UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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2012 - 20142

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    An Exploratory Examination of the Factors Contributing to the Increasing Presence of Women Presidents in Maryland Community Colleges
    (2014) Martin, Amy Beth; O'Meara, KerryAnn; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Many women faculty build their academic careers in the community college environment but are reluctant to consider, and face barriers to pursuing, the presidency in those same environments. The percentage of women presidents in Maryland two-year colleges has been increasing since 1989 and has been above the national average of women presidents in associate's institutions since 1998. This study is about the collective presence of women presidents in the 16 Maryland community colleges using embedded units of analysis. Utilizing feminist standpoint theory and Bolman and Deal's four organizational frames, this exploratory case study examined the factors that contributed to the comparatively high numbers of women presidents at Maryland community colleges. The methods used included interviews, analysis of trend data, and analysis of archival documents. The findings from this study suggest that the comparatively high number of women community college presidents in Maryland was the result of several interrelated factors that mitigated or removed gendered barriers for women academic leaders who were pursuing community college presidencies in Maryland. Significant factors related to each of this study's conceptual frameworks contributed to the high number and increasing appointments of women community college presidents in Maryland between 1989 and 2012. First, Maryland's abundant labor market, educational attainment trends among women, pipeline of potential women applicants in Maryland community colleges (faculty, chief officers) and geography (proximity between community colleges) proved to be strong structural factors. Second, national and regional leadership development opportunities, intentional and pervasive mentoring of women community college leaders at Maryland community colleges, and non-traditional approaches to presidential searches by Maryland community college boards of trustees were strong human resource factors, particularly between 1989-2006. At the same time, strong alliances among women legislators, political activists, and higher education leaders between 1989 and 2006 proved to be significant political factors. Additionally, Maryland's perceived progressive state politics and MACCs collaborative organizational structure were strong cultural factors that attracted women community college academic leaders from outside the state and provided a collective community college culture that supported the development of women presidents and academic leaders in Maryland community colleges. Finally, women community college academic leaders' agency (personal and collective) around balancing family (gendered work norms), pursuing critical experiences in preparation for the presidency (career aspirations), and owning collaborative and constructive leadership orientations (gendered leadership norms) were strong feminist/gendered factors that contributed to this phenomenon.
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    Expanding the Role of Maryland Community Colleges in K-12 Teacher Preparation: Benefits and Costs of Implementing the Associate of Arts in Teaching (AAT) Degree
    (2012) Frank, Jennifer Vest; Fries-Britt, Sharon; Perna, Laura; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This study uses benefit-cost analysis to compare three alternative scenarios for implementing the Associate of Arts in Teaching (AAT) degree in Maryland community colleges. The first policy scenario is that community colleges retain their traditional role in K-12 teacher preparation by providing lower-division transfer courses and programs for undergraduate students who are seeking to transfer into teacher education programs at four-year institutions (historical role for Maryland community colleges). The second policy scenario is that community colleges expand their traditional role in K-12 teacher preparation by offering the AAT degree in addition to providing lower-division transfer courses and programs (current role for Maryland community colleges). The third policy scenario is that community colleges offer the AAT degree as the exclusive lower-division requirement for students seeking admission into teacher preparation programs at four-year colleges and universities (hypothetical future role for Maryland community colleges). Drawing on the seminal work of Schultz (1963) and Becker (1964; 1975; 1993), human capital theory serves as the guiding theoretical framework for this study. The three policy scenarios under consideration in this benefit-cost analysis were designed to increase a particular type of human capital investment by providing opportunities for community college students to enter the teacher preparation pipeline in higher education. This study examines the benefits and costs that are associated with each of these three alternatives to explore which policy provides the greatest net benefit to the State of Maryland.