Administrative Challenges and Organizational Leadership in Historically Black Colleges and Universities

This volume compiles 13 articles by education, communication, and other researchers from the US, who describe how Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) can use their administrations, organizational change, and leadership to enhance student engagement and retention. They describe the HBCU experience from the perspective of alumni and faculty; the use of Western and non-Western educational traditions; the role of leadership, including organizational development, diversification, benchmarking, and shared governance and leadership, as well as collective bargaining; the use of social media in admissions; financial support, including performance-based funding, financial aid innovations, and aid for science and engineering departments; and case studies on media literacy cognates and colleges and schools of education.

This volume brings together research on the need for better student engagement, stronger retention, and increased graduation at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Working with an editorial board, editors Charles Prince and Rochelle Ford assembled 13 chapters of case studies, examples, theories, and trends. Topics covered include, but are not limited to: historical perspective, leadership modes, competitive strategy, governance, funding and trends such as “Performance Based Funding,” marketing, and real-life organizational ideas. Chapters have customary introductory and further research paragraphs with the body of the text providing methodologies, data in black-and-white charts and figures, and results. Chapters end with references.
The low retention and graduation rates among HBCUs point to the need for new educational organization and administration, and this book offers solutions. The research here focuses on two factors; student engagement and retention are central to the studies in this text. To improve on the successful student experience “student engagement must improve and retention efforts need to increase in order for any college or university to not only survive but thrive” (p xxi). This is surely the job of administrators and faculty and while this book focuses on HCBUs, the information applies to Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and Predominately White Institutions (PWIs) as well. [...]
Administrative Challenges and Organizational Leadership in Historically Black Colleges and Universities will be a practical tool for college and university administrators, faculty, and staff. Graduate-level students and research scholars in the areas of education and sociology will also benefit from the information here.