ACE Leadership Vice President Lynn M. Gangone writes about her journey to Saudi Arabia, where she is participating in the first Women’s Leadership Forum for higher education leaders at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. Scroll down for the latest updates.
Thursday-Friday, February 25-26, 2016
Lynn Gangone
I left Dulles International Airport late this evening on a non-stop flight to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to teach in the first Women’s Leadership Forum for higher education leaders in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). While there have been earlier, shorter two-day sessions devoted to women’s leadership, this forum is the first of its kind.
I’m on the plane with my colleague and friend, Dr. Jacqui Elliott from the University of Missouri–St Louis—we met about 12 years ago when she was a doctoral student at The George Washington University (DC). Jacqui’s dissertation was on the history of the Office of Women at ACE (now part of ACE’s Inclusive Excellence Group), so we have many ties as friends and scholars studying women’s organizations and women’s advancement. Jacqui is a U.S. contact for the Academic Leadership Center (ALC) in KSA, coordinated through the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals on behalf of the KSA Ministry of Education, which oversees primary, secondary and higher education.
As I settle into my journey, I begin considering the opportunity and the privilege I have in this role as head of ACE Leadership. For us to be the best in the country, we need to know the world and how higher education leadership manifests itself in other cultures.
In KSA, the higher education system consists of both public and private universities, colleges and community colleges. The institutions segregate male and female students so that each institution (except for single-sex institutions) offers parallel curricula to students in two separate units. Each unit has a vice-rector (one female, one male) who reports to a rector, who is male. In the single-sex institutions, the rectors reflect the student body being served. KSA higher education administration, faculty, and staff are government employees, and faculty do not have a tenure system. The ALC provides training to higher education administrators throughout the KSA.
In her poem “Mindful,” Mary Oliver writes, “Oh, good scholar, I say to myself, how can you help to grow wise with such teachings as these—the untrimmable light of the world, the ocean’s shine, the prayers that are made out of grass?”
As I awaken after a decent sleep (for an airplane!), I lift the shade and realize I am flying over the Mediterranean Sea, and then the Red Sea. The map in front of me tells me Mt. Sinai is to the east and Egypt is to the west. The cerulean blue water floats below in many gradations, and as I look east I see the wide expanse of desert as the plane turns inland.
This is the time I must begin to recalibrate how I show up in the world, as I have been instructed to follow Saudi custom fully.
As I enter Saudi airspace, I don a black abaya (a full robe covering my body from neck to toe) and a hijab (a traditional head cover). Every time I enter a public space I will be expected to cover myself in this way. This, for me, will be a significant adjustment. However, especially in solidarity with the women I am to teach, my colleague Jacqui and I robe in preparation for landing.
I begin to see pockets of homes and roads and realize that “over there” in the Middle East will soon become “over here” for me. The wheels come down on the plane, and we are on the ground.
I hear my first call to prayer at 5:59 p.m. Friday evening, the holiest of days for the Saudis. There are five calls to prayer per day and the skies are filled with the call. By 7 p.m., I am at dinner and then I fight to stay up to adjust to the time difference and manage my jet lag.
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Lynn Gangone (left) and Jacqui Elliott take a break at a local mall in Riyadh.
Jacqui and I are here, and one colleague, Dr. Peggy Williams, president emerita of Ithaca College (NY) and an ACE Fellows Program “presidential sage,” has arrived from British Columbia. Dr. Jim Soto from the Harvard Graduate School of Education (and a former ACE Fellow), and Dr. Lucie Lapovsky, former chair of the ACE Women’s Network Board and 2016 Donna Shavlik Award recipient, are arriving later in the day.
On Sunday, Jacqui, who has been to KSA over 14 times and has developed a wide network of friends among the women faculty and administrators, and I have been invited to spend the day with a Saudi friend. She is a vice dean, and she and Jacqui have known each other for four years. I’ll be glad to get out to actually see where I am.
The three of us—Jacqui, I and our Saudi colleague—head with a driver (women still cannot drive here) to the national museum. There, we learn about the origins of the world and the origins of the Islamic faith. The museum is actually a good way for me to learn more about the country and Islam. It’s beautiful and the architecture impressive.
From the museum we go back to the hotel to pick up Peggy, and the four of us head to a Lebanese restaurant where we are treated to the most amazing meal—Jacqui had warned us that the food here is amazing, and I have yet to be disappointed. As women, we must eat on the family side of the restaurant—unaccompanied women and families eat on one side, and men eat on the other side. Again, this takes some getting used to!
Our Saudi colleague then asks her husband to take us to one of the souqs, a traditional outdoor market. The souq is near the Masmak Fort, which played an important role in the history of Riyadh and the kingdom’s history, as it was as at the Fort where Ibn Saud led the recapture of Riyadh on Jan. 14, 1902.
We strolled the grounds and wove in and out of alleys seeking bargains and a few gifts to bring back with us to the States. Tired, we headed back to the hotel for the evening for a preparation meeting with our ALC colleagues and to sleep.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
The Saudi work week is Sunday through Thursday, so today, the Women’s Leadership Forum begins at 8:30 a.m. We are all anxious and eager to meet our 80-plus participants from throughout the Kingdom.
We begin with introductions, and Jim does a great job presenting a framing keynote session on higher education leadership. (Jim actually being in the room with women, presenting, is a break in protocol, allowed by the women so that Jim can fully participate in the day). His talk helps each of us introduce ourselves using his keynote as a foundation for our work.
While each of us has time to talk about our sessions, what is most poignant is the ACE connection each of us shares through the work of ACE Leadership and our Women’s Network.
Peggy and Lucie are Shavlik Award winners. I, along with Peggy and Lucie, came up through the ranks of leadership with the Women’s Network at our backs, and each of us has served as state chairs at times during our careers. ACE, and our deep connections, sponsorships, and mentorships, are foremost in the conversation as we work to illustrate the importance of networks and support to our Saudi colleagues. I’m proud that the American Council on Education has such an important presence at this historic forum. The participants are highly engaged and very quick to ask us a multitude of questions, and the forum begins on a very positive note.
Our workday ends mid-afternoon with a lunch (Saudis eat at much later times than we are used to in the United States), and then we take a break and venture out to a mall for some exercise . . . yes, exercise. Our options are quite limited as women in terms of what we can do, so we make do with what we have!
Monday, February 29, 2016
Today we began our sessions—mine are on negotiation, authentic and appreciative leadership, and Bolman and Deal’s Reframing Organizations. I have been careful not to create these sessions with only a Western gaze, but also to consider the women’s cultural perspective in regard to leadership and the various aspects of higher education administration.
I found the women to be exceptional—very engaged and eager to discuss and consider many options, extremely candid about challenges at work and at home and open to considering different approaches and perspectives. I found myself diverting from the structured agenda to continue to capture more time in conversation and exchange. We shared anecdotes and strategies. And we even had a chance to—literally—let our hair down, because we were in a single-sex environment. I ended up keeping on my head covering and abaya, especially because my hair does not take well to being covered tightly all day! This means a bad hair day for sure!
Many of the women have commented on the respect we’ve shown in wearing the full head covering. Here in the KSA, all women must be in an abaya when in the company of men who are not related to them; however, westerners are not required to wear a head covering. Jacqui has been a good mentor, having been over here so many times, and knows that how we show up matters. Additionally, this has allowed us to build trust quickly.
I am learning more about abayas, hijabs, scarves and how to wear them. The women have teased me a bit because apparently some of my choices are not Saudi, but unbeknownst to me, from Turkey or Kuwait—this is the result of online shopping and little context. There is nothing offensive in this, of course, but just some finer details. So we had a little fun today playing with my head covering and discussing the best ways to wear a head scarf. I, of course, have commented on lots of beautiful abayas—all mostly black with rare exception, but beautiful in their detail and flow. The women have also commented on my looks, in terms of ethnic characteristics we seem to share, and have told me my name in Arabic means tender-hearted, or tender and delicate. Very nice, really!
I will say that I was proud that by the end of the day, several women said that the workshops I conducted had exceeded their expectations. I know all of us on the faculty have put a lot of work into our sessions, and know the importance of the time this week, both for the women currently participating, as well as future participants. So we all have our best to show and share.
I had several one-on-one conversations with women I am getting to know much better, learning about the complexities of their lives and what it’s like to live here. Many of the women have ties to the United States—some born there, many educated with masters’ and doctoral degrees at universities around the country.
We’ve talked about 9/11 and how life has changed since then for everyone. These women want us to see beyond the media images to really get to know them and their lives. I am struck by the deep discomfort many of them have if they’ve been to the States post 9/11—how they feel traveling throughout the country, particularly if they maintain their abaya and head covering, and how sad they are to lose the connection to us. Perhaps programs like this Forum can remedy some of these challenges? I don’t know. I am just working to make connections in whatever ways I can.
Tonight we experienced a rare opportunity. We were hosted, as part of a group of many Saudi women, at the Governor of Riyadh’s home by the First Lady of Riyadh. Princess Norah is an amazing woman who is very dedicated to the girls and women of Saudi Arabia, and she is particularly dedicated to creating, among other things, micro-financing and entrepreneurial support for women of lesser means.
We met women from all sectors and had great conversations with new friends. I invited a higher education colleague of high rank to visit us at ACE when she is next in Washington, DC, and I am hopeful that connections made tonight will turn into greater opportunities for collaborations.
As with the sessions earlier today, we were among only women, so I particularly enjoyed seeing the wide array of fashion and self-expression that is incredible among these women. There was lots of laughter as well as serious conversation, and may I just say I don’t think I have eaten as well in any other country—the food here has been absolutely wonderful, and the traditional Saudi dishes, particularly, have been very yummy.
It’s late here now . . . our 1 a.m. to DC’s 5 p.m., so I will sign off for now.
tisbaH ala-kheir
Good Night!
