In this special blog series, Understanding Leadership for Racial Justice, the Staley School of Leadership Studies invites conversation and action on understanding leadership for racial justice. What leadership is required for progress on racial justice? What practices and orientations to the work of leadership advance this effort and what hampers progress?
In this piece, the Staley School’s Roberta Maldonado Franzen, Tess Hobson, Dr. Trish Gott and Dr. Mary Hale Tolar set up the framing for this series.
While this blog series predated the Oct. 13, 2020, attacks on the Kansas State University online event, KSUnite, the framing and content remain as critical as ever. This series will provide an avenue and a resource for considering and advancing discussions of leadership through the lens of racial justice and advancing discussions of racial justice through a leadership lens. Each piece over the coming weeks will present scholarship alongside opportunities for action and questions for consideration as we advance leadership for racial justice.
Racial justice matters in our classrooms, in our universities, in our communities, across our state, city, and world. Yet today – and perhaps always – our communities continue to grapple with persistent individual and systemic racism that calls into question our ability to lead change and our commitment to the common good.
We will explore the intersection of racial justice and leadership. You’ll hear voices from the field and thought pieces from scholars, activists, and community members who are exercising leadership and leading change on racial justice. Join us to listen, to learn, to act, and to lead for change.
The guiding principles for this work include:
- Leadership should be culturally relevant
- Leadership starts with personal work – identity and systems
- Intercultural leadership capacity can, and should, be developed
- Our work requires community
Finally, this work requires not just theory but also practice. We look forward to sharing stories from the field of how community members are practicing leadership for change. Regularly, a new author will write from their perspective. We’d invite you to read this and to share your own stories by engaging with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Framing practice pieces
At K-State and across the nation, we are engaged in conversations about racial justice and the systems that support inequalities and inequities. On Sept. 2, 2020, K-State President Richard Myers shared a statement about issues impacting our campus community and action steps for a more inclusive environment. As we continue to grow as individuals and communities, we continue to adjust our efforts from talk to action. These endeavors help us better understand how leadership theories influence our leadership practices.
At the Staley School, we are taking the steps to learn how others transition from talk to action. We are highlighting three theories and demonstrating how they are put into action.
Coming up next
The Staley School’s Dr. Kerry Priest and graduate teaching assistant and doctoral student, Mac Benavides, introduce us to the theory of culturally relevant leadership learning (CRLL). CRLL is an approach to leadership education that “seeks to transgress traditional boundaries of education and reframe leadership learning as a practice of freedom” (Osteen, Guthrie, & Jones, 2016, p. 95).
They share how CRLL is and may be used in the classroom, programs, and in faculty and staff development.
Join us in engaging and learning together.
References
Jones, B. J., Guthrie, K. L, & Osteen, L. (2016). Critical domains of culturally relevant leadership learning: A call to transform leadership programs. New Directions for Student Leadership, 2016(152), 9-21. https://doi.org/10.1002/yd.20205
Higher Education Research Institute. (1996). A social change model of leadership development guidebook. Version III.
Los Angeles, CA: Higher Education Research Institute.
