This book is a collection of stories and reflections that represent Chinese American leaders and depict their tortuous journeys in U.S. higher education that comes at a critical point in time. Many books have been devoted to academic leadership, but this volume uniquely focuses on subjects most relevant to Chinese Americans. We live at a time that not only witnesses an increase in Chinese American leaders on U.S. campuses but also mounting incidents of discriminatory treatment of this group. This book showcases 36 stories and reflections from past, present, and future leaders, including the five previously published stories. They represent leaders holding different ideological values in various academic fields, positions, stages of careers, professional trajectories, generations, Chinese ethnic groups, and geographical locations. The Rise of Chinese American Leaders in U.S. Higher Education makes a valuable contribution to the body of literature that has assisted countless academic leaders in navigating their careers, bringing to the forefront a distinct group of academic leaders who have been underrepresented.

Voices of Asian Americans in Higher Education: Unheard Voices is a unique and historical book. Asian Americans are often portrayed as “model minority,” yet their personal and educational experiences are often unheard. In this book, 10 Asian American educators and scholars present realistic pictures of America’s higher education using personal narratives. The contributors in this book come from different regions and teach in different colleges and universities; and coincidentally, they all endure the “outsider” category formerly as students and now as professors and leaders. This “outsider” status can be emotionally overwhelming and psychologically unnerving. This status hampers opportunities for Asian Americans to grow and maximize their fullest potential. Though they develop different strategies to address their “outsider” label, it does not make it comfortable. But, time and time again, they have proven that they can succeed! In this technological age, we must value unending truths as we educate ourselves and others. We hope that this book will be an educational and informational resource for students, administrators, and faculty in higher education and also educational policy makers and stakeholders.

Over the past two decades, international cooperation in higher education has become the norm in China and around the world. To exemplify these relationships, this edited volume devotes individual chapters to case studies of China-U.S. international higher education partnerships focused on 1) Collaborative graduate programs; 2) Research collaborations; 3) Student mobility; 4) Multi-institution collaborations; 5) Cultural exchanges; and 6) Branch campuses. These case studies will illuminate the strategies, challenges, and perceived benefits of cross-national collaboration. Case studies are bookended with introductory and concluding chapters that link cooperative activities to theory on diplomacy (including Western "soft diplomacy" and Chinese five principles of "peaceful coexistence" narratives); internationalization of higher education; and reflections on student and scholar mobility between Chinese and US institutions.

This study investigates the experiences of Asian American and immigrant Asian faculty members and administrators in the U.S. higher education. The motivation of this study was, in spite of the rising presence and educational attainment, Asian American and immigrant Asian women are notably underrepresented in academic leadership roles. Asian American women fall far behind White females in leadership positions in higher education. Grounded in a theoretical framework guided by Mohanty's Post Colonialist Feminist Criticism, a qualitative research has been conducted where 15 female participants (faculty members and/or administrators in the U.S. higher education), who identified themselves as Asian Americans or immigrant Asians, were interviewed. Data analysis focused on the interview transcripts while coding categories and finding themes. Based on each research question, categories and themes have been described based on patterns. This study focuses on three primary areas, which include the experiences of the participants, their way of combatting challenges, and the role of support system and mentors in their journeys. Findings show that almost all of these 15 participants experienced gender and racial discrimination at varied levels both inside and outside classrooms. Sometimes it was easy for them to decipher whether the discrimination was based on race or gender, sometimes it became difficult. They felt women of color lived in the intersection of multiple jeopardy. Along with racial and gender discrimination, these women talked about discriminations based on their short height and dressing. As a result, most of them expressed disinterest in pursuing or continuing with leadership roles in academia. All participants unanimously admitted the importance of mentoring in shaping their careers. Implications for policy, practice, theoretical framework, recommendations, and future research are discussed.

China's potential threat to the existing global order is not derived from her rapid economic growth and military expansion, but from China's potential domestic chaos. The workable solution of China's democratization under the current Chinese political system is not to dissolve the Communist Party of China, but to begin with freedom of media, religion, and citizen participation.

This qualitative phenomenological study examined the experiences, events, and circumstances that affected the ascension of Asian Americans to the community college presidency in California. Through in-depth, conversational interviews, the researcher recaptured the rich personal, professional, and cultural stories shared by each of the seven current Asian American presidents. At the time of this writing, the seven Asian American college presidents represented only six percent of all college presidents in the California community college system. A fundamental question that guided this study is why do Asian Americans, despite their recognized success in academia, have the lowest representation of all ethnic groups at the presidential level in higher education? What discrimination, if any, did Asian Americans experience in their quest to become a college president? By exploring the pathways, experiences, and situations of the seven sitting Asian American presidents, the aim is to discover whether these Asian Americans, given their racial identity, encountered any unfair treatment in their ascension to the presidency. The study utilized the Critical Race Theory and glass ceiling model as a lens to examine the under-representation of Asian American educators at the top executive level. The stories, as told by these seven Asian American presidents, revealed that while they had encountered some form of racial discrimination in their personal lives and professional careers, those challenges however did not impede their attainment of the presidency. Instead, the findings revealed this select group of Asian American educators was determined to excel in their careers and managed to overcome certain racial micro-aggressions and stereotypes through persistence, hard-work, and other values imparted upon them by their bicultural identity. Contrary to the common belief that the paths to the college presidency for Asian Americans are hindered by some degree of institutional barriers and racism, the accounts by these seven Asian American presidents suggest that personal factors, including but not limited to communication styles, leadership qualities, personal comfort, family consideration, and tolerance for failure are the reasons for the under representation of Asian Americans at the top administrative echelon in higher education. What emerged from the study is a model of the pathway to the college presidency; a model that incorporates both the glass ceiling theory and critical race theory. The study concluded with a list of recommended actions that Asian Americans aspiring to become college presidents can take to increase their representation at presidential level. The recommendations contain implications of transformational leadership and public policy. This study contributes to the paucity of literature on Asian American leadership in higher education and highlights the values of a diversified college administrative team.