New Book Centers the Voices of Black Women Department Chairs

Dear Department Chair: Letters from Black Women Leaders to the Next Generation is a compelling book about leadership, service, and the importance of mentorship/sponsorship within the academy. The book is edited by Drs. Stephanie Y. Evans, Stephanie Shonekan, and Stephanie G. Adams. And its publication by Wayne State University Press earlier this month comes right on time, as a new academic school year gets underway.

Dr. Stephanie EvansAt a time when Black women remain disproportionately underrepresented in leadership roles within higher education, the editors of this book — all Black women — have brilliantly packaged sage advice in the form of love letters from other Black women who have navigated their way through the ranks of academe, all while providing invaluable departmental service to their colleges and universities.

With a powerful foreword written by veteran educator Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, president emerita of Spelman College and Bennett College, the book “is a highly valuable resource for the next generation of academic leaders,” notes Cole. “It is filled with information based on lived experiences of Black women who are currently administrators. And the sharing of those lived experiences is buttressed with specific data. There is an African Proverb that says: ‘Until the lion tells the story of the hunt, the story will always glorify the hunter.’ To make an important point, I want to add my proverb: ‘Until the lioness tells the story of the hunt, you haven’t heard all of the stories.’”

Evans, Shonekan, and Adams provide useful tips, including encouraging aspiring leaders to expand and broaden their network and to embrace the role of mentorship. They say the role of department chair should be in service to an institution, fundamentally providing care, guidance, and support to not only faculty colleagues but to support staff and students as well. In the process, they remind leaders that they, too, must exercise self-care.

Dear Department Chair: Letters from Black Women Leaders to the Next Generation is a compelling book about leadership, service, and the importance of mentorship/sponsorship within the academy.“If you can’t be supportive, leave folks alone,” they write. “Don’t seek to be the only one or the main one. You are special, but not that special.” And “Don’t be a boss.”

Having a boss mentality, they write, “is oppressive and predatory.” They encourage department leaders to “respect and support work and workers — including unions. Be kind to others; they don’t owe you or the institution their life.”

The responsibility of leading an academic department — particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing attacks on affirmative action and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts — has increasingly become daunting.