Season 2: #7 - Ashley Gray, American Council on Education

Topics Discussed in this Episode: 

• Imposter syndrome is real and it's important to celebrate your successes. 
• Only 5% of all college presidents are women of color. 
• "Mesearch" is a strategic way to undertake research while looking towards long-term goals like joining higher education leadership. 
• ACE is the foregoing professional association for higher education leaders in the United States. 
• We need to have a conversation about public trust and higher education. 
• What trust looks like in higher education varies based on race, socio-economic status, first generation college student status, and the intersections of these and other margins. 
• Student loan debt impacts people of color differently than white students. 
• Student loan debt impacts Black women significantly more than any other racial or gender group.
• We need to refine what the margins look like in higher education and the language we used. 
• "Minority students" are not "minority students" -- they are part of historically minoritized groups. 
• The American Dream does not look the same for all people and varies depending on race, class, gender, sexuality, and other margins within higher education, as well as the places where people's identities overlap. 
• Student loan debt elimination is a critical conversation. 
• Trust looks different for every single group. 
• The public needs to articulate what they want from higher education. 
• Higher education institutions need to examine whether they can meet the public's needs and what their goals are in meeting those needs. 
• Intentional self-care is critical because racial battle fatigue is real. 
• Systems of oppression weren't created overnight and won't be dismantled overnight, but we can recognize where our calling is to fight oppression.

Resources Discussed in this Episode:

• Johns Hopkins University Press
• American Council on Education
• Howard University
• "Voices from the Field: Women of Color Presidents in Higher Education"
• ACE Women's Network
• Senator Elizabeth Warren
• Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education (REHE)
• Moving the Needle: Advancing Women in Higher Education Leadership
• Tom Hockaday, University Technology Transfer: What Is It and How to Do It

Music Credits: “Come Right Here” by Tendinite, licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 CC-BY-NC-ND license.