Internationalization on HBCU Campuses and the Role of Presidential Leadership

This study seeks to examine the role of presidential leadership in internationalization on historically Black college and university (HBCU) campuses. HBCUs comprise a small but important segment of U.S. higher education, as they are responsible for 20% of African American graduates in the country. Unfortunately, many of these institutions have yet to address the urgent need to internationalize their campus in a systematic, relevant way. This research study was conducted on the campuses of three public HBCUs working to advance internationalization. This study explores answers to the following questions: (a) What is the role of the President in advancing or sustaining internationalization on an HBCU campus? (b) What is the relationship between the President and the Senior International Officer (SIO)? and (c) What leadership frames do the Presidents use to advance or sustain comprehensive internationalization? Site visits to each institution included interviews with the President, the Provost, the SIO, and faculty. Results show that the Presidents recognized their responsibility to articulate why internationalization is important for the university and how it aligns with the mission of preparing students to navigate a globally connected world. Results indicate that the Presidents impact how internationalization gets implemented through direct and indirect interaction with the SIO and by sustaining a strong infrastructure, particularly in the form of a unit responsible for internationalization initiatives. The findings indicate that while the SIO does not report directly to the President, a more effective reporting line assigns the SIO a faculty rank with a reporting line to the Provost. Analysis of the data shows that each President utilized at least one dominant leadership frames identified by Bolman and Deal (2013), two of them also exhibited a secondary frame, and none applied a multi-frame approach. With longer time at the institution, these leaders may discover the need to incorporate different leadership frames to respond to rising challenges. This study affirms the importance of presidential leadership factors in the successful implementation of internationalization on these campuses