Peter R. Litchka, Ph.D., an assistant professor and director of the educational leadership program at Loyola College in Maryland, recently co-authored The Dark Side of Leadership: Superintendents and the Professional Victim Syndrome, with Walter S. Polka, Ed.D., of Niagara University. Litchka will discuss the book and the research behind it at a Wednesday, April 22 colloquium at Loyola’s Timonium Graduate Center at 2034 Greenspring Drive. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. and will be followed by a reception.

Litchka and Polka’s research revealed that attacks school superintendents endure from boards of education, communities and teachers place a tremendous amount of strain on the superintendents’ personal and professional lives. In addition to illustrating the nature of these attacks, the book discusses the resiliency behaviors superintendents develop to overcome the resulting trauma.

“The stories we recount in the book offer powerful insights into how abusive behaviors are directed at superintendents by those who have entrusted these people to lead their districts,” said Litchka. “This happens far more than it should. For superintendents to provide the leadership necessary to ensure that no child is left behind, it is just as critical that these educational leaders be provided with opportunities, resources and support so they can better understand themselves and the dimensions of educational leadership in the 21st century.”

Litchka leads the educational leadership program in the education specialties department at Loyola College in Maryland’s School of Education, the only school in Maryland with a dedicated focus on the advancement of achievement and development of city children and youth that is based on an analytical framework of identity, race and culture. The School’s mission is rooted in the belief that the enhancement of urban education will lead to an improved quality of life for all who live and work in America’s cities.