ABSTRACT
Leadership and institutional policy-making are often linked in the context of higher education; academic leaders are frequently called upon and expected to participate in and/or oversee policy development, implementation, and enforcement at the institutional level. While policy-making is rarely, if ever, a linear and rational process, leaders, both formal and informal, can exert influence in policy processes (Conway, Ahern, & Steuernagel, 2005). It is likely then that the ways in which leadership is commonly understood, and the lenses through which leaders are perceived, may shape policy and its outcomes. This chapter examines discourses constituting prominent images of leadership and considers how these images contribute to shaping perceptions of women leaders in U.S. higher education.
