Class of 2008 / Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine factors that influence the career aspirations of first and third year pharmacy students from the University of Arizona. We hypothesized that greater than 50% of first year Doctor of Pharmacy students from UA will plan on pursuing residencies upon graduation, more first year students will prefer clinical practice when compared to third year students, and the factor that contributes most to pharmacy students going into community practice is compensation. Methods: Surveys were administered during regularly scheduled classes to first and third year students. The questions contained in the data collection form consisted of demographic information and motivating factors that were implemented into the survey in the format of the Likert scale. Results: Questionnaires were completed by 83 1st year pharmacy students and 58 3rd year students. Seventeen students (29%) from the Class of 2009 and 19 students (23%) from the Class of 2011 stated that they would like to pursue a residency. First year students felt that applying clinical knowledge was the most important factor, while the third year students considered ideal geographical location to be the most important. However, the data was not statistically significant when the two groups were compared. Conclusions: The data demonstrated that pharmacy students’ preferences do not change drastically as they progress through pharmacy school. The similarity in responses from both groups may suggest that the students have not had adequate exposure to a variety of pharmacy practice settings. Both groups of students gave similar responses on their plans to pursue a residency, therefore, it did not support our hypothesis that a majority of the first year students would focus on this career path. The data does support our hypothesis of first year students’ preference of a clinical setting when compared to third year students. Salary compensation was not ranked in the top 4 most important factors, therefore, we concluded that it is not a significant aspect for students regardless of what career setting they would pursue.

This qualitative study used a phenomenological approach to determine the reasons why women leave the superintendency. This study not only illustrated the different ways a woman can leave the position of superintendent but also the reasons she would choose to leave. These reasons can be either positive or negative, but they rarely are the sole cause for why a woman leaves the position. This interview study of 20 female participants who served as superintendent in the Commonwealth of Virginia identified four main themes as to why a woman chose to leave the superintendency. These included: (a) it wasn’t the job I thought it would be; (b) the struggles with family; (c) taking care of herself; and (d) I’m not the right fit for the community. The study also identified the routes women take to leave the superintendency which include retirement, leaving for another superintendency, movement into another position within PK-12, opportunity in higher education, working as an educational consultant, or moving into a position outside of education.

This qualitative, inductive study analyzed online recruiting information posted at the websites of five major aerospace and defense corporations to recruit college juniors, seniors, and recent graduates. Recruitment of this group is critical to staff the personnel for the scientific, technical, and management needs of aerospace and defense industries. The study sought: (1) to determine the use of multiple recruitment factors inferred from the literature and recommended for successful recruitment of college graduates, (2) to determine use of online social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) to recruit this population, and (3) to explore commonalities among these corporations regarding online recruiting information to determine if a model for online recruitment now exists. A matrix of recruitment factors was developed from a review of the literature on the personnel needs of this industry and on effective recruiting factors for this group. Content analysis involved filtering information at each website with the matrix. Conclusions of this study include: (1) the matrix of recruitment factors and the rating scale developed for the purposes of this study provide a tool for researching, documenting, and comparing recruitment information on the internet; (2) that while these corporations represent the latest applications in technology in their manufacturing processes and products, they do not use social networking technology to the extent the popular and scholarly literature indicate is typical for the target group. Given that the current generation exhibits extensive use of social media, several of these corporations’ websites appear not to utilize this networking technology. Informally, these corporations argue that cyber-security prevents extensive use of social networking sites. Thus, these corporations must determine how to maintain cyber-security while at the same time adopting more accepted use of social networking platforms.

As English expands across the world, quality English teachers are increasingly needed. However, reports that even well-trained TESOL professionals have a hard time obtaining stable employment are prevalent. This study sought to provide some solid evidence about employment trends in TESOL. It is based on a survey administered to alumni who graduated between the years of 1973 and 2008 from Brigham Young University's TESOL program. The results indicate that graduates spend about half of their career time in TESOL-related employment. Most are involved in teaching, but jobs in administration, materials development,or testing are more likely to be full-time and offer benefits. Graduates spend little time in EFL positions, but these jobs are the most likely to be full-time and offer benefits. A surprising amount of time was spent unemployed by choice, and the majority of graduates report salary satisfaction, indicating that perhaps the field attracts those who are not looking for stable, full-time employment. These findings are useful for those anticipating a career in TESOL and for teacher educators. They likewise add a valuable contribution to the small body of literature focused on TESOL employment.

A significant number of engineers move into management positions, their numbers increasing with their length of service. However, engineers are not considered to be effective managers and are generally considered inadequate in soft skills. Given the centrality of engineers and management, understanding this transition is essential in order to develop strategies for managing. This research is an exploratory field-based study of the transition of professional engineers into management roles (engineer-managers) in Australia, from the perspective of the individual engineer. The study investigates the attitudes of engineers towards such areas as engineering education, towards managerial transition, status, organizational support systems, and strategies for managing transition, and examines their influence on the process of transition. Importantly, this research examines the influence of factors such as job nature, management qualifications, age, employing organizations, and other variables on their attitudes, and studies the differences between various subgroups of engineers. This research is based on the results of a case study and a questionnaire survey. An important outcome of this research is the focus on the process of engineering education. This research concludes that different emphases in the process of teaching and learning would contribute, in the long run, to engineers developing soft skills, and so make their transition into management easier. The study found that electrical engineers are more proactive than civil or mechanical engineers and that it is necessary to develop different strategies for different groups of engineers. The study observed that the higher the status of professional engineers within an organization, the greater was the likelihood of success. Supporting the anecdotal evidence from the case study, it is noted that the more engineers there are in management positions, the better the perception of senior management about their capabilities. This study found that management education for engineers has a strong influence, both in terms of their acquiring managerial skills as well as enhancing their status within their organization. Experiential learning, though, is the most common method by which engineers acquire managerial skills. The study also found that this is the least-managed strategy in Australian organizations; learning is left entirely to the individual. For engineers to be able to take advantage of experiential learning, better management is necessary / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Athletic directors (ADs) in institutions of higher education are the chief administrators of their respective athletic departments. The purpose of this study is to describe the current demographic, educational, and professional characteristics of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II and III ADs. Forty-five Division II ADs and 105 Division III ADs responded to a survey of 725 institutions, returning response rates of 15.5% and 24.1% respectively. Findings for social and educational demographics mirror those of previous studies. Subjects in both divisions studied athletic administration in post-graduate work, but studies in education were also common. Experiences in coaching and athletic administration were most frequent for both samples. Division II ADs were notably experienced in compliance, while teaching experiences were common with Division III ADs. Both sets were heavily involved in finance and internal policy, but Division II responses emphasized community relations while Division III responses emphasized campus relations. Limited resources challenged ADs in both groups. In conclusion, NCAA institutions, especially those with athletic administration departments and significant minority populations, should promote NCAA diversity initiatives campus-wide. Students and professionals preparing for a career as a Division II or Division III AD should pursue post-graduate education in an administrative field, preferably in concentrations of sport or education. They should choose a career path involving teaching, coaching, or an administrative specialization within athletics, and they should be familiar with finance and NCAA regulations. Recommendations for future research include detailed analysis of AD job design and investigating whether ADs can be clustered based on their involvement in various tasks.

This thesis will identify what career paths, advanced degrees, and supportive industries best enable engineers and other highly technical professionals to move past middle management layers into executive leadership. Specific questions to be addressed include: 1. Which technical degrees most often lead to CEO appointments? 2. Which industries offer the most advancement opportunities for technical degree graduates? 3. Which advanced degrees are most useful for ascension into CEO ranks? This research is specifically geared to extend the key learnings of the University of Texas at Austin Executive Engineering Management curriculum giving the reader foresight into what executive career paths are available for those with technical degrees. / text

The aim of this diploma thesis is to find out the career path of selected graduates from the master's program of further study at the Faculty of management after obtaining a honors and whether it can be considered as successful. To meet this goal four objectives are identified: researching graduate professional practices during studies, mapping the graduation of graduates to the labour market, describing the course of careers and determining the graduate's professional success. Data collection is carried out by semi structured interviews with selected graduates. The results are presented by individual areas related to the objectives, followed by a brief summary of the findings. At the end of the work a discussion of the research results, its possible limits and suggestions for further investigations are made.

Recent studies reveal that a considerable number of U.S. community college leaders will be retiring in the next several years. The concern is that with the large turnover, history, culture, and important lessons of leadership will be lost. The current research on the lives of presidents, their career paths, and experiences in community college leadership centers on approaches to the study of leadership at the macro level. Limited research exists in the published literature that reports and analyzes the development of individuals as community college leaders at the micro level. This results in a gap regarding understanding leadership development and strategies to prepare leaders. This study addresses this gap by providing a critical description of the leadership development of one individual who became a community college chancellor and who the literature on the community context indicates contributed to the local and national context for community colleges. Biography is gaining prominence as a legitimate and viable tool in the study of leadership. Few biographical studies currently exist which focus on leadership development in context at the micro level. This dissertation is a biographical, qualitative study of the leadership path and legacy of R. Jan LeCroy, a community college leader. The study combined two viable approaches to biographical inquiry: a scholarly chronicle and the realist approach. Data included the use of primary and secondary sources and included interviews, document analysis, and archival data such as newspaper articles, memos, and minutes of meetings. The data were analyzed and the findings discussed using the theoretical framework of Gronn's (1993) career model of leadership, Vaughan's (1986) study of the career paths of presidents, and Sullivan's (2001) study of four distinct generations of community college leaders. The leadership path of R. Jan LeCroy paralleled the four stages in Gronn's (1993) career model of leadership; he shared characteristics of the presidents surveyed in Vaughan's (1986) study; and he fit the profile of the second generation of community college leaders as described by Sullivan (2001).

"Throughout history, there have been various gaps: racial, gender, income, education, skills gaps...society today is not any different"(Andrews, 2017). Despite advances to close these gaps, a large gap still remains in communications leadership: the gender gap. Approximately 75 percent of practitioners are female and female practitioners only make up 20 percent of senior-level positions (Oakes & Hardwick, 2017). Existing research suggests there are several reasons why a gap exists: an unconscious bias that favors male leaders (Devillard, Hunt, & Yee, 2018), only 60 percent of women have the confidence they can advance into leadership positions (KPMG, 2018), lack of mentorship (Place & Vardeman-Winter, 2018), lack of exposure to female leaders (Arvate, Galilea, & Todescat, In Press), and the balance of personal and work responsibilities (Krivkovich, et al., 2017). This study employed 32 qualitative in-depth interviews with senior level communications leaders to understand the journey that women and men go through to become communications leaders, perceptions of communications leaders, factors contributing to the gender gap, and ultimately what can be done to close the gender gap. Participants of this study are among some of today's most senior-level communications leaders, with the average participant having 29 years of work experience in the field of communications. Multiple themes were identified for when and why individuals begin aspiring for communications leadership but it usually begins sometime during high school, college, or in the first few jobs after college once they have be experienced some form of leadership for the first time. There are certain factors such as unequal expectations for women and men and organization culture that can make a woman's path more difficult than a man's path. The majority of participants agreed that women and men are viewed differently in the workplace and that there are key differences such as sensitivity to and involvement of others that differentiate women from a men. There were seven primary themes identified as factors that contributing to the gender gap: relationships, unique challenges to women, issues in the communications field, a long history of male dominance, the pay gap is fueling the gender gap, lack of awareness of the gender gap, sexual harassment and sexual assault. Additionally, this study introduces multiple ways to help mitigate factors that are contributing to the gender gap. There were three primary thematic areas identified on ways to mitigate the gender gap: organizational mitigating factors, cultural mitigating factors, and personal mitigating factors. In summary, there are a number of reasons why a woman's journey into communications leadership is more difficult than a man's journey; however, there are many actionable things that communications leaders believe can be done to make it easier for future leaders.