Chapter 1: Ubiquitous, Misunderstood, and Evolving: Characterizing the Role of the Educational Leadership Program Coordinator

While substantial research has been conducted on formalized leadership roles in academia such as the department head or chair and college dean, there is a dearth of literature on the role of the program coordinator (PC), particularly in the field of educational leadership (Coleman & Reames, 2020; Hackmann & Wanat, 2008, 2016; Ingle et al., 2018; Ingle et al., 2020; Marshall et al., 2021; Reames, 2016). Limited research on the role of the educational leadership PC is particularly problematic considering their increasing importance as models of leadership for their students, program leaders within their departments, and facilitators of K–12 school districtuniversity partnerships, among other roles. As the authors of these book chapters suggest, the nature of the educational leadership PC role should be closely examined in current policy and practice contexts to better understand how to conceptualize, incentivize, and support PCs amidst ongoing changes and challenges in higher education. In this chapter, we characterize the role of the educational leadership PC as ubiquitous, misunderstood, and evolving; discuss how current research, including these book chapters, reinforces and at times challenges this conception; and identify potential areas for future research.