The pursuit of this study was to examine perspectives of select community college presidents and vice presidents for academic affairs regarding leadership attributes that were currently observed as being practiced by mid-level managers. The study also summarized these leaders' perceptions of the leadership attributes mid-level managers will need to possess to assume senior administrative positions, particularly the presidency, that will guide the institutions into the future. Based on an extensive review of literature, a list of 41 leadership attributes was established. The Community College Leadership Attribute Survey (CCLAS) was designed by the researcher and a pilot study was conducted. Sixty-five national community college presidents, 60 national community college vice presidents for academic affairs, 14 Tennessee community college presidents and 14 community college vice presidents for academic affairs were contacted to participate in the study. One hundred and seven usable surveys were received, for a response rate of 70%. The study found that there was a statistically significant difference in the leadership attributes presidents and vice presidents for academic affairs currently observed as being practiced and those attributes that would be needed in the future. The gap was measured between currently observed and future importance attributes, and levels of importance were listed. The study took into consideration independent variables such as gender, geographic location, years of experience in current position and years of experience in higher education. The study also examined the perceptions of those presidents and vice presidents who had work experience in the private sector before moving to higher education. Recommendations for future study included the implementation of a leadership program to help ensure that organizational leaders will have the skills needed to lead and facilitate the many changes and challenges community colleges are facing in the future. Other recommendations included institutions lending greater attention to professional development activities, and studies that would allow administrative leaders to identify and define additional leadership attributes.

The purposes of this study were: (a) To determine whether full-time teaching faculty and full-time administrators perceive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) 1998 Education Criteria for Performance Excellence (ECPE) to be appropriate for assessing Virginia community colleges, and (b) To determine if differences in perceptions exist regarding demographic variables among full-time teaching faculty and among full-time administrators in the use of these criteria to assess Virginia community colleges. Data were collected from a random sample of 129 full-time teaching faculty and 57 full-time administrators using the seven categories and 18 items of the 1998 ECPE. Demographic factors included years of teaching experience in education, years of administrative experience in education, major teaching area, highest degree level earned, college enrollment, and age. A mean was calculated on the perceived appropriateness of each of the 18 items of the 1998 ECPE for faculty and administrators. A t test or an analysis of variance was conducted on the scale means for faculty and administrators to determine if differences exist regarding demographic variables and the perceived appropriateness of the 18 items of the 1998 ECPE by faculty and administrators. The Scheffe post hoc analysis revealed a significance difference for administrators in the college transfer and the technical classifications of major teaching area. The major conclusions were: (1) faculty and administrators perceived the 1998 ECPE as "somewhat appropriate" for assessing Virginia community colleges, (2) faculty and administrators perceived each of the 18 items of the 1998 ECPE as "somewhat appropriate" for assessing Virginia community colleges, (3) the major teaching area was not a factor in full-time teaching faculty members' perceptions of the 18 items of the 1998 ECPE's appropriateness for assessing Virginia community colleges; however, the major teaching area was a factor in full-time administrators' perceptions and this statistically significant difference could possibly be attributed to their low rate of response with only 47.4% of administrators surveyed responding to this question, and (4) years of experience in education, highest degree level earned, college enrollment, and age were not factors in full-time teaching faculty members' or full-time administrators' perceptions of the 18 items of the 1998 ECPE's appropriateness for assessing Virginia community colleges.

The purpose of this study was to determine the status of and need for faculty development in the 14 community colleges in the Tennessee Board of Regents System. The study examined the status of faculty development, importance of scholarship, perceived needs, preferred faculty development topics, and methods of instruction. A review of demographic characteristics was conducted to develop a profile of TBR community college faculty and to assess the relationship between these demographic variables and the need for and selection of faculty development topics. Data collection was conducted using the Faculty Development Questionnaire . A selective random sample was drawn from 1,619 full-time community college faculty employed by the Tennessee Board of Regents. Based on the sample method, 325 full-time faculty were selected as participants in the study. Three hundred twenty-five self-administered questionnaires were mailed to selected full-time faculty at each of the fourteen community colleges. Data collection occurred over a four week period. Two hundred six questionnaires were returned for a response rate of 63.4%. The findings in this study demonstrated a clear need for faculty development. Respondents indicated that faculty development was important to their academic and professional growth and teaching effectiveness and was critical to their roles as faculty members. The faculty reported a need for scholarship-related activities and indicated that scholarly pursuit has led them to higher levels of professionalism and collegiality. Faculty respondents indicated that teaching innovation and research are vital to the growth and development of the community college. This study also found that most faculty indicated that their respective college administrations supported faculty development but did not adequately fund faculty development programs. A majority of the respondents reported that most faculty development programs were well organized and useful. Some faculty, however, indicated that faculty development could be an intrusion in the teaching-learning environment. Teaching innovations and multimedia development were ranked as the most preferred faculty development topics with workshops and seminars ranked as the most preferred methods of instruction. The study found no relationship between the need for faculty development and faculty age, professional status, or teaching discipline. Furthermore, no relationship was found between the selection of faculty development topics and any of the demographic variables profiled in the study. The findings of the study indicated that Tennessee's community college faculty members are "graying" with over 80% being over the age of 40. A majority hold Master's degrees, hold the rank of associate professor, and have had pedagogical training.

This study examined manufacturing firms' characteristics and environmental factors and their relationships to the perceived importance of basic workplace skills and the preferences of employers toward customized training partnerships with community colleges. Key individuals in the human resource departments responsible for planning and decision making of employing companies were surveyed. The Workplace Education Survey was used to collect data on the employers' perceptions about the importance of basic skills groups, about workplace-based customized training as the preferred means of delivering training in each of seven basic skills groups to their employees, and to determine their preferences for providers of the training. The survey also included customized training partnerships with community colleges. The study analyzed the relationships that exist in comparing the size of the firm and other characteristics identified in the literature with the respondents perceptions regarding the importance of the seven basic skills groups, workplace-based customized training, and partnerships with community colleges. Adaptability Skills, Communication Skills, and Group Effectiveness skills emerge as the most important workplace skills groups, and community colleges as the preferred providers according to the respondents to this study. Findings also revealed that changes in the nature of work and workplace skills are being dictated by the application of computers.

The media during the past ten years has given considerable attention to the workplace violence in factories, service organizations, and the public school systems throughout the United States. This study compared patterns of workplace violence in the 23 member institutions of the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) with the patterns of workplace violence in selected for-profit service and manufacturing employers in Virginia, to determine if workplace violence incidents occurring in the VCCS's member institutions reflect the workplace violence incidents experienced by business and industry within each member institution's service region. Chi-square analysis showed a significant difference in non-violent conflict training provided to employees and the use of written policies and workplace violence prevention plans. There was not a significant difference in the types and frequencies of workplace violence incidents occurring in community colleges and in business and industry. Future research should expand this study by comparing community colleges to four-year institutions and reviewing the influence of workplace violence prevention plans on the types and frequencies of occurrences.

One of the major priorities for community colleges is to focus on the pedagogical tools that will allow students to achieve excellence and quality in curriculum and instruction to meet the changing societal needs (Shearon & Tollefson, 1989). Rapid demographic, social, and technological changes demand that community colleges produce self-directed lifelong learners (Closson, 1996). The study of student learning preferences for more teacher-directed or more self-directed learning is one of the concepts that is important in enhancing teaching and learning practices. The purpose of this study was to examine students' teacher-directed versus self-directed learning preferences in specific courses. The possible relationships among age, gender, and academic majors and the learning preferences (teacher-directed or self-directed) were also explored. The revised version of Learning Style Preference Questionnaire (LSPQ) originally designed by Hinkle (1990) was administered to 563 students at five selected community colleges in the southeast. The majority of the participants were female traditional students majoring in the natural sciences. The sample showed a preference for teacher-directed orientation in specific courses. Statistically significant differences were observed in the magnitude of the teacher-directed orientation between the mean scores of male and female students with male students scoring significantly higher than the female students. Traditional students obtained significantly higher mean scores on the items addressing the delivery of instruction than the nontraditional students. Nontraditional students obtained significantly higher mean scores on the items addressing the testing of learning. Gender had an impact on the magnitude of the teacher-directed learning preferences for evaluation and testing of learning. Academic majors had an impact on the magnitude of the teacher-directed learning preferences for evaluation of learning. Students in this study preferred a teacher-directed approach to learning. Follow-up research using a variety of instruments may investigate how this preference contributes to or affects academic achievement. It is recommended that the methods and procedures adopted in this study be replicated in other community colleges across the nation. Learning preference concepts and methods should be developed at the community college level to include professional development of instructors so that they may better provide learning opportunities for their students. Such studies may also be conducted in other parts of the world to determine how cultural differences may impact on learning preferences.

The purpose of this study was to obtain information about the knowledge and attitudes of students, staff, faculty, and administrators in the community colleges in the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) system about the ethical issues relating to the current policies and laws regarding the use of computers and software; to compare the knowledge and attitude of these users and to investigate any relationships that may exist between users, knowledge and attitude toward computer ethics. A total of 700 students (280), staff (140), faculty (140), and administrators (140) from the 14 TBR community colleges were surveyed. The total responses was 389 (55.57%) which included 161 students (57.5%), 76 staff (54.29%), 81 faculty (57.86%), and 71 administrators (50.71%). Fifteen hypotheses generated from 6 research questions were tested using Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann-Whitney U test, t -test and Spearman's rho. This study showed that administrators possessed the most knowledge about computer ethics, followed by faculty and staff. Students were shown to know the least about policies and issues concerning computer ethics. Age did not have any impact on the knowledge of computer users but affected the attitudes of students. No differences were found in the knowledge or attitudes toward computer ethics between gender groups. The frequency of computer usage did not affect the knowledge of computer users while it had influence on the students, attitudes toward computer ethics. Training on computer ethics positively affected the computer users, knowledge about computer ethics. For staff, faculty, and administrators, training on computer usage generally did not affect their knowledge and awareness of computer ethics nor did the frequency of computer usage, age, or gender. However, these factors affected the knowledge of student group. Research results showed a correlation between the knowledge and attitudes toward computer ethics for faculty and administrators in general. There tended to be a positive correlation between the knowledge and attitudes toward computer ethics for faculty and administrators who used computer daily and of age 40 or older. It indicated that the more awareness of computer ethics, the more they favor of tighter control of computer use.

The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to describe the cultural influences of resource dependence for community college administrators responsible for the implementation of initiatives related to Tennessee’s new performance funding program. Tennessee’s funding formula, considered one of the most aggressive and robust in the country, is among a second generation of performance funding programs commonly referred to as performance funding 2.0. Cultural influences of resource dependence were defined as values, beliefs, and customs that influence administrator efforts to improve institutional outcomes and acquire additional resources through performance funding. A top performing community college in terms of the performance funding formula was selected because resource dependence theory suggests that a college succeeding under performance funding would be one that is adapting to improve outcomes and acquire state appropriations. Data were gathered from interviews with 10 administrators responsible for the implementation of initiatives related to Tennessee’s new performance funding program. Data were also gathered from 3 observations and 144 documents. Findings indicated 4 themes: (1) Students Come First (values), (2) Pathway Mentality: Benefits and Conflict (beliefs), (3) The College Way: Be First, Be the Best (customs), and (4) Building on Foundation, Maintaining Momentum (changes). Overall, cultural influences of resource dependence for administrators responsible for implementing initiatives related to performance funding appear to be limited. Data suggest administrators are influenced by multiple cultural influences such as personal values, sense of community, faith in leadership, belief in the purpose of community colleges, and personal and institutional pride. Although data indicate resource dependence has some influence, data also indicate that the power of performance funding’s influence appears connected to the vision and narrative it embodies. The study is significant because it contributes to the body of knowledge related to performance funding 2.0 programs. The study also provides rich understanding of cultural influences of performance funding and addresses the relationship between culture, organizational behavior, and organizational change.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of honors education to student success by comparing honors-eligible community college students who met requirements to academically matched peers who opted out of honors participation. Honors program participation was defined as completing 12 or more credit hours of honors-level course work. The population for this study included 452 honors-eligible participants with 95 honors participants (HPs) and 357 non-participants (NPs) from a community college in Tennessee. The sampling frame was generated using a five-year participation window from 2008 through 2013. Propensity score matching alleviated the threat to validity for self-selection bias by controlling for confounding variables such as high school GPA, dual-enrollment participation, ACT score, declared major, community college GPA upon first term of eligibility, parental income, parental education, gender, and age. Major findings of the study were: honors program participants (a) earned a significantly higher numerical final course grade in Composition II, a first-year writing course; (b) earned significantly higher cumulative GPAs the second semester after honors eligibility; (c) earned significantly higher cumulative GPAs upon completion; (d) were significantly more likely to graduate. Conclusions generated from the data analyses indicate that honors education benefits community college students and provide empirical support for increased investment in community college honors education, especially for high-achieving students experiencing poverty. Low-income students were defined as those students receiving the maximum federal Pell Grant award provided to undergraduate students with financial need. Within the study sample, it was determined that 50% of NPs met the low-income threshold whereas 47% of HPs were identified as low-income. These participation rates suggest that more low-income high-achieving students who could substantially benefit from participating in honors are participating less. Further empirical research studies and policy levers should identify ways to increase honors participation for low-income, high-achieving students.

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