Mothers As Leaders in Higher Education: the Pathway to Leadership for College Presidents
MOTHERS AS LEADERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: THE PATHWAY TO LEADERSHIP FOR COLLEGE PRESIDENTS
A dissertation submitted
by Linda Fedrizzi-Williams
to Benedictine University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Education in Higher Education and Organizational Change
This dissertation has been accepted for the faculty of Benedictine University
______Nancy Bentley Nancy W. Bentley, Ph.D. ______4-15-2016 Dissertation Committee Director Date and Chair
______Michael Gawronski Michael Gawronski, Ph.D. ______4-15-2016 Dissertation Committee Reader Date
___ Cassandra______Sheffield Cassandra Sheffield, Ed.D. ______4-15-2016 Dissertation Committee Reader Date
______Sunil Chand Sunil Chand, Ph.D. ______4-15-2016 Program Director, Faculty Date
______Eileen Kolich Eileen Kolich, Ph.D. ______4-15-2016 Faculty Date ______Ethel Ragland, Ed.D., M.N.,R.N. ______Dean, College of Education and Health Services Date
MOTHERS AS LEADERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: THE PATHWAY TO LEADERSHIP FOR COLLEGE PRESIDENTS
A dissertation submitted by
Linda Fedrizzi-Williams to Benedictine University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Education in Higher Education and Organizational Change
Lisle, Illinois
March 2016
Copyright by Linda Fedrizzi-Williams, 2016
All rights reserved
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
When I first began this dissertation journey, I came across an anonymous quote that stated, “Some people dream of great accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them” (Anonymous, 2016). As a wife, a mother of two small boys (3 and 5 at the time), and a full-time administrator, I knew this journey would be one of the most difficult in my life, and being able to reflect on the magnitude of this accomplishment is humbling. This dissertation journey would not have been possible without the love and support of many people.
First and foremost, I must thank my family. They have been my rock and inspiration through this entire journey. They have seen me at my best, coming off a high from interviewing incredible women, and at my worst, stressed out and crying, because I did not know how I would ever complete my dissertation. I must start by thanking my parents for always believing in me and being there to watch my children for hours on end so that I could write my papers and study for my courses. Thank you to my husband,
Glen, for encouraging me to earn this degree, even when it was not easy for me to be away from him and my sons. Thank you to my sister, Jennifer, and my brother, George, for providing the knowledge, support, and encouragement to keep working towards my dreams and for providing me with a shoulder to lean on when I needed them. Thank you to my extended family and my in-laws for the love and support.
I have the most incredible friends, colleagues, and supervisors who supported me over the last four years when I was consumed with my doctoral studies. To my best friends, Dena, Jennifer, and Melanie, thank you for listening to me and for telling me to believe in myself. I love you. To my colleagues and friends—Mike, Stacey, Anne, Pete,
i Candice, Mark, Peter, Irene, Pat, Christine, Alex, my department chairs, and faculty members—thank you! Your patience, understanding, and support went far beyond what any colleague should provide. To my mentors, Dr. Bill Richards and Dr. Heather Perfetti, thank you for seeing something in me and pushing me to pursue my doctorate degree.
Your belief in me gave me the confidence I needed to pursue my dreams, and it means more to me than you will ever know.
I would also like to thank my dissertation committee members, Dr. Michael
Gawronski and Dr. Cassandra Sheffield, for their commitment to making my dissertation a success. From the feedback on my proposal and my dissertation to your assistance in finding participants for my study, thank you for the positive feedback and the endless advice.
Additionally, I would like to thank the eleven remarkable women who participated in this study. Thank you for taking time out of your incredibly busy lives to share the intimate details of your personal life and career journey. I have learned a great deal from your challenges and successes as college presidents and mothers. Your stories have prompted me to take a deeper look at my own life and to focus on the things that matter most in this world.
Most of all, I want to thank my dissertation director and chair, Dr. Nancy Bentley.
There is no way I would have been able to do this without her endless hours of guidance and support. Nancy is unlike any woman I have ever met. She is brilliant and has an understanding of qualitative research like no other. From day one, Nancy spent time critiquing my work, recommending scholarly material to include, and providing me, and a classmate, with an incredible meal when we were in the Chicago area to conduct
ii research. Most importantly, Nancy helped me through a very difficult time in my personal life. More than a director and chair, she has become a true friend, and for that, I am eternally grateful.
iii DEDICATION
To my first teachers: My parents, George and Marianna Fedrizzi, who taught me that
anything is possible with hard work, dedication, and a will to succeed.
To the three loves of my life: Glen, my inspirational husband, and Jake and Luke, my
incredible sons—it’s all for you.
iv TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES ...... xii
LIST OF FIGURES ...... xiii
ABSTRACT ...... xiv
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...... 1
Statement of the Problem ...... 2
Purpose of the Study...... 3
Research Questions…...... 7
Significance of the Study ...... 8
CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ...... 10
Women as Leaders in Higher Education ...... 10
Women in Student Roles ...... 13
Mothers in Student Roles ...... 15
Women in Faculty Roles ...... 16
Mothers in Faculty Roles ...... 18
Women in Administrative Roles ...... 24
Mothers in Administrative Roles ...... 29
Women as College Presidents ...... 34
Mothers as College Presidents ...... 40
Leadership Traits and Qualities ...... 42
Gender-Related Leadership Traits ...... 42
Qualities of a Leader ...... 47
Work-Life Balance: Is it Possible to Have it All? ...... 49
v Working Mothers ...... 52
The Maternal Wall ...... 54
Interrole Conflict ...... 54
Female Identity Development Theories ...... 57
Josselson’s (1987) Theory ...... 59
Sidel’s (1990) Theory ...... 61
Career Decision-Making for Women ...... 63
Bandura (1977) Theory of Self-Efficacy ...... 64
Holland’s (1958/1996) Career Choice Theory ...... 66
Super’s (1980) Life-Span, Life-Space Approach ...... 68
Mainiero and Sullivan’s (2005) Kaleidoscope Model of Careers ...... 70
McMahon and Patton’s (1995) Systems Theory Framework ...... 72
Summary and Limitations to the Literature ...... 72
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ...... 74
Research Paradigms ...... 75
Qualitative Research Paradigm ...... 77
Social Constructivism Framework ...... 78
Research Design: Phenomenological Tradition ...... 79
Hermeneutical Phenomenology ...... 82
Empirical, Transcendental, and Psychological Phenomenology ...... 83
Transcendental Principles ...... 83
Epoche (Bracketing) ...... 83
Noema and Noesis ...... 85
vi Phenomenological Reduction ...... 86
Moustakas’ Methodological Procedure ...... 87
Researcher’s Role (My Story) ...... 89
Data Collection Procedures ...... 91
Selection of Participants ...... 92
Recruiting Participants ...... 92
In-Depth Interviews ...... 93
Demographic Survey and Interview Guide ...... 94
Document and Artifact Analysis ...... 95
Field Notes ...... 96
Data Analysis Procedures ...... 96
Strategies for Validating Findings ...... 97
Ethical Considerations ...... 99
Concluding Remarks ...... 102
CHAPTER 4: LIFE JOURNEYS OF MOTHERS WHO BECAME COLLEGE
PRESIDENTS...... 104
Individual Profiles ...... 109
Carrie...... 109
Claire……………...... 112
Dena……………...... 114
Jen………………...... 117
Karina………...... 120
Kate……………...... 124
vii Kendal……………...... 127
Kim……………...... 130
Pam……………...... 134
Sybil…………… ...... 136
Tara……………...... 139
Concluding Remarks ...... 141
CHAPTER 5: THE CHALLENGES, REWARDS, AND INFINITE SEARCH FOR
BALANCE AS BOTH A COLLEGE PRESIDENT AND A MOTHER...... 143
It Was a Calling: Internal Motivators for Being a College President ...... 145
Motivated by Values and the Opportunity to Make a Difference ...... 147
They Never Planned on Being College Presidents: External Motivators for Being
a College President ...... 150
They Believed in Me: Mentors, Supervisors and Colleagues ...... 152
We Can Do This: Confidence From Accomplishing Difficult Tasks ...... 154
It Takes a Village: The Need for Support ...... 155
Mentors ...... 156
Children ...... 157
Spouses ...... 159
Supervisors ...... 160
Others ...... 163
Dealing With Guilt and Sacrifice: There Is Not Enough Time In the Day ...... 165
Time With Children ...... 167
Time for Self ...... 169
viii Time With Spouse...... 171
There Is No Such Thing As Balance...... 173
Work-Life-Education: It All Blends Together ...... 175
Learn How to Prioritize and Compartmentalize ...... 176
Outsource Domestic Duties or Learn How to Let it Go ...... 178
Childcare ...... 178
Household Chores ...... 180
Their Greatest Challenge: The Doctorate ...... 181
Being Moms Make Them Better College Presidents: Their Leadership Skills
Come From Being a Mother ...... 184
Time Management and Organizational Skills...... 186
Patience and Understanding ...... 187
Conflict Resolution and Negotiation Skills ...... 189
Being College Presidents Make Them Better Moms ...... 190
Respect for Individual Differences and Diversity ...... 192
Family Comes First ...... 193
Motherhood Means Everything to Them ...... 196
Challenges and Obstacles of Being a College President ...... 197
Being the “Little Lady” and Often the Only “Lady” in the Room ...... 198
Moving Up in the Same Institution ...... 202
Disciplining Former Peers ...... 203
What the Women Are Most Proud of ...... 204
Their Leadership Style: Taking a Team Approach ...... 206
ix The Good They Bring to Their Institutions ...... 208
Staying True to Who They Are ...... 209
Positive Feedback to and From Others ...... 211
Concluding Remarks ...... 212
CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATIONS, ADVICE AND
REFLECTIONS ...... 213
What Are the Lived Experiences and Perceptions of a Small Group of Mothers in
Presidential Positions at Higher Education Institutions? How Do They Make
Sense of Their Lives?...... 215
How Has Being a Mother Affected the Career Paths of Mothers in College
Presidencies?...... 221
What Have Been the Challenges That They Faced in Their Careers, and What has
Contributed to Their Success in Moving Up the Presidential Ladder?...... 224
In What Ways Do They Think Their Personal Attributes, Skills, and Experiences
as a Mother Relate to Their Personal Attributes, Skills, and Experiences as a
Leader and College President?...... 226
Recommendations for Educational Leaders ...... 229
Be Flexible and Update or Change Outdated Policies ...... 230
Be Respectful of an Employee’s Personal Time ...... 234
Mentor Women, Including Young Mothers...... 236
Consider On-Campus Daycare for Employees and Students ...... 237
Advice for Mothers Looking to Become College Presidents ...... 238
Build a Support Network and Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help ...... 239
x Get Organized ...... 241
Find the Right Fit ...... 241
Believe in Yourself ...... 242
Recommendations for Future Research ...... 242
Reflections ...... 244
REFERENCES ...... 246
APPENDIX A: INFORMED CONSENT FORM ...... 261
APPENDIX B: DEMOGRAPHIC SURVEY ...... 263
APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW GUIDE ...... 266
xi LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. 2010 U.S. Census Data, Schooling Level ...... 11 Table 2. Female vs. Male Enrollment, 1960-2015 ...... 15 Table 3. Bem Sex Inventory Traits ...... 44 Table 4. Strong Language Vs Weak Language ...... 46 Table 5. Demographic Information of Participants ...... 106 Table 6: Career-Related Information of Participants ...... 107 Table 7. Internal Motivating Factors Related to Their Calling to the Presidency ...... 146 Table 8. External Motivators for Being a College President ...... 152 Table 9. Support for the Women in Their Roles as Mother and President ...... 156 Table 10. Areas of Sacrifice...... 167 Table 11. Skills Learned From Being a Mother That Strengthen Their Roles as Leaders ...... 186 Table 12. Participants’ Family Sequencing Strategies Related to Pursuing a Presidency ...... 195 Table 13. Participants’ Biggest Challenges as Presidents/Executive Leaders ...... 198 Table 14. Participants’ Proudest Accomplishments ...... 206
xii LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. StrengthsQuest’s Leadership Equation...... 48 Figure 2. Holland’s Career Diagram ...... 67 Figure 3. Super’s Life-Career Rainbow: Nine Life Roles in Schematic Life Space ...... 70
xiii ABSTRACT
This study is based upon the lives of eleven women who are not only college presidents, but are also mothers. The purpose of this study was to understand the lived experiences and perceptions of mothers in college presidencies and how the skills of being a mother relate to the skills or experiences of being the president of a college. The study examined the challenges of being a mother in a presidency and also detailed the successes closest to the participants’ hearts.
To understand the experiences and perceptions of mothers serving as college presidents, I chose a qualitative, phenomenological study and used in-depth interviews and document/artifact analysis to highlight the major motivations, successes, and challenges in these women’s lives. I used the results of the study to identify themes related to being successful as both a college president and a mother. Eleven major themes and 26 subthemes emerged from the data collected in this study, including: The women felt called to the presidency, the need for support, feelings of guilt and sacrifice, work-life balance concerns, challenges of earning a doctorate degree, leadership skills learned from mothering and mothering skills learned from being a president, putting family first, challenges on the path to the presidency, team-led leadership approaches, and staying true to one’s values.
This study adds to the literature on women in leadership positions and is also intended to assist women planning a career in higher education. It helps higher education leaders understand what is needed to support working mothers, including implementing new or altering current institutional policies and procedures.
xiv CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Take a look around the average college or university classroom. There will likely be more women in attendance than men, but despite the number of females attending college, the number of female leaders in executive leadership positions in higher education is significantly lower than that of males (Aiston, 2011; DeFrank-Cole, Latimer,
Reed, & Wheatly, 2014; Iverson, 2011; Leathwood, Read, & Society for Research into
Higher Ed, 2009; Morely, 2012). Even though women make up the majority of junior faculty in colleges and universities, that number is not reflected in senior faculty positions or senior administrative positions (Eveline, 2004; Hart, 2014; Leathwood et al., 2009;
Peterson, 2011). In fact, Dominici, Fried, and Zeger (2009) reported that when women do get promoted to senior administrative positions, they are usually less respected than their male counterparts and are paid less. The situation appears to be even worse for women with children.
For example, several researchers have pointed out a bias regarding mothers in higher education, including doubt regarding their loyalty to the institution (Wolf-Wendel
& Ward, 2006; Williams & Dempsey, 2014), and other researchers noted that the workload for working mothers does not decrease at home as the workload in their careers increases, which is why many women may choose to stay in lower level administrative roles (Dominici et al., 2009). If a woman does choose to take on a senior position, she will most likely work between 50-70 hours per week (Peterson, 2011; Williams &
Dempsey, 2014). Moreover, there is a gross inequity among salaries and careers between
1 women with children and men with children. For instance, Williams and
Dempsey (2014) reported that:
Mothers, on average, make significantly less money and work significantly less
than women without children do. For men, the opposite is often true: the birth of a
child correlates with an increased salary and more time spent at work for white
and Latino fathers. (p. 147)
Altbach, Berdahl, and Gumport (2011) reported that the average presidential profile at a college or university in the United States is white, 65 years old, and male.
Regarding the women who do reach a college presidency, several researchers have suggested that in order for them to be taken seriously, they must exhibit the same masculine traits as their male counterparts (Powell & Butterfield, 2013; Tedrow &
Rhoades, 1999; Zhou, 2013). Rabas (2013) discussed the conflict many women face:
“With the number of women holding leadership positions within higher education organizations increasing in a still male dominated role, these women are being expected to exhibit the same leadership styles as the men” (p. 3). These findings beg the question:
Do mothers in senior administration positions need to leave their parenting skills at the door when they become college presidents, or can those skills actually aid in their success?
Statement of the Problem
Due to the high demand of time and pressure, a number of researchers have learned that women are less likely to pursue senior level administrative positions if they have children at home, especially if their children are young (Dominici et al., 2009;
Kahanov, Loebsack, Masucci, & Roberts, 2010; Tessens, White, & Webb, 2011). In fact,
2 many women appear to be opting out of higher education altogether, because both female faculty and administrators struggle with the time demands needed to fully commit to their institutions and to their families (Aiston, 2011; Zhou, 2013). While some of the guilt associated with having a career and raising a family is internal, some of the guilt seems to be imposed externally (Morely, 2012; Williams & Dempsey, 2014). Wendell-Wolf and
Ward (2006) explained that the time needed to devote to one’s career in higher education often can be too much for many women with children to handle.
In an extensive qualitative study on women in higher education, Kahanov,
Loesback, Masucci, and Roberts (2010) noted that 61% of women in higher education administration did not have any children, let alone young children. At the American
Council on Education Annual Conference in March of 2014, Dr. Judy C. Miner, president of Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California, suggested that there were plenty of places for mothers of young children in higher education, but presidencies were not one of them. She may be right, because only 29% of higher education presidents are women
(DeFrank-Cole, Latimer, Reed, & Wheatly, 2014). There is no data on how many of those women are mothers.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to explore the lives of college presidents who are mothers in order to identify how being a mother has affected their career paths and how their experiences shaped them into the leaders they are today. This research adds to the existing literature on women in higher education and provides insight into how mothers have been successful as college presidents.
3 The topic of mothers in higher education is timely, because the number of college presidents retiring is on the rise and this opens the door for more women to seek presidencies (Altbach et al., 2011; Bornstein, 2009; Cohea, 2015; Fullan & Scott, 2009;
Jones, 2014; Kotter, 2008; Tunheim & Goldschmidt, 2013). Likewise, major changes are occurring in higher education institutions: (a) the face of students is changing (more females and more older, employed students); (b) there is less funding for institutions; (c) there is a bigger push for institutions to be accountable; and (d) the global market is increasing (Fullan & Scott, 2009; Kotter, 2008). Given these current challenges, there is a need for transformational leaders with fresh ideas and emotional intelligence to properly manage higher education institutions (Fullan & Scott, 2009; Goleman, 2008).
Fullan and Scott (2009) explained that what higher education needs right now is turnaround leadership, and this is an opportunity for women. Turnaround leadership is about “listening, linking, and leading (in that order) and about modeling, teaching, and learning” (Fullan & Scott, 2009, p. 97). Fullan and Scott detailed the top qualities of leaders who make change happen. They said leaders invite people to identify the need for change, look for evidence that change is needed and achievable, make decisions about what to implement, and involve the necessary people to make change work. Kouzes and
Posner (1988) noted similar qualities in their study on leadership. The researchers’
Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) was developed through a grounded theory approach and looks at leadership in terms of leaders’ willingness to (a) challenge the process, (b) inspire a shared vision, (c) enable others to act, (d) model the way, and (e) encourage followers. In their book, The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner (2007) said that
4 it is an intrinsic motivation to do something fulfilling that gives leaders a passion to succeed.
While passion is one motivation for leaders, Fullan and Scott (2009) referenced an Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) study that found making change in higher education is less about being visionary and more about optimizing satisfactions and dealing with challenges in an “informed, proactive, productive, and efficient manner”
(p. 110). The ALTC study went on to describe top traits and key competencies for the most successful leaders in higher education. The categories were:
personal capability: self-regulation, decisiveness, and commitment,
interpersonal capability: influencing and empathizing,
cognitive capability: diagnosis, strategy, flexibility and responsiveness, and
key competencies: learning and teaching, university operations, and self-
organization skills (Fullan & Scott, 2009)
In the ALTC study, the 513 leaders identified emotional intelligence, as described by
Goleman (2008), as one of the top skills critical to leading higher education institutions
(Fullan & Scott, 2009; Goleman, 2008).
More important than vision was the need to understand one’s own emotions and feelings and to be conscious of how those emotions affect others. Goleman (2008) acknowledged that leaders may have a difficult time assessing their own emotional intelligence and social intelligence, but the best leaders ask their staff: (a) How can I be a better leader? and (b) How can I help you to develop? Goleman introduced a model of emotional intelligence and identified five different components: (a) self-awareness— understanding one's emotions and recognizing one’s impact on others while making
5 decisions; (b) self-regulation—controlling one’s emotions and adapting to changes; (c) social skill—working with others to steer people in the right direction; (d) empathy— considering others’ feelings, especially when making decisions; and (e) internal motivation—being driven to achievement.
Of Goleman’s (2008) five components of emotional intelligence, women tend to be particularly good at exercising empathy. This skill typically comes easier to women than it does to men. Goleman (2011) argued that women are naturally emerging as the organizational leaders of the future and stated:
By the year 2018, according to the Chartered Management Institute in the UK, the
workplace will be one where the demand for ‘female’ management skills will be
far stronger than today. The world of work will be more fluid and virtual, and
women will move up the chain of command because, as Claire Shipman and
Katty Kay write in Time, ‘their emotional intelligence skills may become ever
more essential.’ (p. 2)
The level of emotional intelligence may be even higher in mothers (Guthrie, 2015).
According to Guthrie (2015), mothers receive a boost in emotional intelligence once their children are born:
One of the biggest brain boosts for moms is the ability to see the world through
someone else's eyes. In so many relationships, if you don't agree with a person
you can just walk away. But you can't walk away from your child. At least, not if
you want to be a good parent. Instead, you've got to stretch your mind to
understand his point of view. (p. 9)
6 If emotional intelligence is a sought after trait for higher education leaders, then perhaps more mothers need to be encouraged to reach for top-level positions. In order to support mothers in top-level positions, research needs to be conducted to understand the experiences of women with children who have achieved the highest status possible.
Current research on the subject of women in higher education is broad, but there is a major deficiency in the number of studies pertaining specifically to mothers in senior administrative positions in higher education. Little attention has focused on women who have children, including young children, and have reached the top level of this field.
Research Questions
This qualitative, phenomenological study explores the experiences and perceptions of a small group of mothers in presidential positions at two-year and four- year institutions of higher education. The study was guided by the following research questions:
What are the lived experiences and perceptions of a small group of mothers in
presidential positions at higher education institutions? How do they make sense of
their lives?
How has being a mother affected the career paths of these mothers in college
presidencies?
What have been the challenges that they have faced in their careers, and what has
contributed to their success in moving up the presidential ladder?
In what ways do they think their personal attributes, skills, and experiences as a
mother relate to their personal attributes, skills, and experiences as a leader and
college president?
7 Significance of the Study
Existing literature focuses mainly on the experiences of women in leadership positions in higher education or work-life balance of women with families. There have been few studies that examine the lived experiences of mothers in college presidencies and how the skills or experiences of being a mother relate to the skills or experiences of being the president of a college or university. This study benefits several audiences:
Women planning a career in higher education administration can learn from the
experiences of other women with children who have achieved executive
leadership positions.
Current administrators at higher education institutions will learn how they can
successfully mentor and support working mothers to move up the career ladder.
Higher education institutions will be able to look at ways to improve working
conditions for mothers with children, particularly young children, in top higher
education leadership positions.
The current changes and rapid retirements in higher education provide an opportunity for more women to rise to the role of college president, and the number of women attending college continues to rise. With the popularity of books like Lean In:
Women, Work and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg (2013) and What Works for
Women at Work by Joan Williams and Rachel Dempsey (2014), women are looking for guidance in how to succeed at both having a high-level career and raising a family. This research will contribute to the literature on women in higher education leadership and explore how being a mother adds to those leadership skills. Chapter 2 will detail the varied roles women play in higher education and the work-life balance challenges
8 mothers face, as well as theories that contribute to female identity development, leadership traits and qualities, and career choice. Chapter 3 will explain the methodology used for this study. Chapter 4 provides demographic information and shares profiles of the 11 participants interviewed for this study while Chapter 5 details the 11 themes and
26 subthemes that emerged from this study. Chapter 6 discusses the findings and suggests recommendations for both administrators in higher education as well as mothers looking to pursue college presidencies. It also provides recommendations for future research and my reflections of the study.
9 CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
This chapter unfolds a discussion on the role women have played in United States higher education, from college student to college president. The literature review provides a foundation for this study of mothers in top-level leadership positions in higher education. Therefore, the review of the literature is focused on women and mothers in student roles, faculty roles, and administrative roles. In addition, attention has been paid to the work-life balance struggles of working mothers, leadership traits and qualities, and theories of female identity development and career decision-making. These themes serve as the basis for this study, shaping the conceptual framework and informing the study’s methodology and analysis.
Women as Leaders in Higher Education
Women in higher education hold fewer leadership positions than men (Aiston,
2011; DeFrank-Cole et al., 2014; Iverson, 2011; Leathwood et al., 2009; Mason &
Goulden, 2002), even though the 2010 U.S. Census in Table 1 shows that the schooling level of women is higher than it is for men in all degrees except professional degrees.
10 Table 1
2010 U.S. Census Data, Schooling Level by Gender
Degree Number of Males Number of Females
Associate 298,000 489,000
Bachelor’s 685,000 916,000
Master’s 260,000 397,000
Professional 47,000 45,000
Doctorate 32,000 35,000
Note: Adapted from “The 2012 statistical abstract: Education” The United States Census Bureau, 2012. Copyright 2012 by the United States Census Bureau.
The higher percentage of women in higher education is a more recent trend and might explain, in part, why a greater proportion of women have not reached top positions, as men have. Family responsibilities may also prolong the time it takes women to complete degrees, especially if they are single mothers. As noted previously, the typical college president is a white male who is approximately 65 years old, and since many women of earlier generations did not enter higher education until later in their lives, it may explain why there are so few women at the top.
The vast majority of women working in higher education around the world are not academics, but “instead are largely employed as low paid and undervalued service personnel, doing the cleaning, catering and administrative support work” (Leathwood et al., 2009, p. 41). Eveline (2004) coined the term ivory-basement to reflect the disproportionate number of women in higher education at the bottom of the leadership chain. Hart (2014) reported that not only do women hold fewer leadership positions in academia, but they are also paid less than their male colleagues. Some have referred to
11 this phenomenon as the glass ceiling (Butterfield & Powell, 2013; Mason & Goulden,
2002). Mason and Goulden (2002) explained the glass ceiling theory as a pattern of discrimination, as well as a socialization process related to gender in our society and throughout the world, that “bars women from top positions in academia” (p. 5). They described these patterns as beginning during childhood when baby girls are taught to display pleasing behaviors, therefore preventing them from making tough and assertive decisions later in their lives. The term was coined in the 1980s and, according to Iverson
(2011), has many variations to express the mixing of gender and other dimensions of identity such as:
Latina administrator[s] encounter the adobe ceiling, lesbian administrator[s] bump
into the lavender ceiling, women administrators in Catholic schools reach the
stained glass ceiling, the concrete ceiling that will not break for women of color,
and the Plexiglas room in which tenured faculty are placed, among other related
adaptations. (p. 83)
Butterfield and Powell (2013) explained that the glass ceiling leads women to jump off the glass cliff since it serves as a “deterrent to women’s aspirations to top management”
(p. 31).
There are many theories explaining the lack of female leadership in higher education. Iverson (2011) explained that the sticky floors of low ranking jobs prevent women from being promoted to leadership positions. In other words, it is the current structure of higher education that is preventing women from having the opportunity to advance. Another contributing factor forcing women to opt-out of leadership positions is the challenge of balancing work-life responsibilities, particularly the care of children
12 (Dominici et al., 2009; Marcus, 2007; Mason & Goulden, 2002; Mayson & Tikka, 2008;
Morley, 2012; Ravizza & Peterson-Iyer, 2005; Tillman, 2011; Wolf-Wendell & Ward,
2006). The sub sections that follow will explore the roles of women and of mothers as students, faculty, administrators, and college presidents.
Women in Student Roles
Women began their journey in academia in the 19th century. After attending seminaries for years, three women in the United States attended college for the first time and graduated with bachelor’s degrees from Oberlin College in 1883 (Oberlin College,
2007). The American Association of University Women (AAUW) noted that it was the
1848 Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, that demanded higher education for women (St. Lawrence County, New York, Branch of the American
Association of University Women [AAUW], n.d.). In the 1850s, over “forty women’s institutions were chartered to offer collegiate degrees” (St. Lawrence County, New York
Branch of the AAUW, n.d., p. 50). By 1890, the majority of women were still in single- sex colleges thought to be “inferior” by contemporaries (Altbach et al., 2011). Once institutions began to expand their curriculum to include a wider range of offerings, women enrolled in coeducational colleges at a higher rate (Altbach et al., 2011; St.
Lawrence County, New York Branch of the AAUW, n.d.). At the turn of the 20th century, there were broad fears that “a good education would make women unfit for marriage and motherhood” (St. Lawrence County, New York Branch of the AAUW, n.d.) and that an education would actually be bad for women’s health. It was not until the Association of
Collegiate Alumnae (the predecessor of the AAUW) conducted a study that proved that
13 not only did an education fail to harm women, the social atmosphere actually enhanced its participants’ health (St. Lawrence County, NY Branch of the AAUW, n.d.).
According to Leathwood et al. (2009), throughout history, wars and civil unrest have aided women in entering academia and other professions. The mid-20th century brought with it a renewed call for women studies, and the feminist movement of the
1960s and 1970s focused on the need to expand women’s studies to disciplines other than teaching and healthcare (Patterson, 2009). Since the 1990s, “women’s access to higher education has increased . . . and in a number of countries worldwide women now constitute a higher proportion of the undergraduate student population than men”
(Leathwood et al., 2009, p. 3). The 2010 U.S. Census reported there are more women attending college than men at every degree level other than professional degrees
(associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral). Altbach et al. (2011) reported that the typical 21st century student is likely to be a 35-year-old woman. Despite this progress, discipline stratification still remains with less than a quarter of women in fields such as engineering (Leathwood et al., 2009). Two-thirds of women in undergraduate programs study education, health, humanities, and the arts (Leathwood et al., 2009). The only disciplines that have parity between women and men are the social sciences, business, and law. Table 2 provides statistics from the Institute of Education Science (IES) demonstrating the major shift over time for female versus male bachelor’s degree graduates in U.S. higher education from 1950 to 2015.
14 Table 2
Female vs. Male Bachelor’s Degree Graduates, 1960-2015
Males Graduating with Females Graduating with Year Bachelor’s Degree Bachelor’s Degree 1950 328,841 103,217 1960 254,063 138,377 1970 475,594 364,136 1980 469,883 465,257 1990 504,045 590,493 2000 531,840 712,331 2010 734,133 981,780 2015 800,000 1,054,000 Note: Adapted from “Degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by level of degree and sex of student: Selected years, 1869-70 through 2021-22, The Institute of Education Sciences. (2015). Copyright 2015 by U.S. Department of Education.
Mothers in student roles. Higher education institutions have made strides in providing access to underrepresented student populations (Altbach et al., 2011). Non- traditional adult college students, such as those who work full time, attend classes part time, or have dependents such as children or a spouse, are suddenly becoming the traditional college students (Altbach et al., 2011; Spilovoy, 2013). According to Spilovoy
(2013), “student mothers are considered by most researchers and academic institutions to be non-traditional college students, [even though] student mothers comprise a large percentage of the student population” (p. 22). With the increasing number of online learning platforms and other non-traditional programming initiatives, the doors to postsecondary education have been opened for many women with children who had found it too difficult to attend in the past (Altbach et al., 2011; Patterson, 2009; Spilovoy,
2013).
In her qualitative study of mothers in online bachelor’s degree programs,
Spilovoy (2013) found that mothers enroll in higher education studies for two main
15 reasons: (a) to increase their socioeconomic status and (b) to ensure a better life for themselves and their families. Although the women chose online programs due to the convenience and flexibility, Spilovoy (2013) discussed how the participants in her study had to make personal sacrifices to attend and persist in college:
Because the needs of their children were their top priority, the women sacrificed
other personal needs such as sleep, relationships, or leisure time in order to
accomplish a college degree. The women deeply desired for college personnel to
recognize and understand their unique roles and identities as mothers, their
experiences, their challenges, and their stubborn and unwavering commitment to
meet their educational and personal goals. (p. 175)
Spilovoy also found that students with children needed to be validated both academically and interpersonally, citing the need to prove they could “do it all” to themselves, their families, their professors, and their children. She also found that mothers with children still continued to do the majority of the child and home care. According to Spilovoy, it was ultimately the desire to succeed and demonstrate to their children the importance of completing their degrees that motivated the mothers to work hard and earn their degrees.
Women in Faculty Roles
Aiston (2011) reported that “women academics experience working in higher education differently to their male colleagues” (p. 279), explaining that women remain in lower rank faculty positions while men hold full professorships and are also much more likely to be department chairs or deans. This is noted in much research, including
Leathwood et al. (2009), who found that the higher the university status in the United
States, the lower the number of women awarded full professorships. The only type of
16 institution likely to promote women to higher rank faculty positions is the community college (Wendell-Wolf & Ward, 2006). At all Carnegie classifications, women are hired more often than men to be adjunct faculty, junior lecturers, and lecturers (Leathwood et al., 2009). Unfortunately, these positions offer women the least economically secure positions in higher education (Bethea, 2015).
It is important to note that not only do women secure fewer high rank faculty positions than men, but they also earn less when in the same position. However, the gap is closing slightly for women at the assistant and associate professor levels (Bethea,
2015). In 2003, women at the assistant and associate professor rank earned 4.13% less than men in the same position, whereas in 2014, they earned 2.18% less (Bethea, 2015).
The same cannot be said for women who attain the position of full professor, where the gap appears to have widened rather than narrowed, as Bethea (2015) points out:
According to AAUP data from 2003 to 2004, a man in the professor rank at a
research institution earned an average salary of $96,238, compared to a woman in
the same rank who earned an average salary of $87,214, a difference of 9.38
percent or $9,024. A decade later according to AAUP data from 2013 to 2014, a
man in the professor rank at a research institution earned an average salary of
$130,299 compared to a woman in the same rank who earned an average salary of
$116,951, a difference of 10.2 percent or $13,278. (pp. 35-36)
The gap is largest at private and research institutions and most narrow at community colleges and public institutions (Behtea, 2015).
Fisher and Kinsey (2014) reported that gender discrimination is to blame in the lack of females in higher rank positions. The researchers asserted that “Gender
17 discrimination against women often takes relatively sophisticated and veiled forms which are difficult to identify and challenge” (Fisher & Kinsey, 2014, p. 45). Fisher and Kinsey further explained that the boys’ club mentality prevents women from receiving promotion.
While the boys club may exist in higher education, the main reason for the lack of women in tenured positions, according to a number of researchers, is that, unfortunately, the tenure clock and the biological clock tend to be ticking at the same time (Dominici et al., 2009; Marcus, 2007; Mason & Goulden, 2002; Mayson & Tikka, 2008; Morley,
2012; Ravizza & Peterson-Iyer, 2005; Tillman, 2011; Wolf-Wendell & Ward, 2006). The average woman seeking a doctoral degree earns her PhD at 34 years old, and if she wants to be a faculty member in academia, she will go up for tenure at age 40 (Marcus, 2007;
Tillmann, 2011). These are the same years during which many women are contemplating having children. Because of the timing, women are:
disproportionately represented in non-tenure-track positions at non-doctoral
institutions and among low salary grades. . . . Tenured and tenure track women
are less likely to have children than tenured and tenure track men.” (Hollenshead
et al., 2005, p. 42)
Mothers in faculty roles. Traditionally, academic institutions do not want to compete with family obligations. Most higher education institutions expect that an employee’s number one responsibility is to the institution (Wendell-Wolf & Ward, 2006).
Wendell-Wolf and Ward (2006) used the greedy institutions framework, put forward previously by Coser (1974), to build their case. As the authors explained, “greedy institutions are those that seek exclusive and undivided loyalty” (Wendell-Wolf & Ward,
18 2006, p. 490). The problem is that women with children still have an expected obligation to put family life before work life (Morley, 2012). One might call this conundrum a lose- lose situation. If mothers put their families first, they are perceived as disloyal to the institution; if they put the institution first, they are perceived as disloyal to their families
(Williams & Dempsey, 2014). Williams and Dempsey (2014) explain this conflict as the maternal Tug of War (p. 179). Kahanov et al. (2010) reported that “Women may perceive a greater conflict between professional and family responsibilities because they typically serve as the family caretaker in addition to experiencing more difficulty when reentering the profession after an absence for family obligations” (p. 459). Sometimes, women are each other’s harshest critics. For instance, Marcus (2007) noted, “Younger women say that it is older women faculty who are most resistant to change, feeling they had to go through the grueling tenure process; so should everybody else” (p. 31). Claire Van
Ummersen, educator and administrator for the American Council on Education, told
Marcus (2007) that some women made personal sacrifices to ensure tenure and feel younger women should have to make the same sacrifices. She said this is particularly true in the sciences. Mayer and Tikka (2008) claimed “female professors in the US are sacrificing relationships and childbearing to acquiesce to the male-centered academic tradition” (p. 370).
Wolf-Wendell and Ward (2006) cited data from the 2004 National Survey of
Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF) stating that 31% of junior women faculty members have children and 49% of full-time women faculty members (of all ranks) have at least one dependent. Seventy percent of male full-time faculty members (of all ranks) have children (Wolf-Wendell & Ward, 2006). Because the tenure track often collides with
19 childbearing years, women can pay a high price if they choose to have children (Marcus,
2007). The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education at the Harvard
Graduate School of Education administered a Tenure-Track Faculty Satisfaction Survey to over 150 colleges and universities (Trower, 2010). They found an increasing expectation that faculty members need to be accessible to both work and students at all times, and “the new norm for faculty with partners is the dual-career household; few faculty members have partners who stay home to raise children” (Trower, 2010, p. 5).
Trower (2010) accentuated that nearly everything in higher education is different in today’s society except the tenure process.
Marcus (2007) explained that many women leave academia during the tenure process because they do not know how they will balance families with the tenure requirements. This occurs to such an extent that only 24% of tenured faculty at four-year colleges and universities are women (Marcus, 2007). As a result, a number of institutions have developed policies to assist women in balancing family responsibilities with contractual obligations. The American Council on Education (2015) created the Alfred P.
Sloan Foundation Projects to assist higher education institutions with developing workplace flexibility initiatives. The foundation offers the following policy suggestions for institutions to adopt in order to be more supportive of faculty:
on-ramps and off-ramps, through leave policies (being able to pause the tenure
process and resume the process once done with family/medical leave)
extended time to tenure (tenure clock adjustment)
shortened time to tenure, with pro-rated standard of productivity
active service, modified duties (full-time service with selected reduced duties)
20 part-time appointments (allowing mobility between full-time and part-time work)
phased retirement (partial appointments for finite periods of time)
delayed entry or re-entry opportunities (including practices that foster later-than-
usual career starts) (American Council on Education, 2015, p. 3)
Even though many institutions have some of these practices in place, numerous mothers in tenure track positions do not appear to be taking advantage of these opportunities, because they fear it will make them look weak and unable to fulfill their obligations (Marcus, 2007). Marcus pointed out that Harvard University developed some of these policies for faculty in order to hold on to the best people, but despite their efforts, few women appear to have taken advantage of the opportunity. Likewise, Princeton
University amended its policy to offer extended time to faculty with children, but most faculty members do not take advantage of the opportunity either. The Special Assistant to the Dean of Faculty at Princeton said people were worried they would be seen as less committed to their work (Marcus, 2007). This sentiment is not unique to the Ivy League.
Williams and Dempsey (2014) coined the phrase the maternal wall to describe the roadblock women with children hit on the way to leadership positions. They explained the maternal wall might be highest in academia because of the timing of the tenure process. Williams and Dempsey interviewed one participant in their study who returned to work three days after a Caesarian section, because she was afraid that people would think she was not committed to her teaching.
The way current policies are written means having children interrupts women’s academic careers and creates a mommy tax that can amount to nearly $1 million for a college-educated woman in the United States (Crittenden, 2001). When asked to explain
21 the mommy tax in an interview, Crittenden, author of the book The Price of Motherhood:
Why the Most Important Job in the World is Still the Least Valued, told reporter Katy
Abel:
When you've been home raising children, you are looked at (by employers) as if
your brain has been on ice, so you take a hit in your income, in the kind of wages
you can command. I put a name on it: The Mommy Tax. In other words, what is
your lifetime loss of income if you have a kid, in terms of lowered income for the
rest of your life? There's a lot of variation, but you can say, in general, that if a
college-educated woman has one child, she will lose about a million dollars in
lifetime earnings. I didn't have my child until I was over 40, and I already had a
number of years working. But my Mommy Tax is close to a million. People do
not think about this. When they think about what a child costs, they think about
diapers, school tuition. The biggest single cost is the loss of income to the parent
who takes his or her time to be with the child. (Abel, 2015, p. 6)
Crittenden explained that if a woman wants to narrow the gender gap in academia, she must adopt the be a man strategy: go to college, get a job, get tenure, and put off having children for as long as possible. Even if women take advantage of a tenure clock stop, the most frequently used type of support aid provided to women is family and medical leave, which is unpaid (Hollenshead et al., 2005). Many women cannot take time off from work without pay, especially when they are the “breadwinners” (Marcus, 2007; Williams &
Dempsey, 2014). Hollenshead, et al. (2005) surveyed 255 faculty from all Carnegie classifications and found that only a quarter of the schools in their study provided some sort of paid maternity leave.
22 In their study, Hollenshead et al. (2005) researched work/family policies in higher education and revealed five strategies for institutions to use in order to implement successful work/family policies for faculty:
Use data to promote a work/family balance agenda.
Foster collaboration between individual policy champions and institutional
committees to ensure successful policy development.
Formalize policies and make them entitlements.
Educate faculty and administrators about the policies on a continuous basis.
Address climate issues that discourage faculty from using work/family policies.
(p. 56)
Although institutions are making strides in implementing more family-friendly work policies, Aiston (2011) has argued that higher education institutions do not take into account the gendered divisions of childcare and household chores. Aiston pointed out that male respondents in a study by Deem (2003) were of the opinion that women were disadvantaged by gender and particularly by motherhood, while fatherhood was regarded as not harmful to academic careers. Today’s fathers are more active in the day-to-day lives of their children, but women “continue to cover up to 75% of home-related and child-related responsibilities” (Ravizza & Peterson-Iyer, 2005, p. 306). A 2012 Business
Week article, titled “Even in Academia, Dads Don’t Do Diapers,” discussed the findings of a study in which only three out of 109 married, tenure-track fathers with young children reported doing 50% of the childcare work. Leonard (2013) countered the study by saying that while male academics are “socialized into a society that renders the home
23 as the responsibility of women” they still feel the consequences of being both parent and professor (p. A48).
Women in Administrative Roles
The number of women working in administrative positions in higher education has increased significantly over the past 40 years (Dindoffer et al., 2011). According to
Dindoffer et al. (2011), women in administrative positions made up 17% of the population in 1980, but by 2010, that number was closer to 40%. Women comprise the majority of lower faculty positions in colleges and universities and even department chairs at community colleges, but that number is not reflected in senior level positions such as deans, vice presidents, and college presidents (Peterson, 2011). Jones (2014) explained that it is difficult for women to move beyond faculty positions because they are considered more “nurturing” to students and many believe women will most likely take time off to have children instead of conducting research. Aiston (2011) reported that men were three times more likely than women to make it to department chair or program director. Of all leadership positions in academia, however, department chair seems to be one of the highest ranks that women achieve (Dominici et al., 2009). Williams and
Dempsey (2014) reported, “The link between professional success and both maleness and masculinity has deep roots” (p. 23). Because men have been in top positions for so long, women in administrative positions are consistently compared to the males that came before them.
Dominici et al. (2009) commented that the path to leadership is slower, if not blocked, for women. The researchers explained that directing academic programs or chairing committees is the first step for women aspiring to leadership roles. They cited a
24 few reasons why women do not excel past department chair. The first of these reasons is that “leadership positions, as currently defined, are less attractive to women than to men, and possibly are becoming unattractive to men” (Dominici et al., 2009, p. 26). This is due to the increasing demand for administrators to be constantly available, which is more feasible through improvements in technology. The second reason women do not easily get promoted is: “Women already in leadership roles are not as well recognized as men or appropriately rewarded within their institution” (Dominici et al., 2009, p. 26). Many female participants in the study conducted by Dominici et al. were recognized nationally and internationally for their contributions to their field, but were not considered leaders by faculty and administrators within their own institutions. The third reason women have a difficult time being promoted in higher education is: “Women are more often excluded from the informal network of intellectual leadership than men” (Dominici et al., 2009, p.
27). Because mentoring can be a major factor in developing leaders, it can be difficult for women to advance since senior male faculty members more often tend to form collegial relationships with junior male faculty members.
In the study “Behind Closed Doors! Homosocial Desire and the Academic Boys
Club,” Fisher and Kinsey (2014) explored the nature and power of the academic boys club:
The shared interests and values [of men] . . . are associated with what might be
described as ‘locker room’ exchanges around work, sex, sport, cars and alcohol,
which can unite men and exclude women in a variety of occupations and
organizations. The exclusion of women from these powerful decision-making
networks has negative consequences for women’s careers. (p. 48)
25 Because men hold the majority of administration positions in higher education, it can be difficult for women to enter the club. According to Fisher and Kinsey (2014), male bonding may be how “men obtain power and how they keep it” (p. 48).
Dominici et al. (2009) mentioned that time is one of the biggest commitments for women in higher education administration. Peterson (2011) found that women administrators spend anywhere from 50-70 hours per week on the job and said the work of a manager in academia is “easily transformed into a servant role” (p. 625). Stone and
Hernandez (2013) add that time is a central factor to demonstrating commitment to an organization; long hours equal devotion. In their study on female leaders, Williams and
Dempsey (2014) found that women especially appear to feel the need to prove their devotion over and over again by putting in more unpaid overtime than men. This is even more common for women without children, who are tagged with the most unpaid overtime. Other administrators feel these women have the most time to give, which leads to about 24.2% of women without children reporting unpaid overtime, the highest of any group (Williams & Dempsey, 2014). Men without children put in the most overtime hours (8.3 hours extra a week), but they also get paid for that time, whereas women do not. In their 2014 book, What Works for Women at Work, Williams and Dempsey caution women to be careful with their overtime, because “burnout is a particularly acute problem for women . . . [especially since] prove-it-again bias doesn’t let up as [women] move up the professional level” (p. 51). In their study, Williams and Dempsey learned that the more senior level position a woman reaches, the harder she works; for men, the opposite is true.
26 Various studies have examined women’s leadership in higher education and many have concluded that women leaders exhibit certain characteristics that help them to succeed (Aiston, 2011; Dindoffer et al., 2011; De Frank et al., 2014; Dominici et al.,
2009; Fisher & Kinsey, 2014; Mehta & Sharma, 2014; Peterson, 2011). For instance,
Mehta and Sharma (2014) conducted a quantitative study examining strategies that have empowered women to be successful. The researchers administered a survey to 50 female administrators working in corporate, academic, and professional settings. They found seven characteristics that talented, confident women administrators share:
They place a high value on relationships and judge the success of their
organizations based on the quality of relationships within them.
They prefer direct communication.
They are comfortable with diversity, having been outsiders themselves and
knowing what kind of value fresh eyes could bring.
They are unwilling (and unable) to compartmentalize their lives and so draw upon
personal experience to bring private sphere information and insights to their jobs.
They are skeptical of hierarchies and surprisingly disdainful of the perks and
privileges that distinguish hierarchical leaders and establish their place in the
pecking order.
They prefer leading from the center rather than the top and structure their
organizations to reflect this.
They ask big-picture questions about the work they do and its value. (Metta &
Sharma, 2014, pp. 8-9)
27 Metha and Sharma (2014) also found that women leaders are more persuasive than male leaders, are powered by rejection, prefer team-building techniques when problem solving, and are more likely to take risks.
Powell and Butterfield (2013) conducted a study that examined sex, gender, and aspirations to management positions. They found something that contradicted their previous study, conducted in 1981, that claimed women were not as likely as men to aspire to top-level positions because they are not “genetically predisposed” for those positions (Powell & Butterfield, 2013, p. 30). They explained the reason for the contradiction may have had to do with gender identity—the way individuals come to classify their traits as masculine or feminine. In their 2013 study, Powell and Butterfield learned that men and women were similarly likely to aspire to top management positions.
The women in the study who aspired for those positions identified with more traditional masculine traits. The authors recognize there were possible limitations in their first study.
To increase the number of women in administrative roles, many colleges and universities have developed leadership institutes for women (De Frank et al., 2014; Jones,
2014; Mayer, Surtee, and Barnard, 2015). Mentoring has been credited with encouraging women to achieve their career goals (Bornstein, 2009; Eddy, 2008; Hertneky, 2010;
Tunheim & Goldschmidt, 2013). De Frank et al. (2014) used Harvard’s Women’s
Leadership Forum to study leadership development at West Virginia University. They used the Centered Leadership Model, which is comprised of five dimensions, to shape the curriculum of their leadership institute. The five dimensions of the Centered Leadership
Model include:
28 Meaning, or finding your strengths and putting them to work in the service of an
inspiring purpose; managing energy, or know where your energy comes from,
more constructive way to view your world, expand your horizons, and gain the
resilience to move ahead even when bad things happen; connecting, or identifying
who can help you grow, building stronger relationships, and increasing your sense
of belonging; and engaging or finding your voice, becoming self-reliant and
confident by accepting opportunities and the inherent risks they bring, and
collaborating with others. (Barsh, Cranston, & Craske, 2009, p. 36)
De Frank et al. discovered that their leadership institute allowed a large number of women to link their leadership challenges to their core values in a meaningful way without feeling like they had to leave the institution.
Mayer et al. (2015) found that, in addition to having a mentor, women are more motivated to apply for an administrative position when they deem the work meaningful.
When a woman feels as though her work makes a difference in someone’s life, she may feel a great sense of satisfaction, which motivates her to continue with her work).
Moreover, the researchers found that a sense of coherence—consisting of cognitive understanding, confidence of coping strategies, and a sense of purpose in what they are doing—are the most important factors in driving women to stay in administrative roles
(Mayer et al., 2015).
Mothers in administrative roles. “Women with families who have made it to senior positions, they’re called freaks” (Williams & Dempsey, 2014, p. 128). This quote came from a female consultant interviewed by Williams and Dempsey (2014) regarding top-level administrators with children. Williams and Dempsey stated that gender bias
29 prevails against women with children when “82% of American women—and 76% of women with an advanced degree—have children at some point in their lives” (p. 127).
Stone and Hernandez (2013) argue: “By virtue of their care-giving responsibilities in the home, [women] are less able than men to meet the time demands of professional jobs” (p.
236). They studied the flexibility bias facing mothers in higher education who request work flexibility in order to balance their time between administrative work and care- giving responsibilities. In their study, Stone and Hernandez found that 76% of all participants experienced some sort of stigma related to work status and motherhood, including taking maternity leave. Stone and Hernandez (2013) learned that when a woman in an administrative role identifies herself as a mother, it links her with the
“inability to carry out one’s job” (p. 244). Even women without children in administrative roles said when they were of childbearing age they were marked as
“suspicious” because of their status as “potential mothers” (Stone & Hernandez, 2013, p.
244).
Many mothers feel “overwhelmed by trying to be the type of wife and mother they believe they should be while working in demanding full-time administrative positions” (Dindoffer et al., 2011, p. 283). For those mothers who do reach the administrative roles they seek, many feel they have sacrificed personally (Dindoffer et al., 2011). For some, the pressure of the second shift at home becomes too strong, forcing mothers to opt-out of managerial positions (Dindoffer et al., 2011; Dominici et al, 2009).
Second shift refers to the second, non-paid job that working mothers face once they return home from their paid job. This includes responsibilities such as cooking, cleaning,
30 taking their children to after-school activities, helping children with homework, bathing children, and caring for them when they are ill.
There has been much literature discussing the opt-out revolution of women with children who decide not to pursue or stay in leadership roles (Belkin, 2003; Dominici et al., 2009; Herr & Wolfram, 2012; Mason & Goulden, 2002; Powell & Butterfield, 2013;
Stone & Hernandez, 2013; Williams, 2007; Williams & Dempsey, 2014). On October 26,
2003, The New York Times Magazine published an article by Lisa Belkin called, “The
Opt-Out Revolution.” The story focused on eight Caucasian, college-educated, married women with children who decided to leave their professional jobs in order to stay home and raise their children (Belkin, 2003). This story launched a media storm that featured polished, educated women opting-out of their professional roles because they chose to put family before career (Stone & Hernandez, 2012; Williams, 2007; Williams &
Dempsey, 2014). Williams (2007) noted that the danger in these media reports is that it paints a rosy picture where women in leadership positions leave work to have children and come back to work when their children are older, jumping right back into their former positions; however, Williams reported that this rarely happens. She said newspapers should explain how “American women are pushed out of good jobs by workplace inflexibility” (Williams, 2007, p. A14). Williams and Dempsey (2014) argued that it is not always a “biological pull” that makes women opt-out of leadership, but that it is often bias and discrimination that “pushes” mothers out of leadership positions (p.
129). Spivey (2005) indicated that when mothers do interrupt their careers, it might take them over 20 years to regain the negative effects of wages lost after an extended absence to care for children.
31 In their study, “Do Babies Matter: The Effect of Family Formation on the Life
Long Careers of Academic Men and Women,” Mason and Goulden (2002) learned that women with children are much more likely to opt-out of academia than men or women without children. They stated:
Fifty nine-percent of married women with children indicated they were
considering doing so. And women with children were also far more likely than the
other groups to cite children as one of the reasons they changed their career goal
away from academia. Not surprisingly, on another question series asking about
sources of high stress as a postdoc, women with children were the most likely to
indicate that balancing career and family was a source of high stress for them
(over ¾ cited this as a source of high stress). (Mason & Goulden, 2002, p. 15)
Williams and Dempsey (2014) explained the opt-out phenomenon further:
Some women drop out of the workforce, abandoning careers they’ve spent
decades building and becoming economically vulnerable in the process. Other
women keep working and become subject to criticism about their parenting or
their commitment to their jobs or both, placing them in the uncomfortable
position of being the broken ones, the women missing the gene that drives women
back to the home, where, the story line goes, mothers belong. (p. 128)
Although many mothers struggle with the decision to leave administrative positions in order to stay home with their children, most mothers in higher education administration return to work shortly after having their children; the consequences of interrupting one’s career trajectory appear too severe for top-level aspiring mothers
(Spivey, 2005). Stone and Hernandez (2013) reported, “Among mothers, college-
32 educated women have the highest labor force participation rate” (p. 239). They explained that the overall trend among women fitting the demographic of the opt-out phenomenon is downward, and “at-home mothers are the minority of college-educated women (on the order of 20 percent)” (Stone & Hernandez, 2012, p. 50), demonstrating that college- educated women are remaining at their jobs to assist in supporting their families financially, even if they would prefer to opt-out.
Many women with children who decide to stay in administrative positions will face what Williams and Dempsey (2014) described as the maternal wall. They defined the maternal wall as consisting of:
both descriptive bias, in the form of strong negative competence and commitment
assumptions triggered by motherhood, and prescriptive bias—disapproval on the
grounds that mothers should be at home or working fewer hours. (Williams &
Dempsey, 2014, p. xxi)
They concluded that women with children are rarely at the top of the professional world.
Mothers are stereotyped as benevolent and family-centered, traits that conflict with those typically associated with administrative leadership. Williams and Dempsey explained that this conflict forces women to prove their commitment to the institution over and over again, at a rate higher than men and childless women.
One struggle that mothers in administration face the most is the conflict that arises when a child is sick. People tend to remember when women have to leave early or stay home to tend to a child, and may even hold it against them (Marcus, 2007; Williams &
Dempsey, 2014). Marcus (2007) explained that mothers use “bias avoidance” to cloak family obligations from co-workers (p. 29). In other words, they may call in sick so that
33 no one knows they are home because of their children; they do not want family obligations to halt their career track. Workplace flexibility is an option to assist men and women with children, and Williams & Dempsey (2014) reported that 79% of companies in the US offer workplace flexibility programs. However, they found that only 10-20% of employees take advantage of these programs because they are aware of the bias associated with people who use them.
Women as College Presidents
“The academic presidency is one of the ‘most influential, most important, and most powerful of positions in American Society.” (Tunheim & Goldschmidt, 2013, p. 30)
Women currently constitute 29% of college presidencies in U.S. higher education (Jones,
2014; June, 2015). Eddy (2008) reported that, although women are being promoted faster through their career paths than men are, “the increased pace of movement has not significantly influenced the number of women ultimately obtaining their own presidency”
(p. 52). Most of the presidencies occupied by women are found in the community college sector, which consists of 33% women presidents, compared to bachelor’s and master’s level institutions, which are only 23% women presidents (June, 2015). Eddy explained that community colleges have a reputation of being friendlier to women and ethnic minorities since they are deemed “the people’s college” (p. 49). The Carnegie classification with the least number of women presidents is the doctoral institution, in which only 22% of presidents are women.
In 1986, only 10% of college presidents were women (Jones, 2014). The number of women presidents will most likely continue to increase over the next 10 years due to the mass retirement of college presidents over 60 years old. In 2011, 58% of all
34 presidents were over 60 years old (Jones, 2014). Altbach et al. (2011) reported that the average college president in U.S. higher education is 65 years old, white, and male. The retirement of these presidents opens the door for more women and minorities (Altbach et al., 2011; Bornstein, 2009; Jones, 2014; June, 2015; Tunheim & Goldschmidt, 2013). In her article, “The Rise of the Woman President,” McClaurin (2014) included a quote from
Dr. Cynthia Hammond-Jackson, president of Ohio’s Central State University, one of the
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the Midwest. This quote noted that women are excellent choices for college presidencies, especially for struggling institutions:
Women can be stabilizing influences at struggling universities because they often
use behavioral processes that are similarly applicable to personal relationship
dynamics. . . . We listen, communicate, plan, follow through and reassess, which
are very similar steps when building stable and strong relationships. (p. 28)
The question is: Will women pursue the highest level of administration at a college or university?
Some research shows that women are choosing to remain at the level of chief academic officer (CAO) or provost instead of pursuing a first presidency (Jones, 2014;
Stone & Hernandez, 2013; Williams & Dempsey, 2014). In 2014, women made up “49% of chief diversity officers, 41% of chief academic officers or provosts, 72% of chiefs of staff, 28% of deans of academic colleges and 36% of executive vice presidents (Jones,
2014, p. 45). According to June (2015), women choose to remain at a vice president or associate vice president rank because the work of a president seems relentless, “requiring presidents to be on duty around the clock, juggling multiple interests, and largely
35 neglecting their family and friends” (p. 3). This is a troubling statistic since most presidents of colleges and universities rise from academic affairs (Altbach et al., 2011;
Tunheim & Goldschmidt, 2013). Bornstein (2009) identified the three main reasons female presidents cite for their disinclination to progress from chief academic officers to college presidents:
They believe that the presidency will distance them from ‘the academic heart’ of
the institution.
They do not wish to engage in the fund-raising and socializing required of a
president.
They want more balance in their life than the all-consuming presidential schedule
allows. (pp. 213-214)
Tunheim and Goldschmidt (2013) learned that while some women do not want to become college presidencies, the ones who do pursue this role often report having a
“calling” to the position. Living a life of meaning and purpose pulls women leaders to the role of president. Using the transformative learning theory as a framework for their study,
Tunheim and Goldschmidt interviewed 15 current women presidents in U.S. higher education and found that 80% of participants experienced some sort of calling to the role of president. While a few said there was a spiritual calling, most expressed that it was encouragement from a mentor that persuaded them to look into the possibility of being a college president. Hertneky (2010) also spoke of the importance of mentors, reporting that those in her study felt their “career paths [had] been guided by mentors, shaped by choices for their own learning and development, and driven by the desire to make a difference” (p. 3). Mentoring provides an important role to anyone in leadership
36 positions, including men, women, and minorities, and it has been cited repeatedly in numerous studies as the best means to provide women with the confidence they need to pursue presidencies (Bornstein, 2009; Eddy, 2008; Hertneky, 2010; Tunheim &
Goldschmidt, 2013).
In addition to mentoring, there are other factors that influence a woman’s decision to take on a presidency. Eddy (2008) notes that one major factor in choosing to pursue a presidency is a belief that one could actually do the job of a college president. All six participants in Eddy’s qualitative study on women community college presidents explained that it was a specific critical incident in higher education and the experience during the incident that led them to confidently believe they would be successful as a college president. Another factor in the decision to pursue a presidency was family obligations. Eddy reported that most participants in her study used family sequencing to determine the best time in their lives to pursue a presidency. Family sequencing refers to the strategic scheduling of family members’ careers so that members may pursue their career goals at times that are best for the entire family.
In the article, “Women and the Quest for Presidential Legitimacy,” Bornstein
(2008) discussed legitimacy as the key to a successful college presidency. Bornstein
(2008) explained that legitimacy in college presidencies refers to having both “the respect and support of their constituents” (p. 208). Bornstein reported that stakeholders legitimize presidents they deem to be effective leaders and good fits for their institutional culture.
Her study found that legitimacy hurdles exist for both men and women, but are higher for women. She notes several factors that presidential search committees have cited as legitimacy challenges for women:
37 There are fewer women candidates in the applicant pool, making the selection
of a woman appear to be an affirmative-action decision;
Women candidates may seem less qualified than men candidates because they
have traveled nontraditional career paths or taken longer to reach the senior
level of administration;
Initially, women candidates may not appear ‘presidential’ because of their
own lack of confidence and the stereotyped expectations of campus
constituents;
After their hire, women presidents may mishandle management problems at
the start of their presidency because they lack the mentoring that might have
prepared them for this role; and
Women presidents may be seen as inept in developing relationships of
importance to the institution, because many women are averse to the external
requirements of the presidency. (Bornstein, 2008, pp. 209-210)
Bornstein (2008) explained several ways women obtain presidential legitimacy.
The first is by establishing individual legitimacy, meaning the development of prestige, experience, and personal characteristics that a president brings to an institution. Bornstein noted that women should rejoice in their ability to operate on multiple tracks at once, bringing creative and flexible solutions to problems. She also encouraged women to apply for a second presidency, even if the first was not as successful as they had hoped.
Women are over 18% less likely than men to apply for a second presidency because “of lifestyle issues and the strain on their personal lives” (Bornstein, 2008, p. 213).
38 The second way to establish legitimacy is through institutional legitimacy, which
Bornstein (2008) says is difficult since women’s leadership styles are typically compared to men’s leadership styles. Bornstein explains one way to overcome this hurdle is through forming strong relationships with the board of trustees and faculty governance. Gaining support from faculty members in particular is an excellent way to gain legitimacy, because if a leader is deemed a “good cultural fit” (Bornstein, 2008, p. 215) by faculty, she is more likely to stay in her position. Environmental legitimacy is the third method by which women presidents can earn legitimacy, and it requires maintaining equilibrium through difficulties in the external environment. The fourth method of gaining legitimacy is by gaining technical legitimacy, which refers to a president’s ability to manage the institution (Bornstein, 2008). Bornstein said one advantage women have in this criterion is the leadership ability of emotional intelligence. The best women presidents have an excellent ability to “control impulsiveness, persist in the face of frustrations, regulate one’s moods, and empathize with others” (Bornstein, 2008, p. 218). The final way to gain legitimacy as a college president is through moral legitimacy, the ability to behave ethically while maintaining the mission and values of the institution. In this regard,
Bornstein noted that women sometimes struggle with the demands of fund-raising and how it may conflict with personal ethics.
While women are slowly pursing presidencies, a “father knows best” (Bornstein,
2008, p. 222) mentality still prevails at most institutions. In other words, many institutions turn to men to lead them, because it is what they know. This viewpoint impacts how women perceive their own ability to lead. Some women presidents report suffering from imposter syndrome, “the sense that they are not qualified or competent for
39 the job and will be unmasked as a fake” (Bornstein, 2008, p. 219). This level of self- doubt is not unique to presidencies. Women in many different types of leadership positions report feeling this way (Williams & Dempsey, 2014). The encouraging news is that these feelings often dissipate with increasing achievement (Bornstein, 2008).
Mothers as college presidents. Of the 29% of women in college presidencies, only 63% of them are married, and “only 68% have children (89% of male college presidents are married and 91% have children)” (Martin, 2011, p. xv). There has been very little research dedicated to studying mothers as college presidents. In the current literature on mothers in college presidencies, a few themes emerged. The first is role- overloading (Bornstein, 2008). Role-overloading occurs when an area of one’s life spills over to a separate area of one’s life. For instance, a woman who is home with her children may check her work email on her cell phone, or while at work, a mother may need to leave early to pick up a sick child from school.
Bornstein (2008) found that, for women with children, there is a tendency to experience role-overloading between presidential responsibilities and “marital and child- care demands” (p. 212). Overloading is more common for women with small children
(Bornstein, 2008). As noted previously, many women do not take presidential positions because they do not know how they will balance their personal lives with their professional lives. June (2015) reported that “family issues remain a big barrier for women all the way through the pipeline” (p. 2). The care-taking responsibilities that many women have for both their children and their aging parents make it difficult to assimilate to the work culture of higher education administration. Shirley M. Tilghman, a former president of Princeton University, explained to June (2015) that higher education
40 has not “figured out how to get through those old expectations and those old cultural practices to make it possible for women to think about work and family as complimentary; until we figure this out, I think we’re always going to be sort of running uphill” (p. 2).
Another recurring theme in the literature is that of postponing presidential aspirations until children are older and more independent. Over and over again, women explained the decision to wait until their children were in high school or out of school completely before pursuing a presidency (Eddy, 2008; Hertneky, 2010; June, 2015).
Women with children tend to put their family’s stability ahead of their own career path:
Career decisions for several of these women presidents were made with their
family’s well being in mind. A stable home front provided a sense of foundation
for these women, but also added constraints with respect to their ability to easily
move for career advancement. (Eddy, 2008, p. 59)
Some mothers also postponed presidencies until their husbands were retired (Eddy,
2008).
Hertneky (2010) reports that family demands “vary according to the age at which a woman assumes a presidency” (p. 4). While most women in her study of balance between work and family for women in leadership positions waited until their children were out of school to pursue a presidency, the findings indicate a generational shift wherein younger women with children are exploring presidential aspirations. All of the mothers in Hertneky’s study reported that the support of spouses and extended family were key to helping them in their roles as presidents. June (2015) said that many successful women presidents with children try to reserve at least one weekend a month
41 where they do not attend any events for the institution. Scheduling that time for personal enjoyment was a necessity for women in this position. Most women presidents identify themselves on multiple levels, and this personal time assisted the women in their pursuit of work-life balance. Hertneky (2010) found the presidents in her study identified themselves with integrated roles as “wives, mothers, daughters, friends, partners, colleagues, scholars, teachers, and presidents” (p. 9).
Leadership Traits and Qualities
In order to be a college president, one needs to be a leader. While there are many different styles of leadership, the best presidents invest in their staff and motivate them to perform to the best of their abilities in their roles (Bentley & Ludwig, 2009; Fullan &
Scott, 2009). The following section discusses research on the differences between gender-related leadership traits, as well as the top qualities needed to be an effective leader.
Gender-Related Leadership Traits
With challenges such as the glass ceiling, glass cliff, sticky floors, and ivory basements, how exactly do women in top-level administrative positions succeed? Much of the research suggests that women at the highest levels must exhibit similar leadership styles to men in order to be regarded as legitimate leaders (Bornstein, 2008; Rabas, 2013;
Tedrow & Rhoades, 1999; Williams & Dempsey, 2004). Male leaders tend to represent
“the transactional leadership style focusing on task and goal achievement while the female leadership style is often described as a transformational, oriented to visions and creative changes, based on personal respect, team formation and mutual trust” (Silingiene
& Stukaite, 2014, p. 110). Zhou (2013) reported that the leadership skills in higher
42 education are decidedly masculine, and that men, or women who are more androgynous in appearance, tend to secure senior-level positions over women who appear more feminine.
People viewed leaders as quite similar to men but not very similar to women, as
more agentic than communal, and as more masculine than feminine. . . . The
implications . . . are straightforward: Men fit cultural construals of leadership
better than women do and thus have better access to leader roles and face fewer
challenges in becoming successful in them. Why does this occur? A prime reason
is because workplaces are often built with a male slant. (p. 12)
Some women decide to imitate men in order to be considered a leader. Eddy
(2008) discussed the need women presidents feel to “play with the boys” (p. 61). A few participants in Eddy’s study explained that they learned how to play golf just so their male contemporaries could relate to them; although, men may also pursue similar activities in order to fit in with others. Fisher and Kinsey (2014) reported that getting into the academic boys club is nearly impossible, but that does not stop women from trying.
Women may even behave like men on certain occasions just to gain credibility. Tedrow and Rhoades (1999) explained that women “generally have different opinions than men regarding war, peace, child care, the poor and education; yet, when in leadership positions, their behavior resembles that of their male counterparts” (p. 3).
Williams and Dempsey (2014) examined the tightrope women must walk in order to balance masculine and feminine traits. One chapter in their book, What Works for
Women at Work, begins by asking: “If you’re criticized if you’re ‘too feminine’ and you’re criticized if you’re ‘too masculine,’ then what’s the ‘right’ way to be a woman?”
43 (p. 60). The authors noted that masculinity and femininity are independent of biological sex and that people tend to conflate sex and gender. The authors use the Bem Sex Role
Inventory, as described in Table 3, to list the differences between masculine and feminine traits.
Table 3
Bem Sex Inventory Traits
Masculine Traits Feminine Traits
Aggressive Affectionate
Ambitious Cheerful
Competitive Compassionate
Forceful Gentle
Leadership abilities Gullible
Independent Shy
Individualistic Soft Spoken
Decisive Sympathetic
Self-sufficient Tender
Risk Taking Understanding
Note: Adapted from What Works for Women at Work: Four Patterns Working Women Need to Know, by J.C. Williams and R. Dempsey, 2014, p. 63. Copyright 2014 by New York University Press.
Williams and Dempsey (2014) explained that when women exhibit traits in the masculine column, they are often considered “a bitch” (p. 64). If they exhibit traits in the feminine column, they are considered “a doormat” (Williams & Dempsey, 2014, p. 64)
Aiston (2011) echoed this remark, noting that when women demonstrate traits in the
44 masculine column, they are likely to be seen as “difficult and disagreeable” (p. 283).
Christman and McClellan (2012) reported that the way individuals identify with these traits is shaped by other people’s power. They say that dividing gender into these two norms pushes one into a position of power and the other into a position of subjugation, creating an internal struggle for women pursuing leadership positions.
Another leadership trait that women in senior-level roles must abide by is speaking up (Heath, Flynn, & Holt, 2014; Williams & Dempsey, 2014). Williams and
Dempsey (2014) said that most women in leadership positions speak “lowly and slowly”
(p. 83), making sure their voice pitch is not too high. The authors also suggest that men in leadership roles take part in conversation rituals like “banter, joking, teasing, and playful putdowns” (Williams & Dempsey, 2014, p. 84). Women often try to maintain a level of equality, making sure to not insult someone inadvertently. Women also tend to downplay their strengths more, apologizing “even when they did not do something wrong,”
(Williams & Dempsey, 2014, p. 84) and are less likely to brag about their accomplishments. Williams and Dempsey said this sometimes puts women at a disadvantage during negotiations, and they encouraged women to speak up. Heath et al.
(2014) also encouraged women to find their voice in order to be more successful in meetings by making their “language more muscular” (p. 120); they suggest using stronger words such as those listed in Table 4.
45 Table 4
Strong Language vs. Weak Language
INSTEAD OF THIS… USE THIS… How about…? I strongly suggest… I tend to agree. That is absolutely right, and here’s why… I think maybe… My strong advice is… I agree. I agree completely, because… Maybe we can… Here is my plan… Well, what if…? I recommend… Note: Adapted from “Women, find your voice,” by K. Heath, J. Flynn and M.D. Holt, 2014, Harvard Business Review, 92, 120.
Heath et al. argued that the language women use is much more important than the language men choose to use and that women need to be mindful when voicing their opinion or they may appear weaker than they intend. For example, Heath et al. collected more than seven thousand, 360-degree feedback surveys on 1,100 female executives at or above the vice president level, and they learned that when women said they were
“passionate” about something, men deemed them as “emotional” (p. 120).
The balance between masculine and feminine is not limited to leadership traits alone—it is also related to physical appearance. Women are frequently judged by the way they dress. Williams and Dempsey (2014) cited two examples of women in leadership positions being judged by their physical appearance, including:
One consultant who worked with a major firm was told at her review that she
wasn’t going to be taken seriously if she kept looking so good. ‘Do you think I
dress inappropriately?’ she asked her reviewer. ‘You’re just very attractive,’ he
told her. ‘You dress beautifully, but that means people aren’t focused on you.
46 They’re focused on the way you look.’ On the other hand, dressing ‘too
masculine’ can also lead to backlash. One woman who moved into a relatively
conservative workplace said she learned to blend in with her female co-workers
by adding a scarf to her pantsuits. ‘I’d never worn scarves,’ she said. ‘I hate
wearing scarves. They sort of choke me. But I learned to like them, and I liked the
color and all that. I had to do it.’ (pp. 81-82)
In the article, “Four Gender Stereotypes of Leaders: Do They Influence Leadership in
Higher Education?” Madden (2011) discussed that a stereotypic dimension applied to women is that they are polar opposites on a single trait: either cold and competent or incompetent and friendly. Madden (2011) also noted that people who are more masculine than feminine in appearance are judged as more competent.
Qualities of a Leader
While traditional leadership traits tend to focus on masculine versus feminine characteristics, there is much literature that suggests leadership does not depend on a person’s sex, but rather on an ability to know one’s own strengths and invest in the strengths of others, to assemble the correct mix of people with different strengths on one’s team, and to meet the needs of those looking for leadership (Bentley & Ludwig,
2009). StrengthsQuest, a tool created by Gallup’s Education Practice, is used “at more than 600 schools and universities in North America” (Gallup, 2015, p. 3), and provides people with positive ways to achieve success in leadership development. In a PowerPoint presentation on StrentghsQuest titled, “How to be a Better Leader: MVCC Administrator
Workshop,” Bentley and Ludwig (2009), detailed StrengthsQuest’s leadership equation, as shown in Figure 1:
47 Talent (a natural way of thinking, feeling and behaving) Multiplied by Investment (time spent practicing, developing your skills, and building your knowledge base) ------= Strength (the ability to consistently provide near-perfect performance) Figure 1: StrengthsQuest Leadership Equation from Bentley, N. & Ludwig, T. (2009) StrenghtsQuest, How to be a better leader: MVCC administrator workshop. [PowerPoint Slides].
Bentley and Ludwig noted that while leaders are not always well-rounded, they surround themselves with people that supplement their leadership qualities. They explained that the most successful leaders utilize positive psychology, focusing on people’s strengths.
Bentley and Ludwig (2009) listed StrengthsQuest’s six principles as:
You have a group of talents within you.
Your greatest talents hold the key to high achievement, success, and progress
at levels of personal excellence.
Becoming aware of your talents builds confidence and provides a basis of
achievement.
Learning how to develop and apply strengths will improve your levels of
achievement.
Each of your talents can be applied in many areas including relationships,
learning, academics, leadership, service, and careers.
As you develop and apply strengths, your achievements will increase and you
will experience greater and more frequent successes. (Slide 5)
Kouzes and Posner (1988) concluded that leadership is not something a person is born with; it is a skill that is learned. Over the past 30 years, the researchers interviewed thousands of people, collected data and personal stories from 75,000 written responses,
48 and learned that leadership is not determined by gender, age, or culture, but rather constitutes similar qualities in those that are the best. Kouzes and Posner (2015) discovered that:
When leaders are at their personal best there are five core practices common to
all: they Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable
Others to Act, and last but certainly not least, they Encourage the Heart. (p. 1)
Kouzes and Posner (2007) suggested that a critical factor for leaders to perform at their best is finding a career that one believes in, because it helps that person work hard, face challenges head-on, and attain goals. The researchers cautioned that when people are motivated by extrinsic motivators, such as money or other rewards, they will be left feeling dissatisfied and unmotivated “once the rewards are removed” (Kouzes & Posner,
2007, p. 116). Exploring leadership factors that influence mothers and lead to their pursuit of a college presidency is an important part of this study.
Work-Life Balance: Is it Possible to Have it All?
At the 2014 Annual American Council on Education (ACE) Conference in San
Diego, California, Dr. Waded Cruzado, President of Montana State University, told a packed room of women working in higher education to forget the idea of work-life balance because, she said, it does not exist. Williams and Dempsey (2014) stressed that in a country where employees are expected to be constantly available, it is nearly impossible to find balance. In the article, “Can American Women Have it All and Be Happy?” Zhou
(2013) found there is almost always an imbalance between working and parenting:
It's not easy to weave the threads of career and parenting into a strong fabric. For
one thing, greater family demands placed on mothers interfere with their work,
49 research shows, and result in lower job satisfaction. Plus, mothers tend to earn
less than childless women, are rated as less competent in and committed to their
jobs, and suffer a 5 percent wage penalty per child on average. (p. 13).
Although men do struggle with work-life balance, the challenge is much greater for women (Dindoffer et al., 2011; Wolf-Wendel & Ward, 2006; Zhou, 2013). Wolf-
Wendel and Ward (2006) found that the “physical demands of motherhood, gendered expectations of family obligations, and the ongoing disparity with which working women can take on the second shift through maintenance of children and home” (p. 489) make it very difficult for women to achieve balance. There is almost always spillover into other roles (Bornstein, 2008). Wolf-Wendel and Ward noted, however, that the spillover effect might be less for women in faculty positions, because the roles may serve as a buffer to one another, allowing a respite from the stress of the other role. There is also more time flexibility in faculty roles versus administrative roles where employees are typically expected to adhere to an 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. schedule.
Cowdery and Knudson-Martin (2005) studied the construction of motherhood and how balance may be achieved in a dual-parent working household. Because mothers are considered the experts at raising children, most of the care-taking for children is still done primarily by women (Cowdery & Knudson-Martin, 2005). The researchers found four processes that maintained mothering as a gendered talent:
Partners believed that mothers had a natural connection and knowledge.
Fathers stepped back.
Mothers organized time around children.
50 Mothers took continual responsibility. (Cowdery & Knudson-Martin, 2005, p.
339)
In the study conducted by Cowder and Knudson-Martin, time was the biggest factor. Fathers in the study organized their time around work, whereas mothers prioritized their time around children. This creates an imbalance for working mothers, because they are almost always left with no personal time. A participant in Cowdery and Knudson-
Martin’s (2005) study said, “[My partner] is out playing golf, and I’m still at home working. . . . You don’t play until the work is done, and my work is never done” (p. 340).
This sentiment from working mothers is echoed in much of the literature (Cowdery &
Knudson-Martin, 2005; Dindoffer et al., 2011; Eddy, 2008). Women who work full time and have children often maintain most of the domestic duties (Dindoffer et al., 2011).
This second shift takes away time for any personal interests; it also takes away energy necessary to perform everyday tasks. Participants in a study conducted by Kahanov et al.
(2010) acknowledged that their energy levels seemed to be insufficient for being effective at both mothering and working in academia. Personal time was not mentioned.
In addition to struggles regarding time, women often experience significant guilt when trying to work and establish a career (Barker, 2014; Gilbert & Von Wallmenich,
2014; Oats et al., 2005; Powell & Butterfield, 2013; Sidel, 1990; Williams & Dempsey,
2014; Zhou, 2013). Dindoffer et al. (2011) said, “Women who work while maintaining a home and family operate under stress, guilt, time constraints, and self-imposed expectations that are in addition to what men experience” (p. 282). Feelings of inadequacy add to the challenge of establishing balance.
51 Hertneky (2010) studied the role of balance on women’s leadership self-identity.
The study revealed that women presidents enjoyed the challenge of seeking balance in their personal and professional lives, but admitted that balance was much easier once they had been in the position for several years. Many confided that family demands made the role difficult, and that in order to achieve balance, they had to lean on family members for support. Hertneky also learned that while participants said they did not regret the decision to become college presidents, they all felt they had sacrificed a portion of their personal lives in order to fulfill their career responsibilities.
While work-life balance is a topic of concern for most women who have a career and family responsibilities, the term itself, which was coined in the beginning of the 21st century, is beginning to take on new meaning. Rather than referring to the work-life balance, many researchers are in favor of using the term “work-life integration” (Tajlili,
2013, p. 255). About work-life balance for professional working mothers, Tajlili (2013) maintained:
Professional working mothers find that balance is an unachievable ideal in today’s
fast-paced world. Balance becomes another measure of success in professional
work and motherhood, eating away at the confidence of women already plagued
by feeling the perils of mommy guilt, pushing through the glass ceiling, and
achieving life meaning concurrently. (p. 255)
Working Mothers
According to the United States Department of Labor, 69.9% of mothers in the
United States with children under the age of 18 were employed in 2014, and 63.9% of mothers with children under age 6 were employed. For mothers with children between 6
52 and 17 years old, the percentage of working mothers jumped to 74.7% (United States
Department of Labor, 2014). A Pew Research Survey learned that while 85% of working mothers felt “happy” most of the time, 86% reported feeling sometimes or frequently
“stressed” (Pew Research Center, 2012). When asked whether or not women with children should work, 12% of both male and female respondents said mothers should work full time, 40% said mothers should work part time, and 42% said mothers should not work at all (Pew Research Center, 2012). Many people have strong opinions about whether or not women with children should work, and surprisingly, many have no issue expressing their opinions directly to working mothers. Williams and Cuddy (2012) reported that this open bias against working mothers is so blatant that a number of working mothers have taken companies to court over the discrimination.
According to data collected by the Center for WorkLife Law, in the United States
roughly two-thirds of plaintiffs who sue in federal court on the basis of family
responsibilities discrimination prevail at trial. Their success rate is approximately
twice as high as that of plaintiffs in federal employment discrimination cases in
general. Meanwhile the filing of family responsibilities lawsuits in federal courts,
state courts, and government agencies increased by almost 400% from 1998-2008.
As more and more successful suits hit the news, people how believe they have
been unfairly treated and become more apt to seek legal remedies. (Williams &
Cuddy, 2012, pp. 95-96)
Williams and Cuddy said the types of bias against mothers usually take the form of questions like: “Don’t you miss your children?” or “Don’t you feel bad leaving your kids home when you go to work in the morning?”
53 The maternal wall. Williams and Dempsey (2014) coined the term the maternal wall to describe the challenges faced by working mothers. The maternal wall speaks to the bias faced by mothers simply because they have children. Mothers are “both more likely to be sidelined for being seen as prioritizing family over work and more likely to be seen as deficient in their devotion to work” (Williams & Dempsey, 2014, p. 133). The authors explained how mothers are often stereotyped as nurturing and family oriented and are therefore in conflict with the stereotypes of professional women, who are deemed career driven. This often compels mothers to work twice as hard as childless women to prove their devotion to the institution (Williams & Dempsey, 2014). Williams and
Dempsey further explained that some employers discriminate against mothers based on their own personal beliefs that mothers should stay home with their children. Several of the working mothers interviewed by Williams and Dempsey reported that they were often passed over for promotions or travel opportunities without being asked, because employers believed they would not be interested in those opportunities while still having children at home. Williams and Dempsey (2014) explained that the maternal wall often rises when women are most vulnerable:
When they have just returned from maternity leave and are already ambivalent
about leaving their babies, or a little later, as they struggle on the front lines with
babies and jobs, or when they have a second child or a third. If the pressure
becomes overwhelming and they drop out, it’s presented as their own choice. (p.
151)
Interrole conflict. Interrole conflict is a “particular type of conflict that arises when different roles produce sets of pressures that are in some sense incompatible”
54 (Oates, Hall, & Anderson, 2005, p. 210). Oates et al. (2005) found that all participants in their study on working women experienced some level of tension between working and mothering. Major effects on interrole conflict included guilt, stress, and depression
(Barker, 2014; Gilbert & Von Wallmenich, 2014; Oates et al., 2005; Powell &
Butterfield, 2013; Williams & Dempsey, 2014; Zhou, 2013). Oates et al. explained that interrole conflict is not due solely to physical demands, but also to internally perceived demands. Zhou (2013) noted that women often feel dissatisfied: stay-home mothers may feel unfulfilled not working, and career women may feel unfulfilled not raising a family.
Stone and Hernandez (2012) explained how some women feel a “pull” to their children at home and how others realized after returning to work just how demanding it was to work full time and be a mother. Often, the second shift that begins when working mothers return home is overwhelming, and the guilt of not being able to cope with stereotypical mothering and homemaking duties (i.e., cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and care- taking) when they get home from work leads to extreme stress and even depression
(Dindoffer et al., 2011; Oates et al., 2005).
Working mothers may adopt a superwoman strategy (trying to do all the domestic duties in addition to career tasks) in order to fulfill their different roles and achieve balance (Oates et al., 2005). When women cannot meet all of these requirements, it may lead to feelings of failure. For some working mothers, one way of coping with interrole conflict is through spirituality. Through a process called sanctification, working mothers may come to view their careers as a “calling,” which minimizes feelings of guilt and promotes positive feelings for both their worker and mother roles (DeFrank et al., 2014;
Metha & Sharma, 2014; Oates et al., 2005).
55 In their study “Women Administrators in Christian Universities: Making Family and Career Co-Central,” Dindoffer et al. (2011) found that gender splitting is a prevailing influence in their participants’ lives. Austrian (2008) described gender splitting as a
“rigid division between male and female that operates on many levels—cultural, social institutions, everyday social life and the individual psyche” (p. 225). The four basic forms of gender splitting are:
the domestic sphere and the public sphere as social domains for women and
for men, respectively
the traditional marriage enterprise,’ defined as the split between female
homemaker and male provider
the distinction between ‘women’s work’ and ‘men’s work’
the splitting of feminine and masculine in the individual psyche (Levinson &
Levinson, 1996, p. 38)
Dindoffer et al. (2011) found a number of influences that aid working mothers in their pursuit to have both a career and children, including: (a) support—having support from family, particularly their parents and friends, gave the women encouragement to pursue a career; (b) mentoring—all of the participants reported that counseling and encouragement from mentors increased their confidence in their responsibilities; and (c) relinquishing responsibilities—the mothers in the study learned how to give up certain domestic responsibilities, such as chores and shopping, and they often hired someone else to take care of these tasks. Williams and Dempsey (2014) advocate that today’s mothers, especially those working, need to stop trying to be like their mothers:
56 For all the guilt that’s heaped on mothers who fail to live up to the ever soaring
standards of helicopter parenting, the fact is that a lot of the little things don’t
matter that much. . . . Holding yourself up to an unrealistic standard of being
always available to your children can leave you in tatters, and remember:
emotional tone is often more important than utter Betty Crockerdom. (p. 159)
Williams and Dempsey explained that today’s working mothers have much more responsibility than their mothers did, so trying to be a perfect mother and a perfect employee is not only difficult, but also unrealistic.
Female Identity Development Theories
Pertinent to the study of mothers as college presidents are the concepts of female identity, specifically, how women identify who they are and what motivates them in their careers and lives. There are numerous theories regarding female identity, and this section explores the ways women develop their sense of self and their many life roles. Special attention will be paid to the theories of Gilligan (1982), Josselson (1987), and Sidel
(1990).
Women labor under the ideal of being superwoman: a star at the office, devoted
mother and wife at home, and in prime physical shape. . . . Throughout history, a
woman’s place has been defined by her society. Even when these definitions are
more implicit than explicit, women are susceptible to cultural definitions of how
they ought to be and sensitive to social guidelines that tell them whether they are
doing a good job at being women. (Josselson, 1987, p. 2)
While female identity theories differ to some extent, most agree that male life is the norm and the standard to which women identify themselves. Gilligan (1982) noted that this
57 male norm has “tried to fashion women out of a masculine cloth [going back to] Adam and Eve—a story which shows, among other things, that if you make a woman out of a man, you are bound to get in trouble” (p. 6). When women stray from the norm, they are deemed deviant (Gilligan, 1982; Josselson, 1987; Marcia & Josselson, 2012; Sidel,
1990).
Typically, girls and boys are treated differently beginning from birth (Gilligan,
1982; Williams & Dempsey, 2014). Girls are taught to be caring, while boys are taught to be cared for. Because of these early social environmental factors, males and females experience differences in their personality development (Gilligan, 1982). Females learn at an early age to define themselves based on the relationships they form with people. This explains, in part, why much of the literature regards the role of a mentor as an instrumental part of a woman’s success (Bornstein, 2009; Dindoffer et al., 2011, Eddy,
2008; Hertneky, 2010; Josselson, 1987; Tunheim & Goldschmidt, 2013). In her study on female identity theory, Josselson (1987) learned that women who made their careers a priority typically had mentors:
For a woman to anchor herself importantly in work, her work has to matter to
someone who matters to her. When it does not, her occupational pursuits tend to
be transitory as she searches for something else that will give her life meaning.
The presence of even one person who validates the meaningfulness of her work
can change an identity-distant job into an enriching and anchoring aspect of a
woman’s existence. (p. 177)
This theory also supports findings in both Barsh’s (2009) and Mayer et al.’s (2015) studies that found women in higher education leadership positions were motivated by the
58 meaningful nature of their work. Rather than identify themselves by relationships, men generally identify themselves by occupation or by “distinctiveness from others, which makes their identity easy to name” (Josselson, 1987, p. 8). Women’s identity development can be more complicated. The development of female identity is critical to this study and the following sections explore Josselson’s (1987) and Sidel’s (1990) theories.
Josselson’s (1987) Theory
Josselson (1987), a psychologist, conducted a longitudinal, phenomenological study in which she interviewed 60 college-educated women at different stages of their lives (adolescence through mid-life) in order to explain how they developed their identities. Building upon Erikson’s psychosocial developmental theory, Josselson (1987) identified four different classifications of female identity development: (a) Foreclosures,
(b) Identity Diffusions, (c) Moratoriums, and (d) Identity Achievements. Most women will identify themselves by multiple classifications during their lifetimes. Josselson
(1987) argued that this is because our identities are formed by society and experiences.
The next section explores Josselson’s (1987) four classifications of female identity theory.
Foreclosures are the most predictable of all four classifications, and are likely to
“continue in the beliefs and practices of their childhoods, without rethinking or questioning” (Josselson, 1987, p. 42). They are firm believers in moral standards and are the least likely to question their parents. For the Foreclosures, family comes first. These women described themselves as being closest to their husbands, then to their children, then to their mothers. Most foreclosures do not have friends outside of their families.
59 Foreclosures fear the uncontrollable, and “religion tends to allay these worries”
(Josselson, 1987, p. 182).
The Identity Achievements are the next classification, and this group of women seeks autonomy from their parents by choosing to focus on individuation. Josselson
(1987) learned that Identity Achievements are “more flexible, more open to experience, more firmly rooted in an internal sense of self, and hence, more independent of external sources of self-esteem” (p. 72). Identity Achievements are philosophical about their lives and they have learned what they can and cannot control, which allows them to maintain self-esteem in unpredictable situations. Josselson (1987) reports that “nearly all of the
Identity Achievements see their circumstances as a combination of “luck and hard work”
(p. 104).
The Moratoriums are what Josselson (1987) deemed “daughters of crisis” (p.
106). While they are aware they have choices in life, they are often paralyzed by these choices. Josselson (1987) said this group consisted of women who “left their churches, marched in antiwar protests, became feminists, criticized their parents, experimented with sex—and felt guilty” (p. 106). While Moratoriums tend to be charming and philosophical, their explorative nature creates lower self-esteem and greater anxiety than the Foreclosures and Identity Achievements. Josselson (1987) pointed out that, although
Moratoriums struggle with issues, they talk easily about their feelings with others.
The last classification is the Identity Diffusions, who “treat themselves as lumps of clay available to be shaped by whatever or other whoever is willing to mold them”
(Josselson, 1987, p. 7). While the Moratoriums were noted as having great anxiety,
Identity Diffusions have the highest level of anxiety and have the most difficult time
60 forming intimate relationships. These women do not have any attributes of identity and are therefore often labeled as “deviant” (Josselson, 1987, p. 141). Diffusions have experiences, but they do not learn from them. This produces a problem for identity development, because personalities are never quite structured:
[The Identity] Diffusions are so accustomed to uncertainty that they retreat to
passivity, rolling with fate, taking what comes. These women feel so unable to
control any aspect of their lives that they treat life as a kind of carnival ride,
reacting to whatever may be around the next turn. (Josselson, 1987, p. 182)
The four different classifications of Josselson’s (1987) female identity development offer insight into how women come to identify themselves. Josselson argued these classifications are created by society and experience. This study will explore how the participants’ experiences as women and mothers shaped their role as college presidents.
Sidel’s (1990) Theory
Sidel (1990), a sociologist, conducted in-depth interviews with over 150 women to “understand the key issues involved in growing up female in the United States during the waning years of the twentieth century” (p. 4). She interviewed three age groups of women all over the country: young women (12-25), professionals who worked with the young women, and older women in their twenties, thirties, and early forties. Sidel (1990) explored how women view the “American Dream,” and found that women fell into three different categories: (a) New American Dreamers, (b) Neotraditionalists, and (c)
Outsiders.
61 New American Dreamers are “confident, outgoing, knowledgeable, [and] involved” (Sidel, 1990, p. 15). The women in this group separate identity from intimacy and express the desire to “figure out who they are” (p. 17) before they form a partnership with another person. New American Dreamers are optimistic:
They believe that with enough hard work they will ‘make it’ in American society.
No matter what class they come from, their fantasies are of upward mobility, a
comfortable life filled with personal choice and material possession. The upper-
middle-class women fantasize a life even more upper-middle-class; middle-class
and working-class women look toward a life of high status in which they have
virtually everything they want; and some young women who come from families
with significant financial deprivation and numerous other problems dream of a
life straight out of [glamorous TV dramas]. (Sidel, 1990, p. 18)
New American Dreamers believe they can do anything they want with their lives.
The Neotraditionalists are quite different from the New American Dreamers, because they fall into overlapping roles: “They are either hoping to balance their public and private activities or are more focused on their ‘domestic’ roles, preferring to mesh work with home rather than to fit home responsibilities around their work lives” (Sidel,
1990, p. 37). While most of the women in Sidel’s (1990) classification of
Neotraditionalists indicated a desire to have both a family and a career, their career aspirations were less ambitious than the New American Dreamers. Many women who were classified as Neotraditionalists expressed guilt when not being able to focus on domestic responsibilities. Sidel (1990) explained this conflict:
62 If our mothers had dinner on the table at six, do we feel guilty if we do not? If our
mothers baked birthday cakes for all of their children, do we feel somehow remiss
when we buy ours? And above all do we feel inadequate as women, as mothers, if
we are not ‘available’ to our children when they ‘need’ us? (p. 46)
Throughout the literature, feelings of guilt were evident in the mothers trying to balance a career and a family (Barker, 2014; Gilbert & Von Wallmenich, 2014; Oats et al., 2005;
Powell & Butterfield, 2013; Sidel, 1990; Williams & Dempsey, 2014; Zhou, 2013).
The third classification in Sidel’s (1990) study was the Outsiders. This group of women “can barely see beyond tomorrow” (p. 9). They may feel trapped, denigrated, or alienated from the norm. While being an Outsider may be temporary for some women, others experience a permeation of feelings associated with alienation that lasts a lifetime.
Outsiders may be so bogged down by day-to-day living that they do not dream about the future at all (Sidel, 1990).
Female identity theories helped to shape the context of this study and influenced the way in which the interview questions were framed. I explored how participants in this study developed their sense of self and formed their personal identity by using existing female identity theories as a guide.
Career Decision-Making for Women
A review of the challenges facing women who want a professional career raises the question: What motivates women to choose one career over another? There are many theories explaining the career decisions made by men and women, and this section details those theories relevant to female development. Particular focus is paid to Bandura’s
(1977) self-efficacy theory, Holland’s (1958) career choice theory, Super’s (1980) life-
63 span, life-space approach, Mainiero and Sullivan’s (2005) kaleidoscope model of careers, and McMahon’s (2011) systems theory framework of career development.
Bandura’s (1977) Self-Efficacy Theory
Self-efficacy is a concept central to Bandura’s (1977) social cognitive theory, which explains the roles played by observational learning, social experience, and reciprocal determinism in the development of personality. Bandura (1997) described self- efficacy as the belief in one’s ability to execute a course of action required to exert control in a specific environment. In other words, self-efficacy is someone’s belief in her ability to succeed. This concept, in part, is central to understanding why some women achieve college presidencies and others do not. Bandura (1977) explained that most people are able to identify goals they want to accomplish, but they also realize action plans are not always easy to implement. Bandura maintained that:
People with a strong sense of self-efficacy:
view challenging problems as tasks to be mastered,
develop deeper interest in the activities in which they participate,
form a stronger sense of commitment to their interests and activities, and
recover quickly from setbacks and disappointments
People with a weak sense of self-efficacy:
avoid challenging tasks,
believe that difficult tasks and situations are beyond their capabilities,
focus on personal failings and negative outcomes, and
quickly lose confidence in personal abilities (as cited in Cherry, 2015)
64 Even though self-efficacy starts developing during childhood, it continues through adulthood and is either hindered or encouraged by many different sources. The first source is performance accomplishments or mastery experiences (Bandura, 1977).
Because it is based on our own experiences, this source of efficacy may be the strongest.
When someone accomplishes a task, it strengthens her belief that she will be successful.
Failing at an experience may lower one’s sense of self-efficacy. However, Bandura
(1977) explained, “Occasional failures that are later overcome by determined effort strengthen self-motivated persistence if one finds through experience that even the most difficult obstacles can be mastered by sustained effort” (p. 195).
The second source that affects self-efficacy is vicarious experience (Bandura,
1977). Yancey (2014) noted that people learn by observing other people and modeling their behavior. Bandura (1977) said, “Seeing others perform threatening activities without adverse consequences can generate expectations in observers that they too will improve if they intensify and persist in their efforts” (p. 197).
The third source affecting one’s self-efficacy is verbal persuasion. According to
Bandura (1977), this is the easiest way to affect one’s self-efficacy because it is the most readily available. When others tell people they can succeed at a difficult task, it gives them the confidence they need to accomplish something. Cherry (2015) asked people to consider a time when someone gave them verbal encouragement to accomplish a task and how it affected the way they felt. It should be noted that the opposite is true as well:
Verbal discouragement may lead to low self-efficacy. Verbal persuasion may further explain the important influence of mentors on women who choose to become college presidents.
65 The last source of self-efficacy is emotional arousal. Stress and anxiety brought on by a particular circumstance may affect how people cope with threatening situations
(Bandura, 1977). For instance, a person who has severe test anxiety may develop a weak sense of self-efficacy when presented with a written exam. Bandura (1977) reported,
“Fear reactions generate further fear of impending stressful situations through anticipatory self-arousal” (p. 199).
Holland’s (1958/1996) Career Choice Theory
John Holland (1958), a career theorist, created the Holland Vocational Preference
Inventory to assess personality traits to explain career choice:
The choice of an occupation is an expressive act which reflects the person’s
motivation, knowledge, personality, and ability. Occupations represent a way of
life, an environment rather than a set of isolated work functions or skills. To work
as a carpenter means not only to use tools but also to have a certain status,
community role, and a special pattern of living. In this sense, the choice of an
occupational title represents several kinds of information: the [person’s]
motivation, his knowledge of the occupation in question, his insight and
understanding of himself, and his abilities. (p. 336)
Holland maintained that in choosing a career, people are motivated by being at a place of employment where people are similar to them and in a physical environment where they feel comfortable. He believed that, in addition to physical environment, people choose careers based on a number of variables, including heredity, societal influences, social class, and cultural forces.
66 Holland (1958) explained that individuals are suited for particular environments
(Gottredson & Johnstun, 2009). These environments and personality types are broken into six different categories: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and
Conventional (Holland, 1958; Gotterdson & Johnsotun, 2009). Figure 2 details Holland’s
(1958) six personality types as described in his theory of vocational choice.
Figure 2: Holland’s Hexagon Diagram from “Free career assessment: 0 net interest profiler career assessment, O’Net Resource Center, 2014. Copyright 2014 US Department of Labor.
Holland stressed that people who choose specific environments aligned with their personality will be the happiest and most successful in their job choice.
Holland’s (1958) vocational choice model gained popularity in the 1960s and
1970s, and it is still highly used today. It was adapted into a tool at American College
Testing (ACT), where Holland was Vice President for Research, which enabled people to discern careers that would suit them based on a series of identifying questions. The ACT
67 assessment introduces students to the World-of-Work Map that “graphically shows how occupations relate to each other based on work tasks . . . [and gives recipients] a personalized report [that] suggests map regions and career areas on the World-of-Work
Map” (The ACT, 2015, p. 2). Holland’s inventory was also adapted by the Department of
Labor’s Occupational Information Network and incorporated into Occupational Interest
Profiles used by counselors, college advisors, and researchers to identify career options for people (Rounds et al., 1999). The Department of Labor also uses this model as a tool to assist those currently unemployed in exploring new career options. Holland’s theory, empirically tested and continually revised over time, serves as the theoretical foundation for most career interest inventories used today to assist individuals throughout the world with career exploration. Nauta (2010) explained that Holland’s (1958/1996) theory is still relevant and cited frequently in counseling psychology journals.
Super’s (1980) Life-Span, Life-Space Approach
Looking to focus more on career development and less on occupational choice,
Super (1980) expanded on his earlier work of vocational development and created a life- span, life-space approach to career choice. Super developed a life-career rainbow as a means of conceptualizing careers that change over time due to a multitude of factors, including how one’s self-concept and life-stages change over time. Super explained that individuals typically go through nine major roles in their lifetime, although not everyone goes through all nine roles, and some go through additional roles. The nine roles are: (a)
Child; (b) Student; (c) Leisurite, a term used to describe the point at which one is
“engaged in the pursuit of leisure-time activities, including idling” (Super, 1980 p. 283);
(d) Citizen; (e) Worker, “including unemployed worker and non-worker as ways of
68 playing the role” (p. 283); (f) Spouse; (g) Homemaker; (h) Parent; and (i) Pensioner.
Super mentioned that these roles are played in four different theaters (i.e., the home, the school, the work, and the community), and while roles have a primary theater—for instance, a mother usually plays that role at home—there is often spillover into other areas. According to Super (1980):
This impinging of one role on another by spilling over into a secondary theater, as
when the worker role is played at home where the spouse and homemaker roles
are primary, may cause a certain amount of role conflict in the person playing
them, and a certain amount of confusion in the minds or feelings of others in the
same theater; it may also enrich the life of those in that theater, as when a parent
shares some of the interesting events of the workplace with spouse and children
while at meals, at the same time organizing his or her own thoughts about them. It
is important that, as just noted, it is the occupying of positions in theaters that
casts one in roles, for a role is a set of expectations that others have of a person
occupying a position. A parent is expected to assume certain responsibilities for a
child, even though he or she may not have chosen to become a parent, and
similarly a worker is expected to perform certain duties by virtue of having been
employed to fill a certain position at a place of work with a given job description
and with a descriptive job title such as that of bricklayer or cashier. (pp. 284-285)
Super’s life-span, life-space approach helps to explain much of the sentiment expressed in the literature by working-mothers who often feel interrole conflict with the many roles they play (Barker, 2014; Gilbert & Von Wallmenich, 2014; Oates et al., 2005; Powell &
Butterfield, 2013; Williams & Dempsey, 2014; Zhou, 2013). It also supports the literature
69 that many mothers wait until their children are grown and their husbands are retired before pursuing a college presidency (Cohea, 2015; Eddy, 2008; Hertneky, 2010).
Super (1980) identified the importance of certain roles over others through one’s life-span, as depicted in Figure 3. He maintained that the importance comes from temporal influence and emotion. Super’s life-career rainbow demonstrates how roles typically shift over time.
Figure 3. Reprinted from “A life-span, life-space approach to career development,” by D.E. Super, 1980, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 16, 289.
Mainiero and Sullivan’s (2005) Kaleidoscope Model of Careers
In response to the media storm of the “Opt Out Revolution,” Mainiero and
Sullivan (2005) launched a “complex, multi-pronged, three-study approach” (p. 108) that surveyed over 1,800 professional women and men and asked in-depth questions about career choice. The researchers wanted to learn how women’s careers unfold and concluded that:
70 The kaleidoscope model fits women’s careers well as a means of understanding
how women operate relationally to others in both work and non-work realms.
Like a kaleidoscope that produces changing patterns when the tube is rotated and
its glass chips fall into new arrangements, women shift the pattern of their careers
by rotating different aspects in their lives to arrange their roles and relationships
in new ways. (Mainiero & Sullivan, 2005, p. 106)
Mainiero and Sullivan learned that women, in contrast to men, make career decisions based on relationalism. In other words, women make decisions about their career options only “after considering the impact their decisions will have on others” (p. 111). The women in their study:
Factored in the needs of their children, spouses, aging parents, and even
coworkers and clients—as part of the total gestalt of their careers. Men, on the
other hand, tended to examine career decisions from the perspective of goal
orientation and independent action—acting first for the benefit of career. Men
tended to keep their work and non-work lives separate—and often could do this
because the women in their lives managed the delicate interplay between work
and non-work issues. (Mainiero & Sullivan, 2005, pp. 111-112)
Mainiero and Sullivan (2005) reported that they purposely used a kaleidoscope metaphor to describe women’s career choices, because women move the facets of their lives around in order to find the correct fit for their life circumstances. This corresponds with
Gilligan’s (1982) theory that women often make changes in their lives based on social environmental factors, particularly based upon relationships and the care and concern of others.
71 McMahon and Patton’s (1995) Systems Theory Framework
In 1995, McMahon and Patton developed the Systems Theory Framework (STF)
“in response to the convergence debate of the early 1990s” (McMahon, 2011, p. 170).
The researchers explained that career choice is determined by multiple influences and that these influences change over time. McMahon and Patton argued that “three interconnecting systems (i.e., individual, social, and environmental-societal)” (as cited in
McMahon, 2011, p. 170) interact with each other, change over time, and therefore affect career choice. STF emphasizes process and how career changes happen, and it signifies that career development is dynamic, ever changing, and sometimes unpredictable.
Interview questions in this study of mothers as college presidents were developed to address career path choice and how career/life decisions were made for each of the participants. The career decision-making theories highlighted served as a lens through which I examined why these mothers in leadership positions decided not to opt out, but rather to opt for the top.
Summary and Limitations to the Literature
The review of the literature provided insight into why women with children may wait to pursue college presidencies, if they choose to pursue that role at all. With incredible time demands and societal expectations, many mothers experience interrole conflict that prevents them from pursing college presidencies or has them waiting years before they move up the ladder, putting them at a time-disadvantage from others pursing presidencies. The literature provided a solid foundation for exploring the experiences of mothers as they embark on career paths to college presidencies and shaped the questions for this study.
72 Extensive research has been conducted on women in leadership positions. There have also been extensive studies on the work-life balance of women in higher education.
One limitation to the literature is that some of the studies reviewed were quantitative and did not provide in-depth analysis of the participants’ perspectives. There is also a significant gap in research that focuses on mothers in college presidencies. This study examines how women with children created a path to the top level of leadership in higher education and what motivated and challenged them along the way.
73 CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
As stated in Chapters 1 and 2, the purpose of this dissertation is to understand the lived experiences of mothers in higher education presidencies. Through their stories, a deeper appreciation of how these women arrived at the role of college president became apparent, as did the themes that demonstrate how they were challenged and how they succeeded in being both mothers and college presidents. In order to accomplish this purpose, a phenomenological study, using in-depth interviews and document/artifact analysis, was conducted. The study was guided by the following research questions:
What are the lived experiences and perceptions of a small group of mothers in
presidential positions at higher education institutions? How do they make sense of
their lives?
How has being a mother affected the career paths of these mothers in college
presidencies?
What have been the challenges that they have faced in their careers, and what has
contributed to their success in moving up the presidential ladder?
In what ways do they think their personal attributes, skills, and experiences as a
mother relate to their personal attributes, skills, and experiences as a leader and
college president?
Framed within the tradition of qualitative research, this phenomenological study answered these research questions. This chapter will address the qualitative research paradigm, this study’s conceptual framework, the researcher’s role in this study, the
74 methods of data collection and analysis employed, ethical considerations, validating the findings, and concluding remarks.
Research Paradigms
“Research is a process of steps used to collect and analyze information to increase our understanding of a topic or issue” (Creswell, 2012, p. 3). When one wants to conduct research, she usually begins by asking a question. What she wants to know determines the type of research she will conduct. There are two major types of research: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative research often seeks to explain why something occurs in order to answer a research problem (Creswell, 2012). Quantitative researchers use a specific instrument, such as a survey or a standardized test, to collect data later to be analyzed using statistics. Qualitative research, on the other hand, seeks to explore a central phenomenon (Creswell, 2012). In qualitative research, data analysis is usually conducted through text and image analysis and thematic coding to determine larger meanings of understanding. In qualitative research, the researcher is instrumental, conducting interviews or observations; the researcher does not use someone else’s instrument or survey (Creswell, 2012).
Creswell (2012) suggested the way to choose the correct paradigm for conducting research is by examining the characteristics of both quantitative and qualitative research.
Quantitative Research Characteristics:
describing a research problem through a description of trends or a need for an
explanation of the relationship among variables
providing a major role for the literature through suggesting the research
questions to be asked and justifying the research problem and creating a need
75 for the direction (purpose statement and research questions or hypotheses) of
the study
creating purpose statements, research questions, and hypotheses that are
specific, narrow, measurable and observable
collecting numeric data from a large number of people using instruments with
preset questions and responses
analyzing trends, comparing groups, or relating variables using statistical
analysis, and interpreting results by comparing them with prior predictions
and past research
writing the research report using standard, fixed structures and evaluation
criteria, and taking an objective, unbiased approach (Creswell, 2012, p. 13)
Qualitative Research Characteristics:
exploring a problem and developing a detailed understanding of a central
phenomenon
having the literature review play a minor role but justify the problem.
stating the purpose and research questions in a general and broad way so as to
[explore] the participants’ experiences
collecting data based on words from a small number of individuals so that the
participants’ views are obtained
analyzing the data for description and themes using text analysis and
interpreting the larger meaning of the findings
writing the report using flexible, emerging structures and evaluative criteria,
and including the researchers’ subjective reflexivity and bias (Creswell, 2012,
76 p. 16)
Because I studied the lived experiences of mothers in the role of college presidents, a qualitative research paradigm was most appropriate.
Qualitative Research Paradigm
Willis (2007) defined a paradigm as “a comprehensive belief system, worldview, or framework that guides research and practice in a field” (p. 8). When someone decides to conduct qualitative research, Creswell (2007) said the researcher brings her own set of beliefs to the process:
These [worldviews] inform the conduct and writing of the qualitative study.
Further, in many approaches to qualitative research, the researchers use
interpretive and theoretical frameworks to further shape the study. Good research
requires making these assumptions, paradigms, and frameworks explicit in the
writing of the study, and, at a minimum, to be aware that they influence the
conduct of inquiry. (p. 15)
Creswell (2007) contended that five philosophical assumptions lead to an individual’s choice of qualitative research: (a) ontology, the nature of truth; (b) epistemology, what it means “to know” (Willis, 2007, p. 8); (c) axiology, “the role of values in the research” (p. 16); (d) rhetoric, the language of the research; and (e) methodology, the methods used in the process.
I chose to conduct qualitative research because I wanted to understand how the experience of being a mother has shaped college presidents’ career paths in higher education. I worked from an interpretive tradition because I “value experience and perspective as important sources of knowledge” (Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2011, p. 17).
77 Social Constructivism Framework
Social constructivism guided the research for this study, because the framework focuses on the way humans experience life and create subjective meanings, thereby creating their own sense of reality (Creswell, 2012). Social constructivism is often combined with interpretivism (Creswell, 2012). According to Creswell (2007), social constructivists
develop subjective meanings of their experiences—meanings directed toward
certain objects or things. These meanings are varied and multiple, leading the
researcher to look for the complexity of views rather than narrow the meanings
into a few categories or ideas. The goal of research, then, is to rely as much as
possible on the participants’ views of the situation. Often these subjective
meanings are negotiated socially and historically. In other words, they are not
simply imprinted on individuals but are formed through intercultural norms that
operate in individuals’ lives. Rather than starting with a theory (as in
postpositivism), inquirers generate or inductively develop a theory or pattern of
meaning. (pp. 20-21)
Rather than believing that observations alone are an accurate representation of life, social constructivists, and interpretivists in general, believe that meaning is created, negotiated, and sustained (Andrews, 2012).
Both Piaget (1972) and Vygotsky (1978) are credited with developing constructivism, but it was Vygotsky who truly believed that “social constructivism is both a social and cultural model of learning . . . [and] that learning [should be seen] not as
78 development but as a process that results in development” (as cited in Deulen, 2013, p.
91). Vygotsky defined three core concepts of social constructivism:
the zone of actual development (where a person is developmentally at that
time),
the zone of potential development (where a person could/should be), and
the zone of proximal development (the amount of assistance needed to get
someone from actual development to potential development). (as cited in
Deulen, 2013, p. 91)
It is within that zone of proximal development where people shape their beliefs and identities by outside influence. This is one reason why mentoring is such a strong component in social constructivist learning models (Deulen, 2013). This is also important to consider when exploring how our various experiences, relationships, and education assist us in developing as a person, building our self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and leadership skills.
My background in higher education administration, coupled with my experience of being a mother, made social constructivism an appropriate paradigm for my study. I understood that my own experiences would affect my interpretation of the research, and I positioned myself within the research to acknowledge how my understanding was shaped by personal experience.
Research Design: Phenomenological Tradition
“Phenomenology is a project of sober reflection on the lived experience of human existence . . . but it is also a project that is driven by fascination: being swept up in a spell of wonder, a fascination with meaning” (van Manen, 2007, p. 11). In response to
79 objectivism, a view that hinges on research conducted by scientific method, a new paradigm was born—interpretivism (Willis, 2007). Immanuel Kant argued that a researcher could not be completely objective about subject matter “because we come prewired, so to speak, with categories of understanding that then influence our perceptions” (as cited in Willis, 2007, p. 51). In other words, it is impossible to conduct objective research without completely separating one’s own personal views and subjective opinions. William Dilthey, a German historian and philosopher who rejected objectivism, was a social scientist that added to the concept of interpretivism. He stated:
Only inner experience, in facts of consciousness, have I found a firm anchor for
my thinking, and I trust that my reader will be convinced by my proof of this. All
science is experiential; but all experience must be related back to and derives its
validity from the conditions and context of consciousness in which it arises, i.e.,
the totality of our nature. (Willis, 2007, p. 52)
Dilthey emphasized that true understanding is holistic and should be examined that way.
Although Dilthey’s beliefs were expressed in the late 1800s, the majority of research in the 20th century was empirical tradition. There were movements in the late 19th and 20th centuries that followed Dilthey’s thinking, and phenomenology is one of those movements.
Phenomenology seeks to understand several individuals’ common experiences and how they create a deeper meaning. According to Willis (2007), “following Kant, phenomenologists distinguished phenomena (the perceptions of appearances from the point of view of a human) from noumena (what things really are)” (p. 53).
Phenomenology, as we know it, is credited to German philosopher Edmund Husserl
80 (Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2011). Husserl was interested in how individuals “process experience in their everyday lives” (Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2011). Husserl and other phenomenologists believed that most science failed to take into account the first-hand perceptions of the person experiencing the phenomenon (Moustakas, 1994).
There are several major approaches to phenomenological research. According to phenomenologist van Manen (2011), there are six major orientations or approaches to phenomenology:
Transcendental phenomenology is most clearly identified with the path-breaking
work of Husserl and his collaborators and interpreters such as Eugen Fink,
Tymieniecka, and Van Breda.
Existential phenomenology is associated with Heidegger, Sartre, de Beauvoir,
Merleau-Ponty, Marcel, and others.
Hermeneutical phenomenology is linked especially with Heidegger, Gadamer, and
Ricoeur.
Linguistical phenomenology includes the French language oriented work of
Blanchot, Derrida, and Foucault, even though the latter denied that he was a
phenomenologist.
Ethical phenomenology is exemplified in the work of Scheler, but later especially
with the thinking of Levinas, under whom Derrida studied the works of Husserl
and Heidegger.
Phenomenology of practice is used here to designate the employment of
phenomenological method in applied or professional contexts such as clinical
psychology, medicine, education or pedagogy, nursing, and counseling, and also
81 to the use of phenomenological method in contexts of practical concerns of
everyday living. Early protagonists of phenomenology of practice were medical
practitioners, such as the psychiatrists Binswanger and Van den Berg; clinical
psychologists, such as Buytendijk and Linschoten; and educators or pedagogues,
such as Langeveld and Bollnow. Examples of contemporary scholars who work
within contexts of phenomenology of practice are Amadeo Giorgi (psychology),
Patricia Benner (nursing), and Max van Manen (education and pedagogy). (p. 4)
The two modern approaches to phenomenology I examined further were: (a) hermeneutic phenomenology (van Manen, 1990) and (b) empirical, transcendental, and psychological phenomenology (Moustakas, 1994). The following sections detail both traditions and their appropriateness to this study.
Hermeneutical Phenomenology
Van Manen (1990) wrote a book on hermeneutical phenomenology in which he described research as being oriented towards lived experience. A philosophical and interpretative approach to research, hermeneutical phenomenology is an interplay among different activities, according to van Manen. First, researchers are drawn to a phenomenon that interests them. Creswell (2007) noted that the researcher reflects on themes that develop the lived experience. Next, the researcher writes a description of the phenomenon, being careful to maintain a strong relationship to the topic while “balancing the parts of the writing to the whole” (Creswell, 2007, p. 59). Finally, the researcher makes an interpretation of the lived experiences.
In the article, “Phenomenology of Practice,” van Manen (2007) noted that meaning is derived from practice and that, for social constructivists, practice is supposed
82 to make it possible to “explain, interpret or understand the nature of the phenomena within its scope” (p. 15). For instance, if someone hears a door shut in a house, it is not just an acoustical sensation, it is the experience of hearing that sound in prior instances that let him know it was a door that shut and not a different object. Van Manen (2007) explained that this is how past practice influences meaning and understanding.
Empirical, Transcendental, and Psychological Phenomenology
Moustakas’ (1994) empirical, transcendental, and psychological phenomenology is different from van Manen’s (1990) approach in that it focuses less on interpretation and more on the “description of the experiences of participants” (Creswell, 2007, p. 59).
Transcendental phenomenology, on the other hand, is interpretative and leaves a lot of room for the researcher to determine meaning. Moustakas (1994) reported that phenomenological research hinges on two concepts: what phenomena a person experienced and how they experienced the phenomena. This study sought to determine how mothers experience being college presidents by using a phenomenology of practice approach. This approach was most appropriate because I examined the lived experiences of mothers as college presidents and determined how they make sense of their worlds.
Transcendental Principles
Although this study used phenomenology of practice, it was important to remain mindful of transcendental principles that guide phenomenological research.
Epoche (Bracketing)
Moustakas (1994) promoted the use of bracketing, or epoche (a phrase coined by
Husserl), in which a researcher puts aside her personal experiences, to the extent possible, and takes a fresh perspective toward the study (Creswell, 2007). Creswell (2007) noted
83 that the term transcendental refers to the way in which everything should be examined as if for the first time. Because I took a social constructivism worldview and followed
Moustakas’ (1994) approach to phenomenology, I was required to bracket any preconceived notions I had about mothers as college presidents. I needed to put aside any assumptions I had about this topic because it could have influenced how I interpreted the data. For instance, as a mother in an administrative position myself, I know how difficult it is to balance life and work; however, I could not let my own experiences interfere with the stories of the women I interviewed.
Rather than forgetting one’s experience altogether, van Manen (2011) suggested that the researcher focus instead on the uniqueness of each participant’s experience:
It would be a mistake to see the reduction as a predetermined procedure that we
should apply to the phenomenon that is being researched. The practice of human
science is never simply a matter of procedure. Rather the reduction refers to a
certain attentiveness. If we want to come to an understanding of the unique
meaning and significance of something we need to reflect on it by practicing a
thoughtful attentiveness. The term ‘reduction’ can be misleading since reduction
is ironically a protest against reductionism understood as abstracting, codifying,
shortening. So how then is reflection supposed to emulate lived meaning or pre-
reflective experience? As the emulator is ‘language,’ and the process of emulating
is performed through writing. The intent of writing is to produce textual
‘portrayals’ that resonate and make intelligible the kinds of meanings that we
seem to recognize in life as we live it. (p. 4)
84 Creswell (2007) explain that qualitative researchers self-disclose about personal experiences much more than they ever have before. Reflexivity is something I consciously performed throughout my research, from the data collection and analysis to the interpretation and writing. Creswell (2007) posed questions that I considered and reflected upon throughout this study, which included:
Should I write about what people said or recognize that sometimes they cannot
remember or choose not to remember?
What were my political reflexivities that needed to come into my report?
Did my writing connect the voices and stories of individuals back to the set of
historic, structural, and economic relations in which they were situated?
How far did I go in theorizing the words of participants?
Did I consider how my words could be used for progressive, conservative, and
repressive social policies?
Did I back into the passive voice and decouple my responsibility from my
interpretation?
To what extent did my analysis (and writing) offer an alternative to common
sense or the dominant discourse? (p. 180)
Noema and Noesis
The purpose of phenomenological research is to capture the essence of participants’ common experiences to make sense of a central phenomenon. To make that happen, Moustakas (1994) said that researchers must understand both of the two different states of an object. Husserl (1931) introduced these two states as noema (natural attitude) and noesis (phenomenological attitude). Cilesiz (2011) explained that “the concept of
85 reality in phenomenology is based on the ideal material duality; every experience has a material and ideal component” (p. 496). Even though ideas and objects are separated, meaning is obtained from their interrelation:
To put it most simply, we are looking for the way in which particular content of
consciousness is related to a particular stance or attitude of consciousness. ‘What’
we see is always a function of ‘how’ we are looking. To perform an intentional
analysis requires that one focus on the ‘content’ of a moment of consciousness
and then, having made this moment ‘one’s own’ through empathy to turn one’s
attention back on this vicariously experienced ‘presence’ in such a way as to be
able to ‘‘thematize’’ how it is that I am standing (even if only in my imaginative
uptake of the subject’s experiential description) such that I see what I see?
(Fischer, 2006, p. 89)
Husserl held that phenomenological researchers must pay attention to the parallel aspects of noesis and noema when conducting their analysis (as cited in Fischer, 2006).
Understanding that all experiences have two sides, both a noesis and a noema, shaped how I crafted my interview questions and influenced how I conducted my interviews. It reminded me to listen for the noesis contributed by my participants and not by my own personal story.
Phenomenological Reduction
Husserl (1931) argued that phenomenological reduction, through bracketing, freed researchers from their own prejudices and allowed them to see things in a more objective way. Finlay (2008) described reduction as a way for the researcher “to be open to whatever may emerge” (p. 4). There are a number of steps involved in phenomenological
86 reduction. The first step is epoche of the natural sciences, which brackets scientific theory and “reduces the field of investigation to the lifeworld from the standpoint of the natural attitude” (Finlay, 2008, p. 5). The second step, epoche of the natural attitude, examines phenomenon as a “presence, without attributing existence to it” (Finlay, 2008, p. 6). In the third step, transcendental reduction, Husserl proposes, involves “standing aside from one’s subjective experience and ego, in order to be able to focus on transcendental consciousness” (as cited in Finlay, 2008, p. 7). The last form of reduction is eidectic reduction, also called intuition of essences. This is the phase in which the researcher attempts to explain the phenomenon to be studied.
Moustakas’ Methodological Procedure
For my study, I used Moustakas’ (1994) phenomenological research methods approach. Creswell (2007) outlined research procedures using Moustakas’ approach to research that include:
The researcher identifies a phenomenon of interest to study.
The researcher determines broad philosophical assumptions relating to the topic
and identifies how she will bracket out her own experiences as much as possible.
Data is collected from people who have experienced the phenomenon through in-
depth interviews.
Creswell (2007) noted that the number of participants vary between 5 and 25
people.
Van Manen (1990) also noted that additional forms of data might be collected,
such as recordings, text, drama, films, poetry, and novels.
87 To gather textual and structural descriptions and provide an understanding of
common experiences, participants are asked two broad questions:
What have you experienced in terms of the phenomenon?
What context or situations have typically influenced or affected
your experiences of the phenomenon?
Other open-ended questions follow these two broad questions.
The researcher analyzes data, first by highlighting ‘significant statements,
sentences, or quotes that provide an understanding of how the participants
experienced the phenomenon’ (Creswell, 2007, p. 61). This process is called
horizonalization (Moustakas, 1994). Next, the researcher develops themes from
the ‘clusters of meanings’ (Creswell, 2007, p. 61).
The researcher takes the themes and develops descriptions to describe the
experiences of participants in the study.
Creswell (2007) explained that textural descriptions are the experiences of the
participants, in other words, ‘what’ they experienced.
Structural descriptions explain ‘how they experienced [the phenomenon] in
terms of the conditions, situations, or context’ (Creswell, 2007, p. 60).
The textual and structural descriptions together explain the
imaginative variation that provides not only the ‘what’ and
‘how’ of a phenomenon, but also provides the ‘context or setting
that influenced how the participants experienced the
phenomenon’ (Creswell, 2007, p. 61).
88 Using both the structural and textual descriptions, the researcher crafts a
composite description to provide the ‘essence’ or the ‘essential, invariant
structure’ (p. 62) of the experience.
Researcher’s Role (My Story)
Research begins with curiosity (Creswell, 2012). Phenomenological research should be rooted in a personal interest to a problem (Moustakas, 1994). Reflecting on my own dissertation topic, it is not difficult to understand what inspiration led me to study mothers as college presidents. As a mother of two young boys, I know the challenges of being a mother and working full time. I regularly discuss these challenges with fellow mothers; I even started a monthly working-mothers luncheon with some of my colleagues to discuss our daily juggling acts and to offer each other support. I had both of my sons while I was a full-time faculty member teaching communication courses to five sections of students at a community college.
When I first learned I was pregnant with my son, Jake, I was not yet tenured. I was petrified to tell anyone because I did not want to seem uncommitted to the institution. Instead of being excited for something I had always wanted, I felt insecure— and with good reason. When I told my supervisor I was pregnant, he said, “So what?
Women get pregnant every day. You’ll take your six to eight weeks and come back to work like everyone else does.” Human Resources informed me that only a portion of my medical leave would be covered, because I only had 24 days of sick leave. They also told me I would lose time towards my tenured position if I took off more than half of the semester. A female colleague felt the need to tell me that doctors made a cure for my
“condition.” I was mortified. I was also motivated to prove them all wrong. My maternity
89 leave was only eight weeks long, and while I was out, I had to arrange coverage for all of my classes; the department chair told me it was not in her job description to make these types of arrangements. I also had to be in touch with all of the instructors covering my courses on a weekly basis. I also continued my graduate studies throughout my pregnancy and graduated five weeks after giving birth to my son. When I knew I wanted another child, I was fortunate enough to be able to plan my pregnancy and have him over the summer so that I did not need to take time off from work.
It was during these first few years of my young sons’ lives that my career accelerated, and I transitioned from faculty to administration. From Assistant Department
Chair of Arts and Communication, to Department Chair, and then Associate Vice
President (AVP) of Liberal Arts, I went from being a full-time faculty member with summers off and being part of a union to being an “at-will” employee with no summers off. When I became my institution’s equivalent to an academic dean, the comments started again. A faculty member who was once my supervisor, but who now reported to me said, “You better be careful taking all of these new responsibilities. . . . Don’t you think a mother should be home with her kids rather than taking a supervisory role?” Two female chairs in my division both questioned my ability to do my job while being a mother of small children. One asked me, “How are you going to do this with your kids being so young?” I was discouraged that people questioned my ability to be AVP simply because I was a mother, not that I had only been a department chair for one year or that I was only 35 years old. Why were they questioning my being a mother? It was then that I realized the senior-level administrators around me were predominantly men or women who did not have children. There were a few women with children, but their children
90 were full-grown and out of the house. I started to wonder if being a mother and a senior- level administrator in higher education was possible. This was when my dissertation topic became clear: I wanted to research the roles of mothers as leaders in higher education. I wanted to know how these mothers not only made it to the highest level in higher education, but what their journey was like along the way. I also wanted to know how being a mother affected their leadership as college presidents.
Qualitative research is a natural fit for my topic. By interviewing mothers who are also college presidents, I learned from their experiences and can now provide information to other women with children who aspire to high-level careers. I also used my results to provide examples and personal stories in order to encourage higher education institutions to develop programs that support families in both theory and practice.
Being aware of and understanding my role in the research, I used reflexivity throughout my study, including keeping a reflexive journal to develop an ongoing awareness of my own assumptions, feelings, and preconceptions. I strived to put aside my own experiences, distancing myself in order to be open and receptive to being shaped by the research experience.
Data Collection Procedures
Creswell (2012) explained that there are five steps in qualitative data analysis:
“You need to identify your participants and sites, gain access, determine the types of data to collect, develop data collection forms, and administer the process in an ethical manner” (p. 204). This section outlines the data collection procedures that were used in this study.
91 Selection of Participants
Qualitative research uses purposeful sampling. In other words, individuals are intentionally selected for the study because they meet the criteria for the central phenomenon being studied. For this study, the participants are women who are both mothers and college presidents. My aim was to interview a diverse sample of women, thereby learning from the diverse experiences of these participants and how they make meaning of their lives. Participants ranged from women with small children to women with adult children and included women from different generations. The types of institutions selected for this study also varied. Participants were college presidents at community colleges, public four-year colleges or universities, private four-year colleges or universities, and a for-profit four-year college.
Recruitment of Participants
Before participants were asked to participate in the study, I received endorsement from Benedictine University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). Once I had approval, I reached out to potential participants via email to explain the purpose of my study and to give them clear expectations about what would be asked of them for the study. I initially reached out to women that were referred to me by my dissertation committee, because they knew some women who were both college presidents and mothers. Several of the women I contacted agreed to participate immediately. Because of the small number of mothers serving as college presidents, a snowball sampling technique also was used to identify participants. Creswell (2012) explained that, in situations where the researcher may not know the best people to study, a researcher may ask participants to recommend
92 additional individuals to be sampled, which is what I did. Those participants brought my total number of participants up to eleven.
Once participants indicated they were interested in being interviewed, I sent them an informed consent document that explained precautions taken to minimize risks and protect their identities. I also sent participants a brief demographic survey, as well as a calendar request for face-to-face interviews. The survey was used to provide demographic information about the subjects in Chapters 4 and 5.
In-Depth Interviews
In-depth, semi-structured interviews are a conversation between the researcher and participant wherein a partnership is formed so that the researcher may discover a deep, descriptive amount of information about the participant (Hesse-Biber & Leavy,
2011). Interviewing allows researchers access to people’s thoughts and memories in their own words and sometimes may reveal “hidden experiences” (Hesse-Biber & Leavy,
2011, p. 98). Since this is a phenomenological study, I sought to learn the experiences and perceptions of participants in terms of being a mother and college president, as well as what situations typically influenced or affected participants’ experiences of being a mother and a college president (Moustakas, 1994).
Using semi-structured interviews allowed me to have a certain set of questions that guided the conversation, while still allowing participants to talk about lived experiences in more detail and freedom when it is something of interest or importance to them as it relates to the topic (Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 1994). When something developed during the interview about which I wanted more information, semi-structured interviews gave me the flexibility to delve deeper into an issue.
93 The interviews were all conducted face-to-face. While my preference was to conduct the interviews in person, there were instances in which I needed to conduct an interview via Skype. Five of the participants were interviewed face-to-face and six were interviewed via Skype. It was critical to develop rapport with my participants so that they felt comfortable sharing their lived experiences. While I was warm and friendly, I also refrained from discussing my own personal story. My experience as a news reporter aided me in conducting the interviews. I asked participants a question and let them finish without interruption. If they did not understand the question, I re-worded it and asked if they needed additional clarification.
I also kept the interviews among participants as consistent as possible. The interviews were recorded on an iPad using the Application VoxiePro. They were also recorded on an external digital audio recorder as backup. Immediately following the interviews, the audio was sent to a professional transcriber who transcribed the interviews and returned a manuscript in Microsoft Word formatting.
Demographic survey and interview guide. The demographic survey and interview guide are attached in Appendices B and C. A demographic survey was used to capture demographic information for each of the participants. When developing my interview questions, I asked myself three questions posed by Hesse-Biber and Leavy (2011):
Is the guide clear and readable?
Does the guide cover all of the topical areas in which I am interested?
Are there any topical areas or general questions missing from the guide? (p. 104)
During the interviews with participants, I was sure to use the guide as just that: a guide. I was not distracted by the questions on the paper, but rather used the guide as a
94 checklist to ensure that all of the major lines of inquiry were met before concluding the interview. I was also open to exploring other questions that were important to my participants’ experiences related to the phenomena of being a mother and a college president. After each interview, I reflected in my journal, making notes regarding the interview and my feelings following the interview. This ritual assisted me in the bracketing process.
Document and Artifact Analysis
Participants were asked to bring a document or artifact to the interview that represented their experiences as college presidents who are mothers. These artifacts included articles, photographs, journals, songs, poems, artwork, or other objects. The point of this additional data was to gather a different type of information on the participants. Content analysis is an unobtrusive method of research that allows researchers to investigate existing materials, whether it is text, video, audio, or otherwise
(Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2011). As part of the interview questioning process, I asked the participants to discuss what they brought with them and included their responses in the transcript. The idea behind this method is that, by examining physical artifacts, one can learn about the values or social aspects of the topic being researched. It gave me access to my participants in a different way and allowed me to analyze this data along with the responses to other interview questions. It also allowed me to triangulate multiple data sources, therefore strengthening my qualitative research (Creswell, 2007, 2012; Hesse-
Biber & Leavy, 2011).
95 Field Notes
Bogdan and Biklen (2007) recommended that memos (or field notes) be documented throughout the entire research process. Memos are predominantly for the person “intimately involved in the research” (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007, p. 165). This practice allows for reflexivity. Bogdan and Biklen explained that the act of taking notes allows for the researcher to most objectively keep track of what is occurring in the field. I took notes on the participants, the environments, the participants’ non-verbal behavior, and any activities that were observed during the interview process.
Data Analysis Procedures
Since I used in-depth interviews to conduct my research, I used the transcripts from my interviews to code the data into themes. Examining what participants said line- by-line, I looked for descriptive codes that generated key concepts within the text. Hesse-
Biber and Leavy (2011) explained that there are several types of coding. Literal codes are
“words that appear in the text and are usually descriptive codes” (p. 311). Interpretative analytical codes are not tied to the text itself, but rather rely on researcher notes and memos that illicit interpretation. In focused coding, the researcher examines all data, and
“compares each piece of data with every other piece and finally builds a clear working definition of each concept, which is then named” (p. 311). Using all codes, I analyzed the data and developed analytical dimensions or sub-codes that delved into deeper meaning.
Memos were documented throughout the dissertation process.
Once coding is complete, the next step in qualitative data analysis is interpretation
(Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2011). Interpretation took place throughout the coding process.
Hesse-Biber and Leavy (2011) suggested that researchers use strong arguments for any
96 knowledge claimed from the data while interpreting. I highlighted significant statements or clusters of meaning that explained how participants experienced being a college president and a mother through horizonalization, and then used the data to develop themes and wrote thick descriptions that captured the essence of the experience
(Moustakas, 1994). Pertinent to validation, thick descriptions are rich in detail and provide the context of the situation; they also create an emotional and social state when reading the narrative so that readers feel as though they experience the phenomenon personally or could envision themselves experiencing the phenomenon (Creswell, 2007).
Thick descriptions express the participants’ “voices, feelings, actions, and meanings of
[interactions]” (Creswell, 2007, p. 194).
Strategies for Validating Findings
Strategies for validating findings are more straightforward in quantitative research; the researcher validates scores, instruments, and research designs (Creswell,
2012). In qualitative research, validation is much different. Creswell (2012) explained:
To check the accuracy of their research, qualitative inquirers often employ
validation procedures such as member checking, triangulation, and auditing. The
intent of validation is to have participants, external reviewers, or the data sources
themselves provide evidence of the accuracy of the information in the qualitative
report. (p. 262)
Through interviews, document/artifact collection, and field recording, triangulation helped verify my findings. Triangulation through these multiple sources establishes trustworthiness and credibility of findings (Creswell, 2007). Prolonged engagement in the field, as well as keeping field notes, also assisted in providing
97 credibility. In addition, I used rich, thick descriptions in my analysis, “allowing readers to make decisions regarding transferability” (Creswell, 2007, p. 209). Because thick descriptions allow the researcher to explain the behavior of participants and the context of the experience, readers are able to assign meaning to the experience and transfer the findings to other settings; this occurs because the findings have shared characteristics.
This “weight of evidence” (Creswell, 2007, p. 204) provides readers with confidence that the study was conducted thoroughly. I also used member checking to verify my findings.
Member checking occurs when a researcher verifies the accuracy of data and interpretations with participants, either formally or informally. Member checking is an important part of qualitative research because it provides clarification for the researcher, allows for participants to make corrections, and may provide additional information from the participants (Creswell, 2007). Each participant received a manuscript of our interview and was asked to provide any corrections or additional information for accuracy purposes.
Using questions posed by Polkinghorne (1989), Creswell (2007) encouraged phenomenological researchers to ask themselves several questions in order to validate findings:
Did the interviewer influence the contents of the participants’ descriptions in such
a way that the descriptions do not truly reflect the participants’ actual experience?
Is the transcription accurate, and does it convey the meaning of the oral
presentation in the interview?
98 In the analysis of the transcriptions, were there conclusions other than those
offered by the researcher that could have been derived? Has the researcher
identified these alternatives?
Is it possible to go from the general structural description to the transcriptions and
to account for the specific contents and connections in the original examples of
the experience?
Is the structural description situation specific or does it hold in general the
experience in other situations? (p. 215)
Creswell (2007) added the following questions:
Does the author convey an understanding of the philosophical tenets of
phenomenology?
Does the author have a clear ‘phenomenon’ to study that is articulated in a concise
way?
Does the author use procedures of data analysis in phenomenology, such as the
procedures recommended by Moustakas (1994)?
Does the author convey the overall essence of the experience of the participants?
Does this essence include a description of the experience and the context in which
it occurred?
Is the author reflexive throughout the study? (pp. 215-216)
In order to validate my findings accurately, I asked myself these questions and practiced reflexivity.
Ethical Considerations
“The moral integrity of the researcher is a critically important aspect of ensuring
99 that the research process and a researcher’s findings are trustworthy and valid” (Hesse-
Biber & Leavy, 2011, p. 59). Deriving from the Greek word “ethos,” ethics refers to a person’s “character” (Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2011, p. 59). Ethical considerations must be carefully examined from the start of the research process to the completion of the research process. Beginning with Benedictine University’s IRB process, I demonstrated how my research was to be conducted in an ethical manner, protecting participants’ identities. Upon agreeing to be interviewed, participants were emailed a letter of informed consent that explained the nature of my study and noted that participation was completely voluntary. I also explained the options for participants to not answer a particular question or to leave the study at any time. The letter also detailed the interview procedure and the fact that the study was confidential. All participants signed the letter of informed consent and sent it back to me prior to the interview. Pseudonyms were assigned to each participant so that her anonymity was protected, and these pseudonyms were used in all written material. In addition, names of other individuals and institutions were withheld from the study. There was little to no risk for the participants in the study.
Confidentiality is another important ethical concern, and it must be maintained throughout the research process. In addition to keeping a participant’s identity confidential, Creswell (2007) noted that sometimes researchers are put in a compromising position when asked to keep something “off the record” (p. 142). When a participant said she wanted something “off the record,” I, as the researcher, scratched that text from the record and proceeded as though it had not been stated.
An additional ethical consideration is the researcher’s level of personal engagement with participants. While being conversational and personable are good traits
100 when interviewing participants, too much engagement and self-disclosure by the researcher may “lead to unanticipated and unintended deception that can actually raise even more the possibility of undue power, influence, and authority in the research process” (Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2011, p. 75). Creswell (2007) added that when researchers share personal stories with participants in a phenomenological study it minimizes “the bracketing that is essential to construct the meaning of participants” (p.
142). I made sure to maintain a professional rapport with the participants, being open to their responses without influencing them by sharing too much about myself.
While conducting research ethically is one area of consideration, storage of the data is another ethical concern. The only person who had access to the audio recordings besides me was the professional transcriber. The audio is stored on my laptop computer, which is password protected, and on an external hard drive that is stored in a locked cabinet. The hard copies of the interview transcripts and all electronic and audio files pertaining to the study are stored in a locked cabinet. They will remain there for seven years and, if no longer needed after that time, will be destroyed.
As I proceeded with my own research, I considered Patton’s (2002) ethics checklist as adapted by Hesse-Biber and Leavy (2011):
How will you explain the purpose of the inquiry and methods to be used in ways
that are accurate and understandable to those you are researching?
Why should the researcher participate in your project?
In what ways, if any, will conducting this research put people at risk
(psychological, legal, political, becoming ostracized by others)?
What are reasonable promises of confidentiality that can be fully honored?
101 What kind of informed consent, if any, is necessary for mutual protection?
Who will have access to the data? For what purposes?
How will you and your respondents likely be affected by conducting this
research?
Who will be the researcher’s confidant and counselor on matters of ethics during
a study?
How hard will you push for data?
What ethical framework and philosophy informs your work and ensures respect
and sensitivity for those you study, beyond whatever may be required by law? (p.
83)
Concluding Remarks
To summarize, the purpose of this dissertation was to describe the commonalities of mothers who are also college presidents and to provide higher education leaders with a better understanding of how they may support families and encourage women with children to apply for senior-level administrative positions. In order to accomplish this purpose, I conducted a phenomenological study using in-depth, semi-structured interviews and document/artifact analysis. I also used a framework of social constructivism for my methodology.
I used the research procedures introduced by Moustakas (1994) with a phenomenology of practice approach and was sure to utilize bracketing throughout the process in order to remain as open to the participants’ perspectives and lived experiences as possible. My participants were selected using purposive and snowball sampling procedures, and all participants signed an informed consent form detailing the minimum
102 risks as well as the benefits of participating in my study. They were all aware of the purpose of my study and how their participation would contribute to research regarding women in higher education. I analyzed my research using thematic codes that went into rich detail regarding my participants’ experiences. By utilizing these methodologies, I believe that I accurately reported the experiences and perspectives of my participants.
103 CHAPTER 4
LIFE JOURNEYS OF MOTHERS WHO BECAME COLLEGE PRESIDENTS
I have yet to solve the issue of how to balance my life and feel like I’m doing it well. I don’t think I’ve ever done it well. I don’t think I do it well now. I think somebody always gets the short end of the stick and so, yeah . . . [being a president and a mother] bleeds over all the time. I try, as the President, to not have that be evident here at work, but, honestly, I am who I am. Okay, and I have said all along, every job is about fit. Okay, it is about what you have in the moment, what the institution needs, and not everybody is a fit for every job in that moment. And, so I am a mother and so when I give speeches here or when I get up and talk about things, I tend to weave in who I am. And so I talk about my kids and my husband and my life, and I joke about the fact that I’m the chief bottle washer and cook, you know. And that’s kind of just who I am and that comes with the package. And, if there comes a day that that’s not okay, then this is no longer a fit for me. . . . The one thing that has held true no matter what is—I have to be true to who I am and myself and my set of values and ethics and morals. I have to be able to sleep at night and so, if I had a job that didn’t accept the fact that I had a family, that would not be an okay thing for me and, you know, vice versa. If I had a family that didn’t accept the fact that I could work, you know, I would have to have a different conversation with my husband and such. Tara
For this study, 11 mothers were interviewed from diverse backgrounds in different regions of the United States. Each participant, like Tara, had an individual story to tell describing the challenges and successes she has had on her way to the most prestigious position in higher education—the college presidency. Each participant is identified as a mother first, because that is the role each woman identified as the most significant part of her life and identity. As the mothers shared their stories with me, there was laughter, tears, and moments of reflection on parts of their lives they had not thought about in years. Every participant mentioned the love and support of one particular person, or in some cases many people, who they credit with their success. This chapter tells the stories of these 11 powerful women, beginning with their personal journeys in higher education and how their careers began, to being a mother and a college president.
104 Demographically, nine of the 11 participants identified themselves as Caucasian.
One participant identified herself as African American, and one chose not to disclose her race/ethnicity. Of the 11, eight are married and three are divorced. One of the eight married participants has also been divorced. The ages of the women ranged from 46 years old to 69 years old with the median age of 56. For all but two presidents, this is their first college presidency. Only three of the women are long-term presidents, serving over 10 years in the role, two have been president for 5-6 years, and six have been serving three or less years. Only two of the women have been presidents at more than one institution, although a third participant has also been an interim president at another institution. Of the participants, seven are presidents at community colleges, three are presidents at private 4-year colleges and universities (including one for-profit college), and one is a president at a public 4-year university. All of the participants have two or more children: five have two children, four have three children, and two have four or more children.
More than half of the women moved into an executive leadership role when their children were newborn to five years old, and only one participant had adult children when she assumed a senior-level administrative position. None of the participants had children after assuming a presidency. In terms of the presidency, the age of children varied: four women had one or more children 13 years old or younger when they became president, four had one or more children between 14-18 years old, six had one or more children between 19-24 years old, and five had children 25 and older. Geographically, the women have lived or previously served as presidents in the East, West, South, and Midwest regions. Eight participants worked in academic affairs prior to becoming president (seven were vice presidents for academic affairs), four were vice presidents of student services
105 (although, one was also an academic dean and one was also a vice president for finance and administration and a chief information officer), and one participant was a vice president of institutional advancement, although she was also an academic department chair at one time in her career. Three of the vice presidents for student services were internal candidates promoted to president at their current institutions, one president from academic affairs was promoted internally, and the seven other participants were all external presidential hires. Table 5 details the women’s demographic information and
Table 6 details the women’s career-related information; the participants in the study provided this information in the demographic survey completed prior to the interviews.
106 Table 5
Demographic Information of Participants
Participant’s Age Race/ Marital # of Age of Age of Name Ethnicity Status Children Children Children When When Promoted to Promoted an Executive to First Leadership Presidency Position Carrie 60- Caucasian Divorced 2 Newborn- 5 25 and 65 older Claire 60- Caucasian Married 3 Newborn- 5 6- 13 65 Dena 50- Caucasian Married 2 Newborn- 5 14-18 55 6-13 19-24 Jen 45- Caucasian Married 2 Newborn- 5 6-13 50 Karina 50- Caucasian Divorced 3 6-13 6-13 55 14-18 14-18 19-24 Kate 50- Chose not Married 3 6-13 14-18 55 to answer 14-18 19-24 19-24 25 and older Kendal 65- Caucasian Married 2 Newborn- 5 19-24 70 6-13 Kim 60- Caucasian Married 4 or More 6-13 19-24 65 14-18 25 and older Pam 65- Caucasian Divorced 2 19-24 25 and 70 older Sybil 60- African Married 4 or More 14-18 19-24 65 American 19-24 25 and 25 and older older Tara 45- Caucasian Married 2 Newborn-5 6-13 50 14-18
107 Table 6
Career-Related Information of Participants
Participant’s Types of Prior Roles Is This Their # of Years as Name Institutions Served First College College Where Presidency? President Served as President Carrie 4-Year VPSS, Yes, but served Over 2 ½ years Public Academic Dean as interim at another institution Claire CC VPAA, VPSS, Yes 14.5 HR Director Dena CC VPSS Yes 1 year Jen CC VPSS Yes Less than a year
Karina 4-Year Academic No 10 years Private, Dean, For-Profit Regional Executive Director, VP Enrollment & Marketing Kate CC VPAA, Yes 3 years
Academic Dean,
Faculty Kendal 4-Year VPAA, Yes 6 years
Private Academic Dean 4- Year Faculty, Yes 5 years Kim Private Department Chair, VP of
Advancement Pam CC VPAA, No 12 years Academic Dean, Chancellor after presidency Sybil CC VPAA, Yes 3 years Academic Dean, Faculty Tara CC VPSS, Yes 1 year VPFA CIO
108 Individual Profiles
Carrie
When I was growing up, especially after I had left home, . . . my mother worked outside the home as a waitress and then in a nursing home. And she often, even when we would come home for holidays or come home for breaks, she always felt as if she had to work to earn money, and I didn’t want my children ever to feel like they were second to my position. Now, I’m in a kind of life and in my career where they can be part of the environment. They can come to events; they can experience things with me. So, I feel like . . . our environment is conducive to families, I think, which is good. So, I try to include them.
Carrie, a strong, resilient woman, is the president at a 4-year public university.
She has been president at the university for two years and was inaugurated only a few days after her very supportive mother had passed away. Carrie comes from a large, blended family. Her biological father died when she was only 4 years old, leaving her mother a widow with four young children. Her mother then remarried a widower with five children and then the two of them had two additional children; Carrie is the eldest of
11 and had the heavy responsibility of looking out for her mother. She was emotional reflecting on her relationship with her mother and disclosed:
[My stepfather] was an alcoholic, actually, so he wasn’t present much. So, she raised a lot of us alone, and I supported her a lot. So, I was very close to her. I probably, in some ways, was too close to her in terms of I did for her things that probably children shouldn’t do for their moms, you know. I was her confidant. She told me things probably I shouldn’t have known when I was younger, stuff like that. So with my own children, I haven’t . . . how can I put this? I’ve been very careful to not put on them any undue responsibility for my happiness or for my wellbeing. . . . I’ve really tried to allow them to be who they are and, you know, I held them accountable . . . and even when they were little and even through high school, their father was always the fun one and I was the one who held them accountable.
Carrie, currently in her early 60s, is divorced from a man who never really supported her career. Though her ex-husband remained married to Carrie as she moved around the United States progressing professionally from admissions and financial aid
109 director, to dean of academics and student enrollment, and then vice president of student services, they divorced a few years before Carrie secured her first presidency. Carrie remembers several occasions when her former spouse announced he did not want to be the spouse of a college president. During our interview, Carrie laughed and noted, “And he’s not the spouse of a college president.”
One of the biggest bones of contention in Carrie’s marriage was when she decided to pursue her doctoral degree while working full time. Her ex-husband told her that all of the time spent working and going to school was damaging her relationship with her two daughters, but earning her degree was never a question in her mind. Carrie knew she wanted to work in higher education from a young age because neither her mother nor her father received a college education. Her mother never graduated from high school, and her father, who always wanted to attend college, died before he had the chance. On
Carrie’s college application, she noted that her goal was to receive a doctoral degree.
When the high school guidance counselor laughed and said, “Carrie, isn’t this dream a bit big?” she replied, “Well, if you don’t shoot for the moon, you won’t reach the stars.”
Carrie’s daughters have since told her that not only did they never feel neglected as children, they are incredibly proud of their mother. Her younger daughter even followed in her footsteps and works in higher education. While Carrie remembers how difficult it was to earn that doctoral degree, she says it is the best thing she ever did for herself, noting that the only thing she felt that she really sacrificed was her own personal time.
When Carrie became pregnant at 30 years old, she recalled that she was the only woman in her circle of friends having a child. She also remembers that among her family members, she was the only mother who had to work full time to support her family,
110 especially since her husband was unsuccessful in his business ventures. Carrie said, “It hasn’t always been easy. It’s been very lonely in that regard.” In order to make it through those difficult years, Carrie built her own support network with peers in organizations like ACE and the Women’s Network Executive Council. In fact, it wasn’t until Carrie became president that she felt closer to her brothers, who are also working professionals.
At her inauguration, one of her brothers was interviewed and said how proud he was of
Carrie. She said that made her laugh, because he has never told her that. She noted, “I’ve always been this person. Now I just have this position.”
Carrie’s daughters grew up in higher education. When Carrie’s oldest daughter was an infant, the college president was incredibly supportive and allowed her to bring her to work for a few months. She cried as she remembered the amount of support her mentor gave her at that time. Even though most of Carrie’s peers did not have children, they welcomed her young girls to campus. Carrie made it a point to bring her daughters to theatre and musical events on campus and incorporated them into her work life.
Carrie’s daughters also got to know the students. For years, Carrie would invite international students over to the house for holidays, since they could not always fly home to be with their families. Carrie’s daughters joke that their dinner tables were like the United Nations, and Carrie is proud of the cultural diversity her daughters were exposed to at a young age.
While Carrie wonders what life may have been like had she had a supportive life- partner, she acknowledges that it was her challenging life experiences that made her who she is today. In her words:
Sometimes we don’t give ourselves the credit [that] is due, the credit that we deserve, the credit that we would give somebody else, and that I’ve probably
111 reach[ed] the point in my life where I, yeah, I do acknowledge I’ve worked very hard.
Claire
Resilience is huge. I talk a lot about balance and resilience. In order just to be a president I think you have to practice those things and then I think it applies in your personal life as well. Again, health—mental and physical health—kind of underscores the whole thing. Because if you don’t feel good physically everything is difficult, and if you aren’t healthy mentally, everything is difficult. And if you sort of have those two things going for you and you can keep them going for you, then . . . if stuff happens whether at home, or with your kids, or with your husband, or with your mother, or whatever, or even at work, you’re just able to be resilient and sort of take the stuff and like deal with it and go on.
Claire, a self-assured, focused woman, has worked in higher education her entire life, and she has been a community college president in the Midwest for the last 15 years.
A wife and mother of three adult children, Claire is in her early 60s and has held a number of positions in just two different institutions. Even though Claire received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from big-name universities, someone suggested she apply for a job at a community college, which was an area she knew nothing about.
Originally working in student development, Claire took a promotion in the human resources area that gave her access to responsibilities like collective bargaining. After 11 years at that institution, a dean of students position was posted at another local community college, and Claire applied for and received the position. Once at that institution, Claire served in multiple departments from human resources and marketing to veteran affairs and instruction. Claire was directly appointed to the position of college president. While very unusual to be appointed to the presidency, Claire was close to her former president, and considers him a mentor. Several of Claire’s former presidents also were mentors to her and encouraged her to keep applying for new positions. She even
112 remembers people telling her at 23 years old that she would be a president one day, although that was not something she had ever considered at the time.
At the same time Claire accepted the dean of students position at her current institution, she also started exploring doctoral programs, knowing that she would need a doctorate in order to be promoted. She had all three of her children while she was working on her doctorate and says she barely remembers those years. All of her children were under seven years old when she completed her degree. She does remember that her husband’s job flexibility and support made it easier for her than perhaps for other women, and she says she never felt guilty for going back to work. Claire and her husband hired a full-time nanny to care for their children, which she says was a tremendous help.
Even with the number of supports in place for Claire, she says discussing work- life balance is on the top of her list when she is asked to be a public speaker. She remembers what life was like before she started asking for help:
I made it a priority to get help in terms of household stuff so we hired somebody, and we made the financial sacrifice and commitment to hire somebody because I can remember as we were in-between I thought like, ‘This was nuts!’ I hated Sundays because I was spending all of Sunday doing laundry and all this stupid stuff, and so we hired somebody who I sort of would delegate, like literally laundry, like everything household stuff. And also it was nice because my husband always has taught evenings once or twice a week, so not having to be stressed out about getting a babysitter during that awful time between like 3:30 and 7:00, where sometimes you have a lot of evening meetings or receptions. So by having this person who had flexible hours I got rid of all that stress. Never had to worry about the kids getting picked up from school or this and that, and so that was like huge.
Claire also talks about the importance of something a mentor taught her called “benign neglect,” which she defines as letting go of trying to do everything and learning to say
“no” to taking on certain projects or responsibilities.
113 Claire says it is critical to think about the big picture and not get hung up on the day-to-day. While appearing extremely confident, Claire says there was a point in her life where she was feeling physically ill all of the time and eventually learned that nothing was actually wrong with her; she was stressed. She worked through that time and vowed to eat better, to exercise more, and to make a commitment to being healthy.
Claire feels fortunate that she and her husband have not had to make major sacrifices to have the life they share: they never had to move to a new location, they never needed to take a leave of absence, and their family has been very healthy. Claire notes that if she did not have such a supportive spouse or someone to help out with the domestic and childcare duties, being a president would be impossible, because it has turned into a 24/7 job. She does acknowledge that she makes it a point not to interfere with her staff’s lives at night or on weekends, and she also personally invests in her staff.
She regularly shows appreciation for jobs well done, and she has made it a point to meet every single employee that works for her institution.
Dena
I didn’t ever really identify . . . as a woman until I was in my professional world—when I was the only one of very few women in the room. And then, you know, if you think about like racial development theory, they talk about when you’re the minority, suddenly that particular identity piece becomes very important to you. I totally resonate with that. So, when I was more in the minority as a woman, then you start to really think about what it means to be a woman in this room. . . .‘How are my comments received?’ Anyway, so at that point in my career I think I started to identify more as a woman role model. I hadn’t growing up. That wasn’t part of my agenda at all.
Dena is an optimistic, enthusiastic president at a community college in the western part of the United States and has two sons: one in college and one in high school.
She is in her early 50s and has spent her entire adult career working in higher education, even though that was not her original plan. Her bachelor’s degree is in organizational
114 communication, a field she describes as a mix between business and communication.
After graduating and moving out West with a friend, Dena was hired as a receptionist in the admission’s office at a university. Dena “just loved being on campus, loved the college, liked the environment, [and] working with prospective parents and students.” It was not until a colleague told her she could get a master’s degree in higher education that she pursued that next step. From that point forward, Dena spent her time in higher education, working next in residence life and then finally securing a position as dean of students at a community college about 10 years later.
Dena did not have a desire or goal to become a vice president or president; she had already reached her career goal as dean of students. It was a mentor’s push that gave her the encouragement she needed to go back to school and earn a doctoral degree so that she could eventually become a vice president. Her mentor, a former vice president and immediate supervisor, continued to increase her responsibilities so that her portfolio demonstrated broader experiences than someone who worked only in student services.
Dena gives her mentor much credit, stating: “He was really encouraging and helped kind of navigate my lead, sooner than I had thought, to make that happen.”
Even though Dena was able to take a staff development leave in order to pursue her PhD, she felt like she sacrificed time with her two sons in order to do so, responding in this way:
When I was getting my PhD, my son was in kindergarten when I was in coursework and so I was reading. . . . I was working. . . . At that point I had a leave, but I was doing a grad assistantship, so I had a little bit of time with him in the morning. But then I would go to school and I would either work or take classes and then I was always studying. And so, even though my husband was home with him, I feel like I kind of missed his entire kindergarten year. Like I don’t have a good memory of him in kindergarten and even 1st grade. I was so
115 busy working and studying that I feel like I kind of missed a little bit of . . . those couple years with him.
Dena says the main reason she continued with her education and path to leadership was in large part due to the constant support and encouragement from those around her, especially her husband.
As Dena continued to get promoted to higher positions, she and her husband decided that he would stay home and do a majority of the child and home care. Even though it was difficult at times financially, Dena acknowledges that having a stay-at- home-husband gave her the peace of mind she needed to work full time in executive leaderships positions:
If I hadn’t had that option, I think my experience would have been very, very different and I, in many ways, might have limited myself, if I didn’t have that comfort. So I recognize that that experience is very different than some other women, but I do think that it’s an important question that our society should be having. . . . If we’re so excited about women in the workforce and equity and pay and credibility, we should also be as excited about men at home being dads and giving dad the credibility of making that decision in their life.
One of Dena’s biggest challenges on the path to the presidency was convincing people that she could handle the job. At 5’2”, Dena has always struggled with “the little lady” stigma. She described the state where she currently resides and works in as having a strong patriarchy. She counters this perception by using humor and asserting her strengths through building credibility with her faculty, staff, and fellow administrators.
When asked to describe her biggest success as a college president, it was the announcement that she was selected to be the president, because the feeling of support was overwhelming:
They announced it in a formal meeting of the Board of Regents, but it was open to the public and, since it was on our campus, the room was packed. . . . And part of this is because I had been at the institution for so long and people know me, right?
116 . . . When they announced me, the room really, literally, just erupted into applause and it was . . . a really heart-felt, emotional moment because I just had a lot of support from the community. And I knew that with that kind of energy in the room, we could do unbelievable things together.
At her inauguration, the college community engraved Dena’s favorite quote on a plaque that is displayed in a reflection area for students; each year that she is president, they will engrave another quote to the plaque. Dena loves words and enjoys sharing quotes with others. Her artifact for this interview was a book of quotes called Love Life.
Dena is an optimist that believes when teams of people work together, anything can happen. As she insisted:
I don’t know that you can’t have it all. I actually think you can have it all. . . . I know that’s debatable. I know people would take issue with that, but I think if you frame it right in your mind, you can have both a really positive career and be a great mom.
Jen
My kids and my family are still very much my priority, and if at some point this made it impossible for me to be a good parent I would step away. I haven’t had to do that, but I would if I had to. I mean, they’re more important to me than my job, but, you know, they’ve been very much a part of my job. I have a fabulous husband who is incredibly supportive, which there is no way I could do this without having an incredibly supportive spouse.
Jen is a devoted wife and mother and is open about her family being her first priority. In the early part of her career, Jen put her husband’s career above her own, following him to different parts of the country so that he could have the job that he wanted. Her PhD is in counseling psychology, and while her original goal was to be a counselor in a college setting, she gave up that dream to be with her then boyfriend. Jen says her dream of being a counselor is one of the only sacrifices she feels she made on her journey to become college president. Once her husband settled at a job in the
Midwest, Jen took a transition job at a 4-year university in residence life, but she knew it
117 was temporary. Her boss told her she would be great at a community college, something she knew very little about, but she gave it a shot, and realized just how much she supports and believes in the community college mission. Jen said:
I loved the community college setting and environment. . . . Our commitment to social justice and access and the ways in which community colleges really change students’ lives was very fulfilling to me, and kind of allowed me to match my social justice passion, [which] really is what got me into psychology in the first place.
Jen, a kind, thoughtful woman in her mid 40s, is the youngest participant in this study and has two children. She has been at the same institution for over 13 years and worked her way up the ladder, starting as the dean of students, becoming the vice president for student services, a role she served in for 10 years, and then securing the college presidency this past year. Jen reports she never had aspirations to do any of this and credits her mentors with pushing her and believing in her. In fact, when the previous president retired, it was she who strongly encouraged Jen to apply for the presidency:
I never thought I would be a college president, but worked very closely with the college president at the time and she kept saying to me, ‘Jen, you know you really need to think about, you know, being president.’ I said, ‘No, I don’t think I want to do that.’ And she just kept planting those seeds and sending me to, you know, executive leadership institute training. Then when she announced her retirement I had to decide like, ‘Is this something that I want to do?’ And I found that I loved this college. I believe in what we do. I wanted to make sure that our tradition of student success and community continued. I’ve seen a lot of really bad presidents, to be honest with you. So I knew that I was going to get a new president, or I could try to be the new president, so I put my name in the hat.
When asked what finally gave her the confidence to apply for the position, she said the leadership institute she attended made her realize she was able to be a president.
Because she never had presidential aspirations, Jen says she made it clear during the interview process that she did not want to be a college president anywhere else; she wanted to be a college president at her current institution.
118 While Jen is calm, composed, and compassionate, she also struggles with trying to find balance in her life. In fact, she says there is no such thing as balance. In thinking back to when she learned she was pregnant, she was afraid to tell her supervisors for fear that they would react negatively. The opposite happened; all of her supervisors were incredibly supportive of her having children, and they had no issue with Jen bringing her children to college events. Jen notes that her roles of mother and professional often bleed over into the other role. For instance, she remembers when she was vice president and was breastfeeding her son while on the phone with the college lawyers. The balance is difficult, but Jen says mothers need to be upfront about their priorities:
There is no balance, and, for me, what I have to decide is what’s the priority right now. And sometimes my priority is my family and then I need to tell people at work like, ‘This is what’s going on with my family and so this is my priority. It’s not like I’m going to check out from work, but I need to let you know what’s going on at home.’ Or, for my family, ‘This a priority right now at work, and I’m not going to be as present as much or I’m going to miss these things.’ I’ll just be very clear about it, so it requires having really good communication with my partner and with the college about what’s going on in my life.
In order to keep as much balance as possible, Jen will drive home in the afternoon on certain days to spend time with her children before she needs to go back to work for an evening Board of Trustees meeting. She also incorporates her children into her college life. At Jen’s inauguration, for instance, her children played the music and were featured in the program, something she could not be more proud of.
Jen and her husband have a healthy and supportive relationship. Jen used the word
“we” every time she discussed a major decision the two were faced with. She also said her interfaith marriage (she is the daughter of a Lutheran minister and her husband is
Jewish) is a large part of her identity. The one thing she feels guilty about is how her husband may question his own identity with her achieving such a high status. She
119 jokingly says he calls himself a “trophy husband.” He has also told her that he does not want to live in her shadow and only be known as the president’s husband. Jen is very clear that her husband and children are her first priority, which is confirmed in the way she prioritized her husband’s career over her own for the first part of their marriage. Jen also says she would not want to move from the area since her children have only lived in that one location.
Although the job of college president is challenging, Jen loves that she gets to make changes that positively affect students’ lives. She loves that she has the ability to support students and encourage them to realize their dreams. Students are the reason she comes to work every day. She even has lunch with a different group of students each month, because it helps her feel connected to them. Jen says she felt a calling to be a community college president. It was through working with homeless students, immigrants without running water, and students working three jobs and then seeing them graduate and move on to 4-year institutions that made her fall in love with her job.
“When you see stories like that, Jen remarked, “It’s like how can you not believe in what we do? I very much believe in our mission.”
Karina
It is my philosophy that family comes first, and I convey that with all of my staff and faculty so everyone knows family comes first and they never ever have to feel guilty. And the same thing with . . . this phone sitting here. If my daughter calls, I’m answering it no matter what I’m doing. I’ll be in an interview interviewing a candidate for a position and I will step out and take a call from my child. But everyone is encouraged to do that, so, I mean, it’s a family-first culture.
“Family first,” was a message Karina learned from her father. Throughout her life, Karina, the president of a private, for-profit college in the East, heard stories from
120 her dad that she now shares in public addresses and with colleagues. Karina grew up in a poor family and knew at an early age that she had to get an education. In her words:
I saw that [education] could change me and my life and my stars, and it changes socioeconomic class. . . . I grew up very, very poor, you know. My parents scrabbling for every dollar or paying what they could towards the electric so they wouldn’t shut the lights off. And [we] were just really poor, and now I [am] in, you know, this crazy percentage of income earners, especially if you say women, and my children now. . . . I’ve gone from a family where no one was educated in higher education to a daughter who just completed her third degree.
Karina, herself, is an overachiever when it comes to academic degrees; she is currently working on her fifth degree. She has two bachelor’s degrees (one in business and marketing and one in education), a master’s degree in writing and literature, and a
Doctorate of Education. Her latest degree is an MFA in creative writing. Karina says this degree is all for her. Karina identifies herself as an artist first, and the only reason she did not pursue art from the beginning is that her parents only gave her two options for her studies: education or nursing. While she chose nursing and excelled in the discipline with a 4.0 GPA, she dropped out after the first semester because she hated the sight of blood.
She did not return to school until after her children were born.
Karina pursued all of her degrees while being a mother, and although she remembers how difficult and challenging those years were, she said making her children part of her education made it easier and taught them to love school as well:
The real early years I was running a daycare, so I was there for them during the day while I was earning my pay. . . . And then in the evenings and on Saturdays periodically I would take [them], especially the oldest one, with me to class, so she still was sort of by my side. But when I was home I was doing homework right next to them so they watched me studying, which I think was a great message.
Karina had a supportive husband at that time, which made it easier to balance the challenges of going to school, working, and being a mother. At one point in her studies,
121 Karina and her family lived in Japan, an experience that Karina says only added to her education:
I think part of doing the undergrad with kids is that you recognize the value of all the different ways that you learn. It’s not just this . . . school-based learning, but it’s all the people that you meet, the travel that you do, the exposure to other cultures and experiences.
Karina taught in public education for a few years, and although she was not making much money, she enjoyed being home with her children every evening to make dinner and spend time with them.
When Karina’s family relocated to another state, her teaching certification was not reciprocal, so, Karina secured her first job in higher education as a director of education at a for-profit institution. Even though she had no experience in higher education, it was her many years of experience as a student, her experience teaching, and the number of education courses she had taken that landed her the job. She worked with faculty in developing their professional skills and worked her way up the ladder. During that time, Karina’s responsibilities at work grew, and she and her husband were growing apart. That is when the opportunity came for her first presidency in the South:
And part of my decision to leave that circumstance was actually I was working a lot, but [my ex-husband] was someone who valued me as a woman as a pretty thing on his arm, and so it was my ambitions and my accomplishments in my professional life that made me realize that, ‘Wow, I’m capable of a lot more than this’.
The move down south was a difficult decision for Karina, because her eldest daughter stayed behind to complete her final years of high school.
Karina and her two younger children moved together, and Karina admitted to feeling a little over-her-head as a president of a regional campus that reported to a chancellor. It was a job she was not used to. During this time, Karina says she had a
122 difficult time balancing work and family, something she is much better at now. There is one particular memory involving her father that she still feels guilty about and relayed to me in this way:
I was working at [a former institution] and my father, who was recovering from pancreatic cancer, had come for a visit in April. And he wanted to spend time with me and I didn’t see him all week. I kept having crises at work; I kept getting called in. I met him for dinner one night, but I kept checking my watch. . . . And [I] remember that Saturday when I took him to the airport I was so upset, and when I was driving to the airport I was playing chicken with a truck. And I had a little convertible, and I’m weaving in between cars and just acting out because I was pretty upset that I hadn’t seen him. And finally . . . I pulled up to the airport and I said, ‘I’m sorry.’ I said, ‘I’m a jerk. You know, I’m sorry I didn’t see you. I’m sorry I drove like this.’ And he said, ‘It’s all good.’ . . . And he came back in the summer . . . and passed away [shortly after that]. So, of course, a month later he died and I had that whole week with him all to myself and I didn’t see him at all.
That experience, along with her strong belief that family always comes first, has made
Karina make many changes at her current institution that lets her employees know that they never have to choose between being loyal to their family or being loyal to their job; they can be loyal to both.
Karina has been president at her current institution for three years and is most proud of the way she has been able to engage the community and bring a culture of the arts to her college. With new facilities for the performing arts and additional elective offerings in the arts, Karina wants students, faculty, staff, administrators, and community members to be the best they can possibly be while enjoying their lives. She hopes to inspire her employees to seek self-actualization through professional development and by allowing them to put their own families first. Karina is currently single and very close to her three children. She makes every effort to spend as much time with them as possible, and now that she is back living near where they live, she is able to do so.
123 Kate
I love being a mom, even though it’s the hardest job of all. It can be extremely unpleasant, you know. . . . And honestly, you know, my daughter’s been extremely challenging, . . . and it does make it hard to be dealing with that as a vice president and now a president.
Kate, an ambitious, confident woman, is in her early 50s and is the president at a small community college in the East. The above quote refers to the challenges Kate’s teenage daughter has given her as a result of the relocations over the past few years. The first challenge was when Kate took a job as a vice president a few states over from where her daughter was raised on the West Coast, and then the more recent challenge when the family moved from the West Coast to the East Coast to secure Kate’s first presidency.
She expressed it in this way:
When we moved, let’s see, she was just entering freshman year of high school. So, we thought, ‘Well at least its bridging middle school to high school.’ But she . . . was so upset. It was traumatizing for her and . . . we did not predict that. We knew it would be hard, but we didn’t predict that it was really traumatic, but it was. It was very traumatic, and . . . it involved lots of serious counseling. I mean, she reacted so strongly, negatively, and just punished us. She was so mad at us that it literally took two years to kind of work through that.
Kate’s daughter moved back to the West Coast one month after she turned 18. Kate searched and interviewed for a job back west just over a year into her presidency so that she could get back to her daughter. She notified the Board of Trustees at her college that she was having family difficulties and was searching for a new job back out West. She did not get the job and remains at her current institution in the East. Her daughter has since moved back to live with Kate and her husband. Kate’s husband does not like the area either:
He has trouble connecting to [people on the East Coast], because he’s an Idaho person. Idaho males are . . . they’re stoic. . . . They’re not nearly as expressive as [the men here are].
124
When asked how she handles this type of stress, since she likes the East Coast and her husband does not, Kate answered emphatically:
He’s number one. Period. So, if he said start looking for jobs, I would start looking for jobs, because . . . he’s been giving it his full effort. He’s been trying and . . . you know, when you’re in . . . almost year three . . . if it’s still not working for you . . . Yeah.
Kate came from a modest upbringing where her parents worked very hard for very little. Although they always had food, they did not have much in terms of material goods. Kate said the big move to a middle-class neighborhood was huge for her family.
Kate worked as a waitress throughout college and when her advisers asked her if she ever thought about going to graduate school, she said, “What is grad school?” She received a paid graduate teaching assistantship at a major university and had her entire master’s degree paid for. She received her first part-time teaching job at a community college and fell in love with the community college mission. She knew she would stay in the community college sector. At the time, she began pursuing her doctoral degree, but felt burned out after being in school for so long, so she put her education on hold and continued to work. Kate received her first full-time, tenure-track position after one short year of being an adjunct faculty member and got involved with the faculty union. After receiving tenure, having two children, and going through a divorce, Kate realized she needed to take a leave of absence, without pay, and finish her education. She and her new boyfriend (now husband) moved back to her hometown with her six-year old and 16- month old, and she took two years to get her degree while working three part-time jobs.
The same university that paid for her master’s degree, paid for her doctoral degree.
125 Once Kate returned to her tenure-track position, she regained her post with the union and became its vice president. This allowed her to be active on the regional, state, and national level. It also gave her invaluable experience in the collective bargaining unit.
When an interim dean position became open in liberal arts and humanities, Kate jumped on the opportunity; then she applied and got the permanent position. After 22 years at the same community college, Kate wanted a promotion and knew she would not get one under the current president, so she took an executive vice president job at another community college. Eventually, she became vice president at another institution, and finally landed her first presidency across the country:
I was surprised how fast I got [a presidency] to be truthful with you. I mean, I was really shocked. I really thought it would take a couple of years.
Kate secured the first presidency that she applied for, which she credits to the vast experiences she has encountered in her career. She credits the support of her husband as a main reason why she was able to work full time and have such a high-power career. She also credits the support of particular supervisors along the way who provided her with flexibility to care for her family at difficult times. The most challenging time in Kate’s life was when a car hit her son while standing on the side of a road after he had just been in a car accident. Kate’s supervisors allowed her to bring a portable cot into her office so that her son, who had suffered a concussion, could rest in between classes during his first semester of college. She was amazed at the kindness of her supervisors.
When asked what keeps her motivated during these tough times, she discussed the artifact she brought with her that defines her experience as a mother and president, her parents’ wedding photograph, and says she did not have it nearly as tough as her parents did. She relayed this story to me:
126 [Kate] [My dad] was in Amsterdam in World War II and almost died several times, just weight loss or being picked up by Nazis. . . . And he had to hide at a farm, because his mom and dad were worried that they were going to make him become a Nazi soldier. Because they were doing it at that time, rounding up Dutch boys when . . . the ranks were getting smaller, and they were forcing young Dutch boys to join the Nazi soldier troops. And my dad never had to do that, but it was not easy to avoid. . . . So, you can imagine how hungry people were in Amsterdam at the time. It was really bad, and then he saw the . . . genocide of Jews was just awful. But the whole thing was just awful, and then my mother was in Indonesia, and her parents were victims; her dad was killed. That’s a very long story, but he died when she was young because of Dutch friendly fire. Her mom got sick and died, so she was an orphan and ended up in a Japanese concentration camp for five years between the ages of 7 to 12.
[Interviewer] Your mother did?
[Kate] My mother did, and so, she was lucky when the war ended, she lived. Most people didn’t. She was a foster kid and was shipped to Holland, because the Dutch had colonized Indonesia, and then after the war, they re-colonized. And so, she ended up meeting my dad when she was going to college at the time, and they were at a teacher school, and so, it ended up working out okay, but you know, when I think about my hardships, I think that’s nothing.
Unfortunately, Kate’s parents died over 20 years ago and did not see her become a college president, but they were alive to see her get her doctorate, and her mother got to meet Kate’s first son.
Kendal
As I look back on it, I don’t regret it. I don’t feel . . . that my children . . . made a lot of sacrifices. I think they felt loved. I think they felt supported. I think they were proud to have . . . a parent who was in a position of leadership. . . . They came to my office a lot after school, I remember. And on snow days, they would come to my office, and they learned that they had to behave. And they would go out and talk to people, and, in fact, they started calling my daughter ‘the deanlit,’ as that year we had. . . . a lot of bad weather. But, you know, I always had a table in my office and . . . they were really a part of my life.
Kendal, a thoughtful, introspective mother of two, is a college president in her mid-60s at a small private college in the Midwest. Kendal stressed that including her
127 children in her professional life is what makes her a “whole” person. Strong and resilient,
Kendal is a woman who paved the way for other women by being the first woman leader in many institutions where she served. On her path to the presidency, Kendal was the first woman to be department chair in her academic department, the first woman to be a dean at her institution, and the first woman president at her current institution. Although she began her career teaching advanced English courses in high school, her experience working after hours to assist adult learners positioned her to transition to higher education. Kendal recalled:
I had Vietnamese refugees; I had women who were forced out of school because they became pregnant. I had industrial manufacturing foremen who could not read or write but did not want anybody to know that.
The diversity of working with these students encouraged Kendal to make the switch to higher education, to pursue her doctoral degree, and to teach at the same time. While working on her dissertation, she was hired for a tenure-track position at a state university, stayed for one year, and then took a different tenure-track position at a large state university. Kendal and her husband literally moved to several parts of the state where they lived.
While going through the tenure process, Kendal learned she was pregnant with her second child, which was a shock since she had just recently miscarried and was devastated. Because her second pregnancy was not planned, the timing was not conducive with a faculty schedule. Kendal was also only one of two women in the department and the only woman with children. She did not take any type of maternity leave when she had her son:
People are horrified by this, but I had him on Friday morning and then I went back to work on Monday. . . . I decided that I would just see it through, so I did
128 arrange for, you know, two weeks of guest speakers if I needed them the week before the due date and two weeks afterward. But it turned out by that time, we had someone, um, who was coming to the house to care for our daughter, and so, really, it was a pretty easy transition. She already knew our routine. She knew, you know, she knew the drill, in terms of my coming and going, and so I lived close enough to the university. I actually nursed him for six months. I would go home during the middle of the day and nurse him, and I had great flexibility, because I was teaching all my graduate seminars so I could, you know, come and go more or less, as I pleased. . . . In retrospect, I think women are always horrified when I tell that story thinking that I was insensitive and not a good mother and so forth, but it was a personal choice. And it actually, you know, it actually worked for us, and . . . he slept a lot as a baby, as babies do, and I was there when he needed to nurse. I lost a lot of sleep, certainly, but it was okay, and I got a healthy baby.
Kendal’s colleagues were actually very supportive of her being a mother, and they hosted numerous baby showers for her leading up to her delivery.
After teaching for 13 years, Kendal made the transition to administration by becoming department chair and then system-wide dean at the same institution. She then accepted a dean position at a larger university in another state where later she was promoted to provost and then executive vice president. After 13 years at that institution, she accepted her current position as college president at a small private college. Although
Kendal enjoyed the time at her previous institution, when she lost respect for her supervisors and was struggling to deal with state politics, she knew it was time to move on. She did not realize the major challenges waiting for her, however, and had a lot of obstacles upon taking her first presidency: the college had just lost over one million dollars, the recession was hitting, and Kendal’s first order as CEO was to tell employees that the college had to cut retirement benefits and were not giving raises that year. Kendal says the timing of the new position, coupled with her husband’s displeasure of leaving the previous institution, may be the only thing she would do over in her career, in addition to taking care of her own health more. About this, she stated:
129 I didn’t take good care of myself. I used to run a lot, ran a marathon, and did a lot of 10Ks and so forth, and I really stopped doing that. That was the thing that kind of went out the window. I just didn’t have time to exercise, so yeah, there was time for the kids and there was time to do my job, but I didn’t really, you know, I would walk. I would try to run, but it was just really hard when you’re nursing and things like that. [Even now it is difficult, because] there are a lot of early morning meetings. There are a lot of late evening meetings, so I do try . . . to be good at my job, to feel good, to be productive. I need to take care of myself.
While there are still challenges at her institution, Kendal views all challenges as opportunities and depends on her executive leadership team to help her fulfill the college’s mission. If one of her vice president’s is not fulfilling his/her job duties, she brings that person in and has a frank discussion. If that person does not amend his/her behavior, she removes him/her from her team.
Kendal expressed a desire for retirement in her near future so that she may spend more time with her children and her granddaughter. In the meantime, Kendal says she will continue to collaborate with fellow female presidents in the area, because she appreciates the advice and support they provide each other. Kendal hopes that more women seek presidencies and that they encourage each other along the way.
Kim
You learn not to expect perfection of yourself as a mother, don’t expect perfection of yourself as a president or of those around you, but . . . perpetual improvement is a good thing.
Kim appears to be a calm, collected, and confident college president at a small private institution in the Midwest. In her early 60s, Kim is married and has a large family that she remains connected to, even though most of her children live all over the country.
She and her husband text and call their children and visit them while on vacation. Kim received her BS in Education with a major in English and planned on teaching high school English. That all changed in graduate school when she was offered the opportunity
130 to teach English composition. Kim felt right at home in higher education. Although she currently lives in the Midwest, Kim began her career in higher education in the South, with her first job as a professor of English at a small, Methodist, liberal arts college. Kim was the only female faculty member in the department for a few years; about this experience she stated:
I became very close to the men in the department and have a lot of respect for them. But I think, for the senior members of that department, there . . . was an extra level of proof . . . I had to bring to the table.
Although she had her doctorate before she was a professor, she did have a few children before her dissertation was complete. Kim laughs as she admits that she barely remembers those years, but she says that she and her husband “just worked it out.” Not wealthy, not poor, Kim’s family was comfortable, but both she and her husband needed to work in order to support their family:
That’s the reality we live in, and if you’re going to need to work and if you’re going to make a decision to have a large family, you don’t want to bring them up in poverty. Then do the best work you can that is . . . meaningful to you and provides the resources your family needs. And so that’s what we did, and . . . occasionally, of course, the two things didn’t go really well. I’d have . . . conflicting demands on my time on a given day or during a given week, but over time I learned that I could balance. And my children knew then and know now that they were very important to my husband and me. . . . Though I wouldn’t say that we were organized enough to plan this. We were not.
Kim admits to feeling exhausted and guilty in those early years, but she put faith in the fact that her work in higher education was a calling, and that belief has gotten her through the challenges she has faced and continues to face in her career. Kim’s faith in a higher entity than herself allows her to keep perspective, stating: “When it seems overwhelming,
I remember that I have a certain level of responsibility, but I’m not really ultimately in charge.”
131 Although Kim’s career began as an English faculty member, a position she is very proud of, she got involved with the Office of Institutional Advancement, because the department needed to secure an endowment for a newly created communication position.
Kim learned that she was good at fundraising, and the college president at her institution, a former mentor, encouraged her to get more involved with advancement by continuing to write grants. For a number of years, Kim worked in both the English department and the advancement office until finally being promoted to the Vice President of Institutional
Advancement. At that point, she needed to give up teaching, something she was disappointed about. When promoted to the position, there were some grumblings from former faculty colleagues about her switch to administration. Kim thought this was ridiculous, but understood their concerns at the same time; she shared:
The faculty felt that I had deserted [the] pure calling of being a faculty member, not because I was a woman. I don’t think that was particularly it, but that I’d gone to the dark side. We faculty people are very interesting, and I just never quite bought in. Even when I was doing no administrative work, I was a faculty member. I never quite bought into this divide. I mean, I thought there were people behaving badly among the faculty and people behaving badly among the administration.
After serving as the vice president of advancement for years, breaking fundraising records, and securing the institution’s future, Kim’s president announced his retirement, and Kim was contacted by a hiring consultant about applying for her first college presidency. At the time, she was still at her prior institution. Kim and her husband decided this was a good time in their lives for Kim to take this opportunity—as their children were all grown and out of the house. She applied and received the job even though she had never had plans or aspirations to be a college president until that time.
The opportunity, however, was too good to pass up.
132 Kim credits her success in higher education to many of her mentors who taught her the ins and outs of advancement, as well as providing the encouragement to try new things. She admitted that she has had to deal with a lot of obstacles along the way with regards to being a woman in senior-level administrative positions and stated:
Yeah, I mean, I worked with people who were supportive and very excited about and understood the value of [being a mother] and with others . . . who kept thinking surely I would fail, because, . . . I would just go home and not be able to do the work.
When asked how she deals with that type of criticism, Kim said she either deals with it head on or lets it go entirely, responding in this way:
For one thing, my approach to any kind of conflict, doesn’t matter what the situation, is to consider the perspective of that person. And, if there is a real issue that needs to be addressed, for us to go on to address it calmly, respectfully, and clearly one-to-one . . . and try to resolve it and move on, so that you both have your dignity, and in many cases, that works. But I also am . . . slow to be offended, because . . . it does not serve a person well or serve the cause of women in leadership well to be looking for offenses everywhere you turn. . . . And over time, I think what you do is gain respect by not fighting every battle. . . . Sometimes, you just go around the battle. Sometimes, you [have] to plow right through it, and sometimes you just decide the battle is not even worth it.
Kim’s current institution is doing very well under her leadership. They have gone against the national trend with three years of enrollment growth and have just completed a large capital campaign, raising millions of dollars for the small private institution. Kim is proud of her executive team and makes it a point to regularly acknowledge the good work of her employees. Kim hopes that higher education institutions start spotting emerging leaders, whether they have children or not, and encourage them to succeed by supporting them in whatever means they need. Kim emphasized that at the end of the day employees who are satisfied at their job will be loyal to the institution.
133 Pam
I know I didn’t have as much leeway to stay home or be home. I managed to do all the things that I needed to do and be at [my children’s] activities as best I could. Definitely the piece that my own daughter talks about [is] being involved in the school booster and volunteering. . . . And in my day there weren’t as many working mothers, and that was always a challenge. Not that…I didn’t feel bad about it, but I wanted them to feel, you know, that I was there for them.
Pam, a strong, poised woman, is a retired community college president, as well as a retired chancellor, and is in her late 60s. After being a college president for 12 years out
West, Pam took a chancellor job closer to where her two daughters live. The job also posed new challenges, something that the ambitious woman views as exciting. While
Pam describes herself as “retired,” it should be noted that she is currently working as a full-time faculty member for a doctoral program. Pam has always been one to take on additional responsibility—just for the intellectual stimulation. For instance, when her ex- husband was transferred to Germany and her children were small, Pam earned a second master’s degree. Pam originally went to school to be an English teacher, because, as she puts it, back in the 1960s women went to school to be nurses or teachers. She took a job working with adult students in the U.S. Army, teaching the veterans basic writing skills and English as a Second Language (ESL) courses. Pam’s husband left her and their children while they were in Germany, and so Pam went through her entire career as a single mother. Pam notes that her children were in daycare at a young age:
I would pick them up. And there were a lot of nights, graduations, you know, for this veterans group and all sorts of stuff, and I just took them to it. So they grew up in higher education and education in general. . . . Yeah, they became kind of used to like sitting in a room where I could kind of see them and coloring while I did things. When I was in Europe, . . . I was the curriculum director for ESL, and I would have to do workshops on the weekend. And I would put them in the car and they’d go with me. And then we would kind of sightsee the way home. I was just lucky to have, I think, a more flexible kind of job outside of the regular work time. I could take them along and bring them along.
134
When asked if her supervisors were generally supportive of her being a mother, Pam said that no one was easy on her just because she was a parent:
I think as I moved up that there was not really any allowance made, or I didn’t ask for it, for having children. I think now there’s more of that, for men too. But back then, you know, as a woman, one of the few women . . . in administration, basically I just had to get the job done and that’s partly why when I had to be at a lot of these night things and stuff I would, in many cases, be able to bring the children when they were younger.
Pam moved her daughters around a lot when they were young, because she was ambitious and wanted to aim for high-level leadership positions, even when they were sometimes above her skill level. Pam says she never had a hard time applying for a job, but does admit that daydreaming about a new position and new location, and then not getting it, was “humiliating.”
Pam’s daughters were used to moving a lot, but Pam made sure she stayed rooted in one location through her daughters’ high school years, because she did not want them to have the same experience that she had as a child. Her dad was “peripatetic,” she stated, and Pam was in 13 different schools from kindergarten through her senior year of high school. Once in high school, Pam was in a different school each year. Pam cites the many moves through her lifetime as one of the most challenging parts of her life. Now that she is retired from being college president and chancellor, she is happy to be back in the location where her daughters currently reside and where they attended high school and college.
Although she experienced some guilt about putting her daughters in daycare, Pam would not change her career path. She says her strong work ethic is what got her all of the many promotions she earned. She also says her desire to work and go to school full
135 time provided a good model for her daughters to look up to. She is extremely close to her daughters, and it was being away from them at times in their lives when they were having children and securing full-time jobs that motivated her to retire. Although she, like many of her retired friends, feared she might experience a degree of sadness and loss of purpose once stepping down from being a community college president and chancellor, that has not been the case for Pam:
I thought, well when you’re done and you go to the Walmart or wherever you go and you’re just like, you know, when you buy your meat, you’re just nobody. Nobody is going to acknowledge that you were important and that’s absolutely the case. . . . But it just doesn’t seem to bother me.
Sybil
I’d like to be able to continue to do this work for another few years but you’ve got to have the stamina to do it. . . . And at home the grocery shopping still needs to be done, the laundry still needs to be done, and so sometimes that can be pulling at you. I do have somebody who comes in to clean every other week, you know, to do the bath and that kind of stuff, but you know, I don’t think I want anybody to buy my groceries . . . and then, being a mother, to make sure even that our youngest daughter who just finished college is at home and still job hunting. I don’t want her to think I’m too busy for her and sometimes I think she gets that impression that I’m always gone. You know, those kinds of things . . . and then because of that, you also want to say to the people at work, ‘I can be here for you, too.’ And then reminding myself, ‘Okay, Sybil, you’re one person. You can only be in one place at one time and do so many things.’ And so learning how to delegate some things has been something I’ve learned how to do.
Sybil, a soft-spoken woman, is an African American president in her mid-60s at a large community college in the Midwest. A mother of four children and several grandchildren, Sybil has been a college president for three years, and it was not until her children were all grown and out of the house that Sybil applied for her first presidency.
Sybil never had aspirations to be a college president, but she knew she liked working in higher education. After receiving her BA in English education, Sybil accepted a fellowship for a master’s program in library science, and her graduate education was paid
136 for. Her first job was working at a private institution in New York in library science.
When her husband was offered a job in the Midwest, they moved, and Sybil took a job as a part-time librarian at the community college where she is now the president.
Sybil worked her way up from part-time librarian, to library director, director of professional development, vice president for academic affairs, and finally college president. She earned her PhD in education and human resource studies along the way.
Sybil says that she never intended on transitioning to upper level administration or getting her doctoral degree until a supervisor and mentor encouraged her to do so:
She said, ‘Sybil, you know you have the potential. You have the leadership skills, but what you need is the credentials that opens that door for you and that’s the doctorate.’ And at that point I decided, ‘Okay, I will go ahead and pursue it.’ Up until that point actually I hadn’t honestly thought about it. I enjoyed the work that I was doing in the library, I enjoyed the opportunities working across the board in different committees and so forth, but I never really saw myself as being in upper administration. I really didn’t, and it’s not that I didn’t think I could do it. I just didn’t think that that was a path that I wanted to take. And having a family with young children, you have to make priorities.
Sybil knew she wanted to stay in higher education for the next 15-20 years and that is what motivated her to pursue her degree and branch out to other areas.
Sybil credits much of her professional accomplishments to the support and encouragement from a long list of mentors, former supervisors, current employees, and family. She says her husband was especially helpful, and the fact that he already earned his doctorate and was established in his career before she began her studies was helpful.
She acknowledges that she probably would not have been able to earn her doctorate any other way.
Sybil comes from a background of modest means. Her parents were both schoolteachers and encouraged Sybil and her siblings to go to college. She finds it ironic
137 that people see her differently now that she is a college president, especially since she has been at the same institution for 30 years. In fact, one of her biggest challenges has been moving up the ladder in the same institution where she was once faculty and is now college president. About this, Sybil commented:
Sometimes I have to remind myself what position I have, because I still see myself as the same person that I’ve always seen myself as just Sybil, the person who grew up in a very small town in [the South] who just made it from one step to the other. And in some ways . . . if you look back, a pretty normal life that was not exceptional but some people might think it’s exceptional simply because of the accomplishment. But I didn’t see anything as exceptional nor do I see anything I have to say or do that’s exceptional except other people sometimes think that way. So I just see myself as a normal person who has been given an opportunity to help other people, and I’m thankful that I realize that and I’m doing it.
Sybil’s family is spread out all over the United States, and so in order to be fair, she and her husband plan their vacations so that they can visit each child. Sybil says she has also gotten very good at using Facetime, text messaging, and other social media platforms in order to stay in contact with her family. They text throughout the day and often share photos of their children and grandchildren.
While Sybil notes that she would not have done anything different in her career, she explains that the job of being a college president and a mother is not an easy one. To get through those difficult days, she seeks advice from her former college president, her peers, and her 91-year-old mother. In Sybil’s words:
You know, it’s not easy and I take advice from a lot of people and listen to a lot of people, . . . and I’m just like anybody else. You know, I get very frustrated on some days, very impatient sometimes with people, but then I remember, my mother reminds me, that you can’t change people. You just do the best you can and you learn to listen and work with people. And, at 91, I think she’s seen it all—so she gives good advice.
138 Tara
I don’t know how to split myself up appropriately and I never have. So, do I feel like maybe other people have made sacrifices for me. Yes, I do. I think that people continue to make sacrifices on my behalf. I have guilt around that, which probably differs from any man you would interview about this. Because, you know, somebody’s always mad at me, because they feel like they’re getting the short end of the stick. So, you know, there’ll be the institution and there’ll be some part of the institution that I work at, you know, whether it’s the board, whether it’s the staff, whether it’s the community, that feels like I haven’t paid enough attention recently to them. There’ll be my husband, who misses me; my children, who ask me where I’ve been or, you know, why I can’t do this or why I can’t do this or why I’m not the mother that bakes the cakes and hosts the parties at school. And, honestly, my daughter has come to the realization at 13, now (she realized this at about 10.) that, even if I was a stay-at-home mom, I wouldn’t be that mom. That’s just not where my skillset lies.
Tara, a driven and ambitious woman, is a community college president and has three children. In her mid-40s, Tara has been a president for one year. Tara did not take the traditional path to a college presidency. She earned her MBA while working for a bank that was constantly being bought and sold, and when the company was ready to downsize, her department was first on the list. Because she was single at the time and did not have children, Tara offered to resign so that employees with families did not have to make any sacrifices. The bank fired other people anyway and did not fire Tara; that is when she knew the banking business was not for her and started networking with contacts she had made at several community events.
Tara’s go-getter, positive attitude resonated with a local community college president, and he offered Tara a job at his institution. She declined, because she did not have experience working in higher education. She took another job as a product manager for a manufacturing company, and the college president who offered her the job continued to ask Tara to at least consider working in higher education. She declined again. The man, who later became her mentor, said, “I don’t know anybody who turns
139 down a job without ever exploring the opportunity.” That resonated with Tara, especially since she was having parallel discussions in her personal life as well:
I was very serious with my (now) husband and he was starting to have conversations with me about, ‘I don’t know if we can ever get married, because you’re never home long enough for us to really have a meaningful relationship, if we were to get married.’ And, you know, we had been talking about getting engaged and if we were going to get married, when it would be, and we really couldn’t even get a date where I was home long enough for us to have a honeymoon coupled with it and all of that.
Tara decided to interview, was offered the job at the local community college, and accepted.
Tara acknowledged that her mentor realized potential in her that she had not realized yet. She credits the support of her mentor, along with the support of her husband and others, as the reason she is successful in her career. Her husband quit his job several times so that Tara could follow her dreams. Tara has worked at multiple institutions across the country and has had jobs that varied from chief information officer and vice president for finance and administration to vice president for student services and finally college president. Even though she has had the support of her husband, Tara said those early years in her career, when she was earning her doctoral degree and working full time, were the toughest years of her life:
All of my children were very, very small (preschool age). I was still nursing the twins. So, literally I had my pump with me. I was pumping in the car. I had a little attachment. I was pumping in the bathroom. I had the cooler I would carry around. I had a little sign for the door at the office. I mean, it was totally nuts, right? I can remember even passing my husband on the Beltway, which is a crazy highway in [major city in the US]. We pull over and switch out the car seats midday, because he was like, ‘You take them. I’ll take the afternoon.’ And, it was so nuts.
Tara remarked that she was feeling resentful towards the men with families in her doctoral cohort, because they did not have the same level of responsibility at home that
140 she and one of her female friends in the cohort did. She even commented that at one point the two friends joked that what they needed to get through the program was a wife, someone to take care of the housework and the children.
Because Tara is someone wired to give 100% effort to everything she does, it has taken a toll on her physically. She says her own health is the first to go when she gets busy. She even gave up exercising at one point, because she could not find the time to fit it into her schedule. After two weeks, she was so miserable and stressed that her husband told her she needed to add fitness back into her routine. Now, she wakes up at 5:00 a.m. so that she can squeeze exercise into her routine.
Tara has much guilt in what she perceives as sacrifices that others have made on her behalf. Getting emotional many times during the interview, she repeatedly said how blessed she was to have such support from both her family and her former supervisors.
She hopes that being a college president makes them proud:
People have literally given me opportunities and I hope, in reflecting back over my life, that I have, you know, met those challenges and even exceeded those. You know, that’s what I always try to do. . . . I guess it’s always been instilled in me, even, you know, with my parents, is that you work as hard as you possibly can. You always give a 100% to everything you do or there’s no point in doing it. And so, you know, I kind of hope that people giving me these opportunities is a reflection of that and so, kind of regardless of what I’ve done, I hope that people would say that I gave it my all.
Concluding Remarks
This chapter provided demographic information and painted a portrait for each of the 11 women who participated in this study. The commonalities, as well as the differences, that were introduced within the portraits will be explored in subsequent chapters. Chapter 5 will focus on the themes that emerged across the women’s stories regarding what motivated them to become college presidents, how they attempt to
141 balance the many challenges of being both a college president and a mother, obstacles and successes they faced along their career paths to college presidencies, and lessons they learned along the way. Chapter 6 will discuss the findings and implications of this study, as well as provide advice to both higher education administrators and women with children who may aspire to be college presidents.
142 CHAPTER 5
THE CHALLENGES, REWARDS, AND INFINITE SEARCH FOR BALANCE AS
BOTH A COLLEGE PRESIDENT AND A MOTHER
I’m a very rational thinker. I’m very much a realist. So, I believe in being truthful. I do not think that you should go into anything thinking that it’s something it’s not. . . . I think the reality of the situation is it’s really, really hard and you will always feel like you’re shortchanging someone. And you need to know going in that, if you want to be a college president or any . . . senior leader and a mother and a wife, and a daughter, and, if you want to have all of those hats, . . . it’s very tough. And, again, you know, it will be a mixture of emotions nearly every day, . . . and I wouldn’t continue to do it unless I wanted to. You know, I don’t have to be a college president and I guess I wouldn’t have to be a good mother. You have a choice, right? I certainly don’t have to be a wife, right? So, all of those are choices that you make. . . . So, I think if somebody wants to say, ‘Look, I do want to be a senior leader and I do want to be a mother and, you know, I’m okay with hard work’, then there shouldn’t be any reason why that is not appropriate. I have had two women who had babies while they were working for me and it was important for me to kind of give back the way people had done for me. So, you know, I was very flexible with them as well. I said, ‘You know, as long as you’re getting the job done, . . . it’s not about punching a clock to me. If you get the job done, and I know both of you are very dedicated women, it’s really important that your mind is at ease and relaxed with knowing that your child or children are being well taken care of. And so, if that means you have to go get them because they’re sick or you want to leave and attend their recital or their game and it’s not a board meeting, . . . I’m okay with that, as long as you’re getting the job done.’ When I left [name of institution], it was interesting, cause you don’t know the impact you have on people’s lives sometimes, right? But, both of them came up to me and said, ‘You know, it was possible for us to be a professional and a mother partly because of you. Because you were supportive of that and you allowed us to not feel guilty about work or about our kids.’ And that was really meaningful to me, because that’s what I was striving to do, because I think it’s okay to have all of that and still be damn good at what you do. Tara
The portraits of the 11 women in the previous chapter give voice to the path to leadership for these mothers and college presidents. It is also evident how their different paths directed them to a career they all felt was “a calling,” an opportunity to give back to the community in which they live, enriching the lives of the many students entrusted to their educational care. During this phenomenological study, I spent between one to two hours with each participant in a private setting where I took notes on their non-verbal
143 communication while recording our conversation. Using Moustakas’ (1994) phenomenological methods of analysis of epoche and bracketing, phenomenological reduction, imaginative variation, and the synthesis of meanings and essences, I was able to unfold the major themes and subthemes for this chapter in order to answer the following research questions that guided this study: (a) What are the lived experiences and perceptions of a small group of mothers in presidential positions at higher education institutions?; How do they make sense of their lives?; (b) How has being a mother affected the career paths of these mothers in college presidencies?; (c) What have been the challenges that they have faced in their careers, and what has contributed to their success in moving up the presidential ladder?; and (d) In what ways do they think their personal attributes, skills, and experiences as a mother relate to their personal attributes, skills, and experiences as a leader and college president?
In this chapter, I explore how these participants made sense of their lives and what motivators contributed to them seeking the most prestigious role in higher education: the college presidency. There are 11 themes that emerged from this study and
26 subthemes. Before narrowing the women’s responses into these 11 themes, I initially came up with 131 pages of significant statements from the 11 participants from combing through each transcript several times. I explored how the women came to identify themselves, what being a mother and a college president meant to them, and how they eventually became college presidents. The 11 themes are: (1) It Was a Calling: Internal
Motivators for Being a College President; (2) They Never Planned on Being College
Presidents: External Motivators for Being a College President; (3) It Takes a Village: The
Need for Support; (4) Dealing with Guilt and Sacrifice: There is Not Enough Time in the
144 Day; (5) There is No Such Thing as Work-Life Balance; (6) Their Greatest Challenge:
The Doctorate; (7) Being Moms Make Them Better College Presidents: Their Leadership
Skills Come From Being a Mother; (8) Being College Presidents Make Them Better
Moms; (9) Family Comes First; (10) Challenges and Obstacles of Being a College
President; and (11) What the Women are Most Proud Of.
In addition to the 11 themes, the following chapter explores what, if anything, would make these mothers vacate the presidential position. Together these stories form a deeper understanding of what it takes to be both a college president and a mother and how the two roles may complement each other in assisting women to reach both their personal and professional goals.
It Was a Calling: Internal Motivators for Being a College President
There’s work to do here that I can do, and I feel called to do this. I mean, I’m motivated by faith and . . . animated by that . . . and so, when it seems overwhelming, I remember that I have a certain level of responsibility, but I’m not really ultimately in charge. Kim
Every single participant in this study said she felt that she was “called” to be a college president, yet not one woman in this study ever planned on becoming a college president when she began her career in higher education. It was the ultimate call to
“serve” and “give back” that eventually motivated each participant to apply for the esteemed position. This supports previous research by Tunheim and Goldschmidt (2013) who also found that women presidents reported being called to serve. While seven of the
11 participants mentioned “faith” or “spirituality” in describing their calling, all 11 participants felt called to the position because of the good they knew they could do in the world and the positive experiences they could pass on to students. Table 7 shows the internal motivating factors that “called” the women to be college presidents.
145 Table 7
Internal Motivating Factors Related to Their Calling to the Presidency
Participant’s Could Support Motivated Need Faith/ Name Make a Students by Values to Spirituality Difference (Give Serve Back) Carrie X X X X X Claire X X X Dena X X X X Jen X X X X X Karina X X X X Kate X X X X Kendal X X X Kim X X X X Pam X X X X Sybil X X X X X Tara X X X X
When asked why they applied to be a college president the answers all centered around a calling, such as these comments by Carrie, Jen, Pam and Karina:
Carrie: It’s interesting. I’ve identified myself by what I do first and foremost, and that’s because I feel like it’s a calling to me. It’s not . . . a job. It’s a profession. It’s a calling. It’s my career. It’s who I am. It helps change lives and we transform. . . . We’re in a transformative environment. I mean, I believe that. I really feel like we all make a difference.
Jen: I believe in what we do. I wanted to make sure that our tradition of student success and community continued. I’ve seen a lot of really bad presidents, to be honest with you. So I knew that I was going to get a new president, or I could try to be the new president, so I put my name in the hat.
Pam: I have a social justice tinge and so I think the community college is so critical. But I’ve also always been very fascinated by change and all of the stuff that’s going on, you know, keeping the organization . . . particularly when I got to be a president and then a chancellor . . . up with the times or even anticipating so that when the students are coming in five years what you have is what is going to help them.
146 Karina: You know, I obviously take it serious about educating future generations. I kind of went from educating myself, educating my children to realizing that I’m passionate about educating everyone. (Laughs) [I enjoy] leading, [being] visionary, serving. I think serving is probably, actually . . . put that number one, because I definitely see my role as serving the constituents here at the college, internal and external community.
One subtheme emerged from the overarching theme of being “called” to be a president: the women were motivated by their values and by the opportunity to make a difference.
Motivated by Values and the Opportunity to Make a Difference
The participants were very vocal regarding what it is about their current institutions that motivated them to serve there. 100% of participants mentioned their institution’s mission being aligned with their personal core values. The opportunity to
“make a difference” was cited by all 11 participants. This supports the work of pervious researchers who found that women leaders are intrinsically motivated by doing something personally fulfilling (Kouzes & Posner, 2007; Mayer et al., 2015). This was especially true for the seven community college presidents who even went as far to say that community colleges are the most significant in making positive change in U.S. higher education. Kate, who mentioned her faith, had the opportunity to work at several different Carnegie classifications including one prestigious state university and chose to take the presidency at a community college instead. In Kate’s words:
I really believe in the mission of community colleges. . . . I was raised Catholic and I think part of what was instilled in me through that experience, even though I don’t practice anymore, was just the notion of service to others, and you know, a better world is a world where we do try to help each other. . . . And I really believe that was somewhere in my thoughts when I was choosing between [a four-year university] and [a community college], because I really had that choice at one point.
147 It didn’t take me long to realize in addition to not liking the research, I don’t even like the mission that much [of research universities]. Just being with people who, some of them, this truly is their second or third chance at a decent life through public higher education is definitely why I’m here, and I’ve never questioned that . . . I really do feel blessed. I feel like, oh my goodness. I did not plan that I would end up here. I did not go to a community college.
Kate is not alone. Not one of the seven community college presidents ever attended a community college prior to working in that sector. They all received their degrees from a four-year public or private institution. They all mentioned that someone told them what the mission of community colleges was, and it was the access to postsecondary education for all that steered them to serve at those institutions. Claire emphasized that community colleges are leaders in higher education:
It’s the best sector of higher ed hands down. I mean seriously . . . I feel like it’s an environment where you have the best of both worlds because we are higher ed and we are education, but yet we have a lot more flexibility. We move a lot more quickly. We’re not tied to . . . , ‘It’s always been done this way.’ We’re younger institutions. Like we are going to have our 50th anniversary in a year. . . . An organization that’s 50 years old is pretty young in the big scheme of things and so I like that. I love our students. I mean, our students are real people. Not that they’re not elsewhere, but they are here. Their stories are amazing. I like the community connection. It is so ingrained in me that we are one with our community, but I like that you have to know your community, and you have to be involved and I like that part of it, you know. And in the last 10 years we’ve done what everybody has been talking about in terms of the economic issues with the recession—being an economic engine. . . . So it ended up being a real good fit for the kinds of things that I like to do. I guess in my heart I’m pretty much, you know, someone that believes in opportunities for everybody, and even though I went to larger schools, you know, [we are] much more into kind of our open admission, our sense of equality, our sense of working with the community, our commitment of diversity, all those things I like. So when I hear my husband’s stories [who works at a private university] or I go to some of these things and just the whole elite stuff and all that, I’m just so done with that.
Sybil likened the opportunities provided to students at community colleges to her own college experience at a land grant institution in the South:
148 It just gives me an opportunity, especially being in a community college, to be able to help many, many people who may not have the opportunity for higher education. . . . I went to school in [the South] where I grew up. I went to a land grant institution that was established for people who either couldn’t go to a private institution or couldn’t afford to go away to private institutions, but the land grant colleges were there. And if it had not been for those colleges, I wouldn’t have had an opportunity to go. So I look at community colleges in the same venue. And also look at it as a place where students who are not prepared yet for college. We can help them to get there. They have to do their part. We don’t give away academics. We have high expectations but we hire the best faculty that we can find, and then we have expectations for our faculty and staff to help . . . the students. So I look at my role as president as setting that standard.
Although the community college presidents were most vocal in the colleges where they served aligning with their personal values, the four remaining presidents also spoke about being called to their institutions for similar purposes. Carrie works at a four- year public university and made the decision to leave a private institution at one point in her career, because it was making a major change in its mission, a change that Carrie did not support. About this, she stated:
One institution [where I worked] was considering changing its identity and thus changing its name. . . . It was an institution that was considering moving from single sex status to co-ed status. And we did a lot of research and looked at institutions that stayed single sex, others that went co-ed. And it was clear to me that the current president at that time was interested only [in] going co-ed, because that’s the only information that was ever shared with the Board of Trustees. The success stories of a single sex status were never shared. So I knew that I really needed to think long and hard about if I could support that move, and made a decision that it wasn’t the right place for me at that point in time, and that was very, very hard. I loved the institution, but I made a decision not to be there. [I had] no place else lined up. I did a lot of work with the career coach and really tried to determine what I wanted to do next. . . . Because of my connections, because I was working with these professional women across the country, I had a close connection with the woman president of a nearby institution and I said to her, ‘What kind of projects do you have? I want to be involved. You know, I’ll help you.’ And instead she hired me on a contractual basis. . . . She is now retired, but to this day she says I changed her institution. . . . So, I was reminded of this—that by remaining true to my values, listening to my inner voice and my intuition, and also corroborating that with facts and what was happening
149 in reality, I knew that it just wasn’t the place for me. And sort of when that door was closing it helped open another one.
Kendal, who works at a four-year private university, had a similar experience when administrators she was working for started making decisions that went against her personal beliefs. Even though her husband did not want to leave the area, Kendal said she could not work for people she did not respect, and she quit her job and went on to her first presidency.
Between feeling spiritually pulled, following their principles and believing they could make a difference in the world, the 11 participants in this study all expressed that they felt called to be college presidents. The internal motivators were powerful; none of the participants in this study mentioned extrinsic factors, such as money, as a motivator for pursuing a college presidency.
They Never Planned on Being College Presidents: External Motivators for Being a
College President
Not one of the participants in this study ever thought she would become a college president early on. One participant figured it out earlier in her career than the others, but not one single woman planned on becoming the chief executive officer. Kim pointed out this is not surprising for women:
I think you’re more likely to hear men in their early career or mid-career say, ‘This is where I’m going’. . . . I don’t think that’s good or bad. I just think that maybe it’s nature. Maybe it’s environment. I don’t know. . . . I have always tended to be adaptable and to believe that . . . you ought to be brave enough to take opportunities when they come, but with . . . any kind of real leadership position, there is the risk of public failure, and that holds a lot of people back— men and women. It’s easier to be an armchair quarterback, right, than to run balls or to throw the ball.
150 Kendal echoed Kim’s statement and said she never planned on becoming a college president either:
No, I never thought about [being a college president]. . . . I think that is the case for a lot of women. They don’t really aspire to [it]. It is not . . . a direct line. It’s meandering. It’s the labyrinth that people talk about. No. I didn’t think about it until, I guess, I got into upper level administration, probably when I became a dean at [name of institution]. It wasn’t as large an institution, . . . and so I got to know the President. . . . He was encouraging me. I think also some other colleagues encouraged me to certainly seek the next level.
The other participants expressed Kendal’s sentiment; the women credited mentors and former supervisors repeatedly as a major external factor in why they applied for college presidencies. This finding directly relates to Bornstien’s (2008) study on college presidents that found women with mentors are more likely to become college presidents than women without mentors. The findings also relate back to Josselson’s (1987) female identity theory that notes when a woman’s work is validated by someone she knows, it
“can change an identity-distant job into an enriching and anchoring aspect of a woman’s existence” (p. 177). All 11 participants credit a mentor or several mentors as someone who encouraged them to apply for senior level administrative positions, including the presidency. Two subthemes emerged in external motivators for applying for a college presidency: (a) they believed in me: mentors, supervisors, and colleagues and (b) we can do this: confidence from accomplishing difficult tasks. Table 8 details the external motivators for being a college president.
151 Table 8
External Motivators for Being a College President
Participant’s Others Mentors Gained Name Encouraged and Confidence Them Supervisors Through Provided Accomplishing Support Difficult Tasks Carrie X X X Claire X X X Dena X X X Jen X X Karina X X Kate X X Kendal X X X Kim X X Pam X X Sybil X X X Tara X X
They Believed in Me: Mentors, Supervisors and Colleagues
When asked why they decided to pursue a college presidency, especially if they never planned on doing so, the women all said the same thing: someone believed in them.
For example, when Dena was asked when she knew she wanted to be a president, she responded in this way:
[Dena] That’s an interesting question. I had been asked by several people, including the previous president, when I was going to apply to be a president. She was very much interested in me moving on to be a president. And she asked me four or five years ago and I would always say to her, ‘You know, I really like being the vice president. I don’t think I really want to be a president. I’m not sure that job duty portfolio is really something I’m interested in.’ And, so . . . it really wasn’t on my radar and then I started saying, ‘Well, if it was the right place, I would be a president. I would go for the presidency.’ And I had a good friend that became a president at a community college that she was very, very happy in and she talked to me a lot about the fit and how great it was. And so I started to see that as an opportunity and, probably my biggest barrier was I didn’t see myself as being very presidential. I had a very particular view of what it’s like to be president. I don’t think it was entirely real . . . and I didn’t fit that picture.
152
[Interviewer] What was the picture? What did you picture in your mind?
[Dena] The picture was very extremely polished, very formal, very legislatively savvy, great fundraiser. It was more style than substance, I think. I’m very informal, kind of open. I like to laugh. I like to involve a lot of people. I come from student affairs, so I’m ---- (laughing), you know. . . . The presidents that I had seen from afar never acted like that. I had a hard time reconciling my style with that role. And what I found is that that style is actually, in many ways, helpful as a president and that people appreciate it, so that was a learning curve for me.
Like Dena, Tara had a mentor that pushed her to take on challenges and roles outside of her comfort zone. At times giving some tough-love advice, Tara’s mentor saw potential in her before she did; she spoke about him in this way:
It’s almost like when you raise your own kids, right, and you know you hope that later in life they figure out that what you did was in their best interest. So, what I realized later in my life was that. . . . He kind of realized things in me that I had not yet, and so to the point where he actually said . . . , ‘I thought you were smart type of thing,’ because he was hoping that I had enough fire in [my] belly. And, so he kind of . . . knew that more than I did, and he has been a mentor to me since and continues to be. And it is one of those things where I have reflected back, you know, as long ago as a decade, something that he has said to me that has just made sense in the moment and I thought, ‘Wow! That’s kind of crazy that that would make sense to me now.’
Sybil, too, said her mentor, who was the former president, pushed her to get her doctoral degree and apply for a presidency:
I went back to school and earned my doctorate . . . and then started to think seriously about upper administrative positions. But the president’s role was something that I didn’t actually. . . . It may have crossed my mind and I think I went through the same kinds of thoughts that many people have. You know, ‘Do I really want to be a president? No, I don’t think so. Can I be a president? Yeah, probably, but do I want to do that? No, I don’t think so.’ And then all of a sudden the opportunity is there for you and you say, ‘You know, I probably could do that.’ You know and then say, ‘It’s okay for me to try.’ And that’s when it happened. So in 2010 when I was appointed Vice- President of Academic Affairs, I had an opportunity to work directly with the college president and to get to see more firsthand the role of the college president and the opportunity and the influence that the position has that can help more
153 people. So it kind of fell in line with my philosophy all along with taking different jobs and different responsibilities. This gave me an opportunity to help more people, and so that’s the view that I’ve always taken. Up until then, though, it’s not like I planned a path to get here.
Having someone, usually a mentor and/or supervisor, express that they believed these women had the leadership skills to one day be a college president was the impetus that they needed to believe in themselves. Had someone not acknowledged the skills that these women had to lead an institution, it is difficult to determine if they would ever have aspired to become a college president.
We Can Do This: Confidence From Accomplishing Difficult Tasks
Like Bandura’s (1977) social cognitive theory states, self-efficacy is a person’s ability to believe that she will be successful. The theory notes that factors influencing self-efficacy are: (a) receiving positive verbal feedback (as many of the participants mentioned); (b) overcoming difficult tasks; (c) dealing appropriately with emotional arousals; and (d) performing mastery experiences. The last is considered the strongest form of self-efficacy because it is based on our own experiences. Five of the participants said gaining on-the-job experience, as well as participation in leadership institutes, gave them confidence that they could succeed in a presidency. For example, Jen noted her participation in an executive leadership institute:
It is very intensive. You apply to be a president. . . . It’s pretty rigorous training, and at the end of that I came away with, ‘Okay, I think I can do this.’ It’s still a question of whether or not I want to do this, but I left thinking, ‘I could do this.’ But, I wasn’t certain still that I really wanted to. You know, I’m an introvert by nature. I’m a quiet leader, so I knew that there was a lot more public stuff with this role, which I can do, but it takes more energy from me.
Sybil said it was her work as Vice President of Academic Affairs that helped her to realize she was capable of being a college president:
154 When I was Vice President of Academic Affairs, I had [multiple] deans reporting to me and, you know, [hundreds of] faculty depending on the semester, and there’s not one decision that you can make that everybody’s going to be happy about. So what you always have to do is do what you think is best for the students, best for the college at large, and to be fair to people. And so I think after realizing, you know, this is hard work and I can do this, then maybe being a president isn’t that farfetched from what I’m able to do. But it wasn’t until that point when I got into that position that I made that realization. Being a dean was good work, you know, you’re closer to the faculty then and it’s more about scheduling and faculty hiring and evaluations and student complaints. But you still don’t quite get the same sense of what it means to the whole institution picture until I became the vice president.
Equally, Pam noted that while she was always ambitious, similar to the other participants, it was her experience in the ACE Fellowship program that made her realize she had what it took to be a college president, and eventually a chancellor as well.
The participants who attended formal training programs and accomplished challenging tasks were often introduced to those experiences by a supervisor and/or mentor. The more each participant received positive feedback while serving in a leadership role, the more she began to believe in her ability to be a college president.
It Takes a Village: The Need for Support
I think support is really important, and different people play different supportive roles in the life of a president. . . . I think I have several members of my administrative team who could be presidents. And I’ve really been trying to encourage them to go ahead and sort of take the plunge and consider it and do it because we need good leaders. You know, we need people that want to do these jobs, so we can’t make them look horrible or look so stressed that nobody wants to do it. And we also can’t make them that way, you know. So, that requires [commitment from] everybody at different levels to be supportive.
Claire
Each participant confirmed what previous research states: being a college president is a 24/7 job. There is no downtime, because even in one’s downtime, she is expected to represent the college. It is hard work, and no one is given special privileges to make the work easier—not even mothers. What each woman said helped her be
155 successful is support from others. No matter where the support came from the message was clear: we cannot do this alone. This theme has several sub-themes that speak to the various ways that these women have felt supported in their roles, including: (a) mentors,
(b) children, (c) spouses, (d) supervisors, and (e) others. Table 9 shows a breakdown of the people the participants cited as providing support in their roles as mother and president.
Table 9
Support for the Women in Their Roles as Mother and/or President
Participant’s Mentors Children Spouses Supervisors Others Name Carrie X X X X Claire X X X X X Dena X X X X X Jen X X X X X Karina X X X X Kate X X X X X Kendal X X X X Kim X X X Pam X X X X Sybil X X X X X Tara X X X
Mentors
While most of the participants had mentors that were previously supervisors, the roles are not one in the same. A mentor is someone who encourages you on your career journey, providing invaluable insight in what it takes to be successful. Bornstein (2008) and Josselson (1987) both cite the power a mentor can have over a successful woman’s career. The participants in this study were no exception; 100% of the participants said they had a mentor at one point in their careers. Kim, for instance, said that multiple mentors showed her the ins and outs of higher education:
156 I was able to learn from those mentors who had helped develop that fundraising success and to build on it. And I learned a lot about the importance of authentic relationships with donors and being sensitive to what gives them joy and not taking it personally if my cause was not their cause.
Jen, too, spoke highly of her mentor, her former president, and said she aspires to be the same type of leader:
She was at [this institution] for 30 years. So when I got here she had already been the President for almost 10 years at that point, and just the most student-focused, mission-driven, humble beyond belief, you know, values. She led by her values. . . . She just always did the right thing—ethical, moral, nurturing. I mean, she . . . created a community here for students and employees, and so she is a remarkable woman. She really is a remarkable woman. I care about students. It’s not about ego. I work hard. She worked incredibly hard, but it wasn’t about her and, you know, I want to be that same kind of leader. She was remarkable and interesting and well-loved. I mean, everybody loved her.
One thing to note, Jen was one of three participants who had female mentors. The eight other participants had only male mentors, most of whom were former college presidents. Of the participants, nine of the 11 had more than one mentor throughout their careers and seven of the 11 said a former college president mentored them.
Children
Every participant in this study felt proud of the work they were doing and said having their children see them succeed as a college president and a mother is an invaluable lesson for their children. At the time of this study, only two participants still had children in the 6-13 year old age range. Additionally, two participants still had teenagers living with them and the other seven participants had adult children. For the seven with adult children, all seven said their children have told them how proud they were to have a mother who is a college president. Pam was particularly proud at how well
157 each of her two daughters adapted to life as a president’s daughter, especially since she did not have a supportive husband:
My daughters just learned to be extremely comfortable in this kind of milieu, you know. They became very comfortable with moving since we moved a lot. . . . I don’t think they struggled that much. They were in German schools for three years and, you know, very Germanized. And then when we came back to the job [in the Midwest] and they went into [a public] high school, which was about the yuppiest, you know . . . All-American. And they did the transitions very well. They didn’t seem to have any problems at all. And . . . they were very appreciative once they got old enough of how hard I worked and, you know, what I was doing for them. So I think it was a good influence on both of them. Not all kids could adapt to that.
Although Kendal’s daughter and son are adults now, Kendal can remember putting her son to sleep one night when he was very young and shared this story:
He didn’t want to go to bed, and I said, ‘Well let’s talk, you know. Let’s talk about when you grow up. What would you like to do? Would you like to be a writer like your father or would you like to be a professor like your mother?’ He gave me this little smile, and he said, ‘Mommy, women can’t be professors.’ I said, ‘Really, why can’t women be professors?’ He said, ‘Men are professors. Women are deans.’ (laughing) I guess I would say both of them were proud of my achievements, I think, and supportive.
For the four participants with non-adult children still living at home, all but one said their children have expressed pride in their mother’s presidency. Jen, for instance, said her children are very proud that she is a college president and loves that her son constantly brags about her position to both his friends and his teachers.
Since being a college president is a 24/7 job, many of the women reported feeling pangs of guilt from having to spend time away from their families. It was ultimately their children expressing pride in their mothers’ careers and accomplishments that helped the women realize they made the right career-related decisions.
158 Spouses
Eight out of 11 participants are married (one is re-married); three are divorced. Of the three that are divorced, one said she had a very supportive husband when her children were young, the other two did not have supportive spouses, and the participant who is remarried said her first husband was not supportive at all. They each credit their ex- husband’s inability to deal with their success as a major reason that led to their divorce.
The eight married participants are very appreciative of the amount of support provided by their spouses. Dena’s husband is a stay-at-home father and Tara, Carrie, and Kate have husbands who quit their jobs or tried to transfer positions so that their wives could pursue their careers. While Tara’s husband found success in his own business, Kate’s husband lost his job after the move, and Carrie’s ex-husband struggled with his identity and was anything but supportive of Carrie’s career. He even told her at one point that he did not want to be the husband of a college president. Pam’s ex-husband was also unsupportive of her career, and this was before she was an administrator in higher education; she shared these experiences about their marriage:
I did that business of staying home, teaching, and having the job while he went to graduate school. In fact, one day I came home . . . (I used to sometimes be able to leave at 1:30 from my job because we had block scheduling and they didn’t make you stay so much then), and I got home like at 1:45 and he was still sleeping away. ‘Wait a minute,’ (laughing) . . . I remember saying, ‘I’m not going to sort your socks anymore.’ I was in that first wave of feminism where I could see the change in the way I saw my role evolve over that first few years with him. And he wasn’t objecting to it so much but it was, you know, when I first got married it was . . . folding his laundry and all that. I mean, I was working and he wasn’t. By the end there I certainly had a much more egalitarian view of things, and he didn’t object . . . back then at least. . . . I still kept all the mental responsibility for the kids. And I’ve talked to people that still do that. You know, the woman is the one that has to know about everything and the dental appointments, and schedules, and daycare.
159 While a majority of the participants expressed the challenges of being in charge of both their personal and professional lives, it was the support of their spouses that made doing both roles possible, at least for nine of the 11 participants. Jen said she could not do the job at all without the support of her husband. Claire agreed that having her husband’s support has been critical:
I was like 32 when we got married. I had [my son] at 37 and the twins at 40. And so when you’re sort of at that point, yeah, I could have stopped working. But I married the right person, so that helps too. Because [my husband] has never, ever, ever said to me, ‘I think you should stop working.’ I mean, like it’s never part of the conversation. So I’ve always had that support from him, and I think generally from our families, you know. And so at that point you’re kind of making like a big life decision about, yeah, I could stop working at 37 or 40 for a while, but you’re never going to regroup. I mean, you can maybe, but relatively speaking it’s pretty hard to regroup. I was already at the dean/VP level.
Kate, who admitted her ex-husband was not supportive at all, said her current husband is incredibly supportive, even though he does not like the area they moved to and lost his job just two years after they moved in order for Kate to follow her dreams. Kate said his support means everything to her.
A supportive spouse made all the difference in the participants’ lives. For the women without supportive spouses, the stress was enough to dissolve their relationships.
The divorced participants with less than supportive husbands were forced to find support from other people.
Supervisors
Out of all the people whom support them in their careers, former supervisors were one of the most frequently mentioned when asked who supported the women on their paths to the presidencies. It was often a specific instance of support during a difficult time as a parent that the participants remembered kindness from supervisors. For the younger
160 participants, a few feared telling their former supervisors they were pregnant for fear that it would appear as though they were not committed to the institution. For nine of the 11 participants, maternity leave was encouraged and celebrated. For the other two participants, one had her children prior to entering higher education and the other one returned to work just days after giving birth. In the latter case, it was not because her supervisor asked her to, but because she felt she could go back to work so soon. Former supervisors were mentioned as being most supportive of their dual roles as mother and administrator for all of the women working at public institutions. For the three participants working in the private and for-profit sectors, supervisors were mentioned in regards to supporting their careers, but not in reference to supporting family obligations.
Tara, one of the community college presidents, was emotional when asked if she had taken any type of maternity leave and relayed this story:
So this will tell you who I was back then. No, everybody was very, very supportive. . . . And, again, you know I have really felt blessed to have not been held back, because of . . . being a mother, being a woman, . . . any of that. Again, I’ve had opportunities given to me that were probably far beyond where I was professionally and, you know, I’ve had to make leaps rather than, you know, a linear path. I worked up until the day I went into labor and I told [my boss] at the time, ‘I’ll be back in six weeks.’ And he looked me in the eye and said, ‘No, you won’t,’ and I kind of was ticked and he said, ‘I’m telling you to take at least two months. You can come back, but I’m not paying ya.’ And I had time, but he said, ‘No, I will withhold your pay. You will not come back.’ Two months rolled around and I called him and I said (crying), ‘I need another month,’ and I did. I, um . . . (crying), you know, I needed to get him sleeping through the night.’ [He is a] very high maintenance individual. Still is today. I mean, totally, for him to be born to a type A mother, I was like, ‘Oh my god! This is totally out of control!’ He is like four people rolled together, so very, very high maintenance individual. And, so I ended up taking three months and I was so appreciative of that time. And, again, it nearly drove me mad, because I just was not good with the whole staying at home thing, you know, but I felt a great deal of support. . . . And I know that that is an experience for other people. They have told me that they have felt like, you know, having kids, having to, perhaps, take time when their kids are sick and things like that might have hurt
161 them. I do not feel that way. Again, I feel like other people made sacrifices on my behalf and not the other way around.
Carrie was also emotional remembering how her former supervisor supported her when she wanted to quit after her pregnancy. In fact, she actually did quit:
When I had my second [child], I actually quit at the arts college. I had been in the director role. I quit, thinking, ‘I can’t do this full time. I can’t work full time and have two kids.’ Well, he hired someone. Let’s see, how was it? Within a month, all the department chairs were saying, ‘Please bring Carrie back.’ They called me I-Carrie, like iconic. This was in 1987. Now I look back and think, ‘Oh my goodness.’ I didn’t have any plans. I just trusted it would all work out, and so the president at the time then called me in and said would I come and consult. Actually, this was in the first six weeks. . . . Would I come back to campus and work a day a week, or . . . I don’t even know what it was . . . some time per month, and then he fired his dean and called me and said he wanted to talk to me. I did not know he was going to fire that dean and he fired her and then he said . . . (this is an incredible man) that . . . he wanted me back in whatever role I wanted and however [many] days per week. (Crying) You know, I have thanked him many times for that. . . . So he said he wanted me to be the dean. I said, ‘I’ll be the dean, but I only will work three days a week.’ Because my younger daughter was three months old and I said, ‘I need a little more time with her.’ So, we agreed that I could bring her to work with me.
Carrie brought her daughter to work with her for a few months, and she was not the only participant to do so. Seven of the 11 participants report regularly bringing their children with them to their institutions and thanked the kindness of a former supervisor for allowing them to do so.
Likewise, eight of the nine participants who had children while in leadership roles were surprised at the amount of support shown to them when they were pregnant.
Supervisors and colleagues threw them baby showers, and many asked for them to bring their children in for a visit. The participants stressed that they made it a point throughout their careers not to overuse the kindness of supervisors and made sure their jobs were being fulfilled. In addition to support when their children were young, participants
162 mentioned the support of supervisors when their children were teenagers. As noted in her profile, Kate’s son was in a bad car accident during his first semester in college, and
Kate’s supervisor allowed her son to sleep in her office in between classes for the entire semester. Sybil also said just having the support of supervisors and colleagues who were experiencing similar difficulties with their children was invaluable:
There’s another woman who is a vice president here whose children now are both medical doctors. We’ve known each other for the 30 years I’ve been here, and so I knew her children when they were young and in high school. And I helped them with their research papers and she’s helped my children with different things. And so it’s those kinds of things that you learn as professionals but as parents first . . . That you find other like people with like situations and you help each other out. . . . That has been tremendous.
In addition to supporting the women when they had young children, a few participants noted how supervisors often staged them to build up their resumes during their rise to the top. Dena remembered how her former vice president and mentor did this for her:
I can think of a couple incidents where, I think probably as the Dean of Students, I was staged . . . I was at the table in big conversations, right, with the President and other administrative leaders and either I was staged by the Vice President to present or provide input or dialogue and I was very well prepared to do it and I just could see. . . . You could just gain credibility in a room, not because of power, but because of intellect and credibility, right? And so I remember a couple of times where the Vice President specifically asked me to present things and I was really ultra prepared and I did a really good job and I started getting the attention of some of the academic deans and then the Academic Deans would actually ask me my opinion and so when you start getting the nods in higher ed from the Academic Deans as a credible source and as a good colleague, that’s pretty empowering.
Others
While the support of family, friends, and mentors may seem obvious when it comes to support networks, it often can be someone you least expect support from that provides the most significant amount of help. Nine of the 11 participants mention other
163 sources of support such as other women at the college, external women’s groups, the
Board of Trustees, students, and other college employees. Pam and Kate each shared an example of how the kindness of others gave them the much-needed support they needed in a very difficult time. In Pam’s case, she was nearly homeless. Her husband had just left her and she did not have a full-time job. In a matter of days, Pam secured a full-time position, and an unlikely group of men that she had been teaching in a military program came to her aide:
I remember, this was when I was working with the Veterans Upward Bound. . . . I mean, . . . a couple of them, you know, I believe had been in prison for some pretty bad things since or whatever. But when my husband went nuts, you know, and I had to suddenly move out of my rental house because he was in the neighborhood and scaring other people, I was told to get out. . . . That bunch of guys, you know, they came over and moved me. You know, you find support in other places. Scared the hell out of the people in the neighborhood—all those military, all those veterans.
Kate, along with Jen, Claire, and Karina, all said that the Board of Trustees is a huge support system for them. In Kate’s case, she had to approach the chair of the Board of Trustees to confide that she applied for a presidency just two short years after securing the presidency at their institution:
I was keeping very close communication with the board chairman and the board. And I told the board chair, you know, . . . I’m only in the top 12, so don’t even worry about it until I get in the top four. Then, we need to talk to the entire board, which never happened. And I just said, ‘Listen I’m only doing this for family. That’s all it is. I feel really terrible about it, because I’ve only been here two years, but my daughter needs us.’ Unfortunately, she’s over the age of 18, so I can’t pull her back right now, legally. It was tempting. We were getting close, so uh. . . . So I didn’t get the job. . . . My husband actually moved there and lived there in a hotel for three weeks . . . trying to help my daughter . . . get her shit together (laughing).
Kate said her board understood the situation, and she said she now has a very strong relationship with them.
164 Without support from people in their lives, all 11 participants said they would not be able to be a college president while being a mother. Every single woman said she could not do the job of being a college president by herself.
Dealing With Guilt and Sacrifice: There Is Not Enough Time in the Day
So, I think the only things that linger in my mind are the sacrifices that others made on my behalf and the fact that, even today, I don’t know how to balance my life. . . . So, I’m traveling again at the end of this week. I come back for like two or three days and I’m traveling again. So, this month I’ll be home five days. My daughter, you know, when I was just away for this first trip . . . she called me the first night and she said, ‘I miss you already,’ and, you know, I love that. You know, I wouldn’t want that any other way, but I think, again, ‘Oh my gosh!’ How do you balance your life? So, would I go back? No. And do anything over again, because I wouldn’t be who I am today and it’s hard to predict, right? And, again, from all of your mistakes, you learn something or you hope you do, and it’s the culmination of all of that that I think makes you a better person over time. Do I, again, reflect and have pause about those two, and that is the sacrifices that people have made on my behalf, and I hope it was a choice on their behalf and not otherwise. And the fact that, again, I’ve not unlocked that magic door on how to balance your life and feel like you’ve given everything that people need to them. Do I feel like I’ve given it all? All I have every day? Yes. Do I feel like . . . people feel like they’ve gotten everything they need from me? No. Tara
Tara is not alone. All but one participant admitted she feels guilty on a regular basis. Only Claire said she felt that she appropriately deals with guilt and balance, and although she experienced guilt when her children were young, she never felt guilty for working. It should be noted that Claire also had a nanny for her children and currently has a housekeeper. This was a decision Claire made in order to bring more balance to her life. The ten other participants all talked about the constant struggle of trying to find enough time in the day to be there for everyone. Kendal, for instance, commented how being a college president means being available around the clock:
It means 24/7 and then some, I guess (laughing). I take my work pretty seriously, and [my husband] always says, you finally met the job that, you know, could eat up all of your time all of the time, indefinitely, and you would still feel there is more to do. So it is a very consuming job, but oh, there are lots of ways people
165 talk about this. I don’t like to think of myself as the living brand of the institution, which some people say. I like to think that I do try to live the core values of the institution.
Kim also expressed how time is a major challenge:
[There is] not enough time just to go and spend a long leisurely weekend with your family. That’s the challenge, and on the other hand . . . you can plan ahead and set aside time for yourself. You have a lot of authority over your own calendar, but . . . you can’t have too much authority over your own calendar or else you’re not doing your job. Because really I’ve found that the higher in the organization that I go, the more people I work for, and the more people I have to be concerned about and the more people . . . whose needs I want to meet and whom I want to please. I mean . . . I am perfectly aware and comfortable with the fact that I won’t and shouldn’t please everyone, but I take the issues of all of the employees and students on this campus seriously. And I should, and it makes me excited when I can do something about it, and it worries me when I can’t. . . . So, it’s the sacrifice. . . . The difficulty is it’s harder to turn that off.
Tara said that time is perhaps the biggest challenge for her, and when she was working full time, going to school full time, and raising a family the issue of time, or lack thereof, led to a lot of resentment:
There were a couple of periods (crying). . . . Boy, I’m being very brutally raw and honest right now . . . There are a couple times in my life where perhaps I felt resentment. Resentment that I didn’t have a wife and I had a husband instead, and I don’t know if that makes any sense. So [a dear friend of mine who is now a chancellor] was getting her master’s degree when I was getting my doctorate and, you know, this is even pre- kids and, you know, we used to laugh and say, ‘You know, I really need a wife.’ And, you know, I don’t want this to come across as a reflection of my husband, because I don’t mean it that way. I just mean, again, the experience would have been different if we had had traditional roles and, you know, I think there’s a reason why society started with traditional roles and, you know, I say that as a woman, because I do think it makes life easier. Everybody kind of understands what their role is and they’re really distinct, right? So, when you have a woman who has a role that is almost the same as the man, you know, where does that leave all the other things that need to be done? And, so I don’t feel like I sacrificed. There were periods of time and I still have kind of one question that I’ve asked several people and I don’t know how to answer it yet. I don’t know how to split myself up appropriately and I never have. So, do I feel like maybe other people have made sacrifices for me? Yes, I do. I think that people continue to make sacrifices on my behalf. I have
166 guilt around that, which probably differs from any man you would interview about this, because, you know, somebody’s always mad at me.
Three subthemes emerged regarding time: (a) time with children, (b) time for self, and (c) time with spouse. Every single participant identified with one of these three areas when the challenge of time was mentioned. This finding is consistent with a previous study by Hertneky (2010) who reported that while women presidents did not regret the decision to become presidents, they felt they sacrificed something personally along the way. Table 10 identifies the area(s) where the women indicated they feel they have sacrificed time.
Table 10
Areas of Sacrifice
Participant’s Time With Time for Time Name Children Self With Spouse Carrie X X X Claire X X Dena X X Jen X X Karina X X X Kate X Kendal X X Kim X X Pam X X X Sybil X X Tara X X X
Time With Children
All participants cited time with their children as a major cause of guilt at some point in their career, especially when they were studying for their doctoral degrees. While one may think that guilt regarding time with their children is more common when one’s children are young, it was not always the case in this study. Participants experienced
167 feelings of guilt at all stages of their children’s lives. Karina, for instance, remarked that she hopes that the time she missed with her children does not impact the way they prioritize their own lives:
You look back now with my children grown and I wish I’d had more time to spend with them. So that obviously was a huge sacrifice even though I had gains there—being a role model and setting this example for them. I worry at times that they’re going to dive into their careers and not put family first. Like I look at my oldest daughter who just graduated from law school and passed the bar in two states. . . . She’s got a significant other, but they’re just starting to have conversations about family, and it’s in the distance. And then my second daughter who got married in June, the same thing. Like they’re not even thinking about kids until they’re in their 30’s, and I think gosh, you know, I would never change that I had my children young. But that’s their life, but I hope they have families because that is the most valuable experience of my life.
Dena’s sons are adults now, but she remembered when her children were younger how much time she missed with them:
When I was getting my PhD, my son was in kindergarten, when I was in coursework and so I was reading . . . I was working. . . . At that point I had a leave, but I was doing a grad assistantship. So I had a little bit of time with him in the morning, but then I would go to school and I would either work or take classes. And then I was always studying and so even though my husband was home with him, I feel like I kind of missed his entire kindergarten year. Like I don’t have a good memory of him in kindergarten and even 1st grade. I was so busy working and studying that I feel like I kind of missed a little bit of that. . . . Those couple years with him. . . . I think that’s the most, kind of, vivid example of what I think I’ve missed.
All of the women said when their children were in elementary school, finding time for them was tough, but they made it work by squeezing in time when they could.
Jen, for example, whose children are both young, runs home between work and meetings to see her children, and her daughter still does not think it is enough time:
My daughter doesn’t like that I travel more, which is again, you know, one of the things that we talked about as a family that I’m going to have to travel more and more evening commitments. So tonight I have a board meeting and she’s like, ‘You always have a board meeting!’ And I’m like, ‘No, they haven’t all been board meetings’, because she is used to having board meetings be why I’m gone
168 at night. . . . I’m like, ‘No, tonight’s a board meeting. I’m sorry. I’ll see you tomorrow.’ Or I’ll try to come home in the afternoon if I can. So, I think . . . I’m still adjusting to what it means.
Sacrificing time with their children is an area that all participants identified with, and this did not change when their children were older. Even participants who had adult children who were out of the house felt they sacrificed time with their children at this point in their careers. They said the demands to be available as college president 24/7 made it difficult to spend extended time with their children and/or their grandchildren.
Time for Self
Nine out of 11 participants feel they regularly sacrifice time for themselves in order to get everything done for their families and for their institutions. In fact, all nine of them admitted that it is time for them that is sacrificed before anything else, and when they speak about time scheduled to exercise or to work on their dissertations, they report feeling “guilty” or “selfish” for taking the time. Tara is one example:
There was a period where I stopped working out, because, again, I thought I just need to (and that’s just me and nobody else will feel that). . . . You know, I can give that up. . . . Honestly, this is pathetic. That lasted about two weeks and I remember this distinctly. We woke up one morning and my husband said something to me and I was like, ‘Weeeah!’ You know, I was like total bitch and he said, ‘You know, this not working out thing is not working out,’ and, so he said we gotta’ find something different. Because you have to build that back into your life and I’m so overwhelmed and I’m like, ‘How do I?’ It’s only two weeks, but I’m like, ‘How do I put it back? So, we ended up hiring a cleaning lady and so I thought, okay. Now, real or imaginary . . . I’m not sure that gave me back enough time to work out, but you know what I’m saying. . . . And so I became kind of selfish about blocking that out on my schedule.
Six of the participants reported feeling physical effects from the neglect they have shown themselves, yet many of them, like Tara, do not know how to change their lives in
169 order to be healthier. Kendal is one participant who acknowledged that she does not feel completely well:
[Kendal]
I didn’t take good care of myself. I used to run a lot. Ran a marathon and did a lot of 10Ks and so forth, and I really stopped doing that. That was the thing that kind of went out the window. I just didn’t have time to exercise. So, yeah, there was time for the kids and there was time to do my job, but I didn’t really, you know, I would walk. I would try to run, but it was just really hard when you’re nursing and things like that. It was really hard, so . . .
[Interviewer] Do you take care of yourself now? Have you been able to add some of those things back in now that your children are older?
[Kendal] Well, it’s . . . it’s hard at the present, because, you know, there are a lot of early morning meetings. There are a lot of late evening meetings, so I do try. . . . I’d say I’m doing better on that front, and my husband has been very helpful, as well. But . . . part of my background is I grew up on a farm, and so we worked all the time. So, to me, you know, sort of working all the time is kind of the norm. Again, it might not be the healthiest approach, but it’s the approach I’ve had. So time for me is . . . not like something I feel I sacrifice. Taking care of myself, though, is a different issue and, you know, to be . . . good at my job, to feel good, to be productive, I need to take care of myself, and . . . I need to feel better.
Although the participants admitted that they have made sacrifices in their lives to get where they are, like Kim emphasizes here, most of the participants felt the sacrifices have been worth it in the long run:
I had to sacrifice sleep and . . . enough time for spontaneous fun, but I will say, I’ve had a great life. I enjoy my work. I enjoy the people I work with. I’m good. I’ve made friends all along the way, lifelong friends, our children are happy, funny, interesting people, and, they are good company, so I’ve made a great life. Anything I’ve sacrificed, the thing I got in return for that sacrifice is far greater . . . Other people have more discreet and uh, carefully laid plans perhaps than I did, but I think it’s a little more interesting to see what the plan turns out to be.
170 Time With Spouse
Five participants noted that time with their spouses is something they feel they sacrifice or felt guilty about. Three of them are participants who are divorced, and two are the mothers of the youngest children in the study. Tara felt especially guilty about how much her husband has had to sacrifice on her behalf, even though she continues to do much of the day-to-day work at home:
I have never been the good one at doing the hair, tying the bows, baking the cakes, and I’m better working than I would be otherwise. It’s about the quality of time, but, you know, I have missed things. . . . And, you know my husband is still a guy and, . . . you know, I don’t come home to a home-cooked meal. You know? And . . . speaking of sacrifices, . . . every time we’ve moved, he has quit his job and had to reinvent himself to do it. So, he’s changed career paths several times, and when we were in [the Midwest], our life got so complicated. He got laid off and couldn’t find a job for several months. And so he was home and so we took the kids out of afterschool care and, you know, almost overnight the tension in our house went away. It was unbelievable. The kids got to ride the bus home. They got to be in soccer practice. They got to sign up for art, and dad shuffled them around and got up and made them breakfast every morning. They loved it. Talking about guilt, right? . . . I had to get them by six, right? So, my husband took them in the morning. I picked them up in the evening. I’m the lady, who it’s like two minutes to six. Everything’s dark. My kids all have their little backpacks on. All three of them are standing there. They’re the only kids left and it’s like my ass is on fire, right, and they’re mad at me and, you know, we get in the car and they’re like, ‘Why does this have to be every day? You know, why is this our life?’ So, he got laid off, . . . and so we sat down and we talked. And it was like we need to do something different, and so he agreed to doing something part time. So, you know, I guess, again, I’ve kind of got to pursue my career path, but I made more money, so we determined that that made sense for our family. So, he ended up starting his own business and he loved it and it gave him flexibility. And so he’s the guy that makes the games and picks up the kids and he’s the one they call when they need something and all of that. And he loves that part of it, but he’s still a guy and so I still, on the weekend, do all the grocery shopping. I do a lot of the house cleaning. I plan all the schedules. I go for teacher-parent nights. I plan the meals. . . . So, again, I say this in the context of I’m able to do that, because of my husband.
171 Jen, the mother of the youngest children in this study and the president with the shortest tenure, also felt guilt regarding the lack of time she gets to spend with her husband:
I feel like (especially with once I’ve taken this job) it’s not guilty with my kids as much as with my partner. So I feel like he has taken on much more at home, so I feel guilt about that. And . . . this is really interesting since I’m introverted and he’s more introverted than I am, so it’s kind of funny . . . like big social occasions and he doesn’t like that stuff. So we went to a retirement party for the President with a big gala, and you know whatever, and it was right after I had been announced as the President. So it was the first time that he’d been to a public event at [my college] since I had been named President, and he said afterwards, ‘Wow.’ Like he could tell like the legislators were lining up…‘I feel like I’m living in your shadow and I don’t want to just be [the President’s] husband’. . . . So it was like I felt guilt about that. It was like, ‘Oh lord. You know you’re not just Jen [the President’s] husband.’ But I think he was just worried about losing his own sense of identity. So I think that’s more than with the kids. I think it’s with him.
Pam and Carrie both have ex-husbands who were not supportive of their careers, and they both felt like they had to sacrifice their personal lives in order to have a presidency. While Carrie wondered what it would have been like to have a supportive husband for all of those years, Pam wondered what having a partner through her presidency would have been like since she divorced when her children were young:
I guess, you know the one thing that might have suffered out of all of this would have been romantic life or that kind of thing. That was very low on the totem pole and there certainly was not time to try to explore that in a way that I might have met somebody. But now, I mean my friends and I that are divorced, we’re like, ‘This is the life.’ (laughing) It’s nice that we can do what we want. You know, we have enough money, we’re very self-sufficient, but I think, you know, when I was working and bringing the kids up, that might have been a nice extra piece that there just wasn’t. . . . I know woman do it and find it, and I know some presidents who you know have dated and gotten married and things like that. But . . . it had to come after the children. The few times I got close, you know, I would look at these kids and think, ‘I’ll just wait until they’re . . . because we were so close and we have so much humor in our family. They would have shredded anybody (laughing). . . . I’m sure they would have made fun of him, not resent him, just make fun. I
172 thought, ‘I’ll just wait until this is over,’ and then, you know, it really was hard to fill that piece in.
Time is something that all 11 participants mentioned is one of the biggest challenges to being a college president, and while they are all working on setting aside more time for themselves, they reported often feeling “guilty” or “selfish” when they take time to do something that they deem is solely for them, such as pursuing their doctoral degrees or exercising. The next theme explores some ways the women add time back into their lives.
There Is No Such Thing as Balance
The biggest challenge to being a college president and a mother is balancing all that stuff. You know, because I think there are always times that I feel like I should be at home with them when I’m here, or when I’m with them, oh, I really shouldn’t be here, I really got this going on. Which I think you always feel that internal pull to put your energy into the other place. I think that is just inherent. I don’t think that ever goes away . . . I mean, there’s no such thing as balance. There’s no such thing as balance. Jen
The greatest challenge to being both a mother and a college president for the women in this study is achieving balance in their lives. While some of the participants have found a place in their lives where they feel more in balance then they have in the past, most participants reported that they still struggle with finding balance on a regular basis and often feel guilty when serving in one role and not the other. When I shared
Tajlili’s (2013) concept of work-life integration rather than work-life balance with some of the participants, they overwhelmingly agreed that was a much better term, because several of them said that balance is unachievable. Tara confided that the stress of trying to balance her full-time job with getting her doctorate and raising a family nearly killed her, and even though her degree is complete and she is in her first presidency, she still struggles with balancing her life. In Tara words:
173 So, you know I’m up at five, because I wanted to workout before I went to the session. The session ends at 12:30 or 1:00. So, then I’m in the car. It’s raining like hell. I’m making phone calls for work. I’m doing work in the car. I get in. It’s 5:30, hit the door. Dinner. Okay, so I’m trying to plan something for dinner. Throw a load of laundry in. Get everybody fed and washed up. I plan all my stuff for the next day. Then my daughter has dance. Because my husband takes my son to a soccer game, so I take her to dance. Literally, while I’m waiting for her, I’m doing more work. While she’s in dance, I’ve brought my laptop. I’m working. We leave. Then I have to go lay out all the stuff for pictures (picture day was today) and make all the checks out. My daughter had to do her hair up so she could go to bed with it in these little rag curls so she could have it curly today. So . . . (laughing) I only say that in the fact that I guess I feel lucky I didn’t have to bake anything. But, you know, even with the flexibility of his schedule and all of that, I’m still mom and I’m still the wife. . . . Whereas, I have a girlfriend whose husband works full time. He is a doctor. They have . . . two kids at home. Her oldest is gone. She is a stay-at-home mom and he comes home. She’s got a drink already poured for him. He sits down. Half an hour later they eat. . . . Like, he’s never seen the inside of a grocery store. He probably doesn’t even know anything about [how] anything works. I don’t even know if he’d know how to turn on the oven. So, it’s just different.
Tara was not the only participant who expressed frustration with how much work she has to do on a daily basis, but Pam cautioned women who have children and want to be a college president that this quest for balance is difficult for all working women, but for mothers coveting the position of chief executive officer of a higher education institution, it may be nearly impossible. Pam stated:
It’s become easier and easier probably to be a mother but it’s never going to be simple if you want to strive and become a president. You have to make some sacrifices, and you have to balance both of those parts of your life. You’ve got to take care of your children, but you’ve got to invest your energy and excitement into your job. . . . And I’ve known women that just choose not to do that. They just say, ‘I’m going to take care of my kids and I will just forego that.’ It might be hard to get back on track if you wait too long for that though.
The following sub-themes explore how the roles of mother and president often blended together. They are (a) Work-Life-Education: It All Blends Together, (b) Learn how to prioritize and compartmentalize, and (c) Outsource domestic duties or learn to let it go.
174 Work-Life-Education: It All Blends Together
I used to be on . . . ‘The Never Ending Search for Balance’, so I’m sort of obsessed about balance. . . . When I was first new they wanted me to come speak about something—so what would be a fun topic? So I would always talk about all the hats I wear . . . I mean, I’m a wife. I’m a mother. I’m a daughter. I’m a community leader, you know, and to me it’s kind of about balancing all that stuff. Is one thing more important than another? I mean, I don’t know. . . . Of course, you always wonder how your kids will talk about you later on and what their perception is, but I always felt like taking care of them and their needs is absolutely a priority. Claire
While each participant said her family is her first priority, all participants stated that sometimes it is impossible for the role of mother to not bleed into the role of president and vice versa. Whether it is leaving work to pick up a sick child or checking emails and writing reports while their children play in the background, sometimes it is impossible to separate the roles. Since the women cannot necessarily prevent the roles from bleeding into each other, they have tried to hide it. Take Tara, for example:
[The roles] bleed all the time, because my daughter stands out, standing over me. I’m like just a minute. I’m in the middle of an email. I look up. She’s got her hands on her hips. ‘Really, mom?’ Yeah, it bleeds over all the time and I think I mentioned before; I have yet to solve the issue of how to balance my life and feel like I’m doing it well. I don’t think I’ve ever done it well. I don’t think I do it well now. I think somebody always gets the short end of the stick and so, yeah . . . It bleeds over all the time. I try, as the President, to not have that be evident here at work, but, honestly, I am who I am.
Carrie also has pretended that her roles were not colliding when she was being inaugurated just five days after her mother passed away:
I had done a lot of theater in high school and actually early college, and I used that training at my inauguration, to be honest, because I really had to play the role, you know, of the President.
So what, then, do these women do in order to find a successful way to achieve work-life integration? The following section explores the sub-themes related to how the
175 women cope with work-life struggles, including: (a) Learn how to prioritize and compartmentalize and (b) Outsource domestic duties or learn how to let it go.
Learn how to prioritize and compartmentalize.
Probably the hardest time for me was in 2004. My dad passed away and he was really sick, so that was really stressful because I was new into my presidency. My kids were young, and . . . [my parents] lived about an hour-and-a-half away, so I was close enough, and then his death and all that. That was a really rough year. I felt like it was just difficult to figure out where you’re spending your time and how you’re doing everything, you know. But my mom is like 90½ and in great health now. But I feel, you know, definitely a priority would be a daughter, a good daughter. And in the meantime my mother-in-law has passed away, so like she’s our last grandparent. So, to me, it’s this constant thing about balance all the time, all the time. Claire
Whether they think they are good at it or not, all 11 participants say one method needed to balance their lives is prioritizing their responsibilities and focusing on one aspect of their day at a time. They make a conscious effort to focus on the task at hand and not get sidetracked by other obligations. Although this is difficult, it is necessary to maintain focus. Kate shared this example of how she compartmentalizes:
I’m very good at trying to just separate what happened an hour ago from what is happening right at this moment. I mean, at 8:00 this morning, my daughter rear- ended a person . . . I said, yeah, my husband’s car is totaled . . . but here I am, you know. It was a new driver error that, you know, we’ve all been at fault. But I think our insurance is going to make us pay, because she definitely rear-ended it. . . . But she was good in that she did veer, but those are the kinds of things when you’re an executive, you just, you know. I’m like, ‘Should we go home and curl up in the fetal position and just give up on today?’ No, that’s not what we do.
Sybil would agree that when a woman is both a mother and a college president, she needs to have her priorities in order. If she does not prioritize her responsibilities, it is going to be a problem:
[I am constantly] reminding myself, ‘Okay, Sybil, you’re one person. You can only be in one place at one time and do so many things.’ And so learning how to delegate some things has been something I’ve learned how to do. And having to say ‘No’ sometimes to people, ‘I can’t do that.’ It’s not necessarily because of
176 family all the time. Sometimes it’s other priorities from work. I have to decide which place is more important to be at that time.
Jen shared that when she decided to apply for her first presidency, her family was going through a difficult time, and she needed to prioritize her commitments. She stated:
This whole past year while I was going through the presidential search process, my husband’s father was very ill and he ended up dying. I was dealing with that and I would be very clear with my President at the time like, ‘I just wanted you to know that David’s dad is in a real critical situation. One of us might have to fly out,’ because they were not here or they weren’t local and just being clear about that. So recognizing that there is no such thing as balance, that certain days, certain weeks, certain times this is my priority and this takes a backseat, and just being clear about what those priorities are in life.
Six out of the 11 participants discussed how they prioritized their family’s needs before taking their first presidencies. They either did not move geographically for a presidency, or they waited until their children were grown and out of the house before moving. Like Mainiero and Sullivan’s (2005) kaleidoscope theory states in the literature review, women are much more likely than men to make career decisions based on how those decisions will affect the people closest to them. For example, Kendal received plenty of offers to apply for executive leadership positions at other institutions, but she declined when her children were young; she shared these recollections:
I started getting calls about provost positions, and I guess I interviewed actually for a presidency when I was still the dean. . . . I wasn’t sure I liked the institution. I wasn’t sure I was a good fit, and I was not sure I was really ready. . . . I wasn’t sure I wanted the lifestyle. My children were still at home, and we bought [property] when we were [in the Midwest]. . . . So it was really hard to think about how that would all work. . . . The idea of giving up the [property], of uprooting our children when they were in high school and so forth became complicated, so I just kind of waited.
Claire, too, recalled waiting for the time to be right for her children before she considered a job at another institution that would force her to move; she is still at the same institution and said:
177 My goal was first of all, . . . to still be in the job to get them through grade school, you know, and not have to like move or do anything like that. Then it was like, ‘Okay. Well, if I can just get them through high school.’ You know and so I did that, and now they’re in college. Well, one is out of college already, the other two are still in college. But, so it’s kind of a nice sense of relief once they’re out of high school because then it’s kind of like, ‘Well, you know, I can like pretty much do what I want to do, and if I want to stay here, great. If I want to apply for a different role or something I’m able to do that.’
Outsource domestic duties or learn how to let it go.
Eight out of the 11 participants admitted that they have outsourced some of their domestic duties, such as childcare, housecleaning, grocery shopping, and laundry. While three of the eight participants expressed feelings of guilt for farming out responsibilities, all eight of the women say doing so was a necessity in order to commit time and effort to being a college president and a mother. The two areas where the women most frequently relied on others was for (a) childcare and (b) household chores.
Childcare.
Of the areas where women hire others to assist them with day-to-day activities, childcare is the one that the participants felt the most guilty about. Even though it is a necessity, it is often difficult to entrust the care of one’s children with another individual.
The sentiment was the same for all participants: they needed to know that their children were safe and well cared for when they are at work. Pam, for instance, said childcare was one of her biggest challenges:
When I went to Europe, I was really just kind of on my own. The thing about Europe or Germany was that it was a far safer place and I had someone that lived in the neighborhood. But, you know, they were kind of home-latchkey kids in a way. . . . Home, in a way, but it was tough. That’s the biggest challenge, I think, being sure that your children are watched and you can find adequate daycare.
When Kim’s children were young, she and her husband shared responsibility for the childrearing, but they also had caregivers:
178 My husband held down the fort, and you know, over those years when our children were young, he had some travel, and I took care of things. And we… had great students . . . whom we knew well from the college who would help us with babysitting, after school care, and all kinds of things. So we were very fortunate in that regard. We had good caregivers to help with our children. I mean, we didn’t have a live-in nanny, but we had very good caregivers.
Five of the 11 participants had husbands who are either stay-at-home fathers, worked from home, and/or were able to take care of the kids before and after school, or shared equally in the parenting responsibilities. Dena expressed gratitude for her husband:
The most effective way that I balanced [when the kids were young] was that I had a stay-at-home husband. It was huge, huge. So, I had a partner who decided when the boys were fairly little; we made a decision to have him quit his job and stay at home with the kids. So I didn’t have the angst of, you know, juggling daycare drop off and pickup, and I just didn’t have to deal with that. We made a decision that was sometimes hard financially, but very much peace of mind emotionally, to have somebody stay at home with the boys. And if I hadn’t had that option, I think my experience would have been very, very different. And I, in many ways, I might have limited myself, if I didn’t have that comfort, so I recognize that that experience is very different than some other women. But I do think that it’s an important question that our society should be having. . . . If we’re so excited about women in the workforce and equity and pay and credibility, we should also be as excited about men at home being dads and giving dad the credibility of making that decision in their life.
Kendal remarked that the combination of having a supportive husband and knowing how to prioritize made the early years possible:
What I did was I pretty routine; if I weren’t on the road, I would go home at a reasonable hour, you know, fix dinner, be with the kids, and then I just stayed up late and worked after they went to bed. . . . My husband, again it’s, you know, it’s important to say, he was a really good partner, so I was able to do some travel. I was able to, you know, as a researcher I was presenting at conferences and so forth as a beginning faculty member, and then after I moved into leadership . . . You don’t have a lot of control over your schedule, but you can . . . set some limits. I guess my limit was usually I wanted to get home at a decent hour to be able to fix dinner, have dinner with the kids and have some time with them before they went to bed. It’s probably fairly typical of what a lot of women do, you know, burn the candle after they go to bed.
179 Four participants have husbands who also work in higher education. In fact, all four women have husbands who are professors. They all remarked how having a spouse with a flexible schedule is incredibly convenient. Claire’s husband works at a major university:
He’s got a bit of a commute, but his schedule is significantly more flexible than mine, and so that made a big difference, just because he didn’t really have to travel, you know. I mean, he could have if he wanted to, but he really didn’t have to. And, you know, when you’re a full-time professor at a university, you have a lot of flexibility with your schedule. Yeah. I mean, that made a huge difference. I always said if he traveled or whatever, I don’t know what I would have done.
Entrusting one’s children to the care of another individual was one of the most difficult aspects cited of being a college president. For the women whose husbands took an active role in the childcare, the guilt was not as bad, but it was still there. Several participants agreed that childcare for working parents is an area that needs more attention in higher education.
Household chores.
I’ve been through different phases, so obviously when I first started as president my kids were young; they were in the grade school years and that’s a whole different kind of support they need and whatever. And yeah, I can remember somewhat exercising during those years, and we like to travel, we would take family trips and different things. And I made it a priority to get help in terms of household stuff, so we hired somebody. And we made the financial sacrifice and commitment to hire somebody because I can remember as we were in between I thought like, ‘This is nuts!’ I hated Sundays because I was spending all of Sunday doing laundry and all this stupid stuff, and so we hired somebody who I sort of would delegate like literally laundry, like everything household stuff . . . So I think it’s like coping techniques or the things you decide to do to provide that support system so you’re not always stressed out about everything. Claire
All 11 participants mention that being a college president is a 24/7 job, not leaving much time for family, friends, or activities they enjoy. Like Claire, most of the participants tried continuing to care for the children, the home, and the emotional work of
180 the family, but weekends became time to do all of the chores. So, the women prioritized what they wanted to spend their free time doing, and household chores were not one of them. Tara hired a cleaning agency so that she could spend her free time exercising, and identified the early morning workouts as “selfish.” The notion of “selfishness” and
“guilt” was mentioned from seven of the eight participants who sought outside help for domestic duties. Some of the participants felt they needed to justify why they had to hire someone. Sybil noted that even though she has hired someone to clean her house, she cannot bring herself to hire someone to do her grocery shopping. She remarked that she
“still wants to do some things for [herself] and [her] husband.
While a few participants mentioned their supportive spouses help take care of the children, not one participant mentioned her husband taking over or sharing in household duties such as cooking, cleaning, or doing the grocery shopping. Balance is such a challenge for the participants that several of them regularly give speeches about finding balance, write articles on the subject, and attend seminars on ways to achieve it in their own lives.
Their Greatest Challenge: The Doctorate
Ten out of the 11 participants pursued their doctoral degrees after they had children. For all but one participant, their children were very young at the time. Eight of those nine women said going to school full time while having a demanding job and being a mother to young children was the hardest experience of their lives. Kate, the only participant who remarked that pursuing her doctoral degree was “fun,” took a leave of absence from her full-time teaching position in order to complete her doctoral degree. At the end of my interview with each woman, I asked if there was anything they would
181 change about their lives if given the opportunity, and while most women said, “no,” the only area cited that they would change was when they pursued their doctoral degree. A few participants said if they could do it over, they might have pursued their doctoral degree before having children. This finding is consistent with Spilovoy (2013) who found that undergraduate mothers in online higher education programs often feel that they are sacrificing time with their families when pursuing their degrees. All nine of the participants in this study who had children while also working full time and going to school say that time in their life is a blur, similar to Kim’s description, which was:
I don’t really remember [that time in my life]. They’re kind of a blur (laughing). But we . . . just worked it out. You do what you have to do on any given day, and . . . we wanted a large family. We assumed that we were educated enough and were becoming educated enough to provide for them. And there was never really any question in my mind about whether my career was more important to me than my children or my husband, because it never was.
Tara was emotional during our interview and stated that the reason she decided to participate in this study is that she knows how difficult it is to be a leader in higher education, a parent, and a doctoral student, and unless a person has been through the stress of trying to do it all, there is no possible way he/she could understand the level of stress that this gives a person. Tara’s response was:
Now, the reason why I decided to do this interview was because this is fascinating to me. Because when I was in my doctorate program, there were only two of us that were in our 30s, had young children, you know, had high-level jobs. . . . The rest either had older children or they were men. And the one thing that I saw was how different it was for the two of us. Some of these guys would go to a hotel for a weekend and work on their dissertation, completely distraction free, right, and, you know, their wives suggested things like this and, you know, their wives were like, ‘Look, I’ve got it all. You just go and do your thing, because this is what’s good for the family,’ and they did. I worked on my dissertation between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. So, when my dissertation chair said to me, ‘You know there are parts of your dissertation that don’t even look like they were written by the same person. They’re so choppy.’ And, I’m like, ‘Well, that’s because . . . guess what? It was done in
182 little chops. So, you know, I had to go back and kind of piece it all together, but it is different being a woman and doing all of this and I saw it firsthand.
Tara explained how her family tried to convince her to let something go during those early years:
All the kids were little. I was doing my doctorate. I had to study abroad . . . and so my husband came with me and my mom came down and stayed with all my kids and, when we got home, you know, it was like, you know, jetlag and I hit the door and it was like full steam ahead. You know, I had to prepare. I had to go to work the next day, so I had, you know, all this and my mom said to me, ‘Why do you do this? Why are you doing this to yourself?’ And, at the time I said to her, ‘What do you want me to do?’ and she said, ‘Why don’t you change something in your life so it’s not like this?’ And I honestly looked at her and I’m not sure I would answer it differently, but I said to her, ‘Mom, my plate is so full. To think about changing something in my life would actually send me over the edge—to even think about it. I just have to deal with every day.’ And, I know that probably sounds ridiculous, but there’s not even enough of me to think about making a change, even if it was for the better.
If those years were so difficult, why did the women decide to continue with their studies? They said they did it in order to make a better life for their families and to set a good example for their children. Carrie remembered those early years:
It was a wonderful part of their upbringing. I didn’t always know that and I did have reservations or fears about working and being a professional person and I’ve had a lot of those that I’m not so worried about. (Starting to cry) I’m not so worried about that anymore. They’ve turned out fine and they really respect who I am and are proud of it, I think. Their father didn’t always see this as positive and at one point was very . . . how can I say this? He reminded me many times in his mind he thought that I neglected my family when I was working on my doctorates (laughs). My children do not believe that, but that was his perception. I never felt like that. The kids were 3 and 5 when I started my doctorate and actually I was the dean then, and what I did is do everything I can to be effective in all my roles—as mother, dean, and student. . . . I’m really an organized person . . . I was really, really, really, really well-organized and had everything all mapped out and anytime I wasn’t with the kids, you know. And if he wasn’t able to be there, I had it all organized with babysitters planned. I mean, it was all well-orchestrated and I really studied at night after they went to bed. I took time off from work and studied during the day when they were at school. So, what suffered probably was my own personal time, but the way I viewed it was working on my doctorate was my personal time.
183
Karina’s children saw her earn all of her degrees from undergraduate and master’s to doctoral degree, all while working full time, and even though the process was extremely difficult at times, she does not regret doing it that way. She told me:
I got licensed to run a daycare center because I needed to put myself through school, and I needed to still provide a living for my family. And I knew that I needed to serve as a role model for my kids in education and that was really the huge motivator, I think, at that point . . . to kind of get it done. The oldest was 10. I needed them to see that, and what was neat is I would bring them to class with me sometimes if I had to. They lived their lives with some aspect of education. So I’m running a preschool. I had to go through a number of like early childhood education courses that I could get with my undergrad just because I was running a daycare center. I got licensed . . . so I learned a lot about early childhood growth and development, all the things that you need to know in terms of making sure that they’re performing the way they should be at that age . . . And I just read, read, read, read, read to them and talked to them all the time, so I learned a lot about those things. And then my husband would help me if I had to run out to a class and at one point I was taking five classes because I was taking classes in the evening and on Saturdays. All on ground, they were all on ground. So I finished my doctorate degree like that, so yeah, I’ll never forget it.
The women all said they “did what they had to do” in order to complete their degrees. Most stayed up late at night to study or work on their dissertations, or they woke up at 4:00 a.m. to get some writing done. They all remarked that they are proud of this accomplishment.
Being Moms Makes Them Better College Presidents: Their Leadership Skills Come
From Being a Mother
When you look at early leadership theories, . . . you start with that whole great man and all that. But, if you go way back, there’s a lot of material about moms being natural leaders and they ran the households, they kept families together, and I think we continue to do those things. And I just think it’s taken a little longer for business and industry to recognize the talents that we bring to the table and things that make us real strong leaders. It’s kind of interesting, too, when you think of transformative leadership and collaborative leadership and all of the things that are really cutting edge are things that women have been doing all along.
184 Karina
When asked if being a mother has made them better presidents, the response was overwhelming “yes,” “absolutely,” “no doubt about it.” All 11 participants said their leadership skills were realized and made stronger once they became mothers. They said they learned skills in the role of “mom” that they bring to their role as “president.” Carrie was adamant that mothers are excellent leaders: “We’re better people. We’re better managers, leaders as parents. Yes, we are.” While the participants noted that compartmentalizing their different roles is important, they also said that recognizing the skills they bring to the table as mothers is something they cannot ignore. Dena pointed out that trying to separate the skills from one role to another is pointless:
I think the ability to strengthen and nurture relationships is critical, and I would say it is critical for any job, not just the being a President. The ability to understand the nuances of relationships and listen and encourage and question and gently challenge. . . . Those are things you do as a mom, but they’re also things you should be doing as a leader, so they’re very intertwined for me.
I’m just kind of human and so, I just want to be authentic in both roles. . . . You know you can get kind of ‘maternalistic’ and kind of ‘parenty’. I don’t think that’s healthy at all to bring to the leader role or the presidency role, but kind of the love and support and the encouragement and the respect that you have for your kids’ individual differences. You know, if you can’t figure that out as a mom and appreciate their differences and what their strengths are, then you can’t probably do that as a leader either. So, there’s a lot of intertwining in my mind.
The women noted needing to be cautious in their professional lives so that the roles do not overlap too much. Take Sybil, for example, who said:
I work hard every day. My expectation is that you work hard but we also want to create an environment where people feel welcome and nurtured, and I think that has a little bit of parenting in me. Sometimes I have to catch myself, not to come across as the mother on the stage but as the president on the stage, you know. But I think it all works the same. We’re here to help people and that’s how I see my role.
185 The following sub-themes explore the different skills that mothers bring to the role of college president, including (a) time management and organizational skills, (b) patience and understanding, and (c) conflict resolution and negotiation skills. Table 11 shows the skills each woman said were strengthened once they were mothers.
Table 11
Skills Learned From Being a Mother That Strengthen Their Role as Leaders
Participant’s Time Patience & Conflict/Resolution Name Management Understanding and Negotiation & Skills Organizational Skills Carrie X X X Claire Dena X Jen X Karina X Kate X Kendal X X X Kim X X Pam X X Sybil X Tara X X
Time Management/ Organizational Skills
To be a mother and a college president, one must be organized. That is the message from seven participants who said, although not necessarily “planners,” they have had to be very organized to manage the complexities of being a college president, and they reported that being a mother has given them the preparation to do just that. Jen explained the skills she thinks being a mother has most prepared her for:
Multitasking [and] being organized. You know, I think that you have to manage multiple things at once, keeping your human side . . . front and center. You know, that it’s recognizing that most of our employees . . . maybe they’re not mothers or parents, but they’re siblings or children or whatever, and knowing that we bring who we are to work. And I believe in authenticity, so people here . . . know . . . I
186 am who I am and I don’t change based on . . . the audience. But they aren’t going to see a completely different Jen then they would see even with my family at home. So, I think some of that is part of just being real with who I am and letting others be real with who they are. But clearly the parenting piece, I think, helps with keeping my priorities straight, multitasking and balancing, and keeping me centered on what really matters.
As mentioned in the section outlining what the participants had to do in order to get their doctorates, the women noted how important it was to manage this time in their lives, because there is so much to accomplish in any given day and only 24 hours to do so. Because the women have had to organize time around their children’s activities, their husbands’ jobs, and their own personal needs, managing a college shares similar responsibilities. Kim emphasized how parenting has prepared her for everything: “Time management, different personalities, negotiations, whining, victory, happiness, all of it.
It just prepares you for anything in life, you know, anything.”
Patience and Understanding
Another skill brought to the college presidency from these women as mothers was patience and understanding. Six participants reported that there is a certain empathy one gains from motherhood that makes it easier to relate to others. Pam said motherhood has brought her more patience:
Many of us who have been mothers feel that it’s developed a kind of patience. It’s definitely developed in me the willingness and ability to affirm, you know, affirm the good qualities of people, which a lot of male presidents, they’re not very good at that. It’s not so much thank you notes and all of that BS, because I’m not that sentimental, but reaching out and acknowledging something that someone’s done well or a quality that’s good and be willing to do that a lot. Because you do that with your children, you know, you’re affirming them a lot. And because I was a parent who . . . I know I never hit my kids and I certainly didn’t yell at them or anything . . . that’s another, kind of a patience and a way of being with people. . . . I think that being responsible for, as I was, for everything, and carrying that burden, was very good preparation for when [I got] to be the CEO.
187
Before Tara had children, her mentor told her that she needed to have children in order to have more big-picture perspective and to make her more empathetic to others.
While Tara was annoyed by his comments at the time, she understood what he meant once she had children:
He actually said to me, ‘You know what? You need kids to soften you. You need to understand there’s something bigger out there.’ And, I now understand what he means, because it does. . . . It humbles you everyday. You know you cannot take yourself seriously and get by in life. You know, my kids have embarrassed me to the point where I thought I didn’t know if I’d survive. It just humbles you, right? It does. You realize that you . . . have limits of what you’re able to do yourself. You have to rely on other people. You don’t know all the answers. You’re learning and growing every day and I can’t possibly imagine my life without my children today.
Kate said she also had to learn to have more patience and be more empathetic:
I’ve had to work on that, because . . . I know myself well enough to know that I . . . I tend to err on the side of logic and analysis, and sometimes, that can come across as being very cold.
Moreover, Kendal explained that being a mother has given her a much better understanding of how different people are and how to celebrate the diverse attributes each individual brings to a team:
Different people need different kinds of motivation and different kinds of sanctions, if you will. So understanding where somebody’s coming from, and I think mothers, you know, learn a lot about that raising kids. So you can get the best out of somebody if you just know how to motivate them, and you can also get the worst out of somebody if you don’t know how to handle them.
Seven of the 11 participants pointed out that being a mother has allowed them to appreciate the diversity of their employees, because just as no two children are exactly the same, no two employees are exactly the same either. The participants expressed that
188 having children has given them a larger perspective on life, and that this perspective has increased their patience and understanding in dealings with others.
Conflict/Resolution and Negotiation
Another skill that participants said motherhood has given them is conflict/resolution skills and the ability to negotiate. Kim joked that her large family gave her plenty of practice in negotiating with multiple people, because she constantly had a committee of children with whom to interact. Carrie also felt that mothering gave her negotiation skills:
No question about it. For years, especially when I was in the dean role when I would work with student situations, or even faculty or staff situations, I often thought back, at least in my mind, to setting out expectations, being clear about those, helping people understand what the boundaries were, so to speak, then holding people accountable and then helping them learn from situations. Yes! I think it’s like parenting.
Along with patience, the ability to resolve conflict and negotiate with both parties is a skill that college presidents need, and a skill that can be learned from effective parenting. Kendal, for instance, said she appreciated how being a mother has taught her to be decisive during negotiations. She remarked, “I know how to say ‘yes’. I know how to say ‘no’ and mean it, and I know how to enforce it, so I’m not afraid of saying ‘no’.
And I think [I am] also fair.”
Sybil recognizes that in addition to patience, being a mother has assisted her in seeing all sides during a conflict. She says conflict/resolution is not black and white; there are a lot of factors needed to understand the truth of a situation in a college, just like there is in family life:
What you learn [from being a mother] is that you can’t control everything. (Laughing) You can’t control everything, things happen. . . . And we were just talking about something at lunch today . . . about a group of people who have
189 been meeting on our campus and I didn’t have any knowledge of. But I have to realize I can’t control everything. This is a big college, a lot of people, a lot of activity, a lot of GOOD activity, and then sometimes things happen and people ‘forget’ to tell you that these things are going on. So what I’ve learned is the same thing can happen in your home life, you know, or with your children . . . that assumptions are made that ‘she must know about this.’ Well, not necessarily, you know, and I have a busy life. My husband has a busy life. We try our best to support each other in both of our professional lives but there times when we’ll say, ‘Well, didn’t I tell you about that?’ ‘No, you didn’t.’ ‘Didn’t I put that on your calendar?’ ‘No, you didn’t.’ So, you learn that you just have to be forgiving in both situations.
The participants acknowledged that the skills learned from being a mother have made them more empathetic to potential issues facing employees. They also said they have become better listeners, because they have increased patience and understanding.
Most of the skills cited by the participants in this study relate back to all five factors constituting Goleman’s (2008) model of emotional intelligence, a quality sought in top leaders: (a) self-awareness—understanding one's emotions and recognizing one’s impact on others while making decisions; (b) self-regulation—controlling one’s emotions and adapting to changes; (c) social skill—working with others to steer people in the right direction; (d) empathy—considering others’ feelings, especially when making decisions; and (e) internal motivation—being driven to achievement.
Being College Presidents Make Them Better Moms
Just as being a mother makes them better presidents, the participants in this study felt that since being college presidents has given them a unique perspective on running an organization, it therefore makes them better mothers. All but one participant believed that being a college president strengthened her parenting skills.
190 Tara, for example, said the combination of age and a senior leadership position in higher education has given her perspective on what is truly important in life, including how to speak to her children in a constructive manner:
You [wonder] whether you have appropriately taught them everything they need to advance in school, which is all very important. But as they age, they become people who interact with you and they have their own mindset, and so I have found that what I have learned professionally helps me interact with them as people. So, I’m not quick to judge. You know, as the President, I feel the need to hear a lot of different perspectives before I weigh in and make a decision. It doesn’t mean I deliberate for months, because I don’t believe in that. Right? I believe in making progress, but I also don’t believe that the first person to come into my office and tell me their story is the absolute, and I find that with my kids.
The participants identified different presidential attributes that they feel make them better mothers. For Kate, it is “conflict management strategies.” For Carrie, it is increased patience; she shared this humorous story about her daughter:
(Laughing) When they were in high school, my older one, in particular, would ask me if she could do something or whatever. And often she would push the envelope a lot, and I would be like, ‘Well, help me think that through’, and I would just do sort of a pros/cons, this/that, whatever, and one point she said to me, ‘Mom, I’m not going to write you a proposal!’
For Karina, being a college president has given her better communication skills, including listening:
I don’t get as excited about bad news. . . . My composure is better. [I’m] more thoughtful. I think that academic aspect of being a president pursuing a doctorate, learning the value of trusting the process, especially like my qualitative research study. You know, I kept thinking that I can analyze this and, you know, my professors would talk about reflection and you need to go away from it and come back, and there really is value in that. That’s absolutely true, and just thinking those things through. And then I think because I’ve learned so much by working with so many people, I have more to offer my children when they get into a pickle. You know, they have questions and I have more experiences to draw on to help them.
191 There was one major skill that emerged as a sub-theme for how being a college president makes them better mothers. The skill is respect for individual differences and diversity, which will be discussed next.
Respect for Individual Differences and Diversity
Five of the participants remarked that being exposed to diverse people on their college campuses reminded them that people are different, and they should not expect their children to behave exactly the same. Kim emphasized that she uses the experiences of people on her campus as examples to guide her children:
I think watching great, young professionals on campus from this perspective, as president, gives me a deeper appreciation and sensitivity to the pressures my own children are facing as they launch their careers, and I think that’s helpful. I see lots of great people on campus who are doing really good work and balancing and starting families or bringing up families, and . . . I learn a lot from them. And I think it gives me a perspective that is helpful to my children when they need advice.
Sybil emphasized that she learns about diversity both at work and at home:
Yeah, so what you learn is that everybody’s different. . . . I had four children and they all have different characteristics, different personalities, all have different strengths and weaknesses. And so you realize that not only at home, you realize it in the work environment. So what you bring is that you love each one of them the same. You know, regardless of one may be really messy and one could be really neat. . . . Yes, and the same thing here at work. You know, people have different strengths. Some people are good at organizing people. Other people are good at policy and paperwork. So you learn what those strengths are and you build on those and then you’re very forgiving when people are not quite the same, because I don’t have the strength to do everything. And I remind people, I don’t have all the knowledge that’s needed to run a college so my job is to get the right people in the right position to make it happen. And so I think the same thing, the way you manage and nurture a household, you do the same thing here at work.
Kendal was the only participant who questioned if being CEO of a private university has made her a better mother and responded in this way:
Oh gosh. I wonder if it has . . . um . . . Well, so both of my kids have ended up in higher ed. . . . I kept telling them that might not be the right path these days, but I
192 think both of them will say to me, it was a world that they understood and knew and felt comfortable in and saw the potential of what could be done. And um . . . So, I’m not answering your question about how has it made me a better mother . . . No [it hasn’t] . . . because I have less time.
Although ten participants feel that being a president has assisted them in being a better mother, the areas where the women feel they gained experience varied. Being a college president has exposed the women to people with different backgrounds, and it was that experience that they believe gave them greater perspective in their personal lives.
Family Comes First
I look back over my life and my professional life and think I couldn’t have planned it any better. It doesn’t always happen that way. And there are . . . women who work with me on my senior level campus now (one who has young children in elementary school), and it’s a juggling act. But I am very supportive of her because I think it’s important that people are there for families first. You know, the expectation is the job gets done. . . . You know, schedules may have to be adjusted in order to get it done so she can be there for her boys when they need her to be there. But as long as that’s happening, it’s all good. I think it’s a wonderful blessing to have children and to be able to be there and raise them and do the best you can as a parent. Sybil
Without hesitation, all 11 participants said that their family comes before anything else in their life, including their college presidencies, so much so, that several have encouraged their own employees to put their families first. Without prompting, two participants expressed that they would give up their presidency if they had to. Jen, for instance, explained how even though her dream was to become a counselor in higher education, she put her husband’s dream first early on in their marriage:
I followed my heart and I knew that . . . jobs come and go. My personal relationships are more important to me, and so I trusted that things would work out and they did.
Kate said she would give up her first presidency if necessary:
193 I wouldn’t say [being a college president is] everything. I would say motherhood is definitely the most important thing when I really analyze it. If I had to quit tomorrow to take care of one of my kids, I would. I wouldn’t even ponder it that much.
Kate is currently in a situation where, although she is happy at her institution on the East
Coast, her husband is miserable and “hates the area.” When asked if she would consider leaving her presidency and moving back West, she said, without hesitation, that she would begin looking for jobs immediately if it would make her husband happy, because he is number one in her life.
As previously mentioned, a majority of the participants in this study (six out of
11) waited for their family to be “ready” before they took their first presidencies. Some waited until their children were grown and out of the house, and some waited for presidencies to become available in the area where they lived. It should also be noted that two participants, Pam and Karina, took jobs that were close to where their children live so that they could see them more often. Pam retired as a chancellor in the Midwest, because her first grandchild was born, and she could not take being away any longer:
I was [on the West Coast] when my daughter had her first baby and I can tell you that was a stressful. I mean, only hearing it on the phone and not being able to be here, so that had a lot to do with me coming [back to the Midwest] because I could get closer. . . . Both my daughters live around here.
Karina believes so strongly in putting family first, a motto she inherited from her father, that she makes sure all of her employees know that she never wants them to have to choose between their jobs and their families. To accomplish this, she has introduced several policies at her for-profit institution.
Table 12 outlines how the women in this study used family sequencing, putting their families first, when choosing when and where to become a college president.
194 Table 12
Participants’ Family Sequencing Strategies Related to Pursuing a Presidency
Participant’s Waited for Pursued Pursued Waited for Name Children to Presidency Presidency Spouse to Graduate Where Would Near Children Retire Before From High Not Have to Pursuing School Relocate Presidency Before Pursuing Presidency Carrie Claire X Dena X Jen X Karina X Kate X Kendal X X Kim X X Pam X X Sybil X X Tara
When examining the women who utilized family sequencing strategies when pursuing a college presidency, there are similarities that emerged among the subgroups of women. For instance, the four women who waited until their children graduated from high school before pursuing a college presidency were also the four oldest women in the study and members of the Baby Boomer generation; the four presidents who chose a presidency where they would not have to relocate were the internally promoted candidates (three of whom were previously vice presidents for student services); the three presidents who accepted presidencies that would relocate them closer to their children were all presidents who had been divorced; and the two presidents who waited for their husbands to retire before pursing a presidency were the only two women in this study from private, 4-year institutions.
195 Motherhood Means Everything to Us
Of all of the interview questions asked of my participants, the one that elicited the most physical reaction was: “What does motherhood mean to you?” Three women started to cry and most of the women were initially speechless when asked to respond to this question. “Motherhood means everything to me” is the phrase that surfaced over and over again as the participants reflected on what motherhood means to them. Kim, Carrie and
Kate shared these thoughts:
Kim: It’s a gift, and I always said it’s a gift. I will say I never saw it as a burden.
Carrie: I think it really means . . . helping to empower my daughters to be the best they can be—helping to them find within themselves that which speaks to them, that which appeals to them, that which helps them connect their values with actions, and how they want to live their lives.
Kate: Oh, it’s . . . it’s everything. Yeah. I love being a mom, even though it’s the hardest job of all.
Jen said that motherhood is the first way in which she identifies herself. She considers herself a “professional mother” first and foremost. Kendal said that being a mother is her top priority, and she always wanted her children to know how supported they were:
[Motherhood means] creating a nurturing environment for a close-knit family . . . and my husband was very supportive as well . . . An environment in which the child feels safe and secure. . . . I guess I remember saying to someone once, they were talking about their home life not feeling close to their parents, and I just remember saying, you know, I think that this is the one place where you should expect always full love, regardless, and that was the kind of family I was brought up in. It was the kind of family I wanted. Nine of the 11 participants say one way they identify themselves is as a mother.
Of those nine, two of the participants use “mother” as their first identifier. And, two of
196 the participants, Dena and Karina, chose not to be classified by the roles they play, but responded that they identify more with their personal attributes, such as viewing themselves as “artistic,” “creative,” and/or “collaborative.”
Challenges and Obstacles of Being a College President
You know one of the things people say to me [is], ‘You know, you don’t ever look stressed or . . . you look kind of even keeled.’ Well, one of the things I’ve learned is that when you’re president . . . they want you to be approachable and nice, but yet they don’t want you to show any weakness . . . or any vulnerability. Because if you’re worried, then they’re really going to be worried. . . . I mean, I feel like I’m very natural at work and I’m myself, but I’m always [acting] like there’s never anything wrong. Claire
Like any leadership role, being a college president has its obstacles and challenges. Just like Claire, Carrie said she has had to “act” in her role as college president and joked that her theatre background helped train her for the position. The women in this study shared their biggest challenges as college presidents in our one-on- one interviews. The challenges tended to vary depending on the type of institution where the women work, and the challenges appeared to be more about being a woman and less about being a mother. This theme explores the challenges and obstacles of being the CEO of a higher education institution and includes the following sub-themes (a) being the
“little lady” in the room, (b) moving up in the same institution, and (c) disciplining former colleagues. Table 13 displays the three areas where the women said they faced their biggest challenges in their top leadership roles.
197 Table 13
Participants’ Biggest Challenges as Presidents/Executive Leaders
Participant’s Being the Moving Up in Disciplining/ Name “Little Lady” the Same Terminating Institution Former Colleagues Carrie X Claire X X Dena X X X Jen X X X Karina X Kate Kendal X Kim X X * (in VP X Role) Pam X Sybil X X X Tara
Being the “Little Lady” and Often the Only “Lady” in the Room
I’m short. I’m 5’2”. So, I think some of the challenges have been asserting my authority and my power, not in an authoritarian way, but in a way that gives you credibility and makes things happen. Especially, I think, in [the South], I think there is a patriarchy. So, kind of challenging that, without being offensive, but just challenging that sense of, kind of, the diminutive, little woman, I think is a challenge for me. I use humor a lot to kick that open a little bit, but that has been probably one of my biggest challenges. I think about, in my career, times when I feel most frustrated going home at night. It’s been when I’ve had meetings or exchanges with colleagues, where my credibility or . . . I guess my authority has been challenged . . . not based on content, but based on biases. Dena
Five participants were the first women to be presidents at their institutions. For
Kim, Kendal, and Karina, who all work in the private sector, they were often the first female faculty member in their department, the first female department chair, the first woman on an external committee, and the first female president. Kendal is reminded of this phenomenon everywhere she goes, commenting:
198 Still as a President, I’m still often the only woman in the room. And I’m more sensitive now that I’m reading the literature actually as well. . . . I chair the executive committee of one of our associations, and I realized that the people they asked to sit at the head table are usually all male presidents. This is with donors with the Foundation for Independent Colleges, and I’m much more sensitive to that now. So I suppose, I mean, that question of, ‘Did people listen to you? Did you have a voice? Did you feel that people respected you and so forth?’ I would say people were. They were generous to me in terms of as a young woman. They were supportive of me, but it was different than it would have been had I been a man. They were supportive of me for tenure. I won a lot of teaching awards, those kinds of things. But, I don’t know if I would say that was because I was unique, because I was a young woman in the department and there weren’t any others. So . . . there’s been a constant—you’re the only woman or one of very few woman in the room, and then the issue of, you know, getting a lot of the service activities thrust upon you. But I will say that I probably learned more from some of those kinds of things had I not done anything or just, you know, focused on things that I wanted to do.
Foundation boards and other community boards are where participants believed the most obstacles exist for women, and while they are irritated by some of the behavior around them, they know it exists and have learned to brush it off. Pam, Sybil, and Jen made these remarks about their experiences with community boards:
Pam: I remember coming to my first executive meeting [for a major men’s organization] and sitting there waiting and one of the executive committee members who, he’d been a business president or whatever, an older guy, he comes in and he looks around and he says, ‘Oh, nobodies here yet.’ (Laughing) I said, ‘What!?’ I guess he thought I was the note taker or whatever. I mean, literally. . . . So I have a good sense of humor and I every time I’d go off to that meeting, the ladies that sat at the front desk in the district office, I’d say, ‘Okay, well you know where I’m going now, you know.’ So it’s pretty difficult to be the only woman in that group of [Midwestern] businessmen. . . . People say, ‘Well were you held back as a woman?’ Absolutely not but I think a lot had to be quite forceful and just always . . . and ambitious and hardworking and I just didn’t consider it. It was a minor irritation.
Sybil: Being a woman sometimes in external groups [is challenging]. The first time I met with the mayors or the first time I met with the chambers, you know how they come across sometimes. . . . You can tell in the room that there are people who
199 are questioning, ‘Well is she really ready?’ The person that I succeeded was a male and I’m the first woman president of the college. The College has good standing in the community so sometimes people are taken aback when I’m first introduced as the college president but then after a while we get to know each other, it’s okay. I’ve been invited to join several groups . . . regionally, which has been helpful to get out to meet other people. But, you know, I have never let that bother me about how other people perceive me. You know, of course you want to be accepted. Of course, you want to be respected, but I just go ahead and do what I think is best and say what I think is best and then move on from there.
Jen: Presidents typically are middle-aged white men. And trustees are even older, right? So, like people were noticing me. In fact, one of my trustees said somebody asked if our community college president graduated from high school. So like, seriously?
For Jen, who is the youngest participant at 46 years old, the issue was not only being a “little lady”; it was being a “little, young lady” that elicits surprise from a lot of people out in the community. About her experiences, Jen shared these stories:
So when I got this job, we went shopping for my husband to get new clothes, because I wear suits all the time, but he hates to dress up. You know, he’s a casual professor, so I knew he needed to some clothes because he to go to more events for me. So we were buying him a bunch of clothes and the cashier at the checkout said, ‘Oh, did you get a new job?’ to him and he said, ‘No. My wife did.’ And she said to me, ‘Oh, where did you get a job? I said, ‘Oh, at the community college.’ ‘Oh, what job did you get?’ And I said, ‘The President.’ And she said, ‘The president of what?’ Like, you know, what other president is there? And I was like, ‘The College.’ And she was like, ‘Really? . . . What other president’. [And another time] recently I was at lunch with a vice president, and I had my nametag on and the wait server said, ‘Oh, you work at [the College]. ‘Oh yea, I work at [the College].’ He was like, ‘Oh, you’re an adviser there?’ I’m like, ‘No, I’m the President.” Right. It’s just like repeating. . . . It is, but it’s kind of funny at some level and at the same time it’s sad, right, that it’s hard for people to imagine that I could be a college president.
Eight of the 11 participants said they have experienced the “little lady” bias on some basis along their career, but they were all very clear that they did not allow other people’s comments to affect their behavior. Pam, specifically, noted that when she was
200 taking on additional leadership roles she never asked for preferential treatment for her role as a mother. As one of the first women in an administrative role in most of her institutions, she said that knew she had to work hard and not ask for allowances.
Between the search for balance and the additional challenges that the participants faced, I asked them why they continue to stay in such patriarchal positions. Karina said:
I guess because I grew up in this blue-collar family where we [were] raised in this incredible work ethic and you just never gave up. So I just knew if I could keep plowing threw it I could climb the ladder, and I’ve always been very ambitious.
Kendal responded in a similar way:
Well, I see potential, and my husband says it this way, ‘Your weakness is that every place you look you see opportunities,’ and so for me, I don’t know. . . . I don’t really know the meaning of the word no, so if you tell me, ‘No, that’s not going to work,’ I just try to find another way to make it happen. If you tell me, ‘This is a barrier you’re going to encounter,’ I try to figure out a way to overcome that barrier. I don’t give up on what I see as the opportunities, so I always see opportunities.
For Carrie, the choice to stay in higher education was easy; her father died when he was 27 years old and never had the opportunity to go to college, and her mother did not graduate from high school. She wanted to realize the dream that her parents never had the opportunity to do. For the other participants, the answer is simple: they stay for the students. Jen said the differences she can make in her students’ lives is what excites her about being a college president:
I helped a student. . . . He and his family are from Nigeria. He lives right down the street. I had worked with him for a year. He became a student leader and I was talking with him when on a trip to D.C., and I said, ‘So how was D.C.?’ He said, ‘Oh, it was awesome!’ He said, ‘You know what the best part was? I got to take a shower, a hot shower two days in a row. And I’m like, ‘What do you mean?’ I learned they had no gas in their apartment [just down the road] where it was cold like you wouldn’t believe. So they had electricity and they would boil water for sponge baths. They live down the street here for two years and I had no idea until he told me that the best part of this trip was getting a hot shower. So like it was, ‘Do you know that
201 there are resources available?’ So I worked with him to go to Social Services and get gas turned back on. But he’s like resilient! He graduated from here. He is now at [a major university on a] full ride. So you hear stories like that.
Moving Up in the Same Institution
Four of the 11 participants were promoted to the presidency within their current institution. All four participants worked in the community college sector. Of those four, three were promoted from the position of vice president for student services. Only one internal candidate was the vice president for academic affairs prior to being promoted to president. All four participants said being promoted within an institution brought a unique set of challenges and obstacles. Three other participants who were not promoted internally as presidents, but were promoted to vice president positions internally also said that being promoted internally was a particular challenge they had to face. Sybil was promoted all the way from a part-time faculty member in the library to several director positions, a dean position, vice president for academic affairs, and then college president.
She had this to say about being an internal candidate and promoted from within the institution:
Sometimes being an internal candidate, especially, can have a whole set of challenges, because the people I work with who knew me when I was a faculty member [now see me] in a different role. . . . So sometimes it’s a level of respect there but I think I have gained it across the board that others don’t quite. [They might say] ‘Well, does she really have the skills to be the college president?’ Kind of questioning that, but I have never let that worry me.
Dena, whose promotions were accelerated at an even faster pace than Sybil’s, experienced similar situations to Sybil. Dena said she had to earn respect from the colleagues she used to work with and now supervise:
I think, for me, probably some of the biggest challenges I’ve faced have been supervising people that are either long-term employees or much older employees (more seasoned). But . . . I had kind of a rapid rise here and so I was a supervisor
202 at a fairly young age and I was in positions of authority at a fairly young age and had to negotiate . . . a little bit of a pat on the head, kind of treatment.
For the three participants that began as faculty members and then moved into a department chair or director role, it was that promotion that was most poorly received by their faculty colleagues. Kim remembered how the other English faculty in her department remarked how she had “moved to the dark side.” The internal participants said that the most difficult part about being promoted internally is disciplining former colleagues and peers, the next sub-theme to be explored.
Disciplining Former Peers
The women in this study said disciplining, and sometimes terminating, former colleagues and peers is something that keeps them up at night. Jen, a brand new president in her institution shared a challenge she is currently experiencing:
This is a huge challenge. And it’s one I kind of knew I was going to be facing, but I didn’t realize how significantly and how big it was going to be. So, you know, and actually I faced a similar challenge in my other role. When you go from being a peer to a supervisor, right? That can be a challenge, and even though I have good relationships with my peers, you know, the role changes. So, there is one member of my cabinet who, honestly, is not a high performer. . . . And [the former president], who I love, one of her weaknesses is holding people accountable and giving real difficult feedback. That was hard for her to do. So she knew, we all knew, this person was struggling, and she realized in March like, ‘Okay, he’s really struggling and I need to start this process so that Jen doesn’t have to inherit all of it herself.’ So she began a performance remediation claim with him before she left and talked with the board about it so that it wouldn’t all be dumped on me when I came. Well, it’s gotten even way worse than I thought. So actually tonight at my board meeting, I am in the process of recommending to my board that I’m going to have to terminate one of my vice presidents. This is a person who had been my peer. So it is hard, especially because when we were peers and when the former president began a process of giving him real critical feedback, he kept coming to me as support. So I was behind the scenes coaching him, advising him, truly his counselor behind the scenes. And so he was very supportive of me moving into this role, . . . and I think partly because he thought that if I moved into this role he would be protected.
203 Jen is not alone. Claire, the participant in this study who has the most experience as CEO, has been president at her institution for 14 ½ years. Of all her experiences since being president the one that she has been most challenged by is an incident that occurred after she questioned a faculty member when a veteran student filed a complaint against the instructor. Claire says the very people she used to be colleagues with turned on her:
The faculty were like rallying around the one faculty member and, you know, [several of them] came up here . . . to my office. And then the faculty union president at the time wrote some really nasty things to our board about me and that kind of thing, but the board was . . . not swayed by any of it. But that was probably my roughest period of time because I had been here forever, and I know all these faculty members. But I knew from my previous experience (and I mean this with all due respect to faculty), they’ll turn on you in a heartbeat. And it doesn’t matter how well you know people. I mean I know all these people. Like, give me a break. And they all were pumping themselves up and having a good time with it, you know. And the union president, he was mad at me about something. I actually knew him very well and we had had a good relationship, you know, and the whole thing. . . . Blah, blah, blah. And of course the faculty member they were protecting—they have all learned since then—you can’t trust her for a second.
Although all of the participants have experienced challenges in their role as president, the call to serve and help others pushes them to continue in their roles. Being an internally promoted president, while convenient in terms of not needing to relocate their families, provided a unique set of challenges for the women in that category. Being a woman in a male-dominated position has also been a challenge for the women, but not one of them said they let comments from others prevent them from pursing aspiring goals.
What the Women Are Most Proud Of
I’m really proud that I was chosen to be a president. . . . I’ll tell you [about] the day that . . . they announced me. . . . So, the way that this happens in [name of state] is there was a search committee that was comprised of community leaders, business leaders, faculty, students, Board of Regents, [and] Board of Trustees. And that was about a . . . maybe
204 20-person committee and then . . . they whittled down to finalists. And the finalists come on campus and have a whole day of interviews on campus and then the next day they announce you. Fast . . . So, I had a full-day interview and then the next day we had a morning interview, and then . . . the three finalists had to kind of just roam around, stay close to campus, and wait for the call. And so, when I got the call and came back to campus to be announced, they announced it in a formal meeting of the Board of Regents, but it was open to the public. And, since it was on our campus, the room was packed. . . . And part of this is because I had been at the institution for so long and people know me, right? . . . When they announced me, the room really, literally, just erupted into applause and it was a . . . really heart-felt emotional moment, because I just had a lot of support from the community. And I knew that with that kind of energy in the room, we could do unbelievable things together. So, it wasn’t really my success as much as it was . . . if we could harness the energy in that room that day, we could, like, change the completion rate of students; we could close [the] achievement gap. . . . What things we could do with that power, you know. So, that success, in terms of being welcomed and appreciated and supported was one of my big highs of my life really. Dena
Just as the participants in this study have faced obstacles and challenges, they also have taken a lot of pride in their accomplishments and in the positive feedback they receive from others, whether it comes from the faculty and staff, fellow administrators, or the external community. Several of the participants were surprised they were chosen to be president. This is particularly true for the participants who were internal candidates and felt honored that their faculty and staff chose them to lead the institution. The following section will break down the sub-themes that participants feel most proud of, including:
(a) their leadership style, being a team player, (b) the good they have brought to their institutions, (c) staying true to who they are, and (d) the positive feedback they receive from others. Table 14 provides an overview of the participants’ proudest accomplishments.
205 Table 14
Participants’ Proudest Accomplishments
Participant’s Leadership The Good They Staying True to Positive Name Style (Team Bring to the Who They Are Feedback to and Approach) Institution From Others Carrie X X X Claire X X X Dena X X X X Jen X X X X Karina X X X X Kate X X X X Kendal X X X Kim X X X Pam X X X X Sybil X X X Tara X X X
Their Leadership Style: Taking a Team Approach
100% of the participants in this study identified their leadership style as
“collaborative” and “team centered.” Eleven out of 11 women felt their team approach leadership style is one of the successes they are most proud of. Pam, who is a retired college president and chancellor, emphasized that she is proud of her team-centered leadership style, because at the time she was president, no one she knew of seemed to approach management this way:
I was very interested in teams and group work and task forces as opposed to, you know, meeting with each person and telling them what to do. I never did that. I never even had individual meetings with all my reports unless they wanted one and then the evaluation, which you’ve got to do. And so we got involved in the American Colleges for Sustainability. We worked on that. I led that. I had big retreats at my house. I was into voluntary [participation], people coming who wanted to be there. We had like 52 people from all across the district show up and work on that initiative for all the time I was there and hopefully still. So, I just think that I enjoy and thrive in that kind of setting as I have a strong ability, when the time comes, to pull things together and move the agenda along.
206
The other participants in this study also were extremely proud of the teams they have organized and the leadership they have fostered in their employees. Kim, Karina, Tara, and Sybil responded in this way about their leadership style:
Kim: I’ve put together and . . . encouraged a team of leaders on campus that are really amazing. They are doing good work, and I think they’re enjoying their work. And I think I’ve been able to reflect back to this campus what I see as . . . its best traits and its strengths and make them proud of that and work harder for it. And to build on that, I’d like to think that I have encouraged leadership and innovation throughout the ranks . . . and celebrated the successes of lots of people on campus.
Karina: I’m collaborative, but highly decisive and it’s very clear with both. And it’s taken the whole time I’ve been here to teach people what it means: how it works, that their input truly is valued, that the more minds we put together, the better the solutions, but that the ultimate decision is mine. And then the other thing I would say is I’m huge on professional development and employee engagement.
Tara: I need people who think about things differently and approach things differently and speak about things differently. So I would say that I hope I’m able to . . . build a good team, as well. Allow people to grow as much as they want, nurture that, have tons of successes and celebrations, and, you know, really impact students’ lives.
Sybil: I think [I’m] open and willing to work with people. I think that’s important. I’m very quick to tell people I may not have the answer that you’re looking for but together we can work together to find it. [I’m] very collaborative . . . I have an excellent executive leadership team that we work very closely together. I try not to micromanage because, . . . first of all, I can’t run everything at the college but, secondly, I want people to feel like their jobs are respected and they are respected. So I allow people to do their jobs and then give people the credit and compliments publicly that they deserve and recognition that they deserve.
Sybil mentioned that part of her leadership style is recognizing and acknowledging her employees for the good work they are doing. She is not alone; eight of the 11 participants underscored that it is critical to let their employees, especially their
207 leadership team, know how much they appreciate their work. Take Claire, for example, who said:
Well, when I talk to people about my style and my priority—it’s all about personal engagement. I come to realize that over time . . . and I don’t remember it every second of every day, but, just because of the role when you acknowledge or recognize people you have the power to do that. You have the power to have the people feel valued and acknowledged and that they’re noticed. And . . . for my legacy I hope that people will feel like, ‘You know, the President knew who I was.’
Establishing a strong team was cited by 100% of the participants. Additionally, acknowledging the work that their team produced was just as important. All of the participants credited their team-led approach as a reason for their success; not one woman chose to work in isolation.
The Good They Bring to the Institution
In addition to the teams they built and the positive feedback they receive from others, each participant shared stories of the positive changes they implemented or brought to their institutions. For some it was new buildings, for others it was new programs, and for many of them it was the new policies they developed, but all 11 women are proud of the good they provide to their institutions. For Jen, she is proud of the attention to diversity that she has instilled at her community college:
I’m very committed to social justice issues and issues of equity that has always been kind of a part of my DNA. Like my parents even instilled that in us, so I created (when I was vice president) the first Office of Access, Equity, and Diversity at the college and hired our first chief diversity officer. . . . I know in a four-year institution those are older and more prevalent, but we were the first community college in [the state] to have that office. We have an anti-racism team. We have a strong commitment to issues of equity and social justice. I really think because I’ve been in a leadership role I’ve been able to kind of make that more front and center about who we are and who we need to be, so I think that’s probably the thing I’m most proud of.
208 Sybil is proud of a health and fitness center for students that hires over 100 students at her college to run the facility, and Karina is proud of a brand new dance studio and 430 capacity theatre that expands arts and cultural events to the students and to the community. Claire is most proud of her 2020 College Plan and other accomplishments in her nearly 15 years as president, which she highlighted as:
We built two campuses with five buildings here, but along the way we totally changed our brand identity. We did a huge marketing thing—got a new logo, . . . totally changed our computer systems a couple of times, totally redesigned our web page, . . . created a [college] portal. Totally had to really let go of our former public safety approach and rebuilt a total campus police department because we didn’t have one before. So, you know, pretty much any issue that’s going on in higher ed, we’re at least discussing it or talking about it. And we just got our second huge Title V Grant, which is like a very big deal. . . . We have a foundation board. They are very vibrant and thriving and they’ve done really well the last couple of years. So we’re not perfect.
The participants are very proud of the good they brought to their institutions, because it meant they brought opportunities to students that they might not have had access to prior to being students. From sporting facilities to cultural centers, the participants are proud of the exposure to different things that they were able to introduce to their students and communities.
Staying True to Who They Are
I just feel like, you know, every day, whether you’re being a mom or a President or a custodian or a dean or a faculty member, you should be bringing your whole passion to your work. Dena
Over and over again, the participants in this study described themselves as
“authentic,” “down-to-earth,” and “honest.” They all said they believe they hold positions that bring good to the students and to the community; all 11 participants also remarked that they remain true to their values and always keep their institutional missions in the
209 back of their minds when making decisions. Carrie and Kendal, for instance, expressed the values they embody in these ways:
Carrie: I try to keep at the center of everything I do, my values and why I’m here. And just a few minutes ago I ran over to get some soup for lunch in our Student Center, and I just stopped for a minute and thought, ‘This is why we’re here. Look at all these people, look at all these students. This is why I do what I do.’
Kendal: I like to think that I do try to live the core values of the institution. That I try to, in my own behavior and my own conduct, I still teach for example. I think it is important . . . for me to be engaged with students, so I try to represent what I would see, not perfectly certainly, but the kind of embodiment of what we stand for at the institution.
For the participants, values have played such an important role in deciding where they chose to work that both Kendal and Carrie left previous institutions, because they felt the institutional mission had changed and no longer aligned with their personal values. Tara also said that staying true to her values motivated her to apply to become a college president, and if she felt another job would match her values equally or better, she would try that too:
If I could go somewhere and really feel like I was making a difference and I could instill a vision that I believed in and I could lead in a way that I thought would benefit others. . . . I want to be a healthy leader and I mean that in . . . healthy for other people. You know, creating a healthy environment and culture so that people can flourish and thrive in it. And so that’s why I decided to throw my hat in the ring and try to see if I could . . . add that to an institution. But, had I never been a president . . . I think I would have been equally fulfilled as long as I was making a difference.
Again, making a difference and being “called” to the role of CEO is a theme that surfaced over and over again throughout this study. The participants are proud of what they are able to do as a college president and community leader, and because their institutional missions are aligned with their personal values, their jobs are fulfilling.
210 Positive Feedback to and From Others
As mentioned previously, several of the participants said they were honored that someone believed in them enough to encourage them to become college presidents. Five participants in this study also said they were proud that they receive positive feedback from others. “Others” ranged from their cabinet, the Board of Trustees, and external constituents. The fact that other people are satisfied with their performance as president is something that motivates them in their roles. This supports Bandura’s (1977) stance that someone with high self-efficacy usually gains confidence through verbal persuasion or external confirmation that someone is good at performing a task. Karina communicated that she is particularly proud of the support she receives from her Board of Trustees:
Having gone through two review periods consistently, you know, I do a self- assessment and then the board does an assessment, and to give you an example, like in my first year I rated myself for job knowledge ‘exceeds’ . . . because I said, ‘There’s a learning curve. I’m still learning the area; I’m still learning the people.’ And they came back and said, ‘Oh no, ‘significantly exceeds’ and if there was one higher, we’d put you there.’ So, like they saw [my] job knowledge [as what] I was able to [do].
When Pam was both a president and a chancellor, her employees told her how much they appreciated the personal touches she gave to the job:
I did a lot of forums and group things and [I was] very communicative. When I got . . . in both places, I started doing a memo, which now probably seems like what people would do, but I did it myself. I e-produced a WORD document with pictures, you know, and I’ve always told people, ‘Don’t start that if you don’t want to be doing it.’ . . . [I did this] once a month, seven years, seven times 12 (laughing). And I literally did it myself on my own computer and used it to communicate with people about all the things that were going on and stuff like that. And then [I’d include] stuff about myself, or I’d do something about [the Midwest], or running into deer, and just trying to get known, because with three separate colleges they were very competitive. It was like déjà vu, you know. And I made a commitment to put my foot on every college campus at least once a month but I was often there more. To be there for something. [And I often spoke about] my granddaughter. People kind of
211 got maybe a little sick of hearing about it. They’d say, ‘How’s your granddaughter?’ and then they’d tell me about their granddaughter.
While the participants admitted that receiving positive feedback from their constituents was something they were proud of, they all remarked that expressing gratitude to their employees has been one of the most positive pieces of feedback they have received in their role as president.
Concluding Remarks
The themes that emerged from analyzing the interviews with these women constitute rich, descriptive accounts of their experiences as both college presidents and mothers. The participants, although from varied backgrounds, experienced many similar challenges, obstacles, and successes on their way to the top. Their stories convey a deep love for their family, an intrinsic desire to serve, an appreciation for the support provided to them, an endless search for balance, and strong self-efficacy skills. The women in this study do not view themselves as remarkable or special in any way, and they say they just did what they had to do in order to be both a good mother and a successful college president.
The overall essence of these women’s experiences is that in order for them to be successful as both mothers and college presidents, they needed to let go of the self- imposed guilt to be able to “do it all” and rely on others to help them on their journey.
Being a college president and a mother is possible, but it is not achievable on their own.
The other essential invariant structure of this study is the participants finding an institution that aligned with their personal values and believing that they had the ability to be successful.
212 CHAPTER 6
DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATIONS, ADVICE, AND REFLECTIONS
The purpose of this study was to explore the lives of college presidents who are mothers in order to identify how being a mother has affected their career paths and how their experiences shaped them into the leaders they are today. In order to understand the experiences and perceptions of mothers serving as college presidents, I conducted a qualitative, phenomenological study and used in-depth interviews and document/artifact analysis to highlight the major motivations, successes, and challenges in these women’s lives. During the face-to-face interviews, I spent between one to two hours with each participant in a private setting where I took notes on their non-verbal communication while recording our conversation. I used Moustakas’ (1994) phenomenological methods of analysis, exercising epoche and bracketing, phenomenological reduction, imaginative variation, and the synthesis of meanings and essences, which allowed me to unfold the major themes and subthemes for this study.
The following research questions guided this study: (a) What are the lived experiences and perceptions of a small group of mothers in presidential positions at higher education institutions?; How do they make sense of their lives?; (b) How has being a mother affected the career paths of these mothers in college presidencies?; (c)
What have been the challenges that they have faced in their careers, and what has contributed to their success in moving up the presidential ladder?; and (d) In what ways do they think their personal attributes, skills, and experiences as a mother relate to their personal attributes, skills, and experiences as a leader and college president?
213 This chapter provides a summary, comprehensive discussion of the study, recommendations for higher education leaders and future research, advice for mothers pursing college presidencies, and my reflections on the research. Using the four research questions, I will discuss the findings for each question and use the participants’ own words to make recommendations to educational leaders, as well as provide advice to mothers pursuing college presidencies.
The average college president is in his mid-60s, is a Caucasian, male, and sees retirement on the horizon (Altbach et al., 2011). While these retirements provide an opportunity for more women to apply for college presidencies, very few have been willing to leave their vice president roles, often because the job of being a college president is 24/7 (Bornstein, 2009). The time commitment makes the job even more difficult for mothers, who have a separate full-time job waiting for them once they get home (Dominici, Fried, & Zeger, 2009; Kahanov, Loebsack, Masucci, & Roberts, 2010;
Tessens, White, & Webb, 2011). The findings of this study support previous research on women presidents in that (a) not one of the 11 participants planned on being a college president early in their career, and (b) 100% of the women said time continues to be the biggest challenge in their roles as mother and president.
For administrators at higher education institutions, this study can serve as the framework for developing programs and initiatives, both formal and informal, which successfully mentor and support working mothers that wish to take on additional leadership roles. For women planning a career in higher education administration, this study provides advice from mothers with a combined total of 60 years of presidential experience on how to secure the job of CEO and ways to achieve work-life integration. I
214 will begin with the four research questions introduced at the beginning of this study and progress into recommendations, advice, and reflections.
What Are the Lived Experiences and Perceptions of a Small Group of Mothers in
Presidential Positions at Higher Education Institutions? How Do They Make Sense
of Their Lives?
For the participants in this study, the 24/7 juggling act between their own professional and personal roles is a challenge that pushes the women to find solutions for working parents at their own institutions. While the lack of time is the most challenging aspect of being a college president and mother, the participants all expressed their time- management skills have improved since becoming a parent. For the women, it was obtaining their doctoral degrees while working full time and parenting that caused the most stress and guilt in their lives. Rather than being able to focus on one role at a time, each participant said the roles collided at some point in her career and confided that those same roles continue to spill over to other areas of her life to this day.
The results of this study contribute to existing literature on interrole conflict, which states that the many hats women wear tend to create guilt over what they should be focusing their time on and when (Barker, 2014; Gilbert & Von Wallmenich, 2014; Oates et al., 2005; Powell & Butterfield, 2013; Williams & Dempsey, 2014; Zhou, 2013). The results are also consistent with Super’s (1989) life-span, life-space approach to career choice. While most of the women did experience the varied roles in Super’s life-career rainbow consecutively, once they decided to pursue their doctoral degrees (in the role of student) while still in their roles of parent, spouse, worker, citizen, and, homemaker, they experienced the spillover into other domains. Super explains that one role is often the
215 dominant role, while other roles are secondary. For the women in this study, the primary role was parent, which is why it was impossible for the women to completely separate themselves from being a mother while at work.
Time was such an issue for the women, that all 11 participants spoke of the need to prioritize and compartmentalize their time. For a majority of the participants, it was personal time that suffered most, causing them to cut out time for individual enjoyment, like exercising or travel. Several participants said they stopped exercising for a while, often experiencing physical effects from the lack of care they provided themselves. Not one of the participants took extended leave after having children. Although supervisors gave them opportunities, the women did not take advantage of it. Most of the women had supervisors who encouraged them to take extended leave, but the women continued to work in some capacity, often on a reduced load, until fully returning to work. Several participants also brought their children to work with them when they were infants.
Kendal, one of the participants in the study, returned to work just three days after giving birth to her son when she was a faculty member at a private institution. She said she did not have to return to work so quickly, but she chose to do it, because she had the support in place to make it happen. Pam, another participant who served as both a community college president and a chancellor, cautioned women not to take too long off of work after having a child, because they probably will lose their place in leadership positions.
These results are consistent with research by Williams and Dempsey (2014) who explain that the maternal wall is particularly difficult for mothers in higher education, because childbirth usually coincides with the tenure process.
216 In addition to finding time for their roles as mothers and presidents, the women in this study said domestic work took up much of their free time. Although eight of the participants were married to men that they considered “supportive husbands,” domestic duties like cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, and laundry still mostly fell on the women’s shoulders. All of the women in this study tried to maintain domestic duties when they first became presidents, but the amount of stress they felt from having to do all of these chores forced eight of them to seek outside help in house cleaners and laundry services. These results are consistent with earlier studies that describe the second shift that women begin once they return home from their professional jobs (Dindoffer et al.,
2011; Dominici et al., 2009). For the women in this study that hired others to take care of domestic chores, they were able to add time back in their lives for personal enjoyment, such as visiting their children, traveling with their significant others, or partaking in activities that brought them enjoyment. This study further confirms the 2011 study by
Dindoffer et al. (2011) that reported working mothers needed three different factors in order to be successful in their careers (a) support, (b) mentoring, and (c) relinquishing domestic responsibilities.
The quest for balance was most difficult for the college presidents with younger children. For the participants in this study with adult children, finding balance was still difficult, but seemed to improve with time. This supports findings from Hertneky’s
(2010) study that looked at the role of balance in women’s leadership self-identity.
Hertneky learned that balance gets easier for women once they have been in a position for a longer amount of time. Hertneky also found that in order for women to feel more balanced in their lives they need to lean on others for support. This was certainly true for
217 the participants in this study who said finding support is critical to success in the roles of mother and college president.
As noted in Chapter 5, support for the participants comes from a variety of places.
The largest supporter, and the reason why each woman pursued a college presidency, was her mentor. The participants’ mentors provided emotional support and gave the women the confidence they needed to seek promotions, eventually leading to a college presidency. Each participant in this study said she had never considered a college presidency until someone, usually a former supervisor or mentor, told her she would make a great college president. The results are consistent with previous research from
Bornstein (2008) who also found that women’s confidence came from others believing they could do it. The results also support numerous studies that explain the important role mentoring plays in providing confidence to women pursuing presidencies (Bornstein,
2009; Eddy, 2008; Hertneky, 2010; Tunheim & Goldschmidt, 2013). Support for the women also came from other people: (a) the women’s families, especially their spouses and their children; (b) their former supervisors who were flexible when they needed time to focus on family matters; (c) their Board of Trustees who stood behind them when making difficult decisions; and (d) professional women’s organizations who provided a network of support. Additionally, the participants noted opportunities that supervisors and/or mentors gave them in order to learn new skills and gain confidence that added to their support structure.
Mentors gave the women in this study confidence in believing they could be a college president, but the motivation to actually apply for a presidency came from a higher place. All 11 participants said that being a college president was a “calling” that
218 they felt passionate about pursing once they learned the good they could bring to others.
An intrinsic willingness and desire to serve was a powerful motivator for all 11 participants who said they are in higher education, because they believe in what they do.
Driven by their own values, the women in this study were adamant that they would only work for an institution that had a mission consistent with their own principles. Several participants left previous institutions that were no longer in line with their personal values. In a previous study, Tunheim and Goldschmidt (2013) found that 80% of the women presidents they interviewed were “called” to the position, and Mayer et al. (2015) found that women were much more likely to apply for an administrative position when they deemed the work “meaningful.” In a leadership study on successful men and women, Kouzes and Posner (2007) learned that intrinsic motivation to pursue a career that is personally fulfilling gives leaders a passion to succeed. That was certainly the case for the women in this study.
The women in this study are proud of what they have achieved both professionally and personally. The accomplishment that gives them the most pride is the fact that others are happy with the work they are doing. From their children and spouses to their faculty, staff, students, and community, it is the positive feedback the women receive from others that gives them the motivation to continue as college presidents. Even though the time commitment is relentless and the personal sacrifice is great, the women remarked that hearing student success stories, positive reinforcement from the board, and votes of confidence from the faculty and staff assures them that they are doing a good job. In fact, it was in instances where the women had a difficult situation with another
219 person at the institution or when their children said they did not want their mother to work so much that caused the most strife in the women’s careers and lives.
When asked how they identify themselves, nine out of the 11 women said they identify as a “mother” and a “college president.” In both of these roles, the women said they gauge their success based on feedback from others (their children and their employees). This finding corresponds with Bandura’s (1977) self-efficacy theory that states self-efficacy is a person’s belief in her ability to succeed. The participants in this study developed their self-efficacy skills using three of the four ways listed by Bandura
(1977): (a) performance accomplishments or mastery experiences; (b) vicarious experience (learning from mentors); and (c) verbal persuasion (others saying they could do it). Verbal persuasion was the area most frequently cited by the participants in this study, and this finding also supports Josselson’s (1987) female identity development theory.
Being a college president is something all 11 women are proud of, but to get to that point, ten out of 11 women reported frequently feeling guilty for not being able to be there for everyone who needed them. There were feelings of guilt and sacrifice surrounding their accomplishments, particularly their doctoral degrees, not because they regret the decision to pursue a presidency, but because they felt others took a back seat when they were completing their education and climbing to the top. Some participants had spouses and parents questioning why they were trying to do it all, contributing to the guilt that the women imposed on themselves. For the women with small children, burning the candle at both ends was “what they had to do” to achieve a presidency. Even for participants with adult children, the women still felt guilty for not having enough time to
220 spend with them. Women and guilt are not new correlations. Several researchers have reported the amount of guilt that working mothers operate under while establishing their careers (Barker, 2014; Gilbert & Von Wallmenich, 2014; Oats et al., 2005; Powell &
Butterfield, 2013; Sidel, 1990; Williams & Dempsey, 2014; Zhou, 2013). While all 11 women said they would not change their life’s journey, a number of participants said they would give up the college presidency if they had to in order to put their families (spouses and children) first.
How Has Being a Mother Affected the Career Paths of These Mothers in College
Presidencies?
Not one participant in this study said being a mother slowed their career path to the college presidency. In fact, 100% of the participants said being a mother aided them in their careers by providing them with skills they had only touched upon prior to having children. The women said they learned how to be better listeners, have more patience, appreciate diversity, be more empathetic towards others, and communicate more effectively since becoming a parent. They also said mothering has given them better time management and conflict resolution skills. The women did not feel their employees viewed them negatively for being mothers, but they did cite several instances where being a woman provided challenges as to whether others’ thought they were strong enough to lead a higher education institution.
The two areas that were affected for these women because they were mothers were the timing of the presidency and the location of the institution. Motherhood affected when and where these women chose to pursue a presidency. 64% of participants chose a location near their children when determining where to pursue a presidency; 36% of
221 participants said they would not consider a presidency if it meant relocating their children; 36% of participants waited until all of their children were out of high school before pursing a presidency; and 18% of participants waited until their husbands retired before thinking about becoming a president. These findings verify the kaleidoscope model of careers put forward by Mainiero and Sullivan (2005) who learned that women choose their careers based on how those choices affect the relationships in their lives.
While men tend to make career decisions based on goal setting and extrinsic factors, women tend to make career decisions based on relationalism (considering how one’s decisions affect others before making a final decision) and intrinsic motivators.
Previous research found that women who come up through the ranks of faculty have a difficult time securing tenure and leadership positions because the time during which they usually receive tenure tends to coincide with when women typically would have children (Hollenshead et al., 2005; Marcus, 2007; Tillman, 2011; Ward, 2006;
Williams & Dempsey, 2014). Marcus (2007) and Tillmann (2011) both found the average age a woman earns her PhD at 34 years old. While 81% of the women in this study did pursue their doctoral degree after they had children, and said it was the most difficult time in their life and career, they did not feel held back for having children. They said mothering while working in a leadership position was difficult, and they suffered from severe burnout and stress, but not a single woman in this study felt they were treated negatively for having children. Supervisors and fellow employees never outwardly questioned their loyalty to the institution, although a few women in the study said they are sure others doubted their ability to succeed. Of the three participants who were faculty members at one point in their careers, not one of them felt their tenure was ever in
222 jeopardy for being a mother; this finding may be influenced by the fact that all three women returned to work immediately (for one woman, just three days) after having their children. Not one woman in this study took extended leave from her position beyond the standard 6-12 weeks to have a child. They all returned to work after their maternity leave was complete, even earlier for some. Stone and Hernandez (2013) found that 76% of the women in their study experienced flexibility bias for taking time to care for their children
(including maternity leave) and holding a career. This study contradicts that finding, although it should be noted that the women in this study made it a point to not ask for preferential treatment or expected additional allowances for being a mother. If anything, they may have worked harder than many colleagues in order to prove that they were capable of doing senior administrative work and being a mother. This is more consistent with Williams and Dempsey’s (2014) finding, which noted that many women appear to feel the need to prove their devotion over and over again by putting in an excessive amount of unpaid overtime.
The concept of overtime and extra hours is the one area in this study where the participants say being a mother affected their career paths. Dominici et al. (2009) explained that women do not pursue leadership paths or take a long time to do so, because there is an increasing pressure to be available 24/7 in higher education leadership positions. The women in this study agree. 100% of participants feel being a president is a
24-hour job, and it never stops or slows down. This has forced the women to spend time checking emails during the late evening hours once their children are asleep, when on vacation with their families, and sometimes when attending non-job related events. Many of the participants wake up in the early morning hours to get a jump start on their email
223 or go to bed in the early morning, because they have stayed up late working. This increase in time commitment began at the vice president level for most participants, but only escalated when they became presidents. Because they have multiple responsibilities as a mother, the work responsibilities continued into the early morning hours. Stone and
Hernandez (2013) did note that time is a central factor to demonstrating commitment to an organization. The women in this study agree.
What Have Been the Challenges That They Have Faced in Their Careers, and What
Has Contributed to Their Success in Moving Up the Presidential Ladder?
When it comes to their careers, the biggest challenge is less about being a mother and more about being a woman. For 73% of participants, being a woman has proven more challenging than anything else, particularly when working with outside boards, foundations, and organizations. The “little lady” bias was strongest for the presidents at the private institutions who were often the first females in the room in many situations: first female faculty, first female department chair, first female president, and so on. For the women at the private institutions and the one retired woman president, the bias and stereotypes received on community boards was most blatant. The other participants in this study also experienced some level of bias on external boards, but the comments were more veiled, except for Jen, the youngest and newest president, who received outright age and gender bias. All of the participants said the comments about being a woman or the surprise from constituents that they were selected as presidents did not affect them the way one might think it would. The women were prepared for the comments, and they took it in stride. They did not argue with others or call people out; they worked hard, ignored the comments, and proved their abilities by demonstrating the good they could
224 achieve. Several participants reported that former naysayers have often done complete turnarounds and confided in the participants that they thought they were doing an excellent job in their roles as presidents.
Previous research suggests that if women want to be seen as leaders then they need to dress and act more like males (Bornstein, 2008; Rabas, 2013; Tedrow &
Rhoades, 1999; Williams & Dempsey, 2004). 36% of participants said they did not feel they “fit the part” of a college president, because, like Dena said, she always pictured a college president to be “extremely polished, very formal, very legislatively savvy, [a] great fundraiser.” Dena and several other participants thought they were too informal, laid-back, and fun to be a college president. Others disagreed, saying it was those very qualities that made them good presidents, demonstrating authenticity in their roles.
Contradictory to previous studies, the women in this study say that behaving in a more traditional, masculine leadership style actually earned them criticism. For two women,
Kate and Tara, mentors told them having children would make them better leaders, because they both needed to be more empathetic and “softer.” The women were annoyed at the time, but said their mentors were right. None of the participants mentioned personal style/attire in describing themselves or their challenges. They focused completely on ability and perceptions from others, and they said that the feedback from others confirm that their employees prefer their team approach and transformative leadership style to a more traditional, authoritative style.
The other major challenge for the women in this study was being promoted internally. For the four female presidents who were promoted to president internally (and the three others promoted to vice president positions internally), the challenge of working
225 with former colleagues in a supervisory role sometimes proved to be very difficult. Even for participants who were promoted to vice president positions internally, the ridicule expressed from some of their former peers was harsh at times. The women spoke of the difficulty in disciplining and sometimes terminating former colleagues and friends. A former faculty member received comments such as “traitor” and was told she went “to the dark side,” upon moving to an administrative role. It was the personnel issues that upset the participants the most and caused the most anguish for the women.
Like most working individuals, the women in this study also experienced challenges in their careers. While personal challenges, such as work-life balance, time- management, and feelings of guilt affected the participants most profoundly overall, in their careers being treated like a “little lady” and disciplining former colleagues proved most challenging.
In What Ways Do They Think Their Personal Attributes, Skills, and Experiences as
a Mother Relate to Their Personal Attributes, Skills, and Experiences as a Leader
and College President?
Without hesitation, 100% of participants said their personal attributes, skills and experiences as a mother positively relates to their personal attributes, skills and experiences as a leader and college president. The participants acknowledged that compartmentalizing their personal life and work is important so that they can focus on one task at a time. Separating their personal attributes and skills as a mother from their role of college president is impossible, because being a mother is the most important role in all of their lives. Their difficult experiences as a mother gave them confidence and skills in dealing with difficult situations at work. Being a mother has also given the
226 women greater perspective. Their jobs were incredibly important to them and played a role in how each participant identified herself, but at the end of the day, the college presidency is a job—their families come first, and they are not afraid to let others know that. In fact, most participants want their employees to also put family first. Their personal emphasis on family is one of the things they think makes them excellent leaders.
Of all the personal attributes brought to the job from being a mother, the participants emphasized that it is being able to negotiate and work with a diverse group of individuals in a team-lead approach that carries the most weight. All of the participants had at least two children; several had three, four, or more children. Having to mother multiple children and often provide emotional support to a spouse as well, these women have learned how to lead a team. Kim, one of the participants, said that every time she had to negotiate with her large family, it was like dealing with an entire committee. The participants all pointed out that their children have very different and unique personalities, like their employees do, and it has prepared them for working with a variety of people. Being a leader at home is also the area of their jobs they are most proud of— the collaborative nature in which they run their institutions. Every president in this study said having a strong cabinet and a team of vice presidents they can trust is critical to being successful in their roles. This study supports Fullan and Scott’s (2009) study on turnaround leadership that found that leaders who can put an effective team together and include people who have skills that supplement their own skills are most effective in higher education and make the best leaders. This also correlates with Gallup’s (2015) theory of strengths-based leadership.
227 In addition to teamwork, the women said they have a newfound respect and appreciation for the emotional intelligence that being a mother has given them. Prior to having children, several participants remarked that they did not have the level of empathy needed to lead a college; 55% of participants said they are more empathetic since having children. The skill of strengthening and nurturing relationships is something that came with becoming a mother. The women in this study said they are better listeners and have more patience when dealing with others. This emotional intelligence has given the women in this study a better understanding of individuals and assisted them in their one- on-one conversations with others. Emotional intelligence expressed by the participants in this study directly supports previous literature by Goleman (2008) who said emotional intelligence consists of: (a) self-awareness—understanding one's emotions and recognizing one’s impact on others while making decisions; (b) self-regulation— controlling one’s emotions and adapting to changes; (c) social skill—working with others to steer people in the right direction; (d) empathy—considering others’ feelings, especially when making decisions; and (e) internal motivation—being driven to achievement. Goleman (2011) reported that female leadership will be in high demand by
2018 and Guthrie (2015) said that the level of emotional intelligence might be higher in those who are mothers.
Time management skills are an additional personal attribute the mothers in this study said gave them an edge in their roles as presidents. The women have had to learn how to prioritize their time based on their family’s needs. Since so many people rely on them at home and at work, 64% of the women in this study say they have become experts in compartmentalizing and prioritizing their time. Being a mother has forced the women
228 to set limits, meet deadlines, and hold others accountable to getting things done.
Although all 11 participants classify themselves as “driven” by nature, time-management is a skill that seven of them feel got better with becoming a parent.
For 91% of the women in this study, being a college president has also made them a better mother. All but one of the participants felt that being a college president has taught them to appreciate how different people are and has given them insight into how to parent their children with more respect and understanding.
Recommendations for Educational Leaders
This section focuses on recommendations from the college presidents in this study who said that the only way for women with children to succeed in leadership roles is if college administrators get on board with providing the necessary support to make it happen. While many of the participants express gratitude to former supervisors who supported them by being flexible and kind when they had children, many also had supervisors who were not so gracious, which is why all of the women in this study are conscientious about supporting mothers and fathers who have leadership potential.
Karina said that women, in particular, needed to support each other instead of trying to one-up each other; she quoted Madeline Albright who said, “There is a special place in hell for women who do not support other women.” This was a sentiment noted from seven of the 11 participants, who reported that male supervisors were often more likely to encourage them to apply for promotions than their female supervisors.
Although the participants support working families, they do not show favoritism to mothers at their institutions. In fact, they are clear that they only allow opportunities,
229 like flextime, to employees who earn the privilege and prove to be a valuable asset to the institution.
The following section discusses the recommendations for institutions to: (a) be flexible and update and/or change outdated policies; (b) be respectful of an employee’s personal time; (c) mentor women, including young mothers; and (d) consider on-campus daycare for employees and students.
Be Flexible and Update and/or Change Outdated Polices
If you’ve got somebody who’s worth keeping, I’m not saying to break policy or break the rules, but figure out creative ways to make it work for them and for the institution. They have to have demonstrated enough commitment and value to be worth it, and I think developing policies and providing the flexibility within those policies to allow people to have some degree of freedom about determining their own career path. Kendal
If an employee is worth the effort, be flexible. Flexibility was mentioned by all 11 participants as the number one way for institutions to provide support for working mothers, but the message was clear: the participants suggested that institutions only allow opportunities, like flextime, to employees who earn the privilege and prove to be a valuable asset to the institution. Whether it is by implementing formal policies and procedures or just letting a mother leave early to attend her child’s concert, college administrators need to be aware of how much it means to employees when supervisors do not force them to choose between working or being with their families.
To address the constant tug-of-war that working mothers experience over being with their children and being at work, college administrators must acknowledge the struggle and implement policies supporting working parents. Six presidents in this study have introduced initiatives at their own institutions. Dena, the president at a community college, is working on a new flextime policy that will make it just as easy for fathers to
230 take time off after the birth of a child as it is for mothers. This was especially important for Dena whose own husband stayed at home with their children:
We have a rule here at the college, which I’m trying to change, which doesn’t allow our male colleagues to take sick leave when their baby’s born, because technically they’re not sick. Where, if you gave birth, you can take sick leave and then vacation leave, which helps extend your leave, but guys can’t do that. And I’m trying to change that, because I think that’s unfair.
College administrators should demonstrate to their employees that they can be flexible with time when it matters. When an institution extends a helping hand to an employee struggling with work-life balance, it often makes the employee more devoted to the institution, increasing a return on investment. The only reason the women in this study were able to assume executive leadership positions and eventually become college presidents while being a mother is that they received support from their former supervisors, particularly when their children were small. They were also given flextime when aging relatives needed their help. They said this level of support not only made them work harder for their institutions, it gave them a level of loyalty and devotion to that institution. Three of the participants, Karina, Jen and Kim, pointed out that providing any level of support that assists with work-life integration can greatly assist mothers pursing leadership positions:
Karina: Certainly I would ask [higher education leaders] to value a work/life balance. To respect the fact that as mothers we have to feel like we’re taking care of our children, and if we’re forced to work in such a way that we don’t feel we’re taking care of our children we can’t focus 100%. We can’t be truly applying ourselves because we’re distracted by our priorities, which is our kids.
Jen: I think that allowing for flexibility, that most mothers who are in leadership roles . . . know what their priorities are, and to allow them the flexibility to determine how to manage their schedule so that they can effectively deal with the priorities at the college, as well as be present at home. Because my sense is if they’re not
231 allowed to tend to things at home, they’re not going to be an effective leader at your institution.
Kim: If you know how to spot emerging leaders, and you can find an emerging leader who is the mother of small children or children who are still at home, I would do anything within reason to enable that young mother to work for you and to do good work, even if it is only half time or three-quarter time. Because those children grow up, and the maturity that comes with responsible parenthood, . . . the ability at balancing emotion and practicality, all of that will serve your organization well.
By providing flexible time for mothers who wish to be in leadership roles, college administrators demonstrate to their employees that they are worth the investment.
Institutions should set up parameters that allow for young parents to spend time with their children, but also put in the work necessary to do their jobs successfully. Flextime does not have to mean working from home. I recommend institutions consider giving employees returning from maternity leave schedules that have them working longer hours, fewer days a week. Karina, the president at a private, for-profit institution, implemented a new policy that lets new mothers return from maternity leave progressively, beginning with working two days a week, moving to three days, then four days, and eventually five days. Karina has also increased health benefits for families and lowered the cost of health insurance and stated:
I used to [feel guilty] all the time, but I’m fortunate in that I’m now in a role where I can have the final say, and I don’t want any of my people to ever feel guilty about a decision to put their family first. In fact, I will move mountains to make sure that they do.
Another recommendation for college administrators is to provide teaching schedules to faculty with young children that allow them to teach on campus either in the morning, the afternoon, or just a few days of week, depending on what his/her personal schedule needs. Faculty can also be given more online courses so that they can be home
232 or with their children when they need to be. For administrators with young children, flextime can also be extended to virtual meetings, either completely online or through streaming services like Skype, Facetime, or Google Hangouts.
Being flexible does not necessarily need to be formalized. Flexibility may mean something as simple as letting an employee leave early so that she may attend her child’s soccer game. Coming in early, skipping a lunch break, or working late one day, could make up working hours missed for a child’s event. This recommendation has been made because 100% of the participants noted that when they allow for these small flexibilities at their own institutions, productivity and employee satisfaction increases.
Along with being flexible, I recommend college presidents change and/or implement college policies that support working parents. College administrators, particularly presidents, have the obligation to look at current institutional policies and ask the question “why?” “Why do we still do it this way?” “Why can’t employees utilize flextime?” “Why can’t we pause the tenure clock so that a woman can have a baby?”
Administrators have the power and the obligation to look at some of these outdated policies.
Dena, a community college president, is in the process of looking at other “red tape” that has made it difficult for young families to work and have children:
I would say that our systems in higher education are bureaucracy that we’ve created (in our HR policies, in our tenure polices . . . in just the way we do our work.). We’ve become very bureaucratic and I think we have the right and the obligation and the opportunity to shake that up and say, ‘Why are we doing that?’ . . . HR policies are where you can say, ‘You know, why wouldn’t we let moms and dads be gone for six months?’ All the research shows us that if they have healthy, great relationships at home, where they feel like they can have that flexibility, that they’ll be a better worker. . . . It’s a matter of trust and I think a lot of the trust has been kind of like squeezed out of bureaucracy. And I wish that we
233 would kind of unlock trust again and let our employees be great, credentialed professionals and not hold time clocks over their heads.
For the women in this study, one of the greatest things they said about being a college president was that they now can make the rules. This was especially true for the presidents at private institutions who did not need state education approval to make changes. A few of the participants already started implementing changes in policies to become more family friendly.
Be Respectful of an Employee’s Personal Time
Another recommendation for college administrators is to be respectful of their employees’ personal time. Since time was such a major challenge in the participants’ quest for work-life balance, they were adamant that institutions be respectful of their employees’ personal time. This theme of time and sacrifice was also prevalent in the literature review. College administrators must be mindful of when and how often they are choosing to communicate with their employees. For instance, emails and phone calls in the evening or on the weekend, unless absolutely necessary, can be rude and disrespectful. Even if an administrator is trying to get a jump on his/her work, an email on the weekend can send a message to employees that they should not only be working on the weekend, but also be responding to emails as well. The participants in this study said evenings and weekends are family time, and unless there is a planned event at the college or in the community, family time should be left alone. Claire, a community college president, said she is very respectful of her employees’ time:
I try to respect all of my staff, really. They’re going to realize when I’m gone that I don’t . . . play that game with them. I mean, I’m not testing their commitment . . . by calling meetings on weekends or making people stay late. You know, we text back and forth a little bit, but I know what all my folks work styles are now, and who’s here and who’s not and who’s doing what, you know. I’m mostly a mom
234 just reading my e-mails, you know, and trying to keep up with my Twitter account and all that stuff.
It is up to administrators at higher education institutions to set the tone for employees and to let parents know that it is okay not to be available 24/7. The three participants with younger children said they want mothers of small children at their institutions to know that it is okay for them to not be at the college 24/7. Jen, a president at a community college, said she makes it a point to tell mothers to go home to be with their children at the end of the day; they do not need to prove their loyalty:
My chief HR person . . . has really young kids. She has a 3-year-old and a little boy who turned one last Friday. Little, little ones and she lives an hour from here, and so the message she gets from me is like, ‘You need to get home. Mom, you need to get home.’ Because she stays here until like 10:00 at night. You know, I get e-mails from her and I’m like, ‘Mom, leave. Go home. You know, please go home.’ Instead, I’m giving her like the directives to put work aside.
Like Williams and Dempsey (2014) mentioned, women leaders, in general, often feel a need to constantly prove their loyalty by putting in excessive amounts of unpaid overtime. For mothers, this self-imposed pressure is even worse. If educational leaders assure women that the expectation is for them to get their work done and not have to work from home in the evenings, the early mornings, or the weekends, it would put many minds at ease. Perhaps the most important way for leaders to do this is by not emailing or calling during off-hours.
Another recommendation for institutions to show mothers in leadership positions that they respect their personal time is by being reasonable about when and how often they schedule meetings. For instance, early morning meetings and late afternoon meetings may not be the most convenient times for mothers with small children. Being respectful of when these meetings are scheduled may encourage more women with
235 children to consider taking on additional leadership responsibilities. If a woman believes that the time commitment will clash with her personal commitments, she will be less apt to apply for the job in the first place.
Mentor Women, Including Young Mothers
The literature is overwhelming: with the number of presidential retirements in higher education, the doors are opening for more women leaders (Altbach et al., 2011;
Bornstein, 2009; Cohea, 2015; Fullan & Scott, 2009; Jones, 2014; Kotter, 2008; Tunheim
& Goldschmidt, 2013). Some research has shown that women are transformational leaders by nature (Fullan & Scott, 2009), and mothers have the ability to tap into the emotional intelligence needed to guide an institution (Guthrie, 2015). What women do not seem to have is the confidence that they can be college presidents until someone tells them that they have what it takes to become the CEO at a higher education institution.
I recommend that higher education administrators invest in mentoring and/or leadership programs at their institutions, because mentoring, whether formal or informal, can provide the much needed emotional support and encouragement for young mothers to believe they can be successful. For 100% of participants in this study, a former mentor gave them the confidence they needed to apply for leadership positions. The participants’ mentors pushed them out of their comfort zones, staged them by placing them on certain committees and/or projects, introduced them to key leaders in higher education, and supported them to undertake additional professional development opportunities.
The literature confirms that females come to identify themselves and whether they will be successful in their careers based on the feedback from others, particularly from mentors (Bandura, 1977; Bornstien, 2008; Josselson, 1987). I recommend that institutions
236 identify young, emerging leaders early in their careers, so there will be more of an opportunity to invest in these employees and provide the mentoring needed to assure these women that they can become successful as leaders. Carrie, a 4-year public university president who is part of a large mentoring effort through the American Council on Education (ACE) to encourage more women to become college presidents, discussed the initiative:
[It’s] called ‘Moving the Needle’, and we’re just going to be launching this this winter, and we’ve been doing a lot of background work and behind the scenes work. So we are going to launch it nationally, and it’s to get more women presidents by 50% of all presidents by the year 2030.
Mentoring is one way to let young mothers know they matter. When a supervisor takes an interest in someone, it can motivate that person to want to prove herself. Take the women in this study, for example. If someone had not taken an active interest in them and encouraged them to apply for a presidency, who knows how many of them would have ever pursued a presidency.
Consider On-Campus Daycare for Employees and Students
Another recommendation for higher education administrators is to explore options for affordable, on-campus childcare to support parents at their institutions. For instance,
Carrie, one of the participants, emphasized that on-campus childcare is an excellent way for administrators to demonstrate that they care for their employees and stated:
There should be on-campus daycare, and I know all the reasons for not doing it. I look at Achieving the Dream and all of these initiatives that people do to try to make life easier for certain groups of students. . . . I am convinced that if you took all of that money and you put drop-in daycare on every campus (of quality) that you would see your success rates jump as much as if you’re doing all of this orientation and things. Because it’s the family…particularly for the poor and women but more men too. . . . I don’t know if that will ever happen. I think that would be helpful for everybody.
237 In addition to having on-site daycare, institutions should also make that daycare affordable or preferably free for college employees. Productivity would increase, as employees would feel safe knowing their children are on site. They could also lessen the time it takes to get to and from work if childcare is on site. This childcare should also be available to an institution’s student population, who would also take advantage of the opportunity to go to college while their children are cared for.
If higher education institutions want to increase the number of women in leadership positions, then they need to stop forcing women to choose between a leadership role and their families. Administrators must make leadership positions more appealing by providing support to young mothers. I recommend they show support by being flexible, changing outdated policies, respecting personal time, and mentoring leaders. Mothers need to feel supported in leadership roles, and they need to know institutions believe in them. Only then will they put their name in the race.
Advice for Mothers Looking to Become College Presidents
In addition to messages aimed at educational leaders, I felt it important to also give a message to women who want to be both college presidents and mothers: know what you are getting into, because it will not be easy. The participants in this study did not hide the amount of work it takes to be a college president, and they said that for any mother who wants to be a college president, be forewarned. Pam said that while flextime sounds great in theory, “If you want to be a president, you’ve got to be able to get the job done.” Claire wanted presidential hopefuls to understand the reality of being president. In her words:
Have balanced, realistic expectations. . . . When you take on the role of a presidency, there are certain things I believe you have to realize. One is it is 24/7.
238 You are always the president. You are always ultimately responsible, and you have to embrace that. And then you have to recognize if you want to have a life, you know, you have to build a support system around you that allows you to do that.
The following section provides advice to mothers considering becoming college presidents, including: (a) build a support network, and don’t be afraid to ask for help; (b) get organized; (c) find the right fit; and (d) believe in yourself.
Build a Support Network, and Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help
The strongest message for mothers who also want to be college presidents, is that they need to find a strong support network. Support comes from a variety of people, and although it might be strongest from one person, it should not come from just one source.
Mothers need support from a variety of places. Significant others are cited as perhaps one of the best levels of support. Significant others must understand the responsibilities college presidents have and how they may play a role in supporting their spouse/partner.
What is also important to realize, is that unsupportive spouses were cited for 100% of the divorces that occurred in this study. When a mother and college leader is married to someone who does not support her emotionally, physically, or even spiritually, the stress of being a college president may be too strong for a couple to overcome.
Support is also found in the teams that one creates. 100% of the women in this study said getting the proper team in place was key to their success. They need team members they can trust and rely on. Surround yourself with people who complement your skills with the ones you do not have. In addition to the recommendations from participants in this study, this advice also fits with Gallup’s (2015) strengths-based leadership theory on building teams with members that complement each other’s strengths. Do not be afraid to bring a person on who is different from you, because these
239 are often the people who add to your team and provide valuable insight. Also, do not be afraid to get rid of people in your team who do not support you. If someone is not pulling his/her weight, let that person go or put him/her in a position that suits him/her better.
Carrie feels strongly that diversity among team members brings unique perspective to the table. She stated:
There’s a lot of data and a lot of research out there by boards in businesses/corporations, that the more varied voices you have, . . . the more diverse voices you have on a board, and especially the more women you have, the more successful the organization is. And it’s because we look at things differently from men often and just to have different kinds of voices at the table. More diversity period. Makes an organization more successful.
Support may also come from external women’s groups or colleagues from other institutions serving in similar roles. Attend conferences and seminars where women experiencing the same challenges and obstacles at their own institutions will surround you. Meet women who you can call for advice and know that they will be honest. Lean on mentors to put you in contact with women who will aide you in your career.
In addition to finding a good support network, women looking to be both mothers and college presidents must also ask for help when they need to. The women in this study admitted that it is okay to ask for help. In fact, it is necessary, particularly when pursuing your doctoral degree. In addition to significant others and co-workers, support also comes from extended family, friends, and caretakers. Lean on your parents, siblings, friends and daycare providers to help you when you need it, and do not feel like you are doing something wrong. If you need to stay at work late or arrive early, ask for help.
Also, ask for help with the domestic chores that may take up a significant amount of your time like cooking, cleaning, and laundry. The more responsibilities you take on, the more domestic responsibilities you will need to outsource. Hire a cleaning person to
240 clean your house so that you may spend your free time with your children, family, and friends. Use a shopping service that delivers groceries so you do not need to find time to stop at the store. Bring your clothes to a laundry service. Instead of feeling guilty that you cannot do it all, feel happy that you are prioritizing time with your family over domestic duties.
Get Organized
Because being a college president is a 24/7 job, and being a mother is also a 24/7 job, the only way to be effective at both is by getting organized. Whether you write everything in a daily planner or keep track of your events in your cell phone, find a way to keep track of your obligations. For the women in this study, it was when their children were under 10 years old that provided the most need to be highly organized. Also, if someone else schedules your calendar, make sure to let him/her know what days/times you are unavailable so that you are not over scheduling events in your calendar. If possible, try to schedule in time to work on projects or have bigger picture discussions. If your day is packed with meetings, you will not have time to work on some of the plans you would like to put into place. If the time for working on projects is built into your schedule, you will not need to spend so much time out of work to get things done.
Find the Right Fit
100% of the women in this study felt “called” to be a college president. They believed in the missions of their institutions and felt proud that they were in a role to make students’ lives better. One piece of advice the women shared was to remain true to who you are and to work somewhere that is the right fit. Several participants left previous institutions because the mission was not in line with their values anymore. Fit is so
241 important that other participants turned down jobs at institutions, because it did not “feel” right. Follow your heart and stay true to what is important to you. Do not leap from job to job, because a title change is appealing; make sure the institution matches your personal beliefs and values.
Believe in Yourself
Being a college president and a mother is possible. It is not easy, but it is possible.
Developing self-efficacy skills is half the battle. Like Bandura’s (1977) theory states, believing in your ability to succeed is critical to actually succeeding. Listen and learn from mentors and supervisors. Let them give you advice, and when you receive positive feedback, let it fuel your desire to succeed. When you fail at something or make a mistake along the way, learn from it and move on. Ask others for advice and surround yourself with people you can learn from. Never stop believing that you can be both a mother and a college president, and that you can do both well. Lean on others for support and know that you can set an excellent example for your children.
College presidents face major challenges every day. For college presidents who are also mothers, the challenges occur on both a professional and personal level, but that does not mean that mothers cannot be college presidents. It means they must be realistic in what to expect and to also use the skills they have acquired from parenting to assist them in fulfilling their other roles and obligations.
Recommendations for Future Research
When choosing a topic for my dissertation, I was motivated by the number of leadership opportunities for women opening over the next decade, but dismayed by the limited amount of research related to mothers in these roles. There are several
242 opportunities for additional research relating to this study including more research on mothers as leaders, mothers pursing doctoral degrees, and work-life integration for college administrators.
The first potential for future research is to further explore mothers of small children in leadership positions. While this study had two participants with small children, it was the memories of balancing work, children, and pursuing their education while their children were small that provided the most challenges for the women. A possible study on college presidents with small children (under 10) would be very interesting, although it may be difficult to conduct given that most women choose not to become college presidents until their children are older.
Another area for future research would be on mothers pursuing their doctoral degrees. Spilovoy (2013) conducted a study on mothers pursuing online undergraduate degrees, but a focus on doctoral degrees would add to the literature on work-life balance.
Given that obtaining their doctorates was something the participants in this study felt was the most difficult task in their lives, it is worth a separate study.
Another area of potential future research would be exploring work-life integration for college administrators. Trying to find balance in their lives was the one area participants felt they failed. Several continue to give lectures and write articles on pursing this type of balance, but many of the women continue to struggle. It would be interesting to see how other women in administrative positions incorporate balance into their lives.
In addition to these possible areas of future research, I think it would be beneficial to expand the scope of this study. I would like to conduct the same study on fathers to compare and contrast the results. I would also like to expand the study by getting a more
243 diverse range of participants in the mothers interviewed, including additional African
American/Black participants and adding Latina/Hispanic, Asian, Native American, and lesbian and/or transgendered participants. I would also like to expand the study to reflect additional participants from 4-year institutions.
Reflections
The 11 participants in this study shared their lived experiences with me through rich, descriptive details, laughing and sometimes crying along the way. Their honesty and sincerity was touching, and I continue to be overwhelmed by their instant willingness to participate in this study. The invitation to “assist another mother” in her research moved these women to offer up to two hours of their time to sit with a stranger and share their successes and challenges of being both a mother and a college president. Tara asked me if this dissertation was cathartic for me, because she wished she had studied a topic that was so personally intertwined with her own life. This study was cathartic for me from beginning to end.
As a mother of two sons, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a college administrator, and a doctoral student, I identify with each and every one of these women.
This study provided the opportunity for me to reflect on my own life as I listened to these women’s stories. I learned ways to incorporate more balance into my life, I learned better ways to manage my time, and I reflected throughout this study about the people and accomplishments that are most important to me. It was amazing to sit with these women and learn about their institutions and the initiatives they have implemented to make life easier for working mothers. It was also amazing to share suggestions with my colleagues and friends on how to improve our own lives and the lives of our employees.
244 I realized during this processes how strong and resilient I am. Quitting never crossed my mind; in fact, it was when I felt stressed, overwhelmed, or lost that I pushed myself harder. I also realized that I am a lot more like the 11 women I interviewed than I thought I would be and that if I want to be a college president, I can be. I feel empowered by my time with these women, and I hope that this study provides mothers in higher education the empowerment they need to find support in their lives and pursue leadership positions. I also hope this study encourages higher education institutions to invest in their young employees and provide support so that more women choose to become leaders.
Prior to this study, I thought it impossible to “have it all.” These 11 women have proved me wrong. Although difficult at times, these strong women were able to be mothers first, and use those parenting skills to live out their dream to serve others in the role of college president. The women in this study put family first, above every other aspect of their lives; I am no exception:
A Mother's love is something that no one can explain, It is made of deep devotion and of sacrifice and pain, It is endless and unselfish and enduring come what may For nothing can destroy it or take that love away.
Helen Steiner Rice
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260 APPENDIX A
INFORMED CONSENT FORM
Dear prospective participant,
You are invited to participate in a study entitled: Mothers as Leaders in Higher Education: The Pathway to Leadership for College Presidents. The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study is to explore the experiences and perceptions of a small group of mothers in presidential positions at two-year and four-year higher education institutions. This research will add to the existing literature on women in higher education and provide insight into how mothers may be successful as presidents.
The researcher for this study is Linda Fedrizzi-Williams, a doctoral student in the Higher Education and Organizational Change program at Benedictine University. I aim to answer the following research questions: What are the lived experiences and perceptions of a small group of mothers in presidential positions at higher education institutions? How do they make sense of their lives? How has being a mother affected the career paths of these mothers in college presidencies? What have been the challenges that they have faced in their careers, and what has contributed to their success in moving up the presidential ladder? In what ways do they think their personal attributes, skills and experiences as a mother relate to their personal attributes, skills, and experiences as a leader and/or college president?
If you accept this invitation, you will be agreeing to participate in a 60-90 minute interview at a date and time convenient to you. The interview may be conducted face-to- face at a location convenient for you (preferred) or via a video-conferencing tool, such as Skype. The interview will be audio-recorded and transcribed. You will be asked to respond to a series of questions pertaining to the research purpose. A follow-up interview may be requested depending on the research needs. The interview transcript will be presented to you for verification of accuracy.
Your identity will be completely protected. You can expect anonymity and confidentiality regarding your participation. Only I, as the student researcher, will know your actual name. You will be assigned a secure code, and pseudonyms will be assigned to you and other individuals or institutions that you may identify during the interview process. Only the pseudonyms will appear in excerpts that are included in the final dissertation or other publications.
All forms will be kept in an electronic format and will be maintained on a password- protected computer. The hard copies of the interview transcripts and all electronic and audio files pertaining to your participation in this study will be stored in a locked cabinet for seven years and destroyed afterwards, if no longer needed.
261 Participation is voluntary, and you may choose not to answer any particular question or withdraw from the interview at any time without consequences. There is essentially no risk associated with choosing to participate in this research project.
This study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of Benedictine University. The Chair of the Benedictine University IRB is Dr. Alandra Weller-Clarke who can be reached at [email protected] or at (630) 829-6295.
This study is being conducted, in part, to fulfill requirements of my Ed.D. degree in Higher Education and Organizational Change at Benedictine University in Lisle, IL. If you have questions regarding this study, please feel free to contact me at (845) 800-2825 or [email protected]. You may also contact my dissertation director/chair, Dr. Nancy Bentley, at (708) 508-1090 or [email protected].
You will be provided a copy of your signed consent form. Please acknowledge, with your signatures below, your consent to participate in this study and to have your interview recorded and/or videotaped.
I consent to participate in this study Name: Date: ______
______[Signature]
I give my permission to record this interview Name: Date: ______
______[Signature]
262 APPENDIX B
DEMOGRAPHIC SURVEY
Demographic Information Survey
The following form is a demographic information survey for participants who will be interviewed for the study. Please contact me should you have any difficulty completing the survey.
1. What is your age?
2. How many children do you have?
3. What are the ages of your children?
4. How long have you been a college president?
5. What type(s) of institution(s) have you served as college president? Check all that apply.
____ 2-Year Community College/Technical College
____ 4-Year Public College/University
____ 4-Year Private College/University
____ Research University
____ For-Profit Institution
____ Other/ Please Specify ______
6. Please specify your race/ethnicity
____ African American or Black
____ Asian
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____ Caucasian
____ Hispanic/Latina
____ Multi-racial
____ Native American or Alaskan Native
____ Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
____ Other/Please specify:______
____ Choose not to answer
7. What is your current marital status?
____ Single
____ Married
____ Living with Partner
____ Separated
____ Divorced
____ Widowed
8. Is this your first college presidency?
____ Yes
____ No
9. How old were you when you accepted your first college presidency?
10. Before you were college president, in what role(s) did you serve? Check all that apply.
____ Vice President for Academic Affairs/ Chief Academic Officer
____ Vice President for Student Services
264 ____ Vice President for Finance and/or Administration
____ Vice President for Institutional Advancement
____ Chief Information Officer
____ Academic Dean
____ Other/ Please Specify: ______
265 APPENDIX C
INTERVIEW GUIDE
RQ: What are the lived experiences and perceptions of a small group of mothers in presidential positions at higher education institutions? How do they make sense of their lives?
1. Talk a little about how you view your identity or sense of self—as a human being and as a woman. 2. What does being a mother and motherhood means to you? 3. What motivated you to become a mother? 4. What does being a leader and college president mean to you? 5. Tell me about your career journey. What were your career goals? Did you always work in higher education and what types of positions have you held until your current role as president? 6. What factors motivated you to apply for a college presidency? What led you to make that choice? 7. Did you, or do you currently, have a mentor? Has this relationship influenced you to seek a college presidency? If so, how? 8. How confident did you feel about applying for a presidency? 9. How do you balance your roles of college president and mother? 10. Do you feel you had to sacrifice anything personally on your path to the presidency? If so, what?
RQ: How has being a mother affected the career paths of these mothers in college presidencies?
11. When did you decide to pursue a college presidency? Did you have children at that time and if so how old were they? 12. When during your career did you have your first child? Other children? 13. Please describe the way you felt upon learning you were pregnant. 14. How did others (i.e., family, friends, and work colleagues) respond to you being pregnant? 15. Did you take a leave of absence at any time in your career? If so, why did you take a leave and for how long were you away? How do you think your leave affected your career? 16. What does it mean to you to be both a college president and a mother?
RQ: What have been the challenges that they have faced in their careers, and what has contributed to their success in moving up the presidential ladder?
17. What challenges have you faced along the way in your career? 18. How do you think being a mother has positively and negatively impacted you in your role as college president?
266 19. What is the biggest challenge to being both a college president and a mother? 20. Think back to some of your largest successes as college president. Tell me about one or two successes and why these are so important to you. 21. Think back to some of your biggest challenges to overcome as college president. Tell me about one or two of them. What motivated you to continue as college president?
RQ: In what ways do they think their personal attributes, skills, and experiences as a mother relate to their personal attributes, skills, and experiences as a leader and college president?
22. How would you describe your leadership style? What attributes, skills, and experiences have made you a successful leader and president? 23. What skills, if any, have you learned from being a mother that have assisted you in your role as college president? What skills, if any, have you learned from being a college president that have assisted you in your role as a mother? 24. Talk about the values that are important to your work and your life. 25. Suppose that you had a chance to address educational leaders at other institutions. What kind of advice would you give them on supporting mothers in higher education? 26. In speaking with these same educational leaders, what would you tell them is the most important thing they can do, or stop doing, in order to support mothers in leadership positions? 27. If you had it to do over again, would you still choose to be a college president and a mother? Why or why not? Is there anything you would do differently? 28. You were asked to bring an item to the interview that represents your experience as a college president who is also a mother. Could you, please, describe your object/document’s meaning and significance?
General questions: 29. Is there anything that I have not asked you that would be important for me to know regarding your experiences or life as a mother and a college president? 30. Do you know of other female presidents who are mothers that I might interview?
267
VITA
A native of Middletown, New York, I attended public schools through high school and went on to receive my Associate of Arts degree, graduating summa cum laude at Orange County Community College. I received a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, from Marist College in communication. After working as a radio morning show executive producer and co-host for five years, I completed my master’s degree in organizational communication from Marist College and began teaching communication and media production at a community college. I have worked in higher education for over
10 years as a faculty member, a department chair, a Phi Theta Kappa national honor society advisor, and an administrator. I am currently serving as the Academic Associate
Vice President for the Liberal Arts Division at SUNY Orange in Middletown, NY.
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