One Professor Looks to Lead as a Way to Push Change

Robert Newcomb, U. of Georgia

When Sheneka M. Williams entered her doctoral program in K-12 educational leadership and policy at Vanderbilt University, the former high-school social-studies teacher was determined to become a school superintendent. She became a faculty member instead, and set her sights on breaking into university administration.

“It was a natural progression for me to think about leadership once I became a professor,” says Ms. Williams, now an associate professor in the department of lifelong education, administration, and policy at the University of Georgia. “I just kept thinking, How can I most affect change in higher education? In a leadership role.”

Ms. Williams is among nine faculty members at Georgia in a 2016-2017program that is designed to groom women for leadership positions. She spoke with The Chronicle about her administrative experience so far, what universities should do to help professors think seriously about leadership, and why balancing scholarship and administrative work is so important to her. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q. Since you decided that you would eventually like to pursue an administrative path, what have you been doing to position yourself?

A. I don’t really seek out opportunities; somebody always seems to come to me. We were at a place in our program area where we didn’t have a program administrator. I was asked to do it, and as soon as I was tenured, I took it on. I was nominated by my dean for the [women’s leadership] program, and that’s not something I sought out. I’ve been told by my peers and folks who are in leadership positions that they see something in me, and they help me get opportunities to further shape what it is they see.

Q. What was appealing to you about the women’s-leadership program at Georgia?

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A. I’m interested in learning how higher education really works. There’s a lot we don’t see on the faculty. Decisions are made, and we don’t really see the underpinnings of how those decisions came to be. Also, as an African-American woman who wants to be in leadership in higher education, there aren’t that many of us. If I’m a dean, if I become a provost, things will affect me in ways they probably won’t affect a white male. I want to learn as much as I can beforehand.

Q. So you don’t think of administration as “the dark side,” like a lot of faculty do?

A. No, I don’t. But I can see how people can call it that. Administrators are thinking about whether something is cost-effective or does it make political sense. When you’re a faculty member and you’re thinking about how things affect students, business and politics appear to be the dark side. But I just don’t see it that way.

Q. Do you have mentors you can turn to as you try to chart your path?

A. I can’t say that I have a mentor. I’m watching how women in leadership roles do their jobs, and I’m taking notes. I look at how they handle hiring people or letting them go, how they choose to allocate resources in their department or their institute. I watch what they choose to leverage and how they maneuver in all kinds of situations. I’m always watching.

Q. How hard is it to manage your time?

A. I was on leave this semester, but it was a leave that wasn’t. Because of the administrative role I play as program coordinator, when you’re hiring you still have to show up for job talks. When students don’t have an adviser, you have to fill in if you’re the leader. I’m still writing, though, and publishing papers. I’m still working on a book proposal. I’m not ready yet to be viewed as just an administrator, because I have a line of scholarship that is very dear to me. I’m really committed to my scholarship first and administration second. No administrative job is worth my not becoming full professor.

Q. What can universities do to make the prospect of shifting into leadership roles more attractive to faculty members?

A. We need more programs like the one I’m in now. If you give people opportunities to learn more about leadership, they can see that the dark side isn’t really dark. It’s business. They can also build the infrastructure needed for people to take advantage of these kinds of opportunities. Faculty need release time to participate, or if it’s a summer program they need money to offset some of the costs. If creating leaders is important to an institution, then they have to figure out ways to make it happen.

Audrey Williams June is a senior reporter who writes about the academic workplace, faculty pay, and work-life balance in academe. Contact her at audrey.june@chronicle.com, or follow her on Twitter @chronaudrey.