About the Editors

Shirley Marie McCarther is currently an associate professor in the School of Education, Social Work, and Psychological Services and senior fellow at the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). She has over 35 years of experience in the field of education, teaching and leading in urban, rural, and suburban school districts and universities. She earned her doctorate at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. McCarther teaches courses in cultural foundations and educational leadership at UMKC. She is editor of the American Educational History Journal and has been published in numerous scholarly journals in the areas of leadership in urban education, multicultural education, equity, and diversity issues in education, arts education, and social justice. She is actively engaged with civic and philanthropic organizations, and is a loving wife and devoted mother to a daughter who is a successful health care professional.