Dr. Roslyn Artis
As she made her rounds in the room, the board chair introduced her to someone as the new president. Then he added, “You can take one look at her and see why we hired her.”
Artis paused in her recollection to laugh, “Now, I did have on a fabulous dress. And I believe he thought he was being kind,” she said. “But in that moment, he diminished me. I have two doctorates and a high IQ. I’m not here because I’m a woman, I’m here because I’m capable.”
Artis faced a choice that night: throw a fit or pretend it didn’t happen. Instead of either of those options, she improvised. She stood up before the room and laid out the entirety of her plan to lead Benedict College into the future.
“I had to make it clear,” she said, “That I came here for a purpose.”
“[Women] always have to guard against the perception that we are not calm or capable,” said Artis. “We are always calculating, making decisions of how to respond in the moment that, quite frankly, our male counterparts would never have to make.”
Artis shared this story at the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) virtual panel of women in leadership at HBCUs. Current and past presidents and vice presidents gathered together to share their stories of success, their advice for future women leaders, and ways to create a pipeline for women to become leaders.
