Women School Superintendents: Perceptions of Best Practices for Leadership

In U.S. public schools, a limited number of women have attained the position of superintendent. Consequently, there has been limited research focusing on understanding the position from a woman\u27s perspective. The purpose of this study was to add to the body of literature focusing on women\u27s ideas and beliefs about leading schools

Influencing Others: Women Superintendents Speak (Reluctantly) About Power

The public school superintendency is the most powerful position in U.S. schools. Yet research has shown that women who hold the position have difficulty talking about power (Brunner, 2000). I designed a mixed methods study to investigate how women school superintendents viewed their uses of power. A survey was sent to all women superintendents practicing in four Midwestern states during the 2000-2001 school year and nine women in the sample participated in interviews. Results of quantitative data analysis revealed that there were significant differences in participants\u27 age and years of experience in the superintendency and how they perceived their uses of power. The interviews revealed that women spoke of how their power increased when they shared or gave power away. Consistent with previous research, this study also found that women had some difficulty defining and conceptualizing power in their roles as superintendents

“Our Misak Identity Is the Spinal Cord of Our Education”: Oral History of Gerardo Tunubalá Velasco

The Misak people of Colombia are respected worldwide for recovering their ancestral Land, revitalizing their native language and culture, and building an education system from pre-school to university centered in traditional values and worldviews. Through this oral history with Gerardo Tunubalá Velasco, Misak educational leader and co-founder of the Misak University, we learn about his efforts alongside his community to create and sustain an autonomous educational system that guarantees the rights and dignity of Indigenous peoples in Colombia and beyond. His story, grounded in a profound love and communion with Land, speaks of the importance of Land recovery for Indigenous peoples’ sovereignty and resilience. The article opens with an introduction to Gerardo’s ongoing participation in a human rights education class and closes with a reflection by co-author Patricia Rojas-Zambrano, who writes from her positionality as a non-Indigenous Colombian living in the United States today

Volume 5, Special Issue: Human Rights Education & Black Liberation

Situating Black activism and movement building in its historical context, this special issue of the International Journal of Human Rights Education features articles, essays, commentaries, and book reviews that put the longstanding call for Black lives to matter and the quest for Black liberation in conversation with human rights education as a field of scholarship and practice. In this introduction, we first review how movements for Black liberation, primarily in the United States, have drawn on human rights frameworks to seek greater justice; we then introduce the five original articles, five community-based commentaries/notes from the field pieces, and five book reviews/excerpts that comprise this special issue

History of the Rio Grande Reservoirs in New Mexico: Legislation and Litigation

Nearly all of the dams and reservoirs on the Rio Grande and its tributaries in New Mexico were constructed by the federal government and were therefore authorized by acts of Congress. These congressional authorizations determine what and how much water can be stored, and when and how it must be released. Water may be stored for a variety of purposes such as flood control, conservation storage (storing the natural flow of the river for later use, usually municipal or agricultural), power production, sediment control, fish and wildlife benefits, or recreation. The effect of reservoir operations derived from acts of Congress is to control and manage the flow of rivers. When rivers cross state or other jurisdictional boundaries, the states are very mindful of the language in the congressional authorization. Simply put, an upstream state will want flexibility to store and use as much water as possible and, except for protection from extreme flood events, a downstream state will seek to guard against water being held that would otherwise flow downstream. When interstate compact obligations, ecological considerations, Indian and non-Indian water rights, and international treaties are thrown into the mix, a significant area of law develops concerning the reservoirs that is vital to each state and its inhabitants as well as to national interests. This article summarizes the federal acts and the negotiations among the affected states and other interests when the Rio Grande reservoirs in New Mexico were authorized, highlighting other important legal developments that have affected the operation of the dams

Editorial Introduction: Human Rights Education & Black Liberation

Situating Black activism and movement building in its historical context, this special issue of the International Journal of Human Rights Education features articles, essays, commentaries, and book reviews that put the longstanding call for Black lives to matter and the quest for Black liberation in conversation with human rights education as a field of scholarship and practice. In this introduction, we first review how movements for Black liberation, primarily in the United States, have drawn on human rights frameworks to seek greater justice; we then introduce the five original articles, five community-based commentaries/notes from the field pieces, and five book reviews/excerpts that comprise this special issue

Dysbiotic drift and biopsychosocial medicine: how the microbiome links personal, public and planetary health

The emerging concept of planetary health emphasizes that the health of human civilization is intricately connected to the health of natural systems within the Earth\u27s biosphere; here, we focus on the rapidly progressing microbiome science - the microbiota-mental health research in particular - as a way to illustrate the pathways by which exposure to biodiversity supports health. Microbiome science is illuminating the ways in which stress, socioeconomic disadvantage and social polices interact with lifestyle and behaviour to influence the micro and macro-level biodiversity that otherwise mediates health. Although the unfolding microbiome and mental health research is dominated by optimism in biomedical solutions (e.g. probiotics, prebiotics), we focus on the upstream psychosocial and ecological factors implicated in dysbiosis; we connect grand scale biodiversity in the external environment with differences in human-associated microbiota, and, by extension, differences in immune function and mental outlook. We argue that the success of planetary health as a new concept will be strengthened by a more sophisticated understanding of the ways in which individuals develop emotional connections to nature (nature relatedness) and the social policies and practices which facilitate or inhibit the pro-environmental values that otherwise support personal, public and planetary health