Women in Leadership: An Interview with Karen Francis-Bega

Date: 3/14/2022

By Cait Fitzpatrick

Women make up about 60 percent of all professionals in higher education, and continue to earn the majority of master's and doctoral degrees. As women, how can we continue to move towards equal pay, respect, and opportunity for leadership positions within the industry? Karen suggests it begins with humble beginnings and strong female role models.

The modern understanding of leadership we have today is due to the establishment of large organizations during the Industrial Age from roughly 1900-1930s. This leadership style can be classified as dominant or corporate and often consisted of the oversight and management of large groups of people. Today, there is a greater desire from leaders to be influential, genuine and supportive. Through transformational leadership, leaders are encouraged to enact change at the individual follower organizational level (Guerriero, 2021, Unit 3, p. 1).

To be in Karen’s position is no easy assignment. She has worked as a Navajo woman to advocate for Native American students and challenge the support services that do or do not exist within the institution. After careful consideration and reflection, Karen has taken on a huge mission and effectively uses her transformational leadership skills to encourage others to enact change. She is a supportive and participative leader, and wants others to feel secure with the decisions that are being made. Overall, Karen is making great strides as a leader for the Native American/Indigenous community. View our interview summary below.

1) What is your position title and the name of the institution at which you are employed? 

Karen Francis-Begay currently serves as the Assistant Vice Provost for Native American Initiatives at the University of Arizona.

 

2) Where does your position fit within the organizational structure or hierarchy? 

The Office of the Provost where Karen holds her position directly reports to the Provost, Liesel Folks, whose office is under the Office of the President. Currently, the President of the University is Dr. Robert Robbins.

 

3) What is the scope of your leadership duties and responsibilities (e.g., number of people you supervise, level of budget authority)

The Office of Native American Initiatives was recently formed in January of 2020 and is a new Provost initiative, with the focus being to lead and coordinate efforts on campus that support Native American success and Native American faculty support. These are the two key areas; however, Karen has direct leadership responsibilities over academic and mentoring programs such as Native SOAR, the Native American Student Affairs and The Center for the Study of Higher Education. Although her unit is small, she supervises between 20-30 staff members on campus, not including any faculty that she collaborates with. When it comes to the budget for the Office of Native American Initiatives, Karen has direct oversight on how to use the federal grant they recently acquired. She also helps manage how scholarship funds from the University are allocated out to the Navajo Nation to be used by students. 

4) How were you selected for the position you currently hold?

Karen previously worked as a Community Relations Assistant and Vice President for Tribal Relations at the University of Arizona, but saw a great need for an Office of Native American Initiatives. In short, she crafted a position proposal and sent it straight to the Provost and President. The program and position were approved and therefore, Karen was directly appointed by the Provost for her current position. 

5) What are the three areas of responsibility on which you spend the greatest amount of your time as a leader?

First, Karen spends a considerable amount of time working with the Native Faculty Group on campus. Her time with them is spent reviewing the current state of campus as well as current issues that Native students and faculty face. Additionally, she acts as an advocate to expand qualitative research on the Native American experience at the University. Essentially, her job within faculty relations is to bring concerns to the Provost’s and President’s table. Second, she spends a great deal of time building awareness for her new Office of Native American Initiatives and encouraging other Native/Indigenous programs, tribes and nonprofits to join her in her mission of supporting Native students on campus. Within this area of work, she spends a lot of time speaking with current students and helping to build up current programs on campus like Native American Student Affairs that support the study body. Finally, she spends much of her time working in tribal engagement in the Four Corners area and advocating for donor support. 

6) Which aspects of your education and prior experience have best prepared you to lead effectively in your current position?

Karen’s prior experiences studying Native American Studies as a graduate student at the University of Arizona truly prepared her for the work she does now. This experience helped her understand the true history of Indian Education in the United States, federal law and policy and current issues that the Native community faces. Her prior work experience in tribal government and community relations allowed her to see how few Native students actually retain and complete their degree. Within the lens of government and policy, she knew she wanted to support these students at the frontline of their undergraduate experience.  She considers herself a visionary and believes that she has been preparing and hoping for a position like hers for years.

(7) What led you to pursue your current leadership position?

Very early on, Karen knew that she wanted to help lead the next generation of Native scholars and leaders herself. She had come to appreciate and understand that the Native community needs knowledgeable and skilled individuals to lead their tribal nations. They need people that are devoted who are willing to come back to their communities to share that knowledge in some capacity. This drive to inspire the next generation of Native leaders is what led her to build this new office from the ground up. 

(8) Describe past and current influences on your leadership style (e.g., authors, mentors, role models, etc.)

As a leader in Higher Education, Karen attributes most of her style to the way she was raised. She grew up on the Navajo Nation in a traditional, matriarchal family structure and had early exposure to strong, female leaders. Her role models that affected her leadership style include her mother and grandmother, who instilled values of discipline, sense of duty and dedication to the community. 

(9) What is your preferred strategy for continuing to develop as a leader (e.g., leadership development programs (internal or external to the current institution), professional associations, conferences, books, journals) 

 

To develop as a leader, Karen always likes to push herself to be a part of situations that she normally would not be in that inspire curiosity and challenge current ideas and processes. She often wonders how things can be done better and seeks out learning opportunities. She works hard to challenge the current status-quo of cultural support for Native American students. One of her favorite resources is the Native Indian Education Association, who hosts a conference each year but also sends out articles and emails to their members. As a doctoral student, she is constantly reading and doing research on Native students and faculty within Higher Education as well. 

 

(10) How would you describe your approach to leadership or your leadership style? Is there a particular leadership theory, approach, or model that resonates with you?

 

Karen describes herself as a thoughtful leader, meaning she strives to include people’s feelings, concerns and situations when she is leading. She likes to consider all the people that might be affected by her decision making and weigh the pros and cons based on that. She admits that she struggles with making executive orders and decisions, because she feels that she needs to hear feedback from her followers first. She strives to have her followers participate as much as possible and she would rather reflect on those decisions with other key players involved. She considers herself a transformational leader and tries to initiate change by making valuable connections with people and understanding their experiences. Overall, she enjoys bringing people together through her leadership and does not consider herself a leader that simply delegates tasks. 

 

(11) What do you consider to be your strengths as a leader? Are there aspects of leadership in which you'd like to grow or develop?

Karen’s strengths include transformational and transparent leadership. She is honest and forthcoming with her followers, and stays connected with them on a regular basis. She knows their hopes, concerns and challenges. This inspires her followers to carry out their work in a passionate way. 

(12) What is your biggest challenge as a leader?

Because Karen identifies as a transformational leader that is driven by connection with her followers, her biggest challenge is staying in touch with the lower-level managers and finding the time to truly connect with as many students as possible. In her position, it’s a challenge to mentor Native students through college and inspire them to be future leaders. This is challenging and time-consuming work, but well worth it in her opinion. 

(13) In your experience, what is unique or distinctive about leading in an institution of higher education?

In Higher Education, Karen believes you must be a leader that can amplify the voices of others in hopes of increasing visibility and awareness for their needs, in this case, the needs of the Native American community. In Karen’s opinion, you must practice action and situational leadership all the time. You must bring solutions to the table, not just your concerns, in order to enact actual change on college campuses. She states that you also must be an organized leader and be ready to express your needs and priorities at the drop of a hat. 

(14) What do you consider to be your greatest professional accomplishment as a leader in an institution of higher education?

Karen’s greatest accomplishment as a leader has been advocating for the creation of the Office of Native American Initiatives and succeeding. She is proud to amplify the voices of the Native groups and programs on campus. She considers herself a trailblazer for the unit and she’s very proud of her educational journey that brought her to her current position. 

(15) What are a few of your goals and aspirations as a leader, things you'd like to accomplish in the future

Karen would like to write a book about the evolution of Native programming at the University of Arizona and lend some of her impressive historical knowledge to the community as a whole. One of her main goals, however, is to carve out a way for young Native students to effectively become the next line of leaders in Higher Education. She wants to inspire others to step into positions of leadership without doubt or uncertainty and to own their experiences with pride. Finally, she would like to develop a strategic plan for her unit and the Native American programs that fall under her management. This 3-5-year plan will bring definition to the new office and hopefully inspire other institutions to create similar plans and offices (the University of Arizona is the first institution in the United States to create an office such as this). 

(16) What are you doing in your current leadership position to promote equity and inclusion in your organization? (this could be structural change such as hiring or promotion processes, or changes affecting those served by the organization such as access or achievement)

Karen promotes equity and inclusion by letting Native students and faculty speak for themselves, while offering leadership and guidance along the way. To encourage equity and inclusion, she refrains from generalizing students’ experiences as Native people. She recognizes the delicate balance of representation and advocacy within leadership. For example, not all Native students are the same or even come from the same area. As a leader, she tries to include as many individuals as possible in the conversation.

*end interview*

Thanks to women like Karen who are paving the way and inspiring others to claim their roles as leaders.

References:

Guerriero, W. (2021). CCHE 600 Online Unit, Two, Three. Retrieved April 4, 2021, from Blackboard: https://bblearn.nau.edu/