Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
10-2026
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9467-6086
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Linda Wison-Smith
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
C. Dean Campbell
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Jerrel Moore
Abstract
This study explored the specific problem that necessitates the functionality of departmental leadership, its outcomes, and emphasized leadership transitions. Researching leadership transitions can potentially enhance our understanding of how small HBCUs, particularly HBCUs with a student population of fewer than 5,000, can effectively navigate, ensuring the continuity and sustained success of the academic affairs department within the Southern U.S. region. To address this gap, this study engaged narrative methods while employing transformational leadership theory as a theoretical lens to explore the immediate and long-term impacts of leadership transitioning on strategic initiatives, staff morale, and outcomes within the academic affairs department, necessary to understanding better how leadership transitions affect small HBCUs of created actionable strategies to foster more resilient and efficient institutions. Using qualitative interview approaches of first-hand perspectives structured as stories through purposive sampling, the study population consisted of key leaders, ensuring the sample included diverse experiences, and provided a heterogeneous set of voices via technological media. The sample consisted of 11 participants representing leadership of HBCUs in the southern United States. The five themes generated from the data collectively addressed the study’s three research questions. The findings reveal that effective navigation of leadership transitions at small HBCUs depends on relational, values-driven leadership; institutional systems; communication; and structures that preserve support, collaboration, and effectiveness. Deliberate strategies, such as succession planning, mentorship, and recognition, sustain continuity and morale.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Mitchell, Marquita Renee, "Navigating Leadership Transitions in Academic Affairs at Small Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Southern United States: A Qualitative Study" (2026). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1059.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/1059
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