09 May2023
By Nicholas D. Hartlep and Rachel Endo
In honor of AANHPI Heritage Month, Asian American leaders in educator preparation programs (EPPS) Rachel Endo and Nicholas D. Hartlep, share their collective experiences that caused their interest in collaborating on researching and writing a critical inquiry paper that explores the experiences of current and former Asian American leaders in EPPs in the United States. Endo is dean of the School of Education at the University of Washington, Tacoma and Hartlep is chair of the Education Studies Department at Berea College.
Our paper seeks to answer the following questions:
- What are the intersecting social identity markers within the current pool of Asian American leaders?
- How do Asian/American EPP leaders describe their trajectory into leadership positions?
17 May2022
By Nicholas D. Hartlep
What do we mean by a “glass cliff?” It happens when a member of an underrepresented group assumes a leadership role during a period of crisis or downturn, when the chance of failure is highest. Research has documented the “glass cliff” for Asian Americans in corporate America; for instance, when companies are in decline, they’re two and a half times more likely to appoint an Asian American CEO.[i] This made me wonder if there is also a glass cliff for Asian American higher education leaders.
Asians make up 5% of the population, 6.5% of college students, and 8.4% of faculty members — but they comprise only 1% of college presidents.[ii] Based on an annual growth rate of 6%, racial parity in the presidency for Asian Americans will occur by 2036 (see Figure 1 below). Parity is defined as the year in which the representation of Asian Americans in the presidency reflects their overall representation in the U.S. population. Data on the future demographics of the United States come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s projections.
