The 2023 American College Presidents Study (ACPS) was released with sadly predictable results. The ACPS, conducted by the American Council on Education and the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) Institute, found that 61% of college presidents surveyed were men, and 46% were white men. Only 15% were men of color, and 13% were women of color. Despite all the talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion, the highest echelons in the Academy remain white and male.
These findings remain consistent across several studies. For example, in 2020, the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) found that Black/African American employees comprise less than 10% of higher education professionals. Whites make up more than 75% of all professionals in higher education. The same report found that Black/African American administrators in higher education were just 8% of all senior leaders. More than 80% were white.
How did this small percentage of Black administrators facilitate their success against the odds? How did they attain their positions, and what can we learn from them about the qualities and characteristics of this elite few?
Dr. Ebony McGee
To explore these questions, we published, Factors Contributing to Black Engineering and Computing Faculty’sPathways Toward University Administration and Leadership, where we interviewed 21 Black engineering and computing faculty members who transitioned into administrative leadership roles in their colleges and universities. The study was a piece in a three-year research project investigating the institutional, technical, social, and cultural factors that affect the career decision-making and career satisfaction of Black engineering and computing students, faculty, staff, and administrators who have been marginalized by race or race-gender dynamics and yet persisted in their fields.
As the study progressed, we wanted to explore these STEM faculty members’ transition to senior leadership administrative positions at universities nationwide. We found that some of the participants in our research had risen to leadership positions in their institutions, and we followed up with them to understand better how they climbed the academic ladder.
First, we found that most of the leaders we interviewed came to an administrative role in their institution through the usual path of serving on faculty and then rising from the ranks of administrative middle management to leadership positions. But we noticed two remarkable things about our interviewees. First, they were fiercely committed to representing Black people in the Academy. Second, they leveraged their networks, especially race-conscious networks, dedicated to uplifting Black people.
