Community College Leadership Commons^™

Creating A Culture Of Informal Mentoring At Community Colleges: Conditions That Strengthen And Weaken Relationships And Students' Structural Resiliency, Sharon Mcmahon

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

Informal mentoring relationships that develop out of frequent and meaningful interaction with faculty and staff are powerful tools that can help community college students persist and succeed in achieving not only their educational goals but their future economic mobility as well (Komosa-Hawkins, 2012; Phillippo, 2010; Zimmerman et al., 2002). Students are more likely to be successful when they can identify and interact with someone on campus who they relate to, can count on for support, and who affirms their sense of belonging (Rendón, 1994).

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to identify conditions conducive to the development of …

Exploring The Voices, Experiences, And Leadership Career Paths Of Women Of Color In Higher Education, Tonya P. Cooper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the voices, experiences, and factors promoting the leadership career paths of senior-level women of color in higher education and to capture the voices of senior-level women of color on how they were able to overcome the barriers and challenges to breaking the glass ceiling on their leadership career paths to senior-level administration in higher education. A phenomenological research method was employed to capture the participants’ voices, experiences, and leadership career paths of their roles in higher education. Results show that the women of color in the study confirmed the perceived challenges …

African American Females Holding Executive Administrative Positions At California Community Colleges: A Phenomenological Study Of Cultural Influences And Opportunities, Daria Reynolds

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived

experiences of African American female presidents, vice presidents, deans, associate deans, and directors serving at a California community college (CCC) and to explore what African American cultural influences or other opportunities contributed to their becoming administrators.

Methodology: This phenomenological study explores the lived experiences of African American female administrators of CCCs. This study highlighted the essence of those lived experiences. The respondents were chosen based on specific criteria. The researcher then conducted structured web-conference interviews that described the essence of the lived experiences of the 10 African American …

The Essential Role Of College And University Librarians In Supporting Transfer Student Success, Peggy Lee Nuhn, Karen F. Kaufmann

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Nationwide, the numbers of transfer students on college and university campuses are increasing; however, libraries have not fully recognized the unique needs of transfer students with respect to students' attainment of information literacy competencies. Students may come to our campus with no previous information literacy instruction, and even if they had a "library instruction" class, it does not mean they can apply that to a new institution with different and perhaps more complex resources, or they may be taking online classes. Neither can we treat transfer students as "First Time in College" students, because they are not. Transfer students frequently …

How Orientation Programs At West Virginia Community Colleges Affect Mid-Level Administrators' Perceptions Of Adjunct Faculty Quality, Gina M. Taylor

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this descriptive study was to explore the relationship between the presence of orientation programs for adjunct faculty at West Virginia community and technical colleges and mid-level administrators’ perceptions of adjunct faculty quality. Using data obtained through an Internet-based questionnaire administered to 91 mid-level administrators at West Virginia community and technical colleges, the study resulted in several notable findings, many of which reinforced similar findings uncovered in the review of the literature. Most researchers agree that the results of high-quality orientation programs can be a tremendous asset to adjunct faculty, leading to an adjunct group that knows what …

Pathways To Success In Anatomy And Physiology At The Community College: The Role Of Prerequisite Courses, Staci B. Forgey, Mitchell R. Williams, Shana Pribesh

Educational Foundations & Leadership Faculty Publications

Gatekeeper courses such as Anatomy and Physiology are often referenced in discussions regarding the national shortage of persons in allied health professions. In an attempt to bolster access to STEM professions, some community colleges are mandating prerequisite courses such as Natural Sciences and/or General Biology for STEM gatekeeping courses. In this study, we examined which of these prerequisite courses helped students to pass Anatomy and Physiology and whether the courses are an additional barrier to STEM field completion. This was the first study to evaluate whether a prerequisite course was predictive of success in Anatomy and Physiology, and it contributes …

A Case Study Of Equity And Student Experience In A California Community College, Agyeman Siriboe Boateng

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

In California community colleges, students of color reach educational milestones and culminating outcomes disproportionately less often than their peers. In the past decade, the state has committed renewed energy to refining student equity plan regulations requiring individual colleges to identify and develop strategies to close such gaps. This dissertation sought to focus on the intended beneficiaries of these efforts, asking how students themselves define and experience equity. Using semistructured, narrative interviews to explore the experiences of nine students of color at a California community college, this qualitative case was supported by institutional documents, participant observation, and interviews with college personnel. …