Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
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 give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item AN EMERGING GROUNDED THEORY OF FACULTY HIRING PROCESSES IN UNIONIZED COMPREHENSIVE UNIVERSITIES(2015) Lounder, Andrew; O'Meara, KerryAnn; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)ABSTRACT Title of dissertation: AN EMERGING GROUNDED THEORY OF FACULTY HIRING PROCESSES IN UNIONIZED COMPREHENSIVE UNIVERSITIES Andrew D. Lounder, Doctor of Philosophy, 2015 Dissertation directed by: Professor KerryAnn O'Meara Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education Growth in part-time faculty workforces in U.S. higher education since 1970 has been remarkable. Part-time faculty growth as a percentage of the whole has occurred most rapidly in comprehensive universities in recent years and carries with it important implications for student instruction. Comprehensive universities are of critical importance to the realization of higher levels of educational attainment by underserved and nontraditional college populations. The purpose of this study is to understand instructional faculty hiring processes in comprehensive universities. The study is derived from an application of grounded theory research methods within and across three university settings. Analysis shows administrators at all levels of the organizational chart (i.e., department chair, dean, and provost) follow a cycle of activities that results in both direct and indirect (or systemic), outcomes in faculty hiring. First, they scan the environments in which they are situated for possible risks to their work including faculty hiring. Second, they perceive risks, including risks of opportunity, from their own viewpoints. Third, and of central importance, they assert decision role changes in response to the risks they perceive. That is, they take action. Finally, they establish ownership of new decision responsibility. A visual model depicting the grounded theory is shared. Findings position faculty hiring as an outcome of rule following decisions and risk response rather than rational choice. Part-time faculty hiring is found to function as an organizational release valve, which circumvents role tension of the sort experienced among department, college, and university administrators in full-time faculty hiring. Implications for university-level faculty hiring policy and practice, as well as for future research, are discussed. One conclusion is that university decision makers should be more strategic about faculty hiring by aligning the process with desired outcomes.Item Principals' Leadership Styles and the Impact on Student Achievement(2015) Shortridge, Karim; Strein, William; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Title of Dissertation: PRINCIPALS' LEADERSHIP STYLES AND THE IMPACT ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT Karim K. Shortridge, Doctor of Education, 2015 Dissertation directed by: Dr. William Strein Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education As accountability efforts in education have increased, there has been an increased interest in the significance of effective instructional leadership. Policymakers have looked toward school-based leadership as a means to positively impact student achievement and to close the achievement gap. This political reliance on school-based leadership to accomplish the goals of school improvement can be seen in No Child Left Behind. The present research was based on the premise that specific leadership behaviors have been found to impact students' academic outcomes. The academic literature supports the view that school-based leadership influences student achievement. The purpose of the research was to examine the impact of middle school principals' leadership styles on students' academic achievement. Particularly, the study analyzed the leadership styles of middle schools principals that headed schools that have met or not met their school achievement indicators (AMO). Employing MLQ survey, the researcher examined principals' leadership styles. Moreover, the study examined whether AMO outcomes differed based on the principals' self-identifying characteristics of: age, gender, totals years of experience as principal, and years of experience in education. Transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership styles were singled out for investigation and these specific leadership styles were analyzed within the content of student achievement outcomes. Consequently, it was found that AMO status accounted for 22.4% of the variability in leadership style taken together; while AMO status accounted for 7.6% of the variability related to transformational leadership; and AMO status accounted for 5.7% of the variability on transactional leadership, laissez-faire had nearly no relationship.