TIPO DE ACTOS/EVENTOS ACADÉMICOS O DE TRABAJO

The researcher is exceedingly privileged that these ten female leaders of color within higher education embraced this study and invited me into their lives to share themselves and their stories with me. They told stories of their daily lives, stories of their pasts and shared aspirations for their futures. However, the findings of this study only demonstrate a snapshot of who they are as educators and as people. Through the nature of our narrative discourse, several layers of editing occurred between the researcher and the participants. These edits included the decisions each participant made to share a

particular story or perspective.

The results and findings were molded by the manner in which questions were asked, data was collected, observations were made, and the choice of which stories to tell and which aspects of the stories were highlighted. With each layer of editing, there was another opportunity to reframe the focus by retelling the accounts through analytic descriptions. As such, the researcher is also a storyteller and through the theoretical frameworks, research strategies, transcription procedures, and interpretive perspectives – by constructing a comprehensive story and deriving its meaning. In this sense the story is always coauthored, either directly in the process of an interviewer eliciting an account or indirectly through representing and thus transforming others’ texts and dialogues.

Attitudes Toward Academic Leadership. The attitudes of minority female presidents and minority female aspiring presidents toward academic leadership roles, namely the community college presidency, are generally positive. Academic leadership is generally viewed as a privilege to serve. Although the community college presidency is predominantly occupied by aging white males, the presidency is perceived as attainable for those that choose to pursue that pathway. Notwithstanding common and often daily incidences of micro-aggressions that cause stress, hardship, and demoralization for female leaders of color, pursuit of the community college presidency inevitably induces feelings of isolation, marginalization, tension, and professional and intellectual

undermining – however, these obstacles are not a deterrent for vying for the position. Instead, the challenges of the pursuit strengthen the resolve of these resilient women of color in higher education leadership.

Motivation to Lead. While all the participants have achieved increasing

measures of success and advancement in their careers, the fact that none of the participant described ever having actually planned or even dreamed of being a president is quite telling. Rather surprisingly, they were all coached and encouraged to each subsequent promotional opportunity by a mentor at various steps along their journey. The realization that a community college presidency was within reach and attainable brought on self- reflection and contemplation. Preparing for the presidency, or any ambitious goal for that matter, requires risk-taking. This study provided insight into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors and the influence those factors have on current or aspiring leaders. Intrinsically, the presidential and aspiring presidential participants spoke to their

give back as their internally motivating factors. Extrinsically, the participants were To take risks, one must be internally motivated to supplement external factors, both incentives and fear of failure.

Perceptions of Leadership Potential. Mentors and professional networks were paramount to the professional and personal support for the women in this study in the following ways: providing professional advice, referring or recommending new job opportunities, serving as references, offering a listening ear, counseling on personal issues, and as a sounding board for new or innovative ideas. Many described being encouraged by mentors to take risks and pursue executive leadership positions, even when they did not recognize their own leadership potential initially. Given the apparent additional barriers women of color face related to race and gender, most executive leadership aspirants in higher education have to navigate career pitfalls. One pitfall is the traditional and often rigid, linear path to the presidency that begins with ascension through the professorial ranks, then stepping into the academic leadership trajectory of dean, vice president, and ultimately securing the presidency. Comparatively, the two groups differed narrowly on the importance of faculty experience to lead.

Career Paths and Pipelines to the Community College Presidency. The path to the presidency is more varied for the upcoming generation of under-represented minority females aspiring to the community college presidency compared to the paths of sitting under-represented minority female community college presidents. The pipeline of available under-represented minority females, with regard to general qualifications, does not appear to be diminished. Many of the participants had to engage in institutional changes to advance their career; the presidents ultimately acquired their first presidencies

by leaving their then current institutions as well. The risks one takes in leaving an organization for advancement has both great pitfalls and advantages. Where there is safety in long institutional memory and organizational history, there could also be inbred and stagnant systems thinking. When one’s career experiences are limited in institutional diversity, one may be perceived as having a closed mindset about how to innovate and implement change. Thus, the participants have benefited professionally from the diversity of their experiences and institution types.

While it is certainly advantageous to an organization to preserve institutional memory and internal talent by developing their current aspiring leaders, they might also benefit by looking outside of their organizations as potential candidates might not only come from the traditional higher education routes, but they may also come from government, nonprofits, or the corporate sector. Additionally, organizations should investigate the usefulness of a climate survey to assess the leadership strength on campus. The results of such an internal audit would be to cultivate professional development training tailored to the particular campus or district that will identify and mitigate internal and external bias.

CHAPTER 5

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The findings of this study raise important issues that warrant the attention of scholars and policymakers in addressing barriers and opportunities to under-represented minority female community college presidents and aspiring presidents. From career pathways to career mentoring, the study touched on both expected and surprising

experiences from which to make meaning. The open call to available presidents and those aspiring to the presidency that met the study criteria produced participants from various ethnic, socioeconomic, personal, professional, and geographic backgrounds – providing rich data from which sound conclusions and recommendations can be made.

The study addressed the following research questions:

RQ 1. What are the attitudes, motivators and perceptions of minority female community college presidents and minority female emerging leaders toward academic leadership roles?

RQ 2. What are the perceptions of minority female community college presidents and minority female emerging leaders on their own leadership potential?

RQ 3. For what reasons do minority female emerging leaders pursue or not pursue the community college presidency?

RQ 4. Are there attitudinal or motivational differences between actual and aspiring minority females for the community college presidency? 5.1 SIGNIFICANCE TO THE LITERATURE

This study was significant and contributed to the literature in four ways. First, this study attempted to go beyond the statistically articulated pathways to the presidency to understand the considerations underlying the career decisions of potential senior leaders. Furthermore, the study helped to illuminate career choices leading to the community college presidency by extending the presidential career path literature through personal narratives, similar to the Walton (1996), Padilla (2005), and Frankland (2010) studies and others (Birnbaum & Umbach, 2001; Cohen & March, 1974; Moore et.al., 1983; Wessel & Keim, 1994). Second, this was the first study to apply the Theory of Planned Behavior and Career Construct Theory through narrative inquiry to capture attitudes, motivations and perceptions of career paths and considerations of leadership potential in higher education (Savickas, 2011; Squire, 2008a). This is an improvement on the Walton (1996), Padilla (2005), and Frankland (2010) studies that did not have strong theoretical foundations to base their narrative inquiries. Third, this study was the first to compare two groups at different stages of the same trajectory by examining where aspiring leaders were with a retrospective look from those that achieved the ultimate goal of the community college presidency. Prior studies on community college leadership (Montas-Hunter, 2012; Fong- Batkin, 2011; Frankland, 2010; Campbell, et.al., 2010; Gonzalez Sullivan, 2009) have addressed only presidents or did not specifically identify actual presidential aspirants. Finally, the study yielded interpretations about career development and career pathways that can assist other aspiring leaders in their career development, thus supporting the contributions of prior

studies (Fong-Batkin, 2011; Campbell, et.al, 2010; Kamassah, 2010; Kubala & Bailey, 2001).