Chapter 14: A Sustainable, Culturally Competent Approach to Academic Leadership

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the role that sustainable, culturally competent leadership plays in higher education settings. The literature supports our belief that characteristics such as civility, ethical behavior, data-driven decision-making, and cultural sensitivity provide the grounding for effective culturally competent leadership in higher education settings according to Porath (2012).

This chapter presents a review of the literature on cultural competency in relation to leadership in higher education by focusing on the philosophy that sustainable cultural competence serves as a catalyst for sustainable leadership excellence.

The authors propose that sustainable culturally competent leadership on campuses is a catalyst for diversity leadership excellence. This chapter concludes that a sustainable, culturally competent leadership paradigm for academic leaders on campuses benefits the entire campus, especially other academic leaders.