Pullias Center Exploration of Shared Equity Leadership with ACE to Continue with Support from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations

The American Council on Education (ACE), in collaboration with the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California (USC) is launching phase two of a multi-year research effort aimed at developing practice-based insights relative to Shared Equity Leadership in higher education.  The continued work between the two organizations is being supported by a  grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations.

“For decades I have been exploring how to scale Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work and create culture change,” notes Adrianna Kezar, director of the Pullias Center and a researcher on the project. “Shared Equity Leadership is a way to achieve this goal and make equity everyone’s work.”

Kezar was an author on a report released last month through ACE, as part of the first phase of the project, which suggested that the work of improving equity outcomes of students of color is at its most effective when leadership teams across campus take collective responsibility in developing and moving the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda forward. The second phase will explore forming shared leadership groups and structures for distributing work.  The study will also examine different roles played by staff, faculty and administrators in Shared Equity Leadership and will look at how context shapes their work.  Challenges such as distributing emotional labor will also be considered.

The continued work will provide a research-informed foundation upon which higher education leaders can implement institutional policies and practices to best support the needs of all postsecondary education students.  “Shared Equity Leadership has tremendous potential for addressing systemic issues of inequity on our campuses,” shares Elizabeth Holcombe, senior postdoctoral research associate at the Pullias Center for Higher Education, who is a researcher for both phases of the project and also a co-author of last month’s report.  “By broadening the definition of who can lead and framing leadership as a collective process, Shared Equity Leadership helps colleges and universities leverage the skills, knowledge, and experiences of multiple stakeholders across campus in efforts to dismantle inequitable structures and policies and promote more inclusive experiences for students, faculty, and staff.”

The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations were organized in 1952 and are supported by two trusts established by Mr. Arthur Vining Davis. The Foundations aim to bear witness to Mr. Davis’ successful corporate leadership and his ambitious philanthropic vision. Since their inception, the Foundations have given over 3,800 grants totaling more than $300 million to colleges and universities, hospitals, medical schools, and divinity schools.