Serving as a Mentor: Experiences of Community College Presidents via a Leader Member Exchange Framework

• Main Author: Bryant, Jerry Warren
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2021
• Subjects: Career Development; Career development planning; Collaboration; College presidents; Community colleges; Corporate culture; Data Analysis; Educational administration; Educational Attainment; Higher Education Administration; Learning; Literature Reviews; Mentors; Research Methodology; Training
• ISBN: 9798522941413

This study provided in-depth personal insight into the phenomenon of the mentorship experiences of community college presidents to provide a view into how their interaction has impacted them to help provide guidance to other potential mentors. Study participants represented community colleges in North Carolina. Community colleges, colleges, and universities across the world are experiencing a new phenomenon where three generations are working in the same environment and attending graduate degree programs simultaneously. While Baby Boomers traditionally represented most of the workforce, now this generation represents 25% of the total workforce (Fry, 2018). However, in the college president arena, Boomers still hold nearly 60% of the college president leadership positions. Community college presidents serving as executive mentors could transfer their tacit knowledge given their extensive tenure and experience to prepare a multigenerational pool of community college leaders.Community college presidents are serving at older ages. Given the increased awareness of aging community college presidents, community colleges have been more proactive in trying to address their pipeline needs. Based on the survey of community college presidents released by Inside Higher Ed, “17 percent compared to 26 percent of college presidents a year ago indicated they planned to retire in the next two years” (Jaschik & Lederman, 2019, p. 20). Audrey Jaeger, executive director of the Belk Center for Community College Leadership at North Carolina State University stated: “The issue is [now] less about how many are retiring but how can we prepare current and future presidents for these complex jobs” (Smith, 2019, The Presidential Pipeline section).This study highlighted the impact and the experiences of community college president mentors based on their leadership interaction through an executive-level mentorship program designed for graduate students pursuing community college leadership roles. Through a qualitative lens, data were collected from seven executive mentors who serve as expert practitioners to graduate students in pursuit of a terminal degree with hopes of establishing similar leadership roles as their mentors. This study provided a view into the mentors’ experiences and outcomes based on leader-member exchanges in an educational environment and how the social exchange between mentor and mentees resulted in bilateral knowledge transfer between mentors and mentees. Human capital theory and leader-member exchange addressed how mentorship could allow for knowledge transfer to those in the mentorship relationship. The community college presidents are investing their time and knowledge, while the students/mentees are investing in themselves to learn and acquire the skills required to be future leaders. Mentors increased their human capital by learning from mentees, hence furthering their knowledge and personal growth through mentoring. This study applied an interpretive phenomenological analysis approach to research the gap around the mentor experiences to understand what experiences they have had during the mentorship program and identify their perceived benefits and any negative impacts.