This study explores the challenges that African American women administrators experience as professionals in public institutions of higher education and the strategies they employ to cope with the resulting conflicts. It uses Black Feminism and the five dimensions as a framework for understanding the challenges and experiences. The five dimensions that characterize Black Feminist Thought are: 1) core themes of a Black woman's standpoint; 2) variation of responses to core themes; 3) interdependence of experience and consciousness; 4) consciousness and the struggle for a self-defined standpoint; and 5) interdependence of thought and action.
Interviews and participant observations were conducted with 10 African American women administrators at public institutions in Louisiana. Interviews included two presidents, four vice-presidents, and four deans. During open-ended interviews, participants were asked to talk about their challenges and experiences related to their personal and professional experiences as administrators. Ten themes emerged from the research data: spirituality; family support systems; balancing career and family; racism and sexism; lack of respect by colleagues and subordinates; mentoring and networking; isolation and underrepresentation; competency and confidence; professional satisfaction and community consciousness.
This study highlights the 10 African American women administrators' challenges and experiences in order to help institutions of higher learning become more supportive and reduce the challenges that promote a chilly work environment.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-10222004-111952 |
| Date | 22 October 2004 |
| Creators | Becks-Moody, Germaine Monquenette |
| Contributors | Eugene Kennedy, Miles E. Richardson, Nina Asher, Baumeister, Alan, Becky Ropers-Huilman |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-10222004-111952/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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