Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn: A Collaborative Syllabus for Higher Education Leadership

Edited by Linda Adler-Kassner and Chris W. Gallagher Center for Engaged Learning Open Access Book Series Series Editors: Jessie L Moore and Peter Felten Information and Pricing 978-1-64317-593-5 (paperback, $38.95); 978-1-64317-594-2 (download from the CEL booksite). © 2026 by  Linda Adler-Kassner and Chris W. Gallagher, with  bibliography, and index. 338 pages. This work is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license. Download Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn from The Center for Engaged Learning booksite. Bookstores: Order by fax, mail, or phone. See our "Sales and Ordering Page" for details. About This Book Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn is meant to be used as much as read by individuals in reading groups, workshops, seminars, and classrooms. It is designed as a “syllabus” that asks readers to consider questions associated with the theory and practice of leadership, and in particular the metacognitive practices of leaders (i.e., the ways in which they think about and learn leadership).   The book brings together scholars and administrators who examine not only what they have learned about leadership, but how they learned it through experience, theory, identity, and relational work. Part 1 focuses on learning from experience, highlighting leadership without authority, teaching-informed leadership, listening, care, and navigating systemic inequities. Part 2 bridges theory and practice, drawing on feminist, Black, queer, and critical frameworks to reimagine institutional change, belonging, and transformation. Throughout, contributors foreground leadership as adaptive, relational, and values-driven, inviting readers to reflect on their own identities, commitments, and theories of change as they learn to lead in complex institutions. About the Editors Linda Adler-Kassner is Associate Vice Chancellor of Teaching and Learning; Faculty Director of the Center for Innovative Teaching, Research, and Learning; and Distinguished Professor of Writing Studies at UC Santa Barbara. As a researcher, teacher, and administrator, Adler-Kassner’s work focuses on studying and improving conditions for equitable and inclusive learning. She has served as a department chair, dean, and department chair. A writing teacher for more than 30 years, she has also taught courses ranging from first year composition (aka “freshman comp”) to graduate courses in composition theory and pedagogy. Author, co-author, or co-editor of 13 books and more than 50 articles and book chapters, Adler-Kassner’s scholarship has garnered multiple awards. These include Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies and Writing Expertise: A Research-Based Approach to Writing and Learning Across Disciplines, both with Elizabeth Wardle. Adler-Kassner has also served as the President of the Council of Writing Program Administrators; the Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, writing studies’ major disciplinary association; and an executive board member for the National Council of Teachers of English. Chris W. Gallagher is professor of English at Northeastern University in Boston. He has published widely on teaching and assessing writing and on learning and institutional change in K-12 and higher education. He is author or co-author of five books, including College Made Whole: Integrative Learning for a Divided World (Johns Hopkins University Press), and many articles in writing studies and education journals. His co-written book with Kristi Girdharry and Kevin Smith, Getting Learning Right: The Promise of Higher Education, is forthcoming from MIT Press. Professor Gallagher has held numerous administrative positions, including writing program director, associate dean for experiential teaching and learning, vice chancellor for global learning, vice provost for undergraduate education, and vice provost for curriculum. He teaches courses in writing and pedagogy at every level of the curriculum, from first-year writing to graduate seminars on topics such as “Writing and Community Engagement,” “Literacy and AI,” and “Writing, Language, and Policy.” Readers can download the PDF ebook and access additional book resources at the Center for Engaged Learning booksite at Elon University: https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/books/learning-to-lead/