Challenges and Opportunities for Women's Leadership

Study of the United States Institute (SUSI) Participants, Saint Mary’s College

Anniversaries are often times of reflection. Such was the case in June 2012, when groups and individuals interested in the status of women in higher education celebrated the fortieth anniversary of Title IX, which guaranteed unprecedented educational opportunities for women. Title IX’s passage in 1972 was a key event in a broader movement for greater inclusion of women of all backgrounds and social identities, not only in higher education but also in other sectors across American society. It is thus not surprising that multiple groups focused on women’s equity in education likewise celebrated fortieth anniversaries recently, including AAC&U’s own Program on the Status and Education of Women in 2011.

In weighing the changes that have occurred in higher education and across society since 1972, we are called to celebrate tremendous growth in access and opportunity for women in higher education. But we are also challenged to ask, what frontiers still remain for women’s equity, and what are the best approaches we can take to forge ahead? This issue of On Campus with Women engages with that question as it focuses on contemporary challenges and opportunities for women’s leadership. It is a fitting point of reflection for this issue of OCWW, which ends the publication’s run and marks the beginning of a new era of gender equity at AAC&U.

Among the pressing twenty-first-century challenges we highlight are the continuing underrepresentation of women in the top positions of higher education leadership and in academic positions in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Judith White points toward the opportunity for women in higher education to participate as leaders in creating newly inclusive institutions, and Kelly Mack explores evolving approaches to supporting women in STEM that take into account the full range of their experiences. Focusing on higher education’s role in developing the next generation of leaders, Nannerl Keohane, Briah Fischer, and Paulette Dalpes share their respective views of undergraduate women’s leadership and identify opportunities to develop students’ leadership capacities. Authors from the Center for Women’s Intercultural Leadership at Saint Mary’s College describe a programmatic approach to encouraging women’s global leadership, and staff at the National Council for Research on Women summarize several initiatives supporting “action research” that benefits women and girls.

Finally, AAC&U Senior Scholar Caryn McTighe Musil reflects on the association’s history of supporting gender equity, and AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider describes how the association is newly re-envisioning this work to best address ongoing challenges to women’s full inclusion as students, scholars, teachers, and leaders in the twenty-first-century academy. On Campus with Women’s editorial team invites readers to visit these articles to learn about the next era of gender equity work at AAC&U, and we thank you for joining us in facing the challenges and embracing the opportunities to create a more just and equitable world for women and men, in higher education and beyond.

—Kathryn Peltier Campbell, editor