Navigating the career pipeline experiences of female community c

University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Education Science College of Education 2019 NAVIGATING THE CAREER PIPELINE: EXPERIENCES OF FEMALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE PRESIDENTS Andrea Allen Deal University of Kentucky, andrea.edu Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.369 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits you. Recommended Citation Deal, Andrea Allen, "NAVIGATING THE CAREER PIPELINE: EXPERIENCES OF FEMALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE PRESIDENTS" (2019). Theses and Dissertations--Education Science.edu/edsc_etds/53 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Education at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Education Science by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge.

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Andrea Allen Deal, Student Dr. Lewis, Major Professor Dr. Margaret Bausch, Director of Graduate Studies NAVIGATING THE CAREER PIPELINE: EXPERIENCES OF FEMALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE PRESIDENTS ________________________________________ DISSERTATION ________________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky By Andrea Allen Deal Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Lewis, Professor of Educational Leadership Studies Lexington, Kentucky 2019 Copyright © Andrea Allen Deal 2019 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION NAVIGATING THE CAREER PIPELINE: EXPERIENCES OF FEMALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE PRESIDENTS Despite holding a majority of lower and middle management positions in public two-year institutions, women still hold only one-third of current community college presidencies.

This study explored the gendered phenomenon of navigating the career pipeline in higher education to reach the office of community college president. The purpose of the study was to examine the educational backgrounds and career paths of recently-appointed female community college presidents, as well as the barriers and sources of support they encountered while navigating the career pipeline. A phenomenological approach was utilized for this qualitative study. Data was primarily collected using semi-structured interviews.

Additional sources for data collection include reflection logs, memos, and document analysis. A modified van Kaam method of data analysis was used to code participant data and identify recurring thematic elements. These recurring thematic elements provided the foundation for individual descriptions of the phenomenon, which were later synthesized to create a composite description. Results suggest that study participants encountered three types of barriers while navigating the career pipeline in higher education: institutional, birdcage, and internal.

The term “birdcage barriers” was coined here to describe scenarios in which aspiring female leaders could identify opportunities for professional growth or advancement, but were unable to access these opportunities because of situational boundaries. Findings also suggest study participants benefited from three sources of support: institutional, personal, and individual traits/strategies. Additional findings include: participants were reluctant to label gender a barrier; most of the institutional bias encountered by participants was second-generation; and, as aspiring leaders in higher education, participants required intrusive recruitment. KEYWORDS: Community College, Higher Education, Educational Leadership, Women in Leadership, Female College President.

Andrea Allen Deal 08/27/2019 Date NAVIGATING THE CAREER PIPELINE: EXPERIENCES OF FEMALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE PRESIDENTS By Andrea Allen Deal Wayne D. Director of Dissertation Margaret Bausch, Ed. Director of Graduate Studies 08/27/2019 Date DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my mother, Sharon Allen, who passed away in February 2011. She did not complete her college degree, but she possessed incredible wisdom.

Her passion for learning instilled a natural curiosity in me. Most importantly, she taught me that wisdom is meaningless without a kind heart. She passed away before I started the doctoral program, but I hope this completed work honors her memory. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To my committee chair, Dr.

Wayne Lewis, thank you for your leadership and guidance. Without your support, this dissertation may not exist. From the first semester of the program, you demonstrated your belief in my work and my goals. You had an uncanny ability to discern when I needed to be challenged and when I needed to be shored up.

For your instruction, advice, and friendship, I will be forever grateful. Thank you to my dissertation committee: Dr. Lars Bjork (thank you for helping me reframe my conception of leadership), Dr. John Thelin (thank you for pushing me to consider the past as I examined the present), and Dr.

Thank you also to my outside examiner, Dr. Jeannette Sutton, who paid me the highest compliment by saying my dissertation was enjoyable to read. Additionally, thank you to my cohort colleagues for creating a sense of community and for celebrating each member’s success. #Upgrade4point0 To my husband, Mike Deal, thank you for insisting I persist when I was overwhelmed, and thank you for sharing the load at home to make the task a little less daunting.

Your ongoing love and support spurred me forward. You believe in me more than I believe in myself, and my gratitude knows no bounds. Thank you to my grandson, Cy, for providing much-needed play breaks and for giving me incentive to ‘hang in there.’ I hope you are proud of Nons. Thank you to my dad, who always believed I could achieve any goal, and my grandmother, who spent countless hours of my childhood reading with me and playing ‘teacher’ in my pretend schoolhouse.

Finally, I wish to thank the respondents of my study (who remain anonymous for confidentiality purposes). iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. iii LIST OF TABLES .1 Purpose of the Study. 3 Significance of the Study .5 Design of the Study.

7 Limitations of the Study.8 Chapter 2: Review of the Literature.9 Critical Feminist Framework. 10 Four-Frames Model as a Theoretical Framework. 13 Human resource frame. 19 Four-Frames as a Research Paradigm.

21 Do Male and Female Leaders Differ? .21 Perceptions of Gender Differences in Leadership .23 Gender in Dominant Leadership Theories .25 Trait-Based Theories. 26 Contingency-Based Theories. 27 iv Transactional versus Transformational Leadership. 30 Integrative Theories: Servant and Synergistic Leadership.

31 Impact of Leadership Theories. 33 Female Representation in Various Employment Sectors. 34 Public Education and District Superintendents. 36 Barriers and Sources of Support.

38 Organizational culture and climate. 39 Behavioral expectations and the ‘double bind. 40 Sources of Support. 41 Mentors and role models.

41 Proactive workplace policies .53 Research Sample and Data Sources .53 Instruments and Procedures. 59 Recording and transcription. 61 Documents and Memos. 67 Thick, rich descriptions.

68 Role of the Researcher .68 Researcher Reflexivity Statement. 86 Supervisors as barriers. 90 Gender norms and the ‘double bind. 92 Sexism and sexual harassment.

101 vi Place-bound. 110 Feeling the need to be perfectly qualified. 112 Needing external validation. 114 Sources of Support .117 Institutional Sources of Support.

118 Supervisors as sources of support. 127 Interviews as confidence builders. 130 Personal Sources of Support. 132 Family of origin.

137 Individual Traits and Strategies. 139 Thick skin and adaptability. 140 Proactive and open to experiences. 146 Finding one’s own leadership persona .152 Chapter 5: Discussion and Recommendations .153 Summary of the Study .153 Research Question 1: How do female community college presidents describe their educational background?.

154 Research Question 2: How do female community college presidents describe their career pathway from initial employment to presidential appointment?. 155 Research Question 3: What barriers, gender-related or non-gender-related, do female community college presidents perceive as they navigate the career pipeline from initial employment to presidential appointment?. 156 vii Research Question 4: What resources and sources of support, gender-related or non- gender-related, do female community college presidents perceive while navigating the career pipeline from initial employment to presidential appointment?. 157 Discussion of Findings.

168 Sources of Support. 169 Institutional sources of support. 169 Personal sources of support. 174 Internal traits and strategies.

175 Other Significant Findings. 179 Gender as a factor, not a barrier. 179 Aspiring female leaders may need intrusive recruitment. 180 Today’s institutional gender bias is second-generation.

181 No children or significant help with childcare. 182 Short-term organizational climates may affect the presidential search process .184 Recommendations for Institutions of Higher Learning. 185 Proactively seek out prospective female leaders. 186 Provide mentors to scaffold female leaders to higher levels of leadership.

186 Sponsor aspiring female leaders’ participation in formal leadership programs. 187 Support aspiring female leaders’ ability to integrate work-home life roles. 187 Recommendations for Aspiring Female Leaders. 188 Expand your view of leadership.

188 Anticipate role conflict and competing demands. 189 Expect to encounter second-generation bias. 189 Recommendations for Future Research .191 APPENDIX A: EMAIL INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN STUDY .193 viii APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL AND GUIDE.218 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Moustakas’ Modified van Kaam Method of Qualitative Data Analysis. 64 Table 2 Demographic Characteristics and Educational Backgrounds of Participants.

82 Table 3 Barriers Reported by Female Community College Presidents. 116 Table 4 Participants’ Experiences with Barriers (by subthemes). 117 Table 5 Sources of Support Reported by Female Community College Presidents. 150 Table 6 Participants’ Experiences with Sources of Support (by subthemes).

150 x Chapter 1: Introduction With the impending retirement of many community college presidents (Philippe, 2016) and the increasing enrollment of females in postsecondary education (Doherty, Willoughby, & Wilde, 2016), the time is ripe for females who aspire to leadership positions within higher education. Many women who aspire to leadership roles in higher education do so in community colleges where the environment has historically been more open to women (Townsend & Twombly, 2006). Community colleges have less defined pathways to the presidency, which provides greater access for women. When compared with four-year colleges and universities, community colleges employ a larger percentage of women in both faculty and senior administrative positions.

This places more women in the career pipeline on the pathway to the presidency and provides institutions with a greater number of potential female leaders. However, despite holding almost two-thirds of the lower and middle management positions in public two-year institutions (King & Gomez, 2008), women still hold only one-third of current community college presidencies. The clustering of women in lower and middle management positions supports Ward and Eddy’s (2013) assertion that women may be reluctant to pursue leadership positions in higher education organizations if the organization appears closed to aspiring female leaders. In such traditional institutions, dominant leadership theories advance a masculine paradigm that excludes female voices from the leadership dialogue and hinders women’s ability to incorporate leadership into their personal identity (Ibarra, Ely, & Kolb, 2013).