The Center for Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) recently announced their second cohort of MSI Aspiring Leaders. And, Dara Byrne, Ph.D., John Jay’s Associate Provost for Undergraduate Retention and Dean of Undergraduate Studies, was proudly selected as one of the Center’s new MSI Aspiring Leaders. The two-year fellowship program connects prominent MSI leaders with mid-career aspiring leaders, with the aim of preparing the next generation of MSI presidents. “John Jay is an MSI and has a large student population at the College that identifies as a minority,” says Byrne. “This program will provide me with the skills and networks I need to help John Jay students and make the College community better.”
The passion Byrne has for the John Jay student experience, and MSIs in general, stems from her own personal background. “I went to a traditionally white college in Canada for my bachelor’s and master’s degree. And there wasn’t a space for the black students to go. I went there and did everything that I needed to do to graduate, but I never felt like the college was mine,” said Byrne. “For my doctoral program, I went to an MSI and I saw the difference. There were people who looked like me everywhere, and I felt like that college belonged to me. I want the students at John Jay to look around and see students, faculty, staff, and leaders that look like them. I want them to feel like they belong. And when it’s time for our students to leave, I want them to look back and say, ‘John Jay was mine.’” We spoke to Byrne to learn more about the program, her motivation to apply, and her hope for John Jay students.
“I want the students at John Jay to look around and see students, faculty, staff, and leaders that look like them. I want them to feel like they belong.”—Dara Byrne
Can you tell us more about the MSI Aspiring Leaders program?
The program is a two-year fellowship with the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions that was recently moved to Rutgers’ Graduate School of Education. The focus of the Center is to look at MSIs across the country, particularly doing research on MSIs as well as programmatic work to support them. The whole idea of this fellowship is that right now the bulk of the sitting presidents at MSIs nationwide are in their 60s. In the next five to eight years, there’s going to be a sweeping turnover of leadership in the higher education field. There will be questions around leadership preparation, what the transition looks like, and who are the next set of people that will step into those roles. This program on aspiring leadership for MSIs is specifically looking at these candidates for college presidency and what mentoring and preparation might look like for them.
“Right now the bulk of the sitting presidents at MSIs nationwide are in their 60s. In the next five to eight years, there’s going to be a sweeping turnover of leadership in the higher education field.”—Dara Byrne
How did you hear about the program?
Allison Pease, Ph.D., Associate to the Provost for Faculty and Professor in the English Department, sent it to me and said, “You should apply. If this isn’t you, then I don’t know who else this is.” The more she told me about it, the more I started thinking about my role at the College, the students we have, and about how I can better serve them so that they can achieve success. I wrote Allison back and said, “I’ve got two days to get this done. I’m going to pull myself together, and we are going to do this.” The application itself was fascinating in that there were no essays. Instead, I had to put together a two-minute video, answering five questions, and there were five PowerPoint slides, which had a case study on each of them that you had to respond to.
How is this fellowship important for you on a personal level?
I’m a product of an MSI. I went to Howard University for my doctoral program, and in all of the spaces that I go into—even when there is serious diversity—very few people are graduates from MSIs, much less graduates holding their doctoral degrees. You will not find that the people at the very top of organizations are graduates of MSIs. So I did a lot of reflecting about that and what it means to our students to demonstrate the ability to navigate any space, and lead in any space that they want. I would be absolutely nowhere if it had not been for my experience at Howard University. I hear how our students talk about what it means to be at an MSI, and what it means to be in an environment where so many people around you look like you, value you, acknowledge you, support you, and challenge you. I want to teach our students to walk into a space with confidence, even when no one in the room looks like you. I want that confidence to still be there, because they came from John Jay. You have that rooted experience because of where you were nurtured and because of who you are. I want our students to remember this, because no one can take it from them.
“I want to teach our students to walk into a space with confidence, even when no one in the room looks like you. I want that confidence to still be there, because they came from John Jay.”—Dara Byrne
How do you see this fellowship shaping your career and professional goals?
Right now, I think it’s more about what my capacity is in the role that I am currently in. It’s about making sure that I am best prepared to give everything that I have to the continued excellence of institutions that have a history, a legacy, and responsibility to do more and better with less for people who need all of it. If I see that there is a group of students who are struggling, I’m going to want to figure out what we should be doing to help them. That’s where I’m at right now. Everything that I like to do comes from a thoughtful place that’s focused on what’s best for the students and for the entire John Jay community. That’s what we need everybody to be about, because the stakes are really high right now. I saw this fellowship as an extraordinary opportunity to go to school, speak with my peers, and eventually bring everything back to the College and help the students.
What do you hope this experience helps you do at John Jay?
“I saw this fellowship as an extraordinary opportunity to go to school, speak with my peers, and eventually bring everything back to the College and help the students.”—Dara Byrne
I think it’s our responsibility to gather information, be in conversation with peers nationwide that are trying, failing, and succeeding at a myriad of things, and learn from the community. I also think it’s a great thing to never be in a situation where you think you have all of the answers. I know for sure that I don’t, and all of the things that I do know come from listening to, talking with, and observing people. I’m hoping that what this experience does for me is make the observation pool wider. This means going outside of CUNY, going outside of New York, and seeing what’s going on. What are they doing in California? What are they doing in Missouri? What are they doing in these places that are similar but different? I want to learn about the things that I have not thought about, or what I didn’t know and can learn from. If I can find a mentor, I’m so open to that possibility. I want to see what is possible and never be complacent.
What does it mean to you to be part of an institution that identifies as an MSI?
As a product of an MSI, there is a difference in terms of going to an institution that is thinking about the “whole you”—ethnicity, racially, positionality, gender, and sexuality. What we have, whether you are looking at Historically Black Colleges or newer Hispanic-Serving Institutions, are spaces that have been doing the counter to what institutions typically do. Institutions are like norming spaces, and MSIs are trying to go against the social norm by creating institutions that are centering around identities. I’m glad that John Jay can lead by example, because traditional institutions are not about identities, it’s not what they do. So it’s a provocative concept to take cultures and racial groups for example, and try to build educational spaces around something that appears to be or feels authentic to them. But when you get inside an MSI it’s different. John Jay has Latinx people from all over, and there’s different iterations of programming and curriculum that speaks to that rich diversity. We have a long way to go in terms of diversifying faculty and staff, but the aspiration and the intention of being an institution that reflects the community of the people that it serves is there. So for me to be here, and to have these phenomenal experiences in leadership, is extraordinarily good on CUNY and John Jay.
“MSIs are trying to go against the social norm by creating institutions that are centering around identities. I’m glad that John Jay can lead by example.”—Dara Byrne
In my undergrad and master’s experience at a traditionally white institution, I never felt like I belonged at the college. There was only a corner of the campus that black folks went to and that was about it. But then I went to Howard University. The experience of going to an MSI and seeing students that look like you is an amazing experience. And what a wonderful thing to spend four to six years of your life staking claim to an institution that has announced itself as being for you. That is not a common everyday thing in the experience of a person of color, and so many of the students here forget that this is not the norm. I love that for this magical moment during their undergrad experience, our students are able to feel like the College belongs to them and don’t feel like an “other” during this transformative time in their lives. I didn’t have that. But here at John Jay, we get to create this space for thousands of students every single day in a way that they don’t even think that there’s actual work going into it. Students believe that acceptance and inclusivity is just what John Jay does. And I have to admit, I love that.
