Portraits of the Spirited Leadership of African Women

Today I was reminded to blog and indicate that I managed to get the book manuscript completed on time (+3 days) and actually submitted to the publisher. When I put all the documents into that flat rate USPS box, I felt like I had birthed something. The feeling of relief after so many days of editing, re-writing, cutting, and re-writing some more was like the joy that I have seen on mothers faces when them babies finally pop out...well, almost like that. The joy that makes the pain forgetable and worth every moment. A few months down the road, I will be able to post a cover of the book...there will actually be a book out there with my name on the cover.

Now that the book is done, there are a gazillion other projects to get through. The one that is making me sweat (me and two of my colleagues) is a research grant proposal for NSF. None of us has ever done anything this big before, the learning curve is very steep. But if we succeed, it will be a very exciting project, focusing on a mixed methods multiphase study of minority women in academic leadership.

I am also working on a statistics primer for our PhD students most of whom come unprepared to engage in research methods courses. Its been interesting re-learning and refreshing my statistics training and working towards creating a primer that is intuitive for students whose concentrations are Business, Non Profit and Education leadership. Am a geek if this is making my blood pump harder...a self-confessed and happy geek!

Am I a spirited professor? Do I teach in search a way as to facilitate the personal, professional, intellectual and spiritual growth of my students? Do I care deeply for and about my students? For me, being a professor is a spiritual quest. I was reading today a little about Nel Noddings thoughts on spirituality and education. She describes herself as a spiritual agnostic, who believes that children should be taught about religion and spirituality in public schools, so they can learn enough to make thier own choices about what to believe, as well as to grow as spiritual beings. I like that, alot. Since am openly Christian and hopefully, profoundly spiritual, I believe that professors should, if they can, facilitate learning where students can be allowed to be spiritual beings. I hope am doing that for my students. My professors, well, one of my professors who is still a mentor today did that for me, allowing me to express my spiritual identity even through my research.