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Thesis (M.A.)--Eastern Illinois University, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-102).

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A qualitative study examined the role of mentoring in the career paths of women deans and vice presidents in four-year public and private institutions of higher education. This study explored the impact of mentoring in assisting women to achieve their career objectives; the impact of a mentor's gender; the impact of having a mentor versus not having a mentor; and a description of mentoring by each participant. Participants were selected systematically via professional contacts of the researcher and the Higher Education Directory (2000). 15 women deans and vice presidents in four-year public and private institutions of higher education consented to participate in the study. An interview guide was used to create a consistent method of questioning yet questions were open-ended to allow for flexibility during the interview process. Ten of fifteen women participant's indicated they had received mentoring during their careers. Five women interviewed did not receive mentoring during their careers. Their career paths and levels of achievement were similar to the women who had female mentors.

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 ongoing disregard for the American vice presidency, and for those who would and do hold the office, in conjunction with the scarcity of academic research devoted specifically to the development of the institution, warrants the following study. Indeed, this study is relatively novel to the existent body of political science research which ventures to evaluate the vice presidency. Generally, research and publications on the vice presidency have tended to focus on variables such as ticket-balancing and home-state advantage; critiques of individual vice presidents; and more recently, specific policy spheres where modern vice presidents have been involved. In contrast, this project is devoted exclusively to isolating the institutional markers that have increased the broad utility of the position of vice president of the United States and, in the process, have augmented the development of the vice-presidential institution. These institutional markers include augmentation by precedent, statute, and constitutional amendment; increases in the resources made available to the institution; the addition of institutional identifiers; and the gradual accumulation of policy portfolios and responsibilities assigned to vice presidents. Underscoring each of the preceding institutional markers has been the vital role specific presidents have played in facilitating the development of the vice-presidential institution; indeed, the form and the substance of the vice presidency today is almost entirely the product of presidential initiative. In total, this study represents an interpretive synthesis of the historical record of the American vice presidency and how that record reflects the development of the institution. In the end, salient institutional markers have led to the development of a modern, utilitarian institution, one that is now fully integrated into the executive government. Of equal import, the standing of the vice presidency today, legitimizes the individual serving in the office, and furthers the influence of the vice president in the executive government. And, in telling the story of the development of the vice presidency, it is readily apparent that a combination of anecdotal and empirical evidence support the thesis of a changed institution, closely integrated with, and dependent upon, the presidency.