Jackson Scholars

UCEA Barbara L. Jackson Scholars Network

In November 2003, members of the UCEA Plenum voted to create the UCEA Barbara L. Jackson Scholars Network. This two-year program provides formal networking, mentoring and professional development for graduate students of color who intend to become professors of educational leadership. Through this effort, UCEA has facilitated the development of a robust pipeline of faculty and graduate students of color in the field of educational leadership, and, in turn, Barbara Jackson Scholars and Alumni have enhanced the field of educational leadership and UCEA with their scholarship and expertise. 

 

 

 

UCEA’s Jackson Scholars Network connects future leaders by:

1. providing students of color with a system of support-- across all UCEA member institutions-- that spans from the completion of academic requirements to their entrance into professorial roles, through;
   • Modeling a mentoring experience and the professorial practices necessary to promote a successful transition into the professoriate, and;
   • ensuring the presence of minority faculty in UCEA educational leadership programs in numbers sufficient as to assure these programs reflect the diversity of our society and schools.
2. enhancing the university’s ability to recruit minority groups into K-12 administrative programs thus addressing the need for a larger pool of minority K-12 administrators; and,
3. demonstrating, through mentoring, knowledge sharing, and educational opportunities, UCEA’s commitment to diversity, equity, and social justice.

 

 

 

As a doctoral student (and first generation college student), I never much thought about a career in the academy. I had a profound interest in higher education and was determined to use my knowledge in ways to improve education at the school and university levels, but never "saw" myself as a college professor. That changed when my dissertation adviser, Dr. Edith Rusch, suggested I become a UCEA Jackson Scholar. I was suddenly connected to graduate students who shared my research interests and a national network of scholars willing to share their time, experiences, and professional insights as mentors.

 

Alan Shoho, University of Texas-San Antonio; William Place, University of Dayton; Mariella Rodriguez, University of Texas-San Antonio; Carlos McCray, Fordham University; Ernestine Enomoto, University of Hawaii; and Gary Crow, Indiana University. 

Each UCEA Institution is encouraged to identify a minimum of one, preferably more, graduate student(s) to be will nominated a UCEA Barbara L. Jackson Scholar. Once identified and admitted, the UCEA Barbara L. Jackson Scholars will receive formal recognition at their institutions and within the UCEA consortium. The UCEA Barbara L. Jackson Scholars will become part of a UCEA network. With the provision of space on the website, and based on the ability of UCEA to acquire external funding, scholars will engage in a graduate student seminar held annually during the UCEA Convention and have ongoing participation in listservs and other forms of communication. UCEA has developed a mentoring program for Jackson Scholars, through which scholars will receive mentoring in publishing, teaching and navigating higher education.

Each UCEA Institution is expected to make a financial commitment to sending the UCEA Barbara L. Jackson Scholars to the UCEA convention where they will have opportunities to connect and work with one another. UCEA institutions are also expected to provide the scholar with research and teaching opportunities within their home institution.

Although the US, UK, and Canada are becoming increasingly diverse, the teaching and leadership corps of these countries, and higher education leadership faculty, continue to be predominantly white. Data from 1999-2000 indicate that only 14.8% of school administrators in the US are people of color. In colleges of education, where most of these school and school system leaders are being educated, the percent of faculty members of color is 15.5%. Without some proactive intervention, it does not appear that these figures will change greatly in the next decade.

In his book Building Bridges delineating the history of UCEA, Jack Culbertson notes that UCEA was influenced at its beginnings by the fundamental belief that schools and universities must work together to improve educational leadership preparation and that “leadership was a prerequisite for human progress” (p. 24). In recent years, with both its membership criteria and its strategic plan, UCEA has taken a public stand to foster “human progress” through its support of equity and social justice in our institutions, our organization, and our work. We pride ourselves on having a membership that is considered among the best doctoral granting educational leadership programs in the world. In order to maintain that status, it is imperative that we model what we believe by having a diverse faculty.

We believe that by establishing a support network for students of color who plan to enter educational leadership programs in higher education, we will:

• help in recruiting students from minority groups into our programs and thus into K-12 and higher education positions;
 
• expand our capacity to place and retain minorities in positions in UCEA institutions; and,
 
• lessen the isolation often felt by minorities as they matriculate in their studies and work in our institutions.

 Establishment of this support network will also assist in assuring that our institutional cultures are more welcoming and comfortable for students of color while enhancing our capacity to more fully understand students from differing backgrounds. Concurrently, research perspectives in our field are being broadened thus enhancing our credibility in higher education and K-12 schooling. Finally, this action perpetuates the fundamental belief upon which UCEA was built-- the collaborative effort of educational organizations will improve educational leadership and leadership preparation, which in turn will facilitate educational advancement and human progress.