Education Commons^™

Voices Of Perseverance: A Phenomenological Exploration Of The Life Histories Of Female African-American Registered Nurses, Marva E. Brooks

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

There is a demand in the United States for a representative body of registered nurses to meet the needs of an ever-growing, aging, and increasingly diverse population. The implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the aging and retirement of the majority White nursing workforce created a need for a diverse body of competent and culturally-sensitive nurses to care for the aging baby boomers, an increasingly diverse population, and to counter healthcare disparities. Lack of diversity in nursing has been compounded by the high attrition rate of minorities in nursing education programs, particularly African Americans, the largest minority group in …

Women's Access To The Superintendency: Pathways From The Elementary Ranks, Julie Marie Powell

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to describe the experiences of six women superintendents who began their careers as elementary principals. The central question was: What can we learn from the lived experience of women who came from a background as elementary educators and advanced to the superintendency in a variety of district contexts within Michigan’s traditional public school system?

The research design was a qualitative, interpretive, multiple case study approach using the data collection method of interviewing. Two conceptual frameworks – expectations states theory and feminist poststructuralism – provided the context for this research. Portraits of each of the …