Year of Award

2009

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Degree Name

Educational Leadership

Department or School/College

School of Education

Committee Chair

Roberta Evans

Commitee Members

John Lundt, Sharron Dinkel-Uhlig, Dean Sorenson, Don Wattam

Keywords

College Presidents, Higher Education, IPEDS, Leadership, Leadership Education, Outcomes

Abstract

There has been much criticism of academic leadership programs for not adequately preparing leaders. This is the case for all of the major programs: business administration, educational leadership, military science, and public administration. However, these evaluations themselves are limited inasmuch as they are typically concerned with such dimension as students' satisfaction and faculty credentials and performance while organizational outcomes attributable to leadership are ignored. The present research investigates the relationship of institutional outcomes for colleges and universities and the presence or absences of presidents with formal leadership training. The outcomes indicators are those contained in the Integrated Postsecondary Educational Data Systems (IPEDS), and include variables such as tuition affordability, graduation rates, availability of student leans, and faculty salaries and benefits. A mixed methodology is used: A quantitative analysis of important IPEDS indicators and a content analysis of interviews with selected presidents. The quantitative analysis employed inferential statistics using a random sample groups of 100 presidents--one with formal leadership education, and a second group of 100 without such education--to determine the relationship- between success and the presidents' credentials. Using IPEDS data, it was found overall that presidents with formal leadership education are no more and no less likely to run successful colleges than their counterparts without such training. When comparing colleges of similar student body size and setting, four-or-more year colleges that employ presidents with no formal leadership education where three times more likely to be successful as compared to colleges that employ presidents with formal leadership education. This trend is reversed among two-to-four year schools. Those schools that employ presidents with formal leadership education were two times more likely to be successful as compared to those without formal leadership education. These data suggest a niche in which presidents with formal leadership education are most successful. The content analysis used interviews of the presidents. Those with formal leadership training, all referred to their education as being important to their responsibilities and all presidents interviewed felt that using IPEDS data in making institutional decisions was important. Implications of the finding form training programs and for future are offered.

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© Copyright 2009 Douglas G. McBroom