Leading from the Margins: College Leadership from Unexpected Places

by Mary Dana Hinton

Overview

A guide to why people from marginalized backgrounds may be uniquely qualified to become effective higher education leaders—and how they can get there.

Students and faculty in higher education increasingly reflect more diverse backgrounds, but this diversity remains rare in many leadership roles. In Leading from the Margins, Mary Dana Hinton celebrates the unique strengths of marginalized individuals, inviting them to embrace their leadership potential and make a difference. Drawing from Hinton's own journey to becoming a university president, this book challenges conventional leadership theories and highlights the value of diverse voices. Whether you're an emerging or established leader, Leading from the Margins will empower you to find your own leadership style and discover strength in unexpected places.

Through engaging personal stories and insightful research, Hinton explores the opportunities and challenges faced by leaders from marginalized backgrounds. She sheds light on overlooked identities and emphasizes the need for leadership that reflects the demographics and needs of those being led. This book is a vital resource for people in higher education aspiring to senior leadership positions who feel unheard or unrepresented in traditional leadership roles.

Hinton offers a powerful voice to leaders from marginalized groups, providing validation, inspiration, and practical guidance. By recognizing and nurturing their unique leadership styles, she encourages readers to make a meaningful impact and drive positive change in their organizations and communities. Leading from the Margins is an essential read for anyone seeking to foster inclusive and effective leadership, bridging the gap between theory and lived experiences. Embrace your identity and lead from where you are.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421448510
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	02/20/2024
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.84(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Mary Dana Hinton (ROANOKE, VA) is the president of Hollins University and president emerita of the College of Saint Benedict. She is the author of The Commercial Church: Black Churches and the New Religious Marketplace in America.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I. The Margins Emerge
Chapter One. An Origin Story
Chapter Two. Finding My Life's Work
Chapter Three. Leading While Black
Chapter Four. Leading While Female
Chapter Five. Navigating toward Leadership from the Rural South
Part II. The Margins Embrace
Chapter Six. Leadership Theory from the Margins
Chapter Seven. The Vocational Cycle to Support Institutional Justice
Part III. The Margins Enhance
Chapter Eight. Senior Leadership in Higher Education
Chapter Nine. On Courage and Gratitude
Chapter Ten. Interrogating the Demands of the Margins
Conclusion. What If?
Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Dr. Hinton is an inspiring and wise guide to transformational leadership. Her insightful book remakes our vision of what college can and should become.
—Marjorie Hass, president, Council of Independent Colleges; author of A Leadership Guide for Women in Higher Education

Mary Dana Hinton combines an inspiring personal leadership journey with her insightful theoretical analysis of what it means to lead from the margins, illuminating the power of understanding that her strength as a Black woman from the rural South comes because of a history of marginalization, not despite it.  
—Beverly Daniel Tatum, President Emerita, Spelman College

Brilliant and inspirational, this book offers powerful lessons on resilience, courage, and authenticity that contest traditional leadership models. Dwelling by choice in marginal spaces, Hinton reframes margins as realms of possibility rather than boundaries, inviting those excluded from the center to recognize their strengths as grounded in, not arising despite, their positionality.
—Lynn Pasquerella, president, American Association of Colleges and Universities

Mary Dana Hinton combines memoir, social analysis, and riveting storytelling to show how one leader, who may have started on the margins, developed new approaches and insights to leading that have helped her transform institutions. This is a book worth reading more than once.
—Earl Lewis, founding director, University of Michigan Center for Social Solutions; President Emeritus, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation