| Autumn Tooms Kent State University |
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Autumn Tooms is an Associate Professor at Kent State University where she teaches graduate courses on leadership, school culture, and the principalship. She began her career in Arizona as a high school biology teacher and was a school administrator at the secondary, middle, and elementary levels. As a principal, she had extensive experience with dual language programs, desegregation, school crisis management, and curriculum reform.
Autumn studies the principalship with a particular focus on issues of identity, equity, and micro-politics of the position. She is committed to bridging the gap between practitioners and researchers. Her international work with The College of the Bahamas resulted in the creation of the first Master’s degree program in educational administration in Bahamian history. Autumn is a professor for the Gerald H. Read Center’s International Leadership in Education program, which annually hosts groups of Muslim scholars- in- residence from around the world.
In 2006, her book for practitioners entitled The rookies playbook: Insights and dirt for new principals was recognized and endorsed by the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP). Her recent publications are in The Journal of Research on Leadership Education, The International Journal of Leadership in Education, and The Journal of Cases for the University Council for Educational Administration.