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Examining Two Doors to the Community College Presidency: Can Certain Departing President and Trustee Characteristics Predict Who New Community College Presidents Will Be?

Previous research studies explain how the presidential selection process at community colleges works and identify competencies that community college trustees look for in community college presidential candidates. However, few scholars have empirically tested specific features of community colleges that may impact which individuals are chosen to fill presidential vacancies. The purpose of this study was to examine whether certain departing president and community college trustee board characteristics influence the type of president that is selected at a community college. The samples for this quantitative study were North Carolina's 58 community colleges, and 740 trustees who have served or who are serving at those colleges. Cross tabulations and one-way ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, and regression analyses revealed that departing presidents and board chairs significantly influence presidential selection at community colleges. These analyses also determined that female presidential candidates are not more likely to be selected at community colleges that have female board chairs and departing presidents, but individuals who are non-Whites and/or internal candidates are more likely to be hired at institutions with a non-White board chair, female departing president, and/or non-White departing president. The study also found that females, non-Whites, and internal candidates have a greater chance of being hired as presidents at smaller community colleges. The study's findings have implications for aspiring community college presidents, community college leadership degree program faculty, individuals who train trustees participating in presidential selection processes, and state-level officials who appoint community college trustees. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2012. / May 10, 2012. / college presidency, community college administration, community college presidents, community college trustees, presidential selection / Includes bibliographical references. / Shouping Hu, Professor Directing Dissertation; Steven Pfeiffer, University Representative; Tamara Bertrand Jones, Committee Member; Robert A. Schwartz, Committee Member.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_183094
ContributorsRush, Rochelle (authoraut), Hu, Shouping (professor directing dissertation), Pfeiffer, Steven (university representative), Jones, Tamara Bertrand (committee member), Schwartz, Robert A. (committee member), Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution)
PublisherFlorida State University, Florida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
LanguageEnglish, English
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText, text
Format1 online resource, computer, application/pdf
RightsThis Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them.

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