Date of Award

Fall 12-2012

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Studies and Research

Committee Chair

Lilian H. Hill

Committee Chair Department

Educational Studies and Research

Committee Member 2

Aubrey K. Lucas

Committee Member 2 Department

Educational Studies and Research

Committee Member 3

Amy L. Chasteen Miller

Committee Member 3 Department

Anthropology and Sociology

Committee Member 4

Thomas V. O'Brien

Committee Member 4 Department

Educational Studies and Research

Abstract

Although from 2006 to 2011 the percentage of women college and university presidents increased from 23% to 26%, the critical problem remains that women continue to be disproportionately under-represented at the highest levels of university leadership, especially the presidency. Also problematical to women’s advancement, women are less likely to hold the key-line administrative positions (e.g., academic dean, vice president, chief academic officer/provost) that serve as pathways to the presidency.

In response to the dearth of empirical data on the career paths of university women leaders, the purpose of this research, grounded in a postmodern feminist theoretical framework, was to qualitatively explore how women key-line administrators and women university presidents experience and make meaning of their career paths and leadership/presidential aspirations. Additionally, this study examined how personal factors (e.g., childrearing, marriage, etc.) influenced women leaders’ career paths and leadership aspirations.

Using a basic interpretive qualitative design, the primary technique for data collection involved 16 in-depth, semistructured interviews with a purposive sample of university women key-line administrators (12) and university women presidents (4) employed at various types of public and private universities located across the Southeastern region of the United States. Also, a document review was conducted of personal (e.g., curricula vitae/ résumés) and official (e.g., published speeches) documents which provided first-hand accounts of the participants’ career path experiences. Then, to ensure the trustworthiness of the findings, a peer examination was conducted of the research findings.

The data analysis revealed five major thematic categories relating to the participants’ (a) career paths and educational credentials; (b) leadership aspirations; (c) experiences with mentors, role models, and/or professional networks; (d) family relationships and work/life balance issues; and (e) perceptions of gender and leadership. Significantly, the overall research findings of this study provide new and deeper insights into: (a) the participants’ unique, unintentional, and emergent career paths to university leadership; (b) the factors that served to motivate and/or hinder participants’ leadership aspirations; and (c) how personal factors (e.g., family relationships, etc.) influenced many of the participants’ career choices and leadership aspirations. Finally, major implications for research, theory, and practice are presented.

Download

Share

COinS