Forbes: Leading Through Peril And Promise

During a time when college and university leaders are facing unprecedented turbulence, including political attacks on academic freedom, unstable finances, cultural divides, and constant demands from the Trump Administration, Beverly Daniel Tatum offers both a warning and a sense of hope. Tatum’s newest book is needed right now by leaders throughout the nation.

As president emerita of Spelman College and recent interim president of Mount Holyoke College, Tatum offers both scholarly analysis and practice-based ideas in Peril and Promise. She is trained as a psychologist, and this informs her understanding of human behavior. She is also a leader who focuses on values to transform institutions.

I had the opportunity to engage with Tatum about her new book, and what struck me most was how she intentionally blends research insights with her leadership experience. She shared, “As a psychologist, I recognized the importance of a strong sense of belonging as an important dimension of emotional well-being, and one of the best predictors of whether someone will thrive in an organization.” This understanding, which is grounded in decades of social science research, fueled her advocacy at Mount Holyoke for institutional support of affinity groups and cultural centers. She pointed to research showing that participation in these groups, especially for Black and Latinx students, is linked not only with greater belonging at Predominantly White Institutions, but also with “higher rates of cross-racial interaction during other times of the day.”

Read the full Forbes article here.