Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn: A Collaborative Syllabus for Higher Education Leadership book cover with bright geometric shapes in background
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doi.org/10.36284/celelon.oa11

ISBN: 978-1-64317-593-5

April 2026

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ISBN: 978-1-64317-592-8

April 2026

Despite a lifetime of leadership experience, Carter-Tod still struggles with what she calls “the challenge of becoming.” As a woman of color and a first-generation college student, her sense of her personal and professional identities do not always or easily align. In this reflective chapter, she revisits several leadership moments in her life to uncover—and reclaim—the practices of situational, agency-based leadership. She also underscores the importance of feeling a sense of belonging even in places that require significant change 

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Discussion Questions

Carter-Tod speaks to an often unspoken but we think pervasive concern among leaders, especially those of us from marginalized backgrounds or who are first-generation college-goers in our families, that we don’t truly “belong” in the academy, or we don’t have what it takes to be the kind of leader we want to be. Consider a time in your academic career when you felt as if you didn’t belong. How did you handle it? What would you say to other leaders—new or seasoned—who experience this feeling?  


Cite this Chapter

Carter-Tod, Sheila. 2026. “Personal, Professional Identities, Belonging, and Change: The Process of Becoming.” In Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn: A Collaborative Syllabus for Higher Education Leadership, edited by Linda Adler-Kassner and Chris W. Gallagher. Elon University Center for Engaged Learning. https://doi.org/10.36284/celelon.oa11.15.