The purpose of this study was to determine the opportunities available for employment to Ph.D.'s and Ed.D.'s in College Teaching by revealing the attitudes/preferences of employing agents-—deans and departmental chairmen-—toward Ph.D.'s and Ed.D.'s in College Teaching versus Ph.D.'s in an academic area. The problem led to the development of eleven specific questions which were investigated in the study.

The purposes of this research were to determine (1) the extent to which faculty are employed by the types of institutions from which they earned their doctorates in the United States, (2) the extent to which faculty have higher professional rank at employing institutions tat are the same type of institutions as those from which they earned their doctorates, (3) the extent to which female faculty are employed by the types of institutions from which they earned their doctorates, (4) the extent to which female faculty have higher professional rank at employing institutions that are the same type of institutions as those from which they received their doctorates, and (5) the extent of variability across academic disciplines in which faculty are employed by types of institutions from which they earned their doctorates. An exhaustive review of the literature on academic lineage was used to develop this research. All stratified random sample of 260 institutions from 2,873 colleges and universities was selected by Carnegie Foundation classification categories. Institutions were selected at random until the number of faculty members in each category corresponded to the estimated national distribution of faculty across Carnegie classification categories (n=3,940). The analyses revealed that the majority of faculty (74%) employed at all types of higher education institutions obtained their doctoral degrees fromresearch I institutions. Professional academic rank is an interaction between doctoral-granting institution and employing institution combined with gender. Male faculty are following the traditional "trickle down" theory of academic lineage while women faculty appear to be charting a different career path. Another unique finding was that there was not significant variability in the findings across academic disciplines. Academic success is a complex phenomenon that is not singularly explainable by academic lineage. As more women are entering into the academic ranks of higher education, changes in academic lineage are beginning to appear. The inflexibility and segmentation discussed in previous research is undergoing subtle but statistically noticeable modifications.

The percentage of women who receive doctorates has increased by over 300 percent during the past three decades. The consequences of pursuing the Ph.D. degree have always been far reaching and profound, serving as an impetus and springboard for the reconfiguration of one's beliefs, values, and professional life. The purposes of this national study were to ascertain and describe marital and social changes that occurred in the lives of women who were awarded the Ph.D. degree at midlife. A questionnaire was distributed to a sample of three-hundred women who hold the Ph.D. degree and were employed in institutions of higher education in the United States. The study sought to identify the effects of the Ph.D. experience upon the marital relationships, friendships, and social activities of women who completed the degree between the ages of thirty-five and forty-five. Demographic data were collected which were related to their marital status before, during, and after the Ph.D. experience. Both closed and open-ended questions were posed which solicited information pertaining to their post Ph.D. experience. This research reports both quantitative and qualitative findings. The majority of women who complete the Ph.D. experience at midlife undergo and initiate changes in their lives which impact their relationships and activities. Many of these changes are the result of employment which follows the award rather than the degree itself. While some women experience negative effects in some areas of their lives, overall, the findings of this study suggest that changes are perceived positively by the majority of women who receive the Ph.D. at midlife.