Considering leadership in engineering education: A call to action for research and practice

With the rapid growth of the engineering education research community in recent years, there has been a great need for individuals willing to lead in a variety of different capacities. For example, in recent years, the increase in the number of programs that grant doctoral degrees in engineering education has likewise increased demands for administrators. We argue that the intentional preparation of leaders who are ready to create inclusive environments for graduate and, in some cases, undergraduate engineering students has not kept pace. With the rapid and continued growth of the field, more emphasis on research and practice related to leadership in engineering education is needed, and thus we make a call to action. As the number of engineering education programs, faculty, and graduates expand, the number of leaders will only continue to grow. It is our goal that readers of this editorial take the opportunity to look critically toward the context, systems, and structures of our own field and consider the ways in which leadership research and practice can contribute to the advancement of engineering education. Our call to action is a result of scoped, intentional conversations on leadership within engineering education over the course of an academic term. An ambiguity in how leadership qualities are acquired led to a conversation between four engineering education PhD students and a faculty member/administrator. Individually, we were interested in the intersection of leadership and our own research in engineering education. From these conversations, we collectively scoped a Leadership in Engineering Education graduate level course with the goal of investigating literature, including both the current status of leadership research in engineering education and leadership research broadly across other disciplines, as well as interviewing a small sample of leaders in local engineering education contexts. The purpose of this course was to bridge leadership theories, research, and practice with application to engineering education. The aim was to engage the next generation of engineering education leaders in conversation about contexts, considerations, and characteristics of leaders in the engineering education field. From these conversations, we set forth to identify significant themes and challenges facing leadership in engineering education. Additionally, we used informational interviews with leaders situated in diverse contexts to better understand relationships between sociocultural influences and leadership in engineering education. As a result of this process, we propose leveraging leadership theory and existing research, considering organizational context, structures, and systems, and engaging in critical reflection as crucial actions to advance leadership research and practice in the field.