PDA Event: When Fear Gets in the Way: Liberating your Leadership Approach, Part I

Academic libraries find ourselves at a critical juncture as we face political attacks, rising costs, declining enrollments, and shrinking budgets. Many leaders have become fearful as they are caught between a variety of high stakes demands, resulting in a rise in authoritarianism and other fear-based leadership practices. This session, the first of a two-part series, will critically explore and examine the systems that underlie leadership practices that attempt to concentrate power, silence dissent, and control unknowns. 

Recommended Reading Before the Event

Presenters

Dr. Annie Downey (she/her) is University Librarian and Director of Collins Memorial Library at the University of Puget Sound. She has previously held leadership roles at the University of Washington Tacoma, University of Redlands, Reed College, and the University of North Texas, and earned her BA, MLS, and PhD at the University of North Texas. She has written and presented on critical information literacy, service design and user experience in libraries, the history of gender in librarianship, and people-centered feminist leadership. 

Megan Watson (she/her) is the Head of Collections and Scholarship for the University of Washington Tacoma. She has previously held roles at Reed College, the University of Alaska Southeast, and the University of Washington Bothell, and earned degrees at Indiana University Bloomington, Northwestern University, and Oberlin College. Her professional interests include inclusive leadership and group facilitation practices, authoritarianism and white supremacy culture within academic libraries, and critical pedagogy outside the classroom.

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