An “unprecedented” grouping of women of color who have been elected presidents of learned societies gathered at the “Madam President” summit in the Tempe campus Memorial Union on Friday.

The academic leaders discussed their influence, individually and collectively, on the changes taking root in higher education in front of nearly 150 faculty members and graduate students in moderated discussions and workshops.

Talking points during the nearly five-hour summit focused on the increasingly important role of minority women in the leadership of academia and ways for young women of color to ascend to these positions in the future.

Lynette Myles, an English faculty instructor, said she came to the event because it was a historic chance to learn from and network with presidents and other professional women of color in academia.

“There is a change that is happening [in learned societies],” Myles said. “I feel really good about that, the possibility that we will continue to see women of color in these leadership positions.”

The summit, hosted by the ASU Faculty Women’s Association, featured eight women who have or are currently serving as leaders of learned societies.

Among those who attended the symposium were Patricia Hill Collins, who was elected the American Sociological Association’s first black female president in 2008; Loriene Roy, who served as the American Library Association’s first Native American president from 2007 to 2008; and Beverly Guy-Sheftall, the founding director of Women’s Research and Resource Center and current president of the National Women’s Studies Association.

The presidents shared their experiences breaking both color and gender barriers in learned societies and “what impact women of color have had on these pillars of society,” said professor Stanlie James, director of ASU African and African American Studies and president of the Faculty Women’s Association.

James, who moderated the first session of discussions, said minority women as leaders of academic institutions is a trend yet to be fully addressed by society.

“It’s pretty much a 21st century phenomenon,” she said. “It’s something that [the madam presidents] themselves were not aware of — that all these women were serving in this capacity. They didn’t realize that there was a cohort of them, serving [in] … these positions.”

James said the purpose of assembling these leaders was to give women of color who are faculty and graduate students at ASU an opportunity to see the possibilities of transforming the traditionally white male-dominated landscape of learned societies.

Audience members felt the impressive credentials of the speakers gathered in the Memorial Union’s Ventana Ballroom made the “Madam President” summit a unique on-campus event.

“This is something very historical and kind of surprising that we’d have it on the ASU campus, because we usually don’t have a lot of this,” said Charisse Burden-Stelly, a political science and African and African-American studies senior.

Burden-Stelly said she attended the summit because she is currently writing her honors thesis on black feminism, and she plans to go to graduate school for African-American studies at The University of California, Berkeley.

She said the summit symbolized how far women of color have come in learned societies, but the persistent need to ask questions about the importance of minority females in academic leadership showed how much work was left for her generation.

“There is still a lot of structural racism and sexism that forums like these are trying to alleviate for people my age, so that some day you won’t have to ask that question,” Burden-Stelly said.

Reach the reporter at trabens@asu.edu.