Date of Award

Spring 2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Program/Concentration

Community College Leadership

Committee Director

Dr. Mitchell R. Williams

Committee Member

Dr. Michelle E. Bartlett

Committee Member

Dr. Michael Sparrow

Abstract

Women are overrepresented as students and employees of community college, yet they are underrepresented in presidential leadership roles. Prior research has examined the career trajectories and experiences of women aspiring to community college presidencies; however, less research has examined how discourse shapes expectations of leadership. Because community colleges have been described as gendered, the language used to describe leadership competencies may reinforce gendered assumptions about effective leadership. The purpose of this study was to examine the discourse of community college presidential job announcements and the American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) Competencies for Community College Leaders (4th edition) to examine how these texts define and reinforce perceptions of effective community college leadership, therefore defining and reinforcing community colleges as gendered organizations. Using Norman Fairclough’s dialectical-relational approach to critical discourse analysis, this study analyzes the 4th edition of the AACC Competencies for Community College Leaders and 29 community college presidential job announcements, focusing on vocabulary, grammar, and tone which signal gendered leadership expectations. Findings demonstrated that the AACC Competencies for Community College Leaders incorporates discourse which defines and reinforces effective leadership in masculine-gendered ways. Presidential job announcements demonstrated a broader range of both agentic and communal language, suggesting a shift toward more inclusive models of effective leadership. These findings suggest that community college leadership discourse continues to reinforce community colleges as gendered organizations. Recommendations include revising future AACC competencies for more inclusive language and supporting the development of diverse leadership approaches.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). 

ISBN

9798197809834

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