10.2190/AWTU-UA54-QBXG-QNHU AWTUUA54QBXGQNHU 349 AFRICAN-AMERICAN IT PROFESSIONALS: DIVERSITY AND EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS CONSIDERED 349 367 20060728 20060728 20060728 20060728 AWTUUA54QBXGQNHU.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=AWTUUA54QBXGQNHU 4 FAY COBB PAYTON PH.D. North Carolina State University While career models consist of five stages, recurring themes among African-American IT professionals support four classes of factors that impede career advancement: systemic, career development, intrinsic, and cultural determinants. Each of these factor groups holds significant implications for employment rights. These implications stand to affect broader issues among information technology workforce career progression, performance standards, and personnel policies. This is particularly evident under conditions of ever-changing job markets and the continual need for lifelong learning. Stage models have been used to assess the career development of organizational employees. Categories of a stage career development framework were used to guide the collection of data from 30 African-American IT professionals to explore their career progression.