Review of Exceptional Senior Student Affairs Administrators' Leadership

If one were to read the book Exceptional Senior Student Affairs Administrators' Leadership as a how-to-be-an-SSAO manual, the whole topic could be a bit overwhelming.Trying to combine all of the information and descriptions offered by these contributors creates a paragon of an administrator that most would be hard pressed to emulate.It would give the phrase "waiting for Superman (or Wonder Woman)" a completely new meaning; however, if the reader uses this book as a way to understand the view from the top and to delve into sage observations from leaders who want to illuminate the potential for the next generation to follow, then this book is a great resource for any practitioner.In this book, Gwen Dungy and Shannon Ellis have gathered a panel of experts who offer their thoughts on leadership and professional development.The contributors represent a cumulative 840 years, approximately, of experience in higher education and student affairs.With an average of about 30 years each, these 28 contributors have been university presidents, vice presidents of student affairs and academic affairs, faculty, senior student affairs administrators, and consultants.Each chapter expands the conversation even more through illustrations of the authors' personal experiences, as well as numerous examples from colleagues from the United States and throughout the world.These authors and contributors model the seven enduring competencies of leadership posited by the entire volume.Authors Dungy and Ellis articulate in the preface of the book that they were inspired by an observation that the path to the presidency of an institution is primarily through the faculty route.Admittedly, this faculty route has been regarded as the venerable ascension to the highest office, but the authors suggest this assumption could-and should-be challenged.The 11 chapters of Exceptional Senior Student Affairs Administrators' Leadership have been organized into a systematic walk through the landscape of higher education.There are two different types of chapters used in the book: the typical chapter addressing one topic or application and the chapter that includes smaller sub-chapters that provide a richer conversation around their subject.There is a cadence created with the layout of the book.The first three chapters serve as an introduction; the middle includes the