Scholar-Practitioner Identity
Research Grounded in Practice
This work grows from executive IT leadership experience and asks how equity commitments become real through daily decisions, access to opportunity, and technology-enabled talent systems.
Research
Inclusive IT leadership, equity, and AI governance in higher education.
My doctoral work examines how opportunity is created, restricted, and governed inside higher education IT organizations.
Doctoral Dissertation
Fostering Inclusive IT Leadership in U.S. Higher Education
A qualitative phenomenological study of how higher education IT professionals experience middle-management engagement, mentorship, sponsorship, and AI-enabled HR tools as mechanisms shaping recruitment, retention, and advancement.
Explore Dissertation Overview15Interview Participants
10Findings Themes
3Mechanism Domains
2026Doctoral Draft
Academic Foundation
Research built from leadership, engineering, and institutional practice.
Leon's education combines executive leadership scholarship, computer engineering, business information systems, and public-sector CIO preparation. That blend anchors the research agenda in both organizational transformation and practical technology governance.
Doctoral ProgramDoctor of Management, Executive Leadership, Colorado Technical University. In progress; research focus includes leadership, workforce development, and organizational transformation in higher education IT.
EngineeringMaster of Science, Computer Engineering, Internet Engineering, Marlboro College.
Business SystemsBachelor of Science, Business Administration, Computer Information Systems, Western Carolina University.
CIO CredentialCertified Government Chief Information Officer (CGCIO), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Central Research Question
How Do Mechanisms Shape Mobility?
The study explores how underrepresented higher education IT professionals, mid-level managers, and HR or equity partners describe the forces shaping recruitment, retention, and advancement.
Conceptual Framework
Identity, Power, and Daily Routines
The study integrates intersectionality theory, critical race theory, and generative interactions theory to examine how organizational routines translate equity commitments into lived experience.
Methodology
Qualitative Phenomenological Inquiry
The research centers lived experience rather than abstract policy language. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with IT staff, mid-level managers, and HR or equity partners in U.S. higher education institutions.
PopulationHigher education IT professionals, managers, and HR or equity partners.
Data CollectionSemi-structured one-on-one interviews conducted through secure video conferencing.
AnalysisReflexive thematic analysis focused on patterned meanings across role groups.
FocusRecruitment, retention, advancement, mentorship, sponsorship, visibility, and AI-enabled HR tools.
Findings
Ten Themes, One Central Pattern: Opportunity
Middle ManagementManagers function as gatekeepers of assignments, exposure, feedback, and advancement pathways.
VisibilityBeing seen in the right rooms becomes a mechanism of access, recognition, and mobility.
MentorshipGuidance supports development, but advice alone does not always translate into advancement.
SponsorshipAdvocacy from leaders creates access to networks, decision spaces, and high-visibility opportunities.
BiasBias is experienced structurally and interpersonally through hiring, evaluation, access, and recognition.
InclusionInclusion is not only representation; it is participation, access, voice, and treatment.
OpportunityOpportunity emerges as the core mechanism through which equity becomes measurable in careers.
AI ToolsAI-enabled HR tools operate as filtering and support mechanisms that still require human governance.
Emotional IntelligenceMindset, adaptability, and interpersonal awareness shape selection and development experiences.
Structural ConstraintsFunding, staffing, compensation, and role availability limit how opportunity is created and distributed.
Practice Implications
Turning Equity Commitments Into Operating Systems
The study points toward a practical leadership agenda: define middle-management expectations, formalize sponsorship, rotate visibility opportunities, audit AI-enabled talent tools, and align resources with advancement pathways.
Document assignment distribution and advancement criteria.
Embed mentorship and sponsorship into manager accountability.
Create structured exposure to leadership and high-impact projects.
Require human review, audit logs, and bias reviews for AI-assisted HR decisions.
Build alternative development paths when formal promotion lanes are limited.
Next Research Directions
From dissertation to field contribution.
Future work can extend this study through multi-institution case studies, sponsorship outcome measures, longitudinal career mobility research, and AI hiring-tool audits.
Public Scholarship
Writing for leaders who must act.
The research agenda connects directly to executive briefs, speaking topics, and Point of Thought essays on AI, equity, cybersecurity, and institutional transformation.