The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the perspectives on empowerment held by African American women who work in executive positions within higher educational settings. This study also seeks to provide other women with a deeper level of awareness regarding the journey towards executive leadership. Current literature explores…

Colleges and universities across the nation are seeking a president with unique qualities to transform their institution. Notwithstanding, surprisingly, few studies have examined how African American presidents confront race while also successfully ascending into the presidency. The purpose of this study was to explore and interpret the…

The shortage of African American leadership in business, science, law, medicine or just in public school districts can be directly linked to several factors, including a shortage of African American teachers who will enter the leadership pipeline in both urban and suburban settings. This study uses a narrative approach to explore the experiences…

Contemporary models of operationalizing diversity on college campuses focus on the integration of diversity goals with the overall educational mission in ways that maximize the benefits of diversity for all. A growing number of institutions have created chief diversity officer (CDO) positions to procedurally and symbolically centralize diversity…

In this article, we present findings from a review and synthesis of historical and contemporary research to examine the concept of diversity leadership in higher education as it pertains to African American administrators at predominantly White colleges and universities. Through the use of critical race theory, we first argue that to understand…

Educational leadership plays a vital role in improving the academic outcomes of underserved and minority students. The leadership practices of Black educational leaders have contributed to the theorizing of effective, culturally responsive practices to improve student outcomes. This article uses portraiture to look at how one former Black…

Leadership remains an important topic across various disciples. The continuous demonstration of effective leadership and its impact on institutions and society fuels the inquiry into the various ways, behaviors, traits, and situations in which leaders and leadership are successful (Kezar & Lester, 2011). As more African Americans advance in…

The focus of this basic qualitative study was to explore the lived experiences of Floridian African American women in secondary educational leadership positions. Using critical race theory and Black feminist standpoint theory as a theoretical framework, this narrative analysis serves to increase the understanding of leadership styles among a…

The purpose of this qualitative interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) study was to understand how white collar African American male senior executives within the defense industry contractor IT organizations make sense of their career advancement into senior management positions. The 12 African American males that participated in this study…

The primary purpose of this study was to describe and explore, through interviews, how African American female principals sustain and maintain authority. This study investigated what it takes to become the authority, and how to reinforce authority and ensure that authority is understood, in administrative level school leadership positions where…

This autophenomenography describes multicultural leadership in school counseling from the perspective of a female African American school counselor; who served as a lead counselor, researcher, and participant of a research study, while employed in a predominantly White-culture school district. The theoretical framework grounding this study was…

The superintendency is the most male-dominated position in education (Alston, 2000; Brunner, 2000). Although statistical data reveal the disproportion between males and women in superintendent positions, the data also report a greater discrepancy in the number of African American women who have obtained superintendent positions. This qualitative…

The public school superintendent is undoubtedly a difficult position to fulfill. It is becoming more challenging each year (Goodman & Zimmerman, 2000). While the demographics of students of color continue to rise, the numbers of Superintendents of color have not increased at the same rate. Specifically, the number of Black Superintendents has…

According to Bennis (2003), "True leaders are not born, but made, and usually self-made" (p. 33). The purpose of this study was to identify and examine what factors influenced and limited the opportunities of African American females to obtain and maintain leadership roles in administrative positions at urban schools and the value of…

This inquiry used autoethnography methodology in a self-narrative format that places the self within the position of a first time Superintendent as an African American woman. The design of this research will allow the reader to travel with me through my experiences to obtain information about the challenges and obstacles of the superintendent…