Access Type

Open Access Dissertation

Date of Award

January 2016

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ed.D.

Department

Educational Leadership and Policy

First Advisor

Michael Owens

Abstract

ABSTRACT

ADVISORS AS LEADERS: AN EXPLANTORY STUDY OF THE PERCEPTIONS THAT PROEFESSIONAL UNDERGRADUATE ACADEMIC ADVISORS HAVE ABOUT LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT SKILLS

by

EBONY D. GREEN

August 2016

Advisor: Dr. Michael Owens

Major: Educational Leadership and Policy

Degree: Doctor of Education

Literature is limited about the leadership skill(s) that Professional Undergraduate Academic Advisors (PUAAs) use in their daily practice. Research that addresses advisors and/or their performance appear to highlight them as a factor in studies that cover student retention, academic success, or student perception. Often studies focus on students, not advisors as practitioners. Advisors play a critical role in a student’s integration to the college environment. However, literature directly related to advisor needs, expectations and more specifically their desire to be included in leadership development, is challenging to find.

Institutions of higher learning continually emphasize the recruitment and retention of students. Academic Advising is a critical piece of this mission. This research is designed to examine a portion of the advising domain by focusing on Professional Undergraduate Academic Advisors’ perceptions of their leadership development skills.

The purpose of this mix-method explanatory design study is to identify whether or not the population is in alignment with the Katz’s model of having a near equal measure of technical, human, and conceptual skills, provide insight about skills that PUAAs had when they entered the field of advising and skills that have been accumulated over time, as well as other skills they believe would enhance their leadership as an advising practitioner.

Ninety-three Professional Undergraduate Academic Advisors will be asked to participate in an inventory and ten participants from that pool will be randomly selected to be interviewed through a series of questions that target perceptions of leadership development skills. The descriptive and qualitative data will be collected from the PUAAs and be used to examine the skills PUAAs possess and identify whether or not the most common skills are in alignment with the Katz’s Three-Skill Approach. The Principle Investigator hypothesis is that PUAAs can be categorized as mid-level managers, making them equally competent in technical, human, and conceptual skills. Interviews will expose either variations of common tasks that lead to meeting the above skill sets.

Keywords: undergraduate advisor perceptions, leadership development skills

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