In the face of 21st century economic challenges, community colleges must contend with complex pressures on their mission. The dueling missions of academic transfer and workforce preparation must sustain and grow the American economy in a global market and simultaneously meet the promise to community college students— open access to quality higher education for all. In the midst of this challenging environment, community college faculty attitudes and awareness to mission challenges are often ignored. This study examined the macro-level effects of external pressures of the 21st century economy at the micro-level of full-time faculty at Texas community colleges. The study design followed a post-positivist paradigm and sought generalizeable data about full-time faculty from Texas community colleges. Quantitative data from an online survey were analyzed to determine faculty awareness of and attitudes toward the community college mission. The findings of the study show that faculty blur the boundaries of what traditionally have been considered workforce and academic roles. They are not well- informed about the range of pressures on the community college, but they are willing to integrate the academic and workforce mission and change in other ways to respond to challenges. They are generally supportive of the community college mission. Faculty teach with their students’ long-term interests in mind, including career preparation and lifelong learning, more than they teach to prepare their students for immediate work in the community. / text

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As many of the founding full-time community college faculty began to retire, colleges across the nation intensified their full-time faculty recruitment and retention efforts. They began to replace the retiring full-time faculty with the new generation faculty cohort. The purpose of this study was to understand the role that a comprehensive orientation program played in the socialization process of new community college faculty. Additionally, the study examined the choice of orientation tactics used to socialize the new faculty. Relying on the reported socialization experiences of seven full-time faculty members from six of the seven colleges that comprised a community college district, the study explored how an orientation program facilitated their adjustment process. Finally, the researcher sought to identify ways to improve full-time community college faculty socialization experience. Most of the faculty in this study, although having no specific training to teach at the community college, were able to build relationships outside their individual colleges, acquired new skills, and gained access to valuable district resources, as a result of their participation in a yearlong comprehensive orientation program. Three significant findings resulted from this study. The first major significant finding of this study was that the incorporation of a social apparatus, such as the “retreat” into an orientation program, facilitated group cohesion and identity among the new faculty. The social structure of the retreat provided new faculty with an opportunity to connect with one another at an emotional level. They were able to expand their social networks beyond their immediate colleges. A second significant finding was that faculty became more confident and comfortable in their teaching roles as a result of the skills they acquired following their completion of the comprehensive orientation program. The monthly sessions, which were held every 4th Friday provided the faculty the opportunity to acquire and develop new skills to effectively discharge their responsibilities. The third major finding of this study was that because faculty had access to district resources, to develop their skills, they became more closely tied to their institutions. Finally, recommendations are made to improve new faculty socialization experience during their adjustment process. / text

The problem of this study is to describe and analyze faculty attitudes toward administrators in an urban junior college district. The purposes of this study are to ascertain the attitudes of junior college faculty toward campus-level administrative positions and to determine what relationship existed between general and specific measures of faculty attitude.

This dissertation explores how five specific intellectuals challenge hegemony in education and society, and express uncomfortable truths about hegemony faced by local communities in their academic practices. Their actions of free speech in regards to dangerous truths are similar to those of the ancient Greek parrhesiastes. This word, parrhesiastes, was used to describe the male citizen in ancient Greece, who had and used his rights to free speech or parrhesia. The activity of speaking freely, parrhesiazesthai, however, is not without its risks. Such speech is dangerous to the status quo, as well as the parrhesiastes. The activity is engaged despite the consequences and the parrhesiastes faces dangers and risks. It is argued that the five scholars who participated in this study are specific parrhesiastic scholars. They are specific intellectuals in their relations with academia, communities, and movements; and parrhesiastes in their actions to assure their rights to and exercise of freedom. While the ancient parrhesiastes served a critical and pedagogical role in transforming citizens to serve the best interests of the city, the specific parrhesiastic scholar, in the case of these five scholars, argues for changes in society for the benefit of citizens whose interests have been ignored or trampled. Foucault acknowledged that the work of specific intellectuals could benefit the state to the detriment of local communities or could work to transform the state to include the interests of specific communities. Specific parrhesiastic scholars choose the latter. The focus of this study is the intersection of technologies of the self with technologies of power. This intersection, which Foucault terms governmentality, comes closest to a utilitarian exploration of resistance to power and the formation of freedom, and understanding of how individuals negotiate their particular positions in truth games for resistance and freedom. The basic conditions necessary for parrhesiazesthai are "citizenship" and understanding the distinction between positive and negative forms of parrhesia. The parrhesiastic practices of the five scholars are explored through three analytical frames: (1) self-knowledge and resisting repression, seduction, and desire; (2) political activity and tactics; and (3) the self within systems of subjugation.

This dissertation explores how five specific intellectuals challenge hegemony in education and society, and express uncomfortable truths about hegemony faced by local communities in their academic practices. Their actions of free speech in regards to dangerous truths are similar to those of the ancient Greek parrhesiastes. This word, parrhesiastes, was used to describe the male citizen in ancient Greece, who had and used his rights to free speech or parrhesia. The activity of speaking freely, parrhesiazesthai, however, is not without its risks. Such speech is dangerous to the status quo, as well as the parrhesiastes. The activity is engaged despite the consequences and the parrhesiastes faces dangers and risks. It is argued that the five scholars who participated in this study are specific parrhesiastic scholars. They are specific intellectuals in their relations with academia, communities, and movements; and parrhesiastes in their actions to assure their rights to and exercise of freedom. While the ancient parrhesiastes served a critical and pedagogical role in transforming citizens to serve the best interests of the city, the specific parrhesiastic scholar, in the case of these five scholars, argues for changes in society for the benefit of citizens whose interests have been ignored or trampled. Foucault acknowledged that the work of specific intellectuals could benefit the state to the detriment of local communities or could work to transform the state to include the interests of specific communities. Specific parrhesiastic scholars choose the latter. The focus of this study is the intersection of technologies of the self with technologies of power. This intersection, which Foucault terms governmentality, comes closest to a utilitarian exploration of resistance to power and the formation of freedom, and understanding of how individuals negotiate their particular positions in truth games for resistance and freedom. The basic conditions necessary for parrhesiazesthai are "citizenship" and understanding the distinction between positive and negative forms of parrhesia. The parrhesiastic practices of the five scholars are explored through three analytical frames: (1) self-knowledge and resisting repression, seduction, and desire; (2) political activity and tactics; and (3) the self within systems of subjugation.

Enrollments in distance education courses continue to rise and faculty members continue to teach them. In some cases, student demand for distance education courses exceeds the number of courses offered by the institution. Additional faculty members are needed to teach distance education courses to meet the increasing student demand. As institutions begin relying on adjunct faculty to teach distance education courses and move toward more progressive distance education programs, the involvement of the stakeholders in decision making becomes increasingly important to student success. The Purpose of this study is to identify factors that online faculty members from a small and large community college perceive as important to the success of online programs. The study also identifies characteristics of successful online course design, faculty responsibilities, student responsibilities and the responsibilities of the administration. The dissertation contains five chapters. Chapter I provides an introduction, statement of the problem, collegiate study: Palo Alto College and San Antonio College, the purpose of the study, research questions, selection of methodology, significance of the problem, definitions of distance education and terms and limitations of the study. Chapter II provides a review of the literature on distance education. Chapter III provides an overview of the methodology (Interactive Qualitative Analysis) utilized in the study. Chapter IV provides an overview of the results of the study to include data collection and analysis process, college selection process, faculty selection for the study, the focus group, individual interviews, and Interactive Qualitative Analysis (IQA). Chapter V includes an overview of the Interpretations and Recommendations for the study. The study identifies several considerations for implementing a distance education program to include 1) Planning and organizing 2) Determining the organizational structure of the distance education program (sole-responsibility, dual-mode or consortium) and 3) Determining the institution’s ability to provide financial support for a distance education program. An institution should also implement policies that will help students succeed in online learning. A few of the recommended policies include 1) Limiting class size to 24 students in online courses 2) Providing proper technical support and training and 3) Providing a reliable student survey for online courses. / text

The purpose of this study was to investigate eleven variables of job satisfaction of full-time two-year public community college faculty members as they related to gender and length of service. The population consisted of 502 full-time community college faculty employed in eleven community colleges across the United States during 1980 - 82. The questionnaire consisted of 63 questions selected from the HEMI Faculty Attitude Survey. Responses to the items were on a scale of 1 to 8. The Herzberg theory of job satisfaction provided the theoretical base for the selection of the items from the HEMI questionnaire by a panel who categorized the items under the following headings: recognition, responsibility, advancement, the work itself, the possibility of growth, salary, working conditions, status, company procedures, quality of supervision, and quality of interpersonal relations.

The purpose of the study was to determine if the use of communication technologies account for reported computer anxiety in a community college setting. Specifically, this study was designed to determine whether there was a difference in usage of communication technologies and levels of computer anxiety of faculty in relationship to their job responsibilities, gender, age, computer experience, and number of professional development activities. A descriptive research design was used in this study. Data analysis included the frequencies, means, standard deviations, t-test, crosstabs, chi-square, ANOVA, and ANCOVA. The results indicated that there was not a significant difference among faculty in relation to job responsibility, gender, age, computer experience, and professional development and their level of anxiety toward the use of communication technologies. The findings of this study led to the conclusions that job responsibility, gender, age, and computer experience were not a statistically significant predictor of computer anxiety. Also, professional development did not influence computer anxiety or the computer skills of the faculty. On the basis of this study, it is recommended that: (1) administrators seek input from faculty for professional development, and (2) due to emerging technologies, establish another survey for current computer skills that may cause computer anxiety.

The purpose of this research was to examine the socialization experiences of new family and consumer sciences teacher educators, including their interpretations of career preparation, their first job, socialization during the first year, continuing socialization and career development, and respondents' recommendations for improving the socialization process. Organizational socialization provided the theory base. Telephone and personal interviews were conducted with ten female family and consumer sciences teacher educators who held positions in comprehensive and research institutions across the country. The constant comparison method was used for analysis of the data. Results of the study revealed that graduate school professors provided the role modeling participants believed was crucial in preparing them for their future career. Participants who had challenging and relevant coursework and opportunities for a variety of professional experiences during graduate school felt they were well prepared for their faculty roles. However participants for whom this was not the case felt their transition to a faculty role was much more of an overwhelming and unhappy experience. New faculty orientation sessions and career development facilitated success at the university level, while department chairs and faculty peers provided support at the department level. Inhibitors of respondents' success included feelings of being overwhelmed with their workload, inability to balance professional and personal lives, and department pressure to conduct research and publish articles. Overall, participants indicated that lack of time was the primary inhibitor of their success. In spite of the overwhelming feelings of confusion, frustration, stress, and unhappiness during their first year in their new role, respondents reported that their second year was more positive. Implications for improved practice include examining graduate program coursework to ensure relevance and application and including opportunities for increased responsibility in professional experiences related to teaching, research, and professional service. Departments with new faculty should provide opportunities for new faculty to meet both formally and informally with the department chair to discuss policies related to promotion and tenure. Further research could be done to examine the socialization experiences of new faculty in other areas of family and consumer sciences and vocational education to determine similarities or differences. / Ph. D.