Chapter 23: (Wo)Man in The Middle: Identifying Professional Growth Potential for Diverse Mid-Level Student Affairs Administrators

The number of full-time higher education administrators of color has increased over the past 20 years (McCurtis, Jackson, & O'Callaghan, 2009). However, many of these administrators have sought mid-level positions such as director or assistant director, with little direction or resources to move to senior-level positions (Taliaferro & Montoya, 1995). There are a variety of factors such as organizational structure (Chesler & Crowfoot, 2000); institutional climate (Merisotis & Aveilhe, 2005); and lack of a specific pipeline (Holub & Foote, 1996; Jackson & Daniels, 2007) which impact success for mid-level professionals. Consequently, there is clear opportunity to expand administrator racial/ethnic diversity in all career levels (Bowen & Muller, 1996; León, 2005), and to give specific attention to mid-level administrators of color who tend to not excel past those ranks.