Abstract
While it is important for college and university senior administrators to embrace the traditional roles of their administrative positions, senior administrators’ interactions with students also shape institutional culture, students’ engagement, and ultimately play a role in students’ motivation to succeed. This engagement is especially evident in the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) context as senior administrators’ engagement with students can directly or indirectly affect how students perceive themselves and their ability to succeed. This article aims to illuminate the role that HBCU senior level administrators play in students’ motivation toward success. We also highlight the notion that senior level administrators’ role in organizational culture ultimately led historically-disempowered Black women students toward success in even the most historically inaccessible pathways in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. The study used semi-structured interviews with 71 Black women STEM students across 10 HBCUs and asked questions to better understand how events in their lives and on their campuses shaped their choice to pursue and persist through a STEM degree program. The study found that the women were highly motivated by their HBCUs’ family-like community of support. Integral to this article, this support was not confined to professors and peers, but extended to senior administrators. We conclude that Black women STEM students’ perception of their ability to succeed and their motivation is influenced by the institutions’ senior administration.
Highlights
The job descriptions of senior level college or university administrators such as deans, provosts, vice-presidents, and presidents include providing leadership and guidance to senior staff and faculty throughout the university [1]
Many senior administrators at historically Black college and university (HBCU) wear multiple hats and, along with the day-to-day functions of their job, HBCU senior level administrators are responsible for the implementation of institutionalized student support systems
A great deal of the research that focuses on collegiate influences of student engagement and motivation to, and through, college approaches this question through the lens of student interactions with professors [24], academic advisors, and academic peers
Summary
The job descriptions of senior level college or university administrators such as deans, provosts, vice-presidents, and presidents include providing leadership and guidance to senior staff and faculty throughout the university [1]. These senior administrators, even if from behind the scenes or in passing, can be champions of student success This role is especially evident within the historically Black college and university (HBCU) context. Many senior administrators at HBCUs wear multiple hats and, along with the day-to-day functions of their job, HBCU senior level administrators are responsible for the implementation of institutionalized student support systems. Such responsibility brings these administrative leaders closer to students than at many other non-HBCU schools [3]. At some HBCUs, institutional support can be found in the way of tutoring, mentoring, remediation programs, or even school-sponsored celebrations for students’ academic accomplishments
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