A Narrative Inquiry on Experiences of Title IX Coordinators in the Southeastern Conference

There is a lack of understanding about the leadership experiences of Title IX Coordinators in higher education. Title IX Coordinators are not only compliance officers; they are campus leaders, positioned within the university’s organizational structure with the authority to impact their institution around the issue of discrimination on the basis of sex. Currently, there is a lack of scholarly research about the experiences of Title IX Coordinators as they work to create and sustain living, learning, and working environments free from sexual misconduct. Therefore, the purpose of this narrative study is to understand the stories of Title IX Coordinators in their work to prevent and respond to sexual misconduct at public, Research 1: Doctoral Universities in the Southeastern Conference. The research questions that guided this study were: 1) What are the stories of Title IX Coordinators that have brought them to their position as Title IX Coordinator? 2) What are the stories of the leadership experiences of Title IX Coordinators? 3) What are the shared stories of the learning experiences as they lead institutional Title IX compliance? For the purposes of this study, Title IX Coordinators in the Southeastern United States were interviewed, and interview transcriptions were analyzed via a thematic narrative analysis process. Research findings will have potential implications for higher education practice, research, and the field of adult learning.