Abstract
The term leadership has been dissected, analyzed and even quantified over numerous years. Leadership in STEM has also been extensively researched. Its results are used to educate and guide decision and to enact policies. However, despite the abundance of literature available on leadership and STEM in general, research falls short when it comes to examining leadership characteristics and its relationship to broadening participation at institutions of higher education, specifically Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Of special interest is the growing awareness that HBCUs have been producing high percentages of STEM graduates for many years. CASL, the Center for Advancement of STEM Leadership, aims to discover the leadership styles, characteristics and practices that may be influencing the large production of STEM graduates from HBCUs and contribute to the general body of knowledge on leadership. Semi-structured interviews served as the source of data from HBCU leaders’ perspectives. The results of this analysis will assist with increasing the general population’s awareness and knowledge of the impact of HBCUs’ leadership on broadening participation in STEM. The results also inform leaders of educational institutions across the nation regarding the benefits of exploring, or implementing, uncovered leadership styles and practices to broaden participation in STEM.
Highlights
An organization’s leadership style plays an important role in its success (Bukit et al, 2019)
Five main themes emerged from the analysis of perspectives: (a) Practices of effective leaders; (b) practices that strengthen student STEM communities; (c) initiatives that strengthen STEM faculty and programs; (d) characteristics of STEM leaders and (e) challenges that impact leadership and broadening participation
The emerging themes highlight behaviors that participants felt were necessary for leaders at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to do when developing other skilled and efficient leaders
Summary
An organization’s leadership style plays an important role in its success (Bukit et al, 2019). The behaviors of leaders, which drive their individual success (Heimann et al, 2020), can make a positive impact on an organization’s success. The right leadership style will encourage employees to work optimally while achieving organization objectives (Bukit et al, 2019). For leadership to be effective, it requires effective communication, effective behavior, good ethics and an effective style from its members (Shah, 2018). With an effective leadership team, an organization can witness growth in its performance and a positive change in its overall structure (Thapa, 2016)
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