Great efforts have been placed on recruiting underrepresented minority faculty in academic communities to effectively address the increasingly diverse demographics in the health care setting. However, this is not enough. Because minority faculty experience different challenges, more structured support by leadership is needed for promotion, retention, and advancement. Three strategies to support minority faculty success are as follows: (1) promote effective and innovative mentorship: assign senior-level faculty who value diversity as mentors. Regular meetings with bidirectional communication can be held to help minority nurse educators address barriers and intrinsic biases in their academic community; (2) encourage networking with other minority faculty: meaningful discussion and sharing issues that pertain to the minority faculty member can help faculty learn from each other. Diversity, equity, and inclusion committees can be a safe and welcoming place to start building networks. The feeling of "being excluded" can be addressed with the support of others; and (3) address leadership issues in promoting diversity: deans and directors should identify potential minority candidates who may be successful in leadership roles, encourage and support them in developing leadership skills, and recommend different leadership resources including a one-on-one leadership coach. Minority faculty play a significant role in transforming the culture of the organization. Culturally sensitive support and commitment by leadership are needed to help minority faculty be successful.

By Kumhee Ro, DNP, ARNP, Assistant Clinical Professor, Seattle University College of Nursing, Seattle, Washington (mailto:[email protected]).