About

Dr. Cheryl Leggon is a retired Associate Professor in the School of Public Policy at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Sigma Xi. Her research and evaluation work focus on policies, programs, and practices aimed at increasing and enhancing participation of race/ethnic groups and women of color in the science and engineering workforces. Her recent publications include works on STEM and social justice, as well as the experiences of African American engineering deans at majority-serving institutions. Dr. Leggon has presented her research at international meetings in South Africa, Thailand, Spain, and Germany. Prior to her tenure at Georgia Tech, she served as Director of Women’s Studies and Associate Professor of Sociology at Wake Forest University, and previously worked as a Staff Officer in the Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel at the National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political science
• Gender studies
• Engineering ethics
• Library science

Selected publications

• African American Women in Engineering: Intersectionality as a Pathway to Social Justice

  Diversity and inclusion research · 2021-01-01 · 3 citations

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Models of Excellence for Social Justice: Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Tribal Colleges and Universities

  Diversity and inclusion research · 2021-01-01 · 1 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• 11. Assessing Programs to Improve Minority Participation in the STEM Fields

  Cornell University Press eBooks · 2020-10-16

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Moving Beyond the Heroic Journey Myth

  2017-03-31 · 3 citations

  book-chapterSenior author

  This chapter combines evidence from the literature and personal experience to probe and illuminates the lived experience of African American (Black) women in academic engineering and the role that mentoring plays in career development. It highlights the absence of experiences and voices of African American females within the history of and the bodies of work in engineering, especially within the literature on mentoring. The chapter argues that the success or failure of mentoring programs and mentoring relationships for African American women rests on the awareness of an explicit effort to address key barriers within these cross-race, cross-gender relationships. It discusses three key theoretical frameworks that can elucidate our perspectives on the unique experiences of African American women and other under-represented groups: unconscious bias, identity conflict, and presumed meritocracy. The chapter ends by describing a very effective mentoring relationship for African American women in academic engineering, the mentor–protégé relationship.

  PublisherDOI

• Women, Science and Engineering Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities

  World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences · 2016-05-08

  article1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

• Advancing Women in Science: Policies for Progress

  2015-01-01 · 9 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Criticality of Context in Evidence-Based Evaluations of Targeted Programs

  2015 Fall Conference: The Golden Age of Evidence-Based Policy · 2015-11-12

  article1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

• Who Will Do Science? Implications for Science, Technology and (New) Forms of Social Inequalities

  XVIII ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 13-19, 2014) · 2014-07-16

  article1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

• Introduction to Women's Studies

  2009-11-28

  book1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

• COMPETITIVENESS, INNOVATION, AND DIVERSIFYING THE SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS LABOR FORCES IN THE UNITED STATES

  Politics &amp Policy · 2008-11-25 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Cora Marrett

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  5 shared

• Peter J. Venturelli

  Valparaiso University

  2 shared

• Donald Cunnigen

  1 shared

• April Chischilly

  Navajo Technical University

  1 shared

• Peter Romine

  1 shared

• Gilda A. Barabino

  Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

  1 shared

• Cora Bagley Marrett.

  1 shared

• Yu Tao

  Stevens Institute of Technology

  1 shared

Awards & honors

• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sc…
• Fellow of Sigma Xi