Women in Higher Education Leadership - by Courtney Kealy & Petek Onur (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

This edited volume brings together a collective exploration of women's leadership in contemporary academic institutions. Through case studies and autoethnographic narratives, contributors examine the complexities, contradictions, and courage required to lead in environments shaped by hierarchy, exclusion, and institutional transformation. Based on deep engagement with women leaders across diverse institutional contexts-including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, liberal arts colleges, research universities, and international settings-the book highlights how leadership is enacted, negotiated, and reimagined in practice.

The volume also reflects on vocation, purpose, and the lived realities of leading in systems not originally designed for women's success. Rather than offering a singular definition, leadership is presented as relational, contextual, and evolving, shaped by identity, community, and calling.

Across the chapters, intersectional experiences of race, gender, class, and institutional power are foregrounded, revealing how women leaders navigate visibility, vulnerability, and authority. The narratives illuminate both structural barriers and transformative possibilities, showing how women lead through collaboration, mentorship, and ethical engagement.

In conversation with the latest scholarship, this volume amplifies marginalized voices and challenges dominant models of academic leadership. It offers a powerful resource for scholars, practitioners, and students seeking to understand leadership as a dynamic process of becoming-one that is both deeply personal and profoundly institutional.