Date of Graduation

5-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Adult and Lifelong Learning (EdD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Counseling, Leadership, and Research Methods

Advisor/Mentor

Maddox, James F.

Committee Member

Roessger, Kevin M.

Second Committee Member

Hevel, Michael S.

Keywords

history of community colleges; women’s educational history; community college missions; organizational climate; rural communities; Arkansas community colleges; female faculty; higher education; retention; turnover; attrition

Abstract

The current literature implies that female faculty in community colleges often endure a chilly organizational climate of marginalization. This marginalization makes female faculty more likely to leave higher education than male colleagues because of a lack of appreciation and recognition. This qualitative exploratory multiple-case study (preregistered study) uses the Job Embeddedness Theory as its conceptual framework. It explores full-time female faculty members’ (F-TFFMs) experiences with institutional climate in rural Arkansas community colleges to understand their motivations to teach in the setting and the reasons they choose to stay in their position. Findings from this study will show F-TFFMs motivations to teach and reasons for staying in rural Arkansas community colleges and can help institutions understand F-TFFMs experiences with institutional climate.  Keywords: history of community colleges, women’s educational history, community college missions, organizational climate, rural communities, Arkansas community colleges, and female faculty, higher education, retention, turnover, attrition

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