Department Head and Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor of Higher Education Joy Gaston Gayles Selected to Join 2025 Cohort of ACC Academic Leaders Network

Joy Gaston Gayles, an Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor of higher education and head of the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development in NC State’s College of Education, has been selected to join the 2025 cohort of the ACC Academic Leaders Network. 

The ACC Academic Leaders Network (ALN) is a collaborative leadership program designed to facilitate cross-institutional networking and collaboration among academic leaders while building leadership capacity for participating institutions. 

“I’m honored to be selected to represent NC State as one of this year’s ACC Academic Leaders Network participants and to represent NC State University in this cross-institutional leadership program,” Gayles said. “I’m in my second year as a department head. I’ve learned so much, knowing there is much more to learn. I am thankful to work with awesome academic leaders in the College of Education. We support and encourage each other in creative ways, which is how I learned about and decided to apply for this opportunity.”

Gayles was named head of the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development in 2023 and, in 2022, served a term as president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education. Most recently, she received the 2024 NC State Alumni Association Outstanding Research Award and was inducted into the Research Leadership Academy. 

As part of the ALN, Gayles will attend a variety of sessions, beginning in February and extending through October. Sessions are designed to build leadership awareness and effectiveness in higher education, facilitate conversations that support leadership growth, and include discussions designed to further participants’ knowledge and skills of intra- and interpersonal leadership styles and navigating and collaborating on complex challenges for leaders in higher education. 

“I am looking forward to the opportunity to connect and learn alongside both academic leaders at NC State and academic leaders at other ACC institutions. I’m also excited to learn as much as possible and leverage the knowledge and connections gained to help champion the work of faculty and students in my department, college and NC State University,” Gayles said.