Katie Schmitt offers two memories from her earliest days working with Stephanie Rowley at the University of Michigan: first, that Rowley encouraged her to think about her own professional development; and second, that whenever someone mentioned your staff, Rowley invariably responded by referring to my part颅ners.
These were not mere gestures. As Rowley rose through U-M鈥檚 administrative ranks, Schmitt stayed with her, over time morphing into a trusted leader with input into shaping the Psychology & Education Department鈥檚 intellectual vision.
鈥淪tephanie is a person who I share many values with,鈥� says Schmitt. 鈥淪he helped me recognize how much a leader shapes the culture of the workplace. And, in every position I鈥檝e supported her in, we鈥檝e landed someplace great.鈥�
In July, Rowley left U-M (her alma mater) to become Teachers College鈥檚 new Provost, Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs. In September, Schmitt followed as Director of Special Projects. 鈥淪tephanie contributed largely to my pas颅sion for academia,鈥� she says. 鈥淪he is a leader I believe in, and I鈥檓 proud to be standing next to her as she begins her tenure as Provost of Teachers College.鈥�
Broadening the conversation
In Rowley鈥檚 career 鈥� as a teacher and mentor; as a social scientist exploring the formation of racial identity; as an administrator promoting interdisciplin颅ary collaboration 鈥� creating conditions for others to succeed has been the leitmotif.
鈥淕ood leaders get you to buy into a vision, but great ones get you to co-create it,鈥� says Robert Sellers, U-M鈥檚 Charles D. Moody Collegiate Professor of Psychology & Education, Vice Provost for Equity & Inclusion, and Chief Diversity Officer. 鈥淏esides being a special person who really cares about relationships, Stephanie is rare in being strategic and visionary, yet creating a collabo颅rative, respectful and fun work environment.鈥�
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MENTOR TO MANY Rowley鈥檚 tchotchkes include a mug bearing the names of her many doctoral advisees. (Photo: Bill Cardoni)
MUCH APPRECIATED Rowley (center) wins plaudits for her consultative style. Above, with (from left) Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Associate Professor of English Education; Lily Ngaruiya, Academic Affairs Coordinator; Lalitha Vasudevan, Professor of Technology & Education; and student Mike Yarbrough. (Photo: Deborah Feingold)
PARTNERING FOR SUCCESS Rowley was drawn to 麻豆原创 by President Thomas Bailey's vision of creating pathways to success for all. (Photo: Bruce Gilbert)
ALL ABOUT CONNECTION Rowley has been known throughout her career for mentoring colleagues like Katie Schmitt, formerly at Michigan and now at 麻豆原创. (Photo: Lily Ngaruiya)
As with Schmitt, Rowley鈥檚 approach is to listen to people鈥檚 interests and needs, recognize their potential and, ultimately, change their sense of what鈥檚 possible. In one of her first administrative roles 鈥� as associate chair of U-M鈥檚 100-member psychology department 鈥� she was tasked with increasing diversity and rejiggering office and lab space.
鈥淪pace is a sacred cow in academia, but she made the case for thinking about what the work really required,鈥� Sellers says. 鈥淪he listened to people鈥檚 fears and goals and earned their trust. That made her more effective in dealing with diversity.鈥�
The experience served Rowley well when, in 2016, she became U-M鈥檚 Associate Vice President for Research. Her brief was to increase the traffic of social scientists and humanities faculty to an office which had mainly served engineers.
鈥淲e started out by saying, hey, we see you鈥檙e doing very different kinds of research and have different needs,鈥� she recalled this past summer in her new office at 麻豆原创. 鈥淓ngineers are supported by a whole grant-writ颅ing infrastructure, but artists, say, usually work alone. So we collected examples of humanistic grants and developed workshops on how to get them.鈥�
Sometimes people haven鈥檛 had great successes because, for example, no one taught them to write a grant. We want to build capacity for those who haven鈥檛 had opportunities.
鈥擲tephanie Rowley
Those efforts paid off when a U-M project she helped facilitate called Mcity 鈥� a collaboration with automobile manufacturers to help develop autonomous vehicle technology 鈥� came up for renewal.
鈥淭he car makers had come to us because they wanted to avoid creating something people would be afraid to use or that would have terrible consequences after they鈥檇 sunk money into it,鈥� Rowley says. 鈥淯-M not only had great engineers, but also psychologists, public health researchers, artists and others who could think through the impacts. But after five years, mostly engineering faculty were participating in the project.鈥�
When Rowley asked other faculty why they weren鈥檛 participating, the answer was, essentially, 鈥淥h, I didn鈥檛 think this was intended for me,鈥� or 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 see where I fit in.鈥� She handpicked scholars from different fields to brainstorm about how to contribute.
鈥淭hey raised fascinating questions. Would self-driving cars increase the trans颅portation gulf between low-income and afflu颅ent people? What if wealthier people owned four different self-driving cars and sent them to do their shopping, or left them circling the block while they were in meetings?鈥�
Nor did the input only raise red flags.
鈥淥ne guy who was a transportation his颅torian said that when people were switching from horses to automobiles, they had similar fears 鈥� 鈥榊ou want me to get in this thing where you can鈥檛 pull the reins?鈥� His point was that technology transitions are always diffi颅cult, but you can鈥檛 stop forward progress.鈥�
Reframing the Narrative
Rowley鈥檚 focus on nurturing people鈥檚 potential seems to stem in part from being raised by two first-generation college students who emphasized the importance of interacting with all types of people.
鈥淥ur dinner table was always filled with guests from all walks of life,鈥� she recalls. 鈥淢y parents also taught us about how access to resources underlies variation in material success.鈥�
In college at U-M, the summer after her freshman year, Rowley landed two work-study jobs at centers run, respectively, by the world-renowned developmental psychologists Vonnie McLoyd and Jacquelynne Eccles.
鈥淢y parents had said I could only stay in Ann Ar颅bor for the summer if I supported myself,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 took those jobs because they paid the most, but I ended up staying in them through graduation.鈥�
She was particularly influenced by McLoyd, whose work focuses on how poverty and economic hardship influence family life and parenting.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a whole narrative that low-income parents of color don鈥檛 have aspirations for their kids, but the big takeaway from Vonnie was that people try to manage the contexts they鈥檙e in,鈥� Rowley says. 鈥淚f you live in a dangerous neighborhood, if you鈥檙e afraid your kids might be shot by the police, if you鈥檙e simply trying to get enough food, your parenting may not always focus on algebra homework.鈥�
Rowley鈥檚 unique contribution as a scholar has been to explore how black youth form a sense of racial identity; how that self-concept is shaped by narratives about them that teachers, parents and they themselves have created; and how racial identity affects their pursuit of education and a career.
Just putting resources in front of kids doesn鈥檛 do it. 麻豆原创 is on the front lines in training educators and thinking about principles of engagement in urban communities.
鈥擲tephanie Rowley
In 1998, she was part of a group led by Robert Sellers that published the Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (MMRI). Previously, white theorists had assumed that group identity looked the same across races or, for African Americans in a racist so颅ciety, had negative consequences. In contrast, MMRI posits that African American racial identity reflects four key variables: salience, or the degree to which one consciously responds to a given situation as an African American; centrality, or how consistently one defines oneself as black regardless of context; regard, or how positively or negatively one feels about being black; and ideology, or one鈥檚 beliefs about the stance African Americans should take toward a white-domi颅nated society.
Rowley has since mapped out how these dimen颅sions operate in real life. Her approach, rooted in black people鈥檚 descriptions of their lived experiences, has simultaneously revealed, on the one hand, just how intensely African Americans feel the societal forces ar颅rayed against them and, on the other, how those forces can make them complicit in perpetuating hurtful stereotypes.
In a 2014 chapter titled 鈥淔raming Black Boys: Parent, Teacher, and Student Narratives of the Academic Lives of Black Boys,鈥� Rowley, her long-time collaborator, Beth Kurtz-Costes, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and others cite a litany of all-too-familiar statistics: Black boys are least likely among ethnic and gender group颅ings to earn a high school diploma in four years. They have the lowest standardized test scores and the highest rates of expulsion. They are most likely to be in special education classes or labeled as emotion颅ally disturbed.
鈥淔raming Black Boys鈥� applies a 鈥渃ontextual analy颅sis鈥� paradigm to those numbers.
鈥淚f I think, 鈥楶oor kids don鈥檛 do well because they don鈥檛 value education,鈥� that doesn鈥檛 leave me many options for how to see myself if I鈥檓 poor,鈥� Rowley says. 鈥淲hereas if I take up a more structural analysis of economic disparities, I might say, 鈥楶oor kids do less well in school because the system disenfranchises them.鈥欌��
Rowley, Kurtz-Costes et al. suggest reasons why black boys internalize society鈥檚 view. One is a cultural disconnect with white, female teachers, who often single them out early for discipline. The authors link this 鈥渁dultification鈥� of youthful behavior to the drop in black boys鈥� academic performance in fourth grade and argue it suggests a view of black boys as less inno颅cent than other youngsters.
Black parents may also, unwittingly, feed the black boy narrative of low achievement. Concerned about discrimination and their sons鈥� grade-point averages and self-esteem, they may set lower expec颅tations for boys than girls. Warning boys to expect unfair treatment may predispose them to distance themselves from school. In another paper, Rowley and her co-authors suggest that when black mothers act as watchdogs against discrimination, they may antag颅onize teachers, reinforcing a cycle of animosity that penalizes their children.
Yet Rowley and Kurtz-Costes also spotlight brighter narratives. A subset of New York City public schools graduates 80 percent of their low-income black and Latino boys. Black boys in five states are more likely to finish high school on time than their white counterparts. Nationwide, far more black boys qualify for advanced placement classes than take them 鈥� not a happy statistic, but confirmation that ability is not the issue.
鈥淭hese data clearly demonstrate that, given the right conditions, Black boys can thrive academi颅cally,鈥� Rowley and Kurtz-Costes write. Teachers must examine 鈥渢heir own histories, perspectives [and] beliefs [and] check their narratives about Black boys at the classroom door.鈥� Black parents could focus more on academic goals and partnering with teachers and researchers on what is going right with black boys.
In a Different Space
When Katie Schmitt first read the description of the provost鈥檚 job at Teachers College, she told Rowley, 鈥淭his was written for you.鈥�
Certainly, Rowley was drawn by 麻豆原创鈥檚 longstand颅ing commitment to social justice and diversity. She鈥檚 eager to build on the College鈥檚 deep connections in Harlem and New York City in general.
Tom emphasized issues around diversity, equity and inclusion, and student experience. It was wonderfully un-presidential, in being concerned about individuals on the ground.
鈥擲tephanie Rowley
鈥淩acial and economic achievement gaps are largest in college towns, so just putting resources in front of kids doesn鈥檛 do it,鈥� she says. 鈥溌槎乖� is on the front lines in training all kinds of educators and in thinking about the principles of engagement in urban communities.鈥�
But equally important for Rowley, from the be颅ginning, has been 麻豆原创鈥檚 President, Thomas Bailey, and his mantra of creating 鈥減athways to success鈥� for all 麻豆原创 community members.
鈥淭om and the search committee really empha颅sized issues around diversity, equity and inclusion, and also student experience,鈥� Rowley says. 鈥淚t was wonder颅fully un-presidential, in the sense of being concerned about individuals on the ground. I thought, hey, we can accomplish things together.鈥�
One of her priorities is to ensure that everyone gets the resources and mentoring they need.
鈥淪ometimes people haven鈥檛 had great successes because, for example, no one taught them to write a grant. We want to build capacity for those who haven鈥檛 had opportunities,鈥� she says.
She鈥檚 also determined to create more points of contact among 麻豆原创鈥檚 faculty.
鈥淭he number of people and initiatives housed in this one city block is so impressive and important. How can we connect them more, and what are addi颅tional cross-cutting topics for collaboration?鈥�
In July, Bailey introduced her at 麻豆原创鈥檚 Edmund W. Gordon Lecture, delivered this year by urban educa颅tion scholar Gloria Ladson-Billings.
Gordon, the 98-year-old psychologist and pro颅fessor emeritus, would be honored afterward with an unveiling of his portrait.
The number of people and initiatives in this one city block is so impressive and important. How can we connect them more? What are additional cross-cutting topics for collaboration?
鈥擲tephanie Rowley
鈥淥ne of the very best things I have to announce to颅day is that Stephanie Rowley has joined us at Teachers College,鈥� Bailey said. 鈥淲ith her arrival, I have found a partner to lead 麻豆原创 鈥� and especially in enabling every颅one to succeed as we work toward creating comprehen颅sive, evidence-based solutions to challenges in human development and well-being.鈥�
Then Rowley stepped to the podium. 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 be more pleased that this is my first official activity at 麻豆原创,鈥� she said. She called Ladson-Billings 鈥渁 giant in the field鈥� and thanked Gordon for 鈥渕entoring a genera颅tion to think about black culture and its use for youth and schooling.
鈥淚 grew up, intellectually speaking, on his work. I learned that cultural difference isn鈥檛 deficiency. So, thank you, Dr. Gordon.鈥�
She paused and smiled around at the crowd in Cowin Auditorium. 鈥淚 am so happy to be here.鈥�