All 28 colleges of the Florida College System (FCS) have made space in their budgets and on their campuses in order to attract
upper-division partners, colleges and universities that represent the State University System (SUS), Independent Colleges and Schools of
Florida, and other higher education institutions nationwide. Partnership relationships such as the ones negotiated between FCS
institutions and upper division schools are defined as academic strategic alliances in higher education literature. Scholars have taken
this terminology from business management lexicon wherein organizations respond to a competitive market by joining forces (Das & Teng,
1997). Accordingly, scholars from both fields emphasize the concept of collaboration packed inside the strategic decision of campus
leaders to pool their resources partnerships (Adegbesan & Higgins, 2011; Eckel, Hartley, & Affolter-Caine, 2004). This study
explored both sides of the state college-university partnership dynamic through the eyes of the administrators using themes from Gulati’s
(1998) network embeddedness framework. I employed a qualitative research design to determine the influence of alliance initiatives on the
social networks involved in their implementation. I used a collective-case study approach employing data triangulation (interviews,
documents, and observation) to seek out any emerging themes. I also sought out institutional data to support this study. A majority of
these FCS concurrent-use arrangements have persisted while others have failed. This study contributes to higher education literature by
offering a means to expand the scope of previous academic strategic alliance studies. Instead of focusing on partnership dyads, this study
explored how host and partner institution administrators operate within a social network embedded at the study sites. I propose fresh
perspectives to explain how each member involved within a state college’s university partnership program can assert its own needs while
working in concert to define common goals and objectives. My two key findings identified the perception of lack as the primary barrier and
effective communication as the most influential aid to partnership creation and maintenance. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial
fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2016. / October 14, 2016. / College, Florida, Partnerships, State, System, University / Includes bibliographical references. / Shouping Hu, Professor Directing Dissertation; Gerald Ferris, University Representative; Tamara
Bertrand Jones, Committee Member; Robert Schwartz, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_405573 |
| Contributors | Edel, Sharon (authoraut), Hu, Shouping (professor directing dissertation), Ferris, Gerald R. (university representative), Schwartz, Robert A. (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Education (degree granting college), Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource (147 pages), computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This 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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