Women of Color Administrators: Entering, Disrupting, and Changing Higher Education Engineering Ecosystems

Meseret F. Hailu (), Ebony McGee (), Monica Miles (), Joyce Main () and Monica F. Cox ()
Additional contact information
Meseret F. Hailu: University of Georgia
Ebony McGee: University of Georgia
Monica Miles: University of Georgia
Joyce Main: University of Georgia
Monica F. Cox: University of Georgia

Research in Higher Education, 2025, vol. 66, issue 7, No 8, 26 pages

Abstract: Abstract The purpose of this qualitative study is to highlight the trajectory of Women of Color (WoC) administrators in a key STEM discipline: engineering. WoC are underrepresented in higher education, representing fewer than 10% of administrators. Through this study, we provide a nuanced perspective on how the presence of WoC administrators change and potentially disrupt the space typically dominated by men. Drawing upon stereotype management and social capital, this phenomenological study examines eleven WoC engineering administrators’ experiences. Our findings show that WoC administrators entered administrative positions via social networks and opportunities that are usually associated with the “boys’ club.” Furthermore, WoC frequently operated as leaders prior to formally accepting and undertaking the roles and responsibilities associated with administrative positions, meaning that for some period they served as de facto administrators. Women of color administrators challenged the White misogynistic structures in their departments and institutions creating sustainable pathways for marginalized scholars such as themselves.

Keywords: Engineering; Faculty; Higher education administration; Leadership; Women of color (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11162-025-09863-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:reihed:v:66:y:2025:i:7:d:10.1007_s11162-025-09863-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/11162

DOI: 10.1007/s11162-025-09863-5

Access Statistics for this article

Research in Higher Education is currently edited by Robert K. Toutkoushian

More articles in Research in Higher Education from Springer, Association for Institutional Research
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().