Dear Higher Education: Letters from the Social Justice Mountain

Restoring Our Brilliance, Sustaining Our Power: Healing Wisdom for Leading in Challenging Times

Tisha Brooks

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Abstract

This submission, written by Tisha M. Brooks and titled “Restoring Our Brilliance, Sustaining Our Power: Healing Wisdom for Leading in Challenging Times," offers a response to the “Why We Believe Transformation is Possible” prompt for this special issue. In the letter, Brooks offers a narrative showcasing challenges she faces as a Black woman faculty member, higher ed leader, and caregiver who is committed to the transformation of the higher education landscape through embodied leadership practices grounded in justice, equity, and sustainability. Through sharing her own sustainable (embodied) leadership practices, she models an alternative way of being and leading grounded in the wisdom of Black women ancestors, writers, activists and wellness practitioners who call us to honor our full humanity and dignity in the face of impossible circumstances. This vision of transformational leadership centers our wholeness as critical for sustaining the work of liberation.