Answering the Call

African American Women in Higher Education Leadership

Beverly L. Bower, Mimi Wolverton

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9781579222543
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000979763
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Leadership in Education

Although much has been written about leaders and leadership, we unfortunately know little about women, particularly minority women, who fill this particular role. This book presents the stories, and the reflections on their paths to leadership in higher education, of seven African American women. Each has been the first woman, first African American, or first African American woman in one or more of the positions of authority that she has held. Each has overcome the double bind of sexism and racism that can inhibit the professional attainment of African American women. Although they followed different paths to leadership, similarities in their experiences, values, and beliefs emerge. They also express a need to give back to those communities that nourished their growth and leadership – of which this book is a manifestation. At a time when significant turnover in college leadership is about to occur – presenting increased opportunities for women and minorities – these leaders hope that the strategies they describe, the insights they impart, the experiences they recount, and, most of all, the passion they have sustained for the betterment of and greater inclusiveness in higher education, will inspire the next generation of women to answer the leadership call.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• 1 The Realities of African American Women in Higher Education Leadership
• 2 Being Okay with Being Me
• 3 Walking the Talk
• 4 Finding Purpose Through Meaningful Leadership
• 5 Making Things Happen
• 6 Choosing a Commitment to Change
• 7 Energized for the Hard Work of Leadership
• 8 For the Greater Good
• 9 Six Cs of Leadership
• 10 Project Methodology
• Index