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Reimagining leadership through love and empowerment: A dissertation journey

Stories | 10.30.24

By Kimberley E. Jung, Ph.D. (she/her)
Doctor of Philosophy in Organizational Leadership, Online

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Kimberley seated in front of a light gray background wearing a white shirt.

Kimberley E. Jung, Ph.D.

My dissertation journey truly began following an observation I made in 2019. I had been teaching high school English for four years, when I attended an information session on becoming a secondary school vice principal. I looked around that room and observed the absence of women and people of colour amongst those interested in leadership and those already in the leadership roles.   

Visually, I did not fit the mold of a high school administrator. I felt like an imposter sitting in that room, but I still wanted to do more. Instead, I turned to the teachers’ union, where there were more women leading. While serving on a local executive committee, I noticed there was still more room for other forms of diversity. This reflected the greater organization, and again, I began to feel like an imposter on the team.  

My race and gender are attributes I have had since birth, so I wondered: Is leadership worth the potential tokenization or weaponization of my identity? 

Where do I go if I have an interest in leadership as a woman of colour?  

A quick answer: Anywhere that would allow me. 

A more complex answer: Nowhere if I want to feel a genuine sense of belonging and psychological safety.  

A pragmatic answer: Adler University.  

These questions stayed with me throughout my doctoral journey. In writing my dissertation, I not only sought the answers, but also created a platform to amplify the stories of other women of colour in leadership. By sharing their stories, I aimed to challenge the status quo, while highlighting the resilience, insight, and determination needed to navigate leadership spaces where we remain underrepresented. 

Finding authentic inclusion  

In June 2021, I applied for the Adler University Ph.D. program in Organizational Leadership. When I was accepted, I cried tears of hope thinking I could find like-minded people to work on social justice issues with.   

Kimberely at graduation in her cap and gown with a group of 10 other graduating students dressed in regalia.

Dr. Jung at graduation with her classmates in Chicago on Oct. 27.

With every course at Adler, I became more empowered by strengthening my knowledge and praxis on social interest, justice, and leadership. I began to heal from past experiences and worked up the courage to apply to be a vice principal in another school district in the fall of 2022 – and be my full self in the interview.  

After successfully being placed in the vice principal pool, I began to feel hints of insecurity when I saw others who were already selected for this type of position. And when I became a vice principal in July 2023, the familiar imposter feelings returned in full force — and they became more pronounced in my surroundings as a woman of colour. At the lowest point, my voice, story, integrity, and work didn’t matter, and my vulnerable moments felt exploited rather than humanized. I was searching for belonging and I was floating in isolation. My heart missed the best part of teaching — the connections with students and collaboration with colleagues.  

Albeit online, my professors and classmates were the community I desired — diverse, encouraging, and courageous. The Adler student population is one of the most diverse examples of pluralism with various social identities across different places. Our connections cultivated solidarity that transcended locational boundaries and social difference.  

In one of my classes, Diversity and Inclusion with Camille Edosomwan, Ph.D., we discussed authentic inclusion. Our reading of Mor Barak’s (2015) article posed a math equation that explained the power of diversity and inclusion:  

The power of diversity and inclusion: 1 + 1 = 3

Superadditivity of what two diverse employees bring to the workplace rather than two similar employees1(p. 86). 

This article inspired me to think of authentic inclusion in a different way: 

  • Uniqueness + Belongingness = Authentic Inclusion 

So, where did authentic inclusion fit into the equation of my life and how could I create it for myself and others?  

To find a space and a path for myself and other women of colour, I kept trying to resist and reform systems and organizational structures, but it was not possible on my own. I decided that instead of trying to change what already existed, I needed to reimagine and recreate. 

Embracing the courage to transform 

The Adlerian philosophical value that resonates with me the most is courage because that is character. I finally felt authentic inclusion through Adler and with that, I developed more courage and grew with humility to reimagine and recreate.  

I now had the courage to make three major decisions in December 2023: to leave the role of vice principal, go back to teaching, and change my dissertation topic from being solely about women of colour as school administrators to also include women of colour in teachers’ union leadership.  

My desired reimagining for both decisions were to ensure future leaders have a better experience than mine.  

The first decision was the catalyst that jump started the first three chapters of my dissertation A Heuristic Inquiry That Unpacks The Experiences, Barriers, And Triumphs Of Women Of Colour In K-12 Educational Leadership In British Columbia, Canada. With the support of Bianca Reyes, Ph.D., as my dissertation chair, I felt supported, cared for, and empowered to go forward with these changes. 

This dissertation is my voice, my story, my integrity, my reflection, my vulnerability, and my power. Since my path changed, I had the opportunity to recreate my dissertation topic by studying leadership in both the teachers’ union and administration, which was uniquely my experience.  

Dr. Jung’s Map of the Dissertation Process: 

  • Chapter 1 was my “why” for this research.  
  • Chapter 2 was learning, reading, and researching who also shared my “why.”  
  • Chapter 3 was my “how” to do this research.  
  • Chapter 4 was the depth of my “why” and developing a sense of community.  
  • Chapter 5 was my “what now” – understanding, growth, celebration, and the future.  
Dr. Jung's Dissertation playlist preview on Spotify.

Caution: Explicit lyrics and mature concepts.

I wanted to humanize the research by letting the stories unfold through interviews and connecting with other women of colour in educational leadership. I listened to the participants, tried to amplify their voices, and worked on protecting them from retaliation for sharing their stories. Dr. Derrick Traylor was a professor who regularly brought music into our Adler course work, and inspired me to develop a dissertation playlist which gave a glimpse into my life, my dissertation process, and story through music.  

While writing Chapter 4, the participants I interviewed shared their experiences of feeling like imposters in their leadership roles, a feeling that sounded all too familiar to me. These imposter feelings were not solely internalized like the original Imposter Phenomenon described because there were environmental and external (racist, sexist, and ageist) stressors that made me and the participants feel like imposters. Cokley’s Let’s Reconceptualize “Imposter Syndrome” for People of Color  finally articulated accurately what I was feeling – Racialized Imposter Phenomenon. 

Writing this dissertation was healing, validating, and powerful. I wish for all my classmates and anyone pursuing education to experience this strength and empowerment. I always want to leave a space better than how I entered it, so I pledge to continue to hear, amplify, and lift others up. I wrote my dissertation with love and empowerment, and I will move with love and empowerment.  

As I returned to the classroom, I taught and engaged wholeheartedly, and I credit my students for reminding me of my love for teaching. We can learn just as much from youth as they can from us. To all the young women of colour that I have had the honour of teaching, you further inspired and clarified my vision of a better tomorrow for us all. 

 

Dr. Jung’s Dissertation Playlist

 

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About
Dr. Jung completed her Doctorate of Philosophy in Organizational Leadership (Ph.D.) at Adler University in August 2024. She is a high school teacher on the unceded and ancestral lands of the Skwxwú7mesh, səlilwətaɬ, and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Nations. While maintaining gratitude for the land, she also wants to acknowledge the labour that occurred on it. She is reminded by her family of the labour of im/migrant communities that contributed to the transcontinental railway and for what many, including her ancestors, received in return – the Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 and the Chinese Head Tax. She earned her B.A., B.Ed., and her M.Ed. specializing in Equity Studies in Education through Simon Fraser University. Dr. Jung serves as a board member and ally for the Youth Alliance for Intersectional Justice which is a Canadian non-profit organization that is a “Black youth-led collective of Black and racialized neurodiverse youth, young adults (with and without intellectual disabilities), and allies that work to provide youth-centred, community-based projects and engages in and research on education, technology, housing, and entrepreneurship” (Youth Alliance for Intersectional Justice, 2021). When she isn’t teaching or working on social justice issues, she spends her time with her husband, Jamil, and dog, Marlowe.  

References 

Cokley, K. (2024, March 14). It’s time to reconceptualize what “imposter syndrome” means for people of color. Harvard Business Review.

Mor Barak, M. E. (2015). Inclusion is the key to diversity management, but what is inclusion? Human Service Organizations Management, Leadership & Governance, 39(2), 83–88. 

Our mission, vision, and values. Youth Alliance for Intersectional Justice. (2021). 

 

 

 

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