Ann M. Ishimaru, University of Washington
I write this at a crucial moment in our country’s history regarding affirmative action. The Supreme Court deliberates about the use of race as an admissions factor in Fisher vs. University of Texas Austin, even as #StayMadAbby and other movements highlight the resilience and success of African American and other students of color in the face of persistent racism and oppression on higher education campuses, in P-12 educational systems, and in society more broadly. The narrowly-tailored version of affirmative action hangs in the balance, but regardless of how the Fisher case gets decided, the pressing need to address issues of equity and inclusion in education will not change. That, at heart, is what the Division A Affirmative Action Committee is about.
Although I was initially hesitant about becoming a Co-Chair of this committee (as a Japanese American, I’m part of a group of Asian Americans who are not under-represented in higher education), I soon learned that the committee (under the leadership of Dr. Lisa Bass & Dr. Camille Wilson) framed promoting affirmative action in educational leadership to mean working to rectify systemic inequities in educational systems at all levels. That’s work that all of us can and need to do. Through our invited AERA session, our new early career mentoring initiative, and ongoing advocacy for equity-boosting educational practice throughout the work of Division A, the Committee seeks to expand beyond a narrow legalistic frame of affirmative action to address the need for educational and social justice through educational administration, organization, and leadership.
In my current research about non-dominant family leadership, we borrow the term “aperturas” in Spanish from critical pedagogy to highlight the openings and convergences that represent opportunities for collective agency—of scholars, practitioners, school, family, and youth leaders—towards creating more equitable and just educational systems. Equitable leadership represents one such promising apertura. A new set of national educational leadership standards now include equity and cultural responsiveness as a key responsibility of school leaders. Leadership preparation and professional learning initiatives have increasingly begun to take up issues of race, class, language, citizenship, ability, sexual orientation, and other issues of power and privilege as a central focus of practice. And a wave of educational equity initiatives is building across the country - from district racial equity policies and efforts to boost the success of boys of color to work to reduce racial disproportionality in school discipline and disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline. Multi-organizational, cross-sector collaborations have also increasingly begun to recognize equity as a central concern in efforts to reach beyond the school walls to broker more holistic and sustained solutions to systemic inequities. This year’s AERA theme of public scholarship in tandem with Division A’s commitment and leadership for social justice amongst the divisions (see Dr. Dantley’s message) cap this converging opportunity for transformative change in educational leadership scholarship and practice.
For this year’s AERA, the dynamic new members of our Affirmative Action committee (listed below) join with Camille Wilson and myself (Chair and Co-Chair) in hosting an invited session at the April conference, entitled “Early Career Mentoring for Equity & Social Justice-Focused Faculty: Insights from the Leadership, Research & Activism of Senior Scholars.” A panel of senior scholars have generously agreed to share their insights about navigating academic careers as equity-oriented scholars, academic leaders, and community change agents: Dr. Enrique Alemán, Jr. (University of Texas at San Antonio), Dr. Richard Milner (University of Pittsburgh), and Dr. Khaula Murtadha (Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis). Update: Dr. Murtadha is no longer available to serve in this capacity. Dr. Camille wilson will serve on the panel in her place.
After hearing from the invited panelists, we will move into an interaction portion with panelists and attendees in roundtable dialogues to generate ideas and begin to co-design the new early career mentoring initiative that will launch in 2016-2017, under the guidance of Vice President Michael Dantley. Please spread the word, come to the session (whether you are early, middle, or late career!), and we invite you to join us in continuing to open the apertura of equitable leadership!
2016 Division A - Affirmative Action Committee
Chair – Camille M. Wilson, University of Michigan
Co-chair – Ann M. Ishimaru, University of Washington
Members
Dana Thompson Dorsey, UNC Chapel Hill
Rhoda Freelon, Spencer Foundation
Melissa Martinez, Texas State University
Bernard Oliver, University of Florida
Rosa Rivera-McCutchen, Lehman College
Although I was initially hesitant about becoming a Co-Chair of this committee (as a Japanese American, I’m part of a group of Asian Americans who are not under-represented in higher education), I soon learned that the committee (under the leadership of Dr. Lisa Bass & Dr. Camille Wilson) framed promoting affirmative action in educational leadership to mean working to rectify systemic inequities in educational systems at all levels. That’s work that all of us can and need to do. Through our invited AERA session, our new early career mentoring initiative, and ongoing advocacy for equity-boosting educational practice throughout the work of Division A, the Committee seeks to expand beyond a narrow legalistic frame of affirmative action to address the need for educational and social justice through educational administration, organization, and leadership.
In my current research about non-dominant family leadership, we borrow the term “aperturas” in Spanish from critical pedagogy to highlight the openings and convergences that represent opportunities for collective agency—of scholars, practitioners, school, family, and youth leaders—towards creating more equitable and just educational systems. Equitable leadership represents one such promising apertura. A new set of national educational leadership standards now include equity and cultural responsiveness as a key responsibility of school leaders. Leadership preparation and professional learning initiatives have increasingly begun to take up issues of race, class, language, citizenship, ability, sexual orientation, and other issues of power and privilege as a central focus of practice. And a wave of educational equity initiatives is building across the country - from district racial equity policies and efforts to boost the success of boys of color to work to reduce racial disproportionality in school discipline and disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline. Multi-organizational, cross-sector collaborations have also increasingly begun to recognize equity as a central concern in efforts to reach beyond the school walls to broker more holistic and sustained solutions to systemic inequities. This year’s AERA theme of public scholarship in tandem with Division A’s commitment and leadership for social justice amongst the divisions (see Dr. Dantley’s message) cap this converging opportunity for transformative change in educational leadership scholarship and practice.
For this year’s AERA, the dynamic new members of our Affirmative Action committee (listed below) join with Camille Wilson and myself (Chair and Co-Chair) in hosting an invited session at the April conference, entitled “Early Career Mentoring for Equity & Social Justice-Focused Faculty: Insights from the Leadership, Research & Activism of Senior Scholars.” A panel of senior scholars have generously agreed to share their insights about navigating academic careers as equity-oriented scholars, academic leaders, and community change agents: Dr. Enrique Alemán, Jr. (University of Texas at San Antonio), Dr. Richard Milner (University of Pittsburgh), and Dr. Khaula Murtadha (Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis). Update: Dr. Murtadha is no longer available to serve in this capacity. Dr. Camille wilson will serve on the panel in her place.
After hearing from the invited panelists, we will move into an interaction portion with panelists and attendees in roundtable dialogues to generate ideas and begin to co-design the new early career mentoring initiative that will launch in 2016-2017, under the guidance of Vice President Michael Dantley. Please spread the word, come to the session (whether you are early, middle, or late career!), and we invite you to join us in continuing to open the apertura of equitable leadership!
2016 Division A - Affirmative Action Committee
Chair – Camille M. Wilson, University of Michigan
Co-chair – Ann M. Ishimaru, University of Washington
Members
Dana Thompson Dorsey, UNC Chapel Hill
Rhoda Freelon, Spencer Foundation
Melissa Martinez, Texas State University
Bernard Oliver, University of Florida
Rosa Rivera-McCutchen, Lehman College