Community colleges face a growing crisis in leadership and a critical aspect of this crisis is a shortage of leaders. The representation of women leaders in community colleges has increased more than other sector of higher education. This upswing suggests that community colleges are the most likely place for women to achieve executive leadership status. Yet, community college history is grounded in male dominance and women leaders remain marginalized in the community college system. The purpose of my study was to examine some of the factors that contribute to women executive leaders' success specifically: (a) how women experience their leadership role in the community college, (b) how women vice presidents use transformational leadership, and (c) how women administrative vice presidents have learned to lead. In the literature review, I considered leadership, the community college, organizational culture, women's development and learning.
The research approach for this study was an exploratory case study design. The participants were female Vice Presidents in community colleges within the Western United States. To answer research questions about the participants' perspectives on leadership in the community college, use of transformational leadership practices, and learning to lead, I used a survey instrument and conducted interviews. By exploring factors that contribute to the success of women executive leaders, one intention of this study was to arm institutions with information to support the development of women leaders as efforts focus on addressing the leadership crisis, and inform aspiring women leaders while they make their ascent to the executive leadership ranks.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:pdx.edu/oai:pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu:open_access_etds-3711 |
| Date | 11 March 2016 |
| Creators | Grove-Heuser, Jennifer R. |
| Publisher | PDXScholar |
| Source Sets | Portland State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Dissertations and Theses |
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