While only 2% of the adult U.S. population holds a doctorate, those that do wield considerable influence on education, from early childhood through postsecondary studies. On college and university campuses, who teaches students especially matters–research shows that students of color benefit from having a professor, law school instructor, or teaching assistant “like me”, with associated improvements in student performance and persistence in educational attainment. Yet the racial composition of those earning doctorates looks very different from the racial composition of the general population, raising questions of whether the benefits of racial representation in doctorate-level professions can be realized.
