentor or a teacher…you get punished for it if you're in a research one university. So, if
you have 150 students and you write that in your report about yourself, to the university,
you actually get reprimanded because now that means you're taking time away from
doing research. That means you're taking time and that you'll end up not doing the
research because you know you might end up getting recognition [from students].
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 51
Therefore you maybe shouldn't be on the research track; maybe you should be on the
lecturer track. [Miguel]
Institutions tended to focus on supporting participants’ research, which was a necessary for
participants. At the same time, participants also express a lack of support for the teaching and
service components of the profession, which were important for challenging the deficit
perspectives and discrimination they experienced navigating educational institutions.
We don't have any support systems institutionalized for first generation students or
researchers that come from marginalized communities. We don't. There are programs that
you can apply to and only 1% of people get that actual fellowship, everyone else is on
their own. Nothing institutionalized to support. Maybe there's a little funding here, $500
here, another little fund that's there, but in reality, man, there really isn't a whole lot up
there that really supports people in the role of doing their work. [Miguel]
Institutional support for participants influences how they are able to serve students by fulfilling
their research, teaching, and service responsibilities. Participants’ aspirations to pursue social
justice and mentoring projects, institutional expectations to serve on diversity committees, and
the demands of academia to publish research create a demanding environment for participants as
Miguel stated:
And that's going to affect your well-being. It's going to affect your health. It's going to
affect your family, if you have a family. It's going to take a toll on your psyche, on your
mental health and your physical health. And so you see why some –particularly, scholars
of color –end up crashing and burning. [Miguel]
The tendency of institutions to focus on supporting research ignores the many of the funds of
knowledge participants possess. Institutional support for faculty members’ research, teaching,
and service can benefit how they adapt to the changing needs of students and communities.
Institutional support
According to participants, the support provided by institutions for faculty members is
focused on research. As Miguel, Tony, and Lucia described, support for faculty members mostly
occurred as funding opportunities for research:
I think it was just the money, man. It was nothing else. So financial support. [Miguel]
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 52
Centers to conduct and apply research:
We here at these research centers do a lot of work with and for social movements, so
people who are trying to change the world and achieve economic or social justice. [Tony]
And publicity of research publications and successes:
If you Google me, there's going to be the story that was on the web page for [Tiger
University], and they've done that, really put me on the map for other opportunities. I feel
like they've highlighted my research. [Lucia]
Although participants generally spoke positively about their institution, the support institutions
provided mainly focused on research and ignored the teaching and service aspects of faculty
members’ position. Furthermore, institutional support fails to address the barriers and challenges
described by participants in the previous section. More institutional support is needed to promote
the inclusion and success of Latino and Latina faculty members in academia to create more
equitable institutions of higher education.
Benefits of Latino and Latina faculty
Participants not only recognized their role as institutional agents, as described above, but
they also recognized the role they played in creating and equitable and inclusive environments
for students. Lucia explains the importance of Latina and Latino faculty representation for
students’ inclusion and to challenging color-blind approaches:
I think our presence alone makes a difference in the Academy. It makes students feel like
they can apply to our programs, and feel like we understand where they're coming
from…it does worry people a lot because we're taking more of our race and equity lens to
this program than what they've seen in the past, especially in [?]. They're not exactly used
to seeing that, so we were disrupting things even with just our presence. But that's
necessary and that's important. [Lucia]
Sophia summarizes some of the reasons why faculty members of color are important to creating
equitable institutions, as well as some of the challenges:
It's important to have faculty of color period on the faculty so that 1) students can see
themselves in the faculty, and 2) if they need a listening ear I'm the faculty [?] who they
turn to. Is that always fair? I don't know. It can be more time consuming because we
often are the ones who take on a little bit more of that work. It's referred to as a cultural
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 53
tax in some of the literature. But I think most of us do it willingly, because we understand
the importance of that work. [Sophia]
The representation of Latino and Latina faculty can benefit students and challenge institutional
barriers, but participant also described how past experiences informed their current practices in
research, teaching, and service to challenge deficit perspectives and inequitable outcomes.
Funds of knowledge practices. The funds of knowledge revealed during the interviews
exemplify how participants draw from their experiences as Latino and Latina faculty members to
develop practices in different areas of academia to challenge deficit perspectives and barriers that
hinder equitable outcomes for underrepresented populations.
Research. Participants such as Sophia and Tony draw from their background to conduct
research with their communities through critical and asset-based approaches. Sophia’s familial
support, for example, led to her challenging deficit notions about Latino and Latina families:
I use funds of knowledge as a framework very often as I've mentioned. I use community-
based research and community-engaged research as a methodology to engage with
communities, which really positions the communities as the holders of the knowledge
and experts of the issues. And lets them drive wherever the project is going to go. And so
those things position, I think, communities of color in ways that already counters that
deficit notion. [Sophia]
Tony, whose father was an undocumented worker, also used his research to challenge deficit
notions about immigrants and present immigrant communities from a positive perspective:
We [Tony with his research center] wrote a report…on comprehensive immigration
reform…Comprehensive immigration reform is important for the state–these are
undocumented Californians, right? They're part of the fabric of our community, and if we
do this right, we have a better future together. It's an asset perspective. We do that in
regards to work we do on inequality. We talk a lot about how unless you deal with any
quality or, if you do deal with any quality, you'll have a more productive economy and
society moving forward. That's a positive approach. [Tony]
Jessica used her research to empower her voice as a Latina faculty member and applied to critical
research to similarly empower her students:
The other piece that's really critical… is my research, that's my voice…. it's the
publications, it's the articles, it's the journals, it's the being in a national board at the
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 54
Latino National Association. I'm part of the National Latino Psychological Association. I
try to be always visible there and active… and then I give the same skill to my students
so that they can be scholars, but not just any type of scholars. [Jessica]
Participants’ research endeavors provided an important outlet to challenge deficit perspectives
and inequitable outcomes. Through their research, participants designed studies to learn about,
and from, underrepresented populations through a more critical and empowering lens. The
research studies also provided participants with the opportunity to work directly with those
underrepresented communities and provide necessary support and resources. From their research
studies, participants were able to represent and empower marginalized communities, and often
their own backgrounds, through their publications, through their academic presentations and
discussions, and by informing other scholars and students.
Teaching. Participants often drew from their background and experiences to inform their
teaching and mentoring practices, which tended to draw on students’ funds of knowledge as well.
Jon, for example, described using his classroom practices to draw out students’ funds of
knowledge:
I'm not looking for answers, I'm looking for dialogue…in the agenda I'm asking, "Does
this at all mean anything to you outside the context of the knowledge of this class?" That
forces them to look at their funds of knowledge and activate them. And at the same time,
it's saying that's legitimate. [Jon]
Sophia also describes her approach to learning from and validating the funds of knowledge her
students of color bring to the classroom.
Recognizing that there are very rich funds of knowledge within families and communities
and I have as much to learn from their daily practices as hopefully they might learn from
me. I take that same approach into the classroom and often tell my students, "You're
coming with your own expertise of your own knowledge and your own life experiences,
and often professional experiences." I want them to feel comfortable contributing that in
class–even if they might not fully understand the concept that we're covering–and to
bring in their own expertise as a way to deconstruct that…the funds of knowledge
framework and lens for me is very much both…the research framework and a
pedagogical framework that I use in the classroom. [Sophia]
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 55
Williams also discussed using his funds of knowledge to challenge departmental practices at his
current institution:
The point is that a wrong way of doing it [teaching Spanish to Spanish-speakers] is the
way that they did it in my high school…the Spanish was taught the same way as it would
be to people that are non-native Spanish speakers. To add to that, it was very Spanish-
from-Spain focus, and so it was very not affirming of the knowledge that we were
coming in with. When I went to [Azure University], there, they have Spanish for Spanish
speakers, and there was a three-quarter program that you could take. It was specifically
designed, taught in a way to cater to people who already come with some knowledge of
speaking Spanish but maybe haven't studied it very much. I learned more in one month,
in college in Spanish for Spanish speakers, than I did in three years of high school
Spanish, where it was just–again, another part of it is that in college, they included Latin
American history, Latin American ways of saying things–they focused on our issues. So,
that's one of the things that I've been working for here, even though I'm not in the Spanish
Department…I have been advocating for them creating a Spanish for Spanish speakers or
Spanish for heritage speakers course. [William]
Participants’ awareness of their own funds of knowledge led to an awareness of their students’
funds of knowledge. Participants recognized they drew on their own experiences to learn as
students, so they often sought to engage students’ experiences and funds of knowledge to teach
as faculty members.
Mentoring. Participants recognized the importance of mentorship in their educational and
professional careers, and sought to be mentors for their students. Gladys, for example, described
drawing on her experience as a Latina in academia to relate with her doctoral students who are
women of color:
I take lessons from my mentors who helped me get here. Even when I see them, my
doctoral students who are women of color, kind of experience that and understanding that
this is part of the process–this is part of what we have to grapple with and struggle with in
the academy as Latinas, as women, in terms of finding our own space and place within
the context of where we work. It's certainly something that's there in my head. [Gladys]
Service. Lastly, participants’ past experiences also influenced their practices while
serving on institutional and departmental committees. Jon, for example, described his effort to
raise awareness of color at a faculty meeting:
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 56
One time when we had a faculty meeting, I deliberately went around asking staff in the
faculty of color if they wanted to join us at our desk. Some were reluctant, especially
when I asked them to do that. And the reason I was doing that, I wanted to make color
visible to the white faculty. Because when they scattered like that, it's just the person and
we present ourselves in selective ways that don't necessarily bring race into the issue. I
asked a friend of mine, "Did it make other people uncomfortable?" She says, "Yeah."
Good, good. They're seeing now. They may not be relating, but they're seeing…it was a
statement without confrontation. [Jon]
Participants’ responses offered examples of how faculty members’ funds of knowledge–“the
‘know-how’ that individuals call on (mostly unconsciously) to accomplish their work”
(Bensimon, 2007, p. 451)–can benefit students and institutions of higher education.
Conclusion
The essence of participants’ stories was of their perseverance through barriers within
educational institutions. As participants navigated their educational and professional paths, the
challenges they experienced and the support they received influenced how they approached their
work as faculty members. Participants tended to have a strong social justice orientation and
aspired to create more equitable and inclusive environments, but often had to balance competing
demands and inconsistent support. Chapter five discusses the implications of these finding for
the research questions and make recommendations for how institutions can create more equitable
environments for faculty members of color. The recommendations are not a comprehensive
solution for issues experienced by faculty members of color in institutions of higher education;
however, inquiring into the experiences and practices of faculty of color can support institutional
endeavors to create more equitable and inclusive campuses for a diversifying student population.

LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 57
Chapter 5: Discussion & Recommendations
The purpose of this study was to explore how the experiences of Latino and Latina
faculty members contribute to their practices. Based on the theories of institutional agents and
funds of knowledge, the interview findings from the previous chapter reveal important insights
into how participants’ experiences informed their current practices as faculty members. This
chapter discusses the implications of these findings to the study’s research question: What funds
of knowledge do Latino and Latina faculty members draw from to inform their practices?
The chapter’s sections draw from this study’s findings as well as from past research to explore
the following: 1) what experiences and relationships Latino and Latina faculty members
perceived as important to their position; 2) how Latino and Latina faculty members draw on their
experiences to inform their current practices; and 3) why Latino and Latina faculty members’
funds of knowledge are important for institutions of higher education to consider and support.
The chapter also provides recommendations for higher education institutions and other
organizations to become more inclusive of Latino and Latina faculty members’ fund of
knowledge. Lastly, I consider limitations of the findings and future research steps.
Potential implication
The funds of knowledge theory originally conceptualized the term ‘funds of knowledge’
as “historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential
for household or individual functioning and wellbeing” (Gonzalez, et al., 2005, p. 134). The
approach sought to engage teachers as researchers to connect students’ funds of knowledge to
classroom practices (Gonzalez, et al., 2005). Although funds of knowledge research typically
focuses on K-12 settings and on students’ funds of knowledge, institutional agents in higher
education, such as faculty members, also possess funds of knowledge that influence their
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 58
practices (Stanton-Salazar, 2010; Bensimon, 2007). Bensimon (2007) states, “funds of
knowledge are reflected in how practitioners define problems, situations, and make sense of
phenomena,” or in other words, funds of knowledge are “the ‘know-how’ that individuals call on
(mostly unconsciously) to accomplish their work” (Bensimon, 2007, p. 451). The following
questions explore important sources of Latino and Latina faculty members’ funds of knowledge
and how those funds of knowledge inform their current practices.
What experiences and relationships do Latino and Latina faculty members perceive as
important in navigating to their current position?
Persistence through barriers. Across the sample, participants noted educational and
professional barriers as well as their persistence despite such barriers. Participants experienced
isolation, marginalization, hostile campus environments, and forms of discrimination at each
level of their education and as professionals. However, participants were able to persist despite
such barriers due in large part to the support of mentors, peers, and organizations, as well as their
individual agency (described in the following section). Participants such as Miguel, Tony, and
Jessica, for example, recalled being disengaged during their education, while William described
the hostile environment of his graduate school experience. Other participants, such as Lucia and
Gladys, described feeling isolated and invalidated as faculty members.
Participants’ experiences are not uncommon and align closely with findings from past
studies of faculty members of color. For example, Turner, Gonzalez, and Wood (2008) described
some of the negative challenges affecting the experiences of faculty members of color, including
1) undervaluation of their research, 2) challenges to their credentials and intellect in the
classroom, 3) isolation, 4) perceived biases in the hiring process, 5) unrealistic expectations
being representatives of their racial/ethnic group while fulfilling all other responsibilities of their
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 59
position, 6) lack of campus student/faculty diversity, 7) being the token person of color, and 8)
perceived lack of departmental/institutional effort to recruit, hire, and retain faculty of color,
among many others. Austin, Willett, Gebhard, and Montes (2010) also discussed some of the
educational and professional factors faced by Latino and Latina educators, including competing
discourses, historical institutional inequities, and boundaries limiting interactions between
universities and communities. Participants mentioned experiencing competing discourses, the
effects of institutional inequities, and barriers to engaging their universities communities, which
hindered their fulfilling their faculty responsibilities. While experiences with these factors may
have been negative, they also resulted in the empowering relationships and experiences that were
particularly influential for participants.
Empowering experiences & relationships. As a result of the many institutional barriers
experiences by participants, the relationships and experiences that empowered participants to
persist were particularly important. Participants recalled empowering relationships and
experiences during their K-12 education, transitioning into and through higher education, and to
fuel their careers as faculty members. Through empowering relationships and experiences,
Miguel, William, Tony and Jon for example, were able to realize the larger political relevance of
their education, while Gladys, Jessica, Lucia, and Sophia were able to use their relationship
networks to create support systems for themselves and others. The importance of empowering
relationships to participants also aligns with existing studies such as Morton & Martin (2013)
and Stanton-Salazar (2010). These experiences have a significant influence not only on
participants’ persistence, but also on their practices as faculty members.

LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 60
How do Latino and Latina faculty members draw on their experiences to inform their
practices?
Critical perspective to teaching, research, service. Participants’ experiences with
institutional barriers and discrimination as well as the relationship and experiences that
empowered them to persist through to their current position informed how they approached their
practices in teaching, research, and service. Participants such as Miguel and Gladys expressed
that the constant awareness of deficit perspectives in the dominant discourse. As a result,
participants overwhelming adopted social justice approaches and applied critical perspectives to
research, teaching, and institutional strictures, practices, and policies. Past research has also
found that institutional agents of color are likely to be social-justice oriented and willing to
challenge deficit perspectives (Morton & Martin, 2013; Gomez, Rodriguez, & Agosto, 2008).
As faculty members, participants engaged in a variety of projects to address deficit
perspectives and other forms of inequities while also applying a critical perspective to different
aspects of academia. Participants’ experiences with institutional barriers and empowering
relationships allowed them to recognize deficit perspectives in research, practices, and
institutional polices that negatively impact underrepresented groups. Tony, Sophia, and Jessica,
for example, mentioned challenging deficit perspectives directed at Latino and Latina
communities in research and in community projects. Furthermore, participants’ funds of
knowledge encouraged them to be critical of teaching and mentoring practices and to be more
empathetic of students’ strengths and needs.
Empowerment agents in teaching and mentoring. Many of the participants recognized
the importance empowering mentors played in their educational and professional trajectories and
as a result, participants’ practices sought to create empowering relationships much like Stanton-
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 61
Salazar’s (2010) concept of empowerment agents. Participants recognized the importance of
their role as institutional agents to students’ success, so almost all participants deliberately
sought to mentor or teach underrepresented students to challenge deficit perspectives and
inequities, as well as through their research, university service, and community work.
Furthermore, participants’ responses reflected Stanton-Salazar’s (2010) characteristics of
empowerment agents, since participants were: 1) aware of social structural forces that hinder that
success of students of color; 2) aware that the success of students of color is contingent on
tailored institutional support; 3) willing to challenge inequitable policies, practices, and structure;
4) willing to identify as agents responsible for advocating for students of color and providing
varied forms of institutional support; and 5) identified by the larger community as advocates and
agents for students of color.
Participants’ practices as empowerment agents occurred within the context of higher
education and academia. While participant may push for social justice changes, they also
indicated a need to manage these goals with demands to publish research, pressure to serve on
diversity committees, navigating institutional politics, and time to teach and mentor students, in
addition to maintaining their well-being and family responsibilities. As faculty of color,
participants also faced the challenge of learning to navigate the profession while working to
achieve these goals, as Sophia stated, “Just as our students are navigating often predominantly
white spaces, faculty of color are too.” The institutional support provided to faculty members
influenced how they were able to apply their funds of knowledge to their practices. Participants
generally spoke positively about their institutions, but expressed a lack of support in significant
areas. Institutional support for faculty members generally focused on funding and publicizing
their successful research, but lacked in training or mentorship for young faculty members and
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 62
support for the service and teaching aspects of the position. The following section discusses how
institutions benefit from faculty members’ funds of knowledge and why those practices should
be supported.
Why are Latino and Latina faculty members’ funds of knowledge important for
institutions of higher education to consider and support? And how can institutions be more
inclusive of Latino and Latina faculty members’ funds of knowledge?
Participants’ responses reflected themes from prior research about the importance of
racial/ethnic diversity among faculty members. For example, the importance of diverse
perspectives to research and academic discussions, mentioned by Jon and Sophia, are supported
by studies such as Urrieta & Mendez Benavidez, (2007), Umbach (2006), Vargas (2002),
Antonio (2000), and Turner (2000). Also, participants including Sophia, Lucia, and Miguel
recognized the importance their presence played in creating more inclusive and equitable
environments for a student population with rapidly changing needs and strengths. Their
responses echoed findings of researchers such as Stanton-Salazar (2010) and Hagedorn, Chi,
Cepeda, and McLain (2007).
While studies have recognized the importance of diverse faculties, this study reveals
another contribution from faculty members of color to benefit the changing student population: a
critical perspective of practices, policies, and research. Participants’ described a constant critical
consciousness, an inclination towards social justice projects, and practices based on their funds
of knowledge that exemplify empowerment agents. These characteristics benefit institutions of
higher education seeking to create more inclusive and equitable environment by supporting
efforts to 1) identify and dismantle institutional barriers, 2) challenge deficit perspectives in
academic research and institutional practice, and 3) teach and mentor students and colleagues to
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 63
become critical scholars and empowerment agents. While faculty of color can provide necessary
benefits to institutions of higher in education in today’s increasingly diverse society, institutions
must also provide the support and environment for faculty members to apply their funds of
knowledge to their practices. The next section provides recommendations for institutions of
higher education to create more supportive and inclusive environments for Latino and Latina
faculty and other faculty members of color.
Recommendations
The following recommendations draw from past research on the funds of knowledge of
Latino and Latina faculty members and findings from this study to provide suggestions for
institutions to create more supportive and inclusive environments for faculty members of color.
Institutions of higher education need diverse faculty members and other institutional agents to
meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student population. Faculty members of color, such as
the Latino and Latina faculty participating in this study, are very likely to possess funds of
knowledge that inform practices to challenge institutional barriers and deficit perspectives to
benefit students and communities of color. However, faculty members of color function within
institutional structures and politics, and thus institutional supports–and barriers–can hinder or
encourage faculty members’ use of potentially beneficial funds of knowledge in teaching,
mentoring, research, university service, and community engagement practices. The following
recommendations can help create an environment supportive of Latino and Latina faculty
members’ funds of knowledge:
Recommendation 1: Provide formal institutional support for faculty members to
work with students and manage the demands of the position. Although participants in this
study spoke well about their institutions, it was also clear that institutions provided limited
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 64
support for faculty to fulfill their research, teaching, and service responsibilities. Most
participants indicated support from their institution came mainly in the form of support for their
research, such as funding opportunities, research centers, and publicity of their research. While
these are necessary for faculty members to conduct and publish research, Latino and Latina
faculty members often also have important contributions to the teaching and service aspects of
the position, which can benefit institutions as they adapt to a diversifying student population in a
diversifying society. Faculty members of color already described demands from institutions to
serve on diversity initiatives, and from students to serve as educators and mentors. However,
faculty members must manage these competing demands for their time from the institution,
students, research, and other personal goals and responsibilities. The funds of knowledge
possessed by Latino and Latina faculty members oriented them toward social justice practices,
but they had to manage these competing demands while also attempting to create social justice
changes to mitigate inequities within institution and communities.
As institutions begin to recognize the need to address inequities in their policies and
practices to better serve the changing needs of their students, the funds of knowledge of faculty
members of color provide critical perspectives and practices to create the necessary changes.
However, in order for faculty members of color to be able apply their time and effort towards
social justice efforts, institutions must provide various forms of support so faculty members can
better manage the competing but important duties of their position. Participants’ indicated that
applying their critical consciousness to research, teaching/mentoring, and university/community
service benefit institutions’ equity efforts. Institutions should engage efforts to support faculty
members in managing their research, teaching, and service responsibilities with other social
justice and equity efforts.
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 65
Recommendation 2. Offer continuous opportunities for faculty members to develop
formal or informal mentor relationships with colleagues. Mentorship was important to faculty
members as they navigated their education, but mentoring was much less common during their
professional careers. Participants discussed having to learn to navigate the unfamiliarity of
academia as faculty of color without much formal mentorship. As Sophia mentioned, “Just as our
students are navigating often predominantly white spaces, faculty of color are too.” According to
participants as well as past research, mentorship is a critical support for the success of faculty
members of color (Turner et al., 2008). Institutions of higher educations need to provide
opportunities for faculty members of color to develop mentor relationships. Since mentor
relationships can evolve over the course of a career, institutions should provide on-going
opportunities for both formal and informal mentorship about how faculty members can fulfill the
responsibilities of the position as well as navigating institutional politics and structures.
Furthermore, in order to create mentorship opportunities for faculty of color, institutions of
higher education must also address the lack of diversity as well as the ‘publish or perish’
environment within the professoriate which disadvantages faculty members of color and limits
opportunities for successful mentorship (Turner et al., 2008).
Recommendation 3. Recognize the contributions of faculty members of color and
make an explicit effort to support their funds of knowledge in practice. The first two
recommendations are necessary for the success of faculty members of color, but institutions must
also commit to learning from the perspectives and practices of faculty members of color.
Institutional barriers and strategies to navigate those barriers were sources of participants’ funds
of knowledge that could benefit institutional efforts to better serve their diversifying student
bodies. However, institutions cannot simply demand faculty to serve equity and diversity
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 66
committees. Instead, institutions should create environments that allow faculty members of color
to effectively apply their funds of knowledge through their research, teaching, and service to the
institution and academia. Participants’ funds of knowledge inclined them to pursue research
interests and educational practices that challenge the institutional barriers they overcame and
students are currently experiencing. By creating a supportive and inclusive environment for
faculty members of color, institutions can allow them to use their position to not only produce
critical research, but also to dismantle inequitable institutional practices, policies, and structures
to better serve diverse students and communities.
Limitations to study
Participants’ responses provided insight into the experiences of Latino and Latina faculty
members and revealed important findings about their funds of knowledge and practices.
However, while the phenomenological approach of the study allowed me to explore the essence
of participants’ experiences, the small sample size of phenomenological research limits the
generalizability of finds. The study was limited in time, resources, and capacity, so it is not
intended to be comprehensive of all sources of funds of knowledge or contexts for faculty
members. Furthermore, the study did not intend to find a causal relationship between
participants’ experiences, their practices, and institutional outcomes. Rather, the study sought to
explore participants’ experiences and practices within the context of higher education institution.
The experiences that participants expressed as important to their educational and professional
trajectories, nonetheless, provided important insights into institutional barriers and approaches to
challenge those barriers that can benefit efforts to create more inclusive and equitable
environments.

LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 67
Conclusion
The Latino and Latina faculty members who participated in this study may not be
representative due to the small sample size, but through the phenomenological design of this
study, I was able to capture the essence of participants’ past experiences and how those funds of
knowledge have contributed to their current practices. Participants recalled overcoming barriers
throughout their educational and professional careers as well as the experiences and relationships
that empowered them to persist through the barriers they experienced. Now as faculty members,
participants’ practices in research, teaching, community work, and university service aim to
challenge barriers experienced by underrepresented students and communities as well as provide
their students with empowering relationships similar to those they experienced. The funds of
knowledge participants possessed, much like those of other faculty members of color, can be
incredibly beneficial to institutions of higher education that aim to create more inclusive and
equitable environments for both students and institutional agents. As the student population
diversifies, faculty members of color play an increasing important role to the success of
institutions of higher education. However, while faculty of color may be inclined to purse social
justice reforms because of their funds of knowledge, institutions must also provide the context
within which Latino and Latina faculty members’ contributions are recognized, supported, and
incorporated into institutional practices and policies.
Future Areas of Research
More research is needed to understand the funds of knowledge of Latino and Latina
faculty members–as well as other institutional agents of color –in higher education. This study
provided useful insights, but more importantly raised questions for further consideration. Future
research should consider how political, regional, and institutional contexts influence the
LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 68
opportunity for faculty members of color to apply their funds of knowledge and which contexts
have been particularly successful. Research should also explore how institutions recognize,
consider, and include the funds of knowledge of faculty or other institutional agents of color in
diversity efforts. Lastly, research can also focus on the relationship between the funds of
knowledge of Latino and Latina faculty members (as well as other faculty members of color) and
equitable outcomes. As students and society diversify, higher education must adapt to meet their
changing demands. By becoming more supportive and inclusive to the funds of knowledge of
faculty members and other institutional agents of color, institutions of higher education can
progress towards creating a more equitable environment for their entire campus.

LATINO/A FACULTY MEMBERS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE 69
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Abstract (if available)

Abstract As arguments and pressures mount for institutions of higher education to produce more equitable outcomes among student groups, institutional agents funds of knowledge can support or hinder students’ experiences and success (Stanton-Salazar, 2010

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Asset Metadata

Creator Fernandez Castro, Marlon (author)

Core Title Latino and Latina faculty members’ funds of knowledge: a qualitative study of empowerment agents’ experiences and practices

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Master of Education

Degree Program Postsecondary Administration and Student Affairs

Publication Date 04/25/2016

Defense Date 03/21/2016

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag empowerment agents,faculty members,funds of knowledge,Higher education,institutional agents,Latina,Latino,OAI-PMH Harvest

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Corwin, Zoe (committee chair), Ahmadi, Shafiqa (committee member), Venegas, Kristan (committee member)

Creator Email marlon.castro34@gmail.com,marlonfe@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-241951

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Legacy Identifier etd-FernandezC-4368.pdf

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Document Type Thesis

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Rights Fernandez Castro, Marlon

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Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

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