Education Commons^™

How Exemplary Female Executive Leaders In Higher Education Use Five Principles Of Grit—Courage, Conscientiousness, Long-Term Goals, Resilience, And Excellence Versus Perfection—To Accomplish Extraordinary Results In Their Organizations, Julie Pettitt

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to identify and describe how exemplary female leaders who hold executive roles in higher education use five principles associated with grit (courage, conscientiousness, long-term goals, resilience, and excellence versus perfection) to accomplish extraordinary results in their organizations. It challenges the notion that academic credentials and intelligence alone drive leadership success, emphasizing the role of grit in extraordinary leadership. This study delves into the barriers women encounter in reaching executive roles, their strategies for overcoming challenges, and how they leverage gritty qualities to facilitate and sustain transformative change. Methodology: A phenomenological design was …

Empowerment Agents: How Student Affairs Professionals Facilitate The Persistence Of Undocumented Students, Tiffany Paige

Dissertations

This qualitative study investigated how student affairs professionals (SAPs) assist undocumented students in their designated institutional roles, and how their support empowers undocumented students to persist. This research sought to document and assess how student affairs professionals—who interact with undocumented students— identify and respond to the issues they face in their work. Built on the theoretical frame of social capital, and using a thematic analysis design set forth by Braun and Clarke (2012), the researcher interviewed seven SAPs and used a phenomenological approach to design the study and to collect and analyze the data.

Two findings and five corresponding themes …

Community College Executive Leaders And Emotional Intelligence: A Phenomenological Study Exploring How Community College Executive Leaders Utilize Emotional Intelligence (Ei) To Lead Their Organizations, Seblewongel Ayalew

Dissertations

Purpose: This phenomenological research aimed to identify and describe the lived practices of California community college executive leaders who lead their institutions using Emotional Intelligence (EI) through the lens of Goleman’s four EI domains.

Methodology: This study used phenomenological research that identified and explained California community college executive leaders’ lived practices associated with the leaders using EI in the workplace to determine their EI skills and emotional awareness. The community college executive leaders participated in interviews in formal and informal settings to identify and describe their lived experiences.

Findings: Examination of the qualitative data from 15 community college executive leaders …

A Phenomenological Study On The Informal Learning Experiences Of Female Mid-Level Administrators, Kathryn L. Curameng

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study is to identify and describe the informal leadership development experiences of female mid-level administrators in private nonprofit higher education.

Methodology: This phenomenological study identifies and describes the informal leadership development experiences of female mid-level administrators in private nonprofit higher education institutions in California. Respondents were selected based on specific criteria and recommendations of a sponsor. The researcher collected data through semi-structured interviews and observations of participants.

Findings: Examination of the qualitative data from interviews with 16 female mid-level administrators working in private nonprofit higher education yielded nine major findings. These included 2 unexpected …

The Search For Neutrality: A Discourse Analysis Of Language Use In Higher Education Title Ix Sexual Misconduct Policies, Cristin Reynolds

Dissertations

Title IX, a federal law passed in 1972, was designed to ensure that equal access to any educational environment receiving federal assistance (20 U.S.C. § 1681). Title IX forced institutions of higher education (IHE) to address the pervasive nature of sex discrimination within their educational environments, prevent the recurrence of sex discrimination, and remedy any effects of sex discrimination. To do this IHEs developed Title IX sexual misconduct policies. These policies are required by federal law to be impartial, neutral, and equitable to all parties accessing or participating in the resolution process addressing sexual misconduct.

The purpose of this study …

Efforts And Courage Are Not Enough Without Purpose And Direction: A Phenomenological Study On How Mid-Level Administrators Learn And Acquire Leadership Skills In Higher Education, Melissa Brunson

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to identify and describe the lived experiences of mid-level administrators as it relates to leadership development in Private Non-Profit Higher Education in both formal and informal settings.

Methodology: This study was a phenomenological study that identified and described the lived experiences of mid-level administrators as it relates to the leadership development for 18 mid-level administrators in both formal and informal settings in Private Non-Profit higher education.

Findings: Examination of the qualitative data from 18 mid-level administrators who work in Nonprofit Private higher education yielded 10 major findings. The findings were divided into …

The Value Of Interactive Multimodal Online Higher Education Classrooms: Examining The Impact Of Interactive Multimedia-Based Instructional Design (Imbid), Andrea Munro

Dissertations

Purpose: Despite their affordability and convenience, online courses have higher student failure and dropout rates than ground based-courses. The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative single-case study was to determine if there is a difference between interactive, multimedia-based online instruction and traditional text-based online instruction as it relates to the level of student performance, engagement, and satisfaction in higher education.

Methodology: This quantitative research design used inferential statistics to analyze the research questions. The researcher selected 13 text-based courses that were redesigned to become interactive, multimedia-based courses. Archival student performance, engagement, and satisfaction data was abstracted from both the text-based and …

Advising Assessment Practices Of Advising Professionals At An Accredited United Kingdom Urban Career-Focused Higher Education Institution: A Replicated Quantitative, Descriptive Analysis, Catherine E. Mahrt-Washington

Dissertations

The Problem

As the world has flattened, the globalization and quality education movement surrounding higher education worldwide has led to the accountability of all stakeholders regarding student success in and beyond the classroom. Student mobility continues to impact tertiary enrollments as families and students consider the proliferated traditional and non-traditional enrollment alternatives along with prospective lower tertiary debt options. Although assessment, an accountability tool, in co-curricular areas such as advising has been overlooked by leaders, advising is not impervious to accountability consequences. The problem is that assessment of advising, if performed, is oftentimes implemented informally, without a well-defined framework or …

An Analysis Of African-American Faculty Experiences During The Tenure Process, Katrina M. Hubbard

Dissertations

Abstract

How faculty allocate their time among research, teaching, and service, and the perceived quality of that work determines whether faculty obtain tenure or are released from the university (Bellas & Toutkoushian, 1999; Link, Swann, & Bozeman, 2008; Price & Cotten, 2006). Prior research indicated that African-American faculty comprised 4.5% of the faculty at high-activity research institutions and 3.5% of faculty at very-high-activity research institutions (The Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac 2016-2017, 2016).

The purpose of this study was to 1) document African-American faculty experiences during their tenure probationary period at PWI research institutions; 2) compare faculty experiences during the …

Career Decision-Making Of Higher Education Professionals Of Philippine Descent: The Untold Stories Of An Asian Pacific Islander Community, Grace Abenoja Bagunu

Dissertations

Using a critical race theory (CRT) framework and a narrative and phenomenological methodology, this study explored the career decision-making of professionals of Philippine descent along the higher education career pipeline in the United States. The stories of these professionals create a counter-narrative to the stereotypes of Asian and Pacific Islanders (APIs) in higher education. The career pipeline in higher education has remained relatively homogeneous, especially at executive levels of administration. Statistics show that APIs make up less than 1% of all college presidents, of that 1%, less than a handful identify as Filipinx.

This statistic alone does not completely tell …

A Movement Against And Beyond Boundaries: Exploring The Impact Of Transgressive Teaching On The Student Affairs Practices Of White, Heterosexual Men, Conor Mclaughlin

Dissertations

Transgressive teaching can have a substantive and transformative impact on the experiences of students in primary, secondary, and higher education classrooms. Transgressive teaching is exemplified by the engaged pedagogy outlined by bell hooks in the seminal work Teaching to Transgress, in which teachers seek to engage spaces of learning in deeper and more holistic ways. Scholars have theorized transgressive teaching, when implemented by student affairs professionals, can have similar effects on the experiences of students, especially those from identity groups which have historically been marginalized in higher education. However, there is a limited understanding of the experiences of student affairs …

Academic Support Staff As Servant Leaders And The Relationship To Student Satisfaction, Joan M. Arrington

Dissertations

This study examined servant leadership practiced by academic support staff of academic departments within four-year, post-secondary institutions. These support staff include employees within academic departments such as secretaries, administrative assistants, and coordinators that do not have managerial responsibilities and are not instructional faculty. The target population for this study was all full-time and part-time students, both undergraduate and graduate, eighteen years of age or older, and enrolled at post-secondary four-year higher education institutions in Mississippi. Results based on the data collected suggested a majority of academic support staff rated at four of the seven institutions exhibited the characteristics of servant …

Developmental Education At The Community College: An Exploration Of Instructional Best Practices And The Relationship Between Integration, Student Involvement And Rates Of Completion, Beverly Gayle Strickland Lewis

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the developmental education process within the community college system in Mississippi. Tinto’s (1993) Integration Theory and Astin’s (1993) Theory of Student Involvement were employed as a framework to assess and understand the relationship between academic integration, social integration, student involvement, and rates of completion.

This concurrent mixed method study identified best practices related to the successful completion of developmental education courses from the vantage point of the faulty and administration at the community college. A total of ten faculty and administrators from five of the community colleges in Mississippi were given a …

A Study Of Perceived Actual Versus Expected Roles Of Presidents Of Seventh-Day Adventist Senior Colleges And Universities In Eleven World Administrative Divisions, Sunith Kumar Das

Dissertations

Problem

To date no study has been undertaken with respect to Seventh-day Adventist senior college and university presidents’ actual and expected roles as perceived by the administrative team members and governing board chairs of these institutions. The purpose of this study was to determine the differences between presidents’ actual and expected roles.

Method

This descriptive, exploratory, survey study included a sample (n = 78) of board chairs, presidents, academic vice presidents, student service vice presidents, and finance vice presidents located in 27 senior colleges and universities operated by Seventh-day Adventists in 17 countries, including the U.S.A. Data were collected on …

Perceptions Of Board Effectiveness In Selected Institutions Of Higher Education In Zimbabwe, Bonginkosi Zvandasara

Dissertations

Problem

The purpose of this study was to identify the level of board effectiveness in selected private and public universities in Zimbabwe as perceived by board members. Also, the study sought to determine the influence of such demographic variables as age, education level, and years of service on the seven factors of university functioning: institutional mission, institutional planning, physical plant, financial management, board membership, board organization and performance, and board/vice chancellor relations.

Method

The survey method was used to collect data. Respondents were asked to complete a 47-item questionnaire and indicate their level of agreement on each of the questions …

Relationships Among Selected Internal/External Variables Affecting Decision Making In The Roles/Functions Of Research University Provosts, Haldane F. Davies

Dissertations

Problem

In the business and corporate world, there exists a unique collection of proven decision-making tools, techniques, and management ideas. There is, however, no clear definition and empirical analysis relative to the nature of the relationships among internal/external variables as they influence decision-making in the research university provosts' roles and functions. It was the purpose of this study to investigate the effects of selected variables on provost decision-making within their many functions.

Method

The survey research method was used to study the relationships among selected variables affecting decision-making in the functions of research university provosts. An instrument was designed and …