African American Leadership and Mentoring Through Purpose, Preparation, and Preceptors

Book excerpt: The lack of African Americans in leadership roles within the academy creates a real crisis in the leadership pipeline. One of the problems could be that the pathways to leadership for African Americans are less visible. They can see the end result but may be less clear about how to get there. Oftentimes, understanding these pathways to leadership is less academic in nature and more informal and/or relational. Thus, the relationship between leadership and mentorship for African Americans is especially important to advancing in the academy. Further guidance and understanding of steps to advancement from established African American leaders in the academy is therefore needed. African American Leadership and Mentoring Through Purpose, Preparation, and Preceptors provides an exhaustive exploration of leadership and mentorship through purpose, preparation, and preceptors. This edited book explains how to identify ways that individuals can strengthen their career trajectory, determine strategies to employ for career advancement, establish lasting and impactful connections with key stakeholders per career aspirations, provide guidance for individuals seeking advancement within the academy, and explore current theoretical and practical nuances with regard to research, literature, and application of leadership and mentorship of African Americans in the academy. Covering topics such as cross-racial mentorship, emotionally intelligent leadership, and African American leaders, this text is ideal for teachers, faculty, university administrators, leaders in education, aspiring future leaders, researchers, academicians, and students.