Special Issue Preparing Leaders for Social Justice: Lessons from an

The literature on preparing educational leaders does not take into account what we can learn from other disciplines that have been successful in preparing professionals for social justice over a long period of time. To address this gap in the literature, this case study examined the policies and practices of an exemplary Department of Counseling Psychology oriented toward social justice. In so doing, we addressed these research questions: (a) What are the critical elements of this successful program? (b) What types of resistance did the program face? And, (c) how can these critical elements and resistance inform educational leadership programs? Drawing on a framework for preparing leaders for social justice, we addressed the research questions by interviewing key faculty and students in the program and extensively analyzing documents and archival date. During the change process, we found that (a) evolving meanings of diversity, multiculturalism, and social justice emerged; (b) the need to manage tensions was key, and (c) leveraging funding was critical. Their key policies and practices included (a) recruiting and hiring diverse faculty; (b) recruiting and selecting diverse students; (c) depicting the public “face ” of th