Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Caroline M. Crawford

Abstract

The retention of African American faculty at predominantly White institutions (PWI) has long been a point of concern in higher education. Midwest Community College (MCC), a PWI, 2-year public institution, has a problem of retaining African American faculty employed by the college. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of African American faculty retention practices at MCC since little is known about the African American faculty experience at PWIs. Delagado and Stefancic's critical race theory conceptual framework of counter storytelling, Whiteness as property, interest conversion, and critique of liberalism guided this study. A qualitative case study research design was implemented for this study with research questions about the perceived issues of African American faculty and administrators' retention practices at MCC. Four African American faculty and 4 African American administrators answered questions to an interview. Interviews, observation of interviewees, archival review, and field notes constituted the data collection techniques. A qualitative research process of manual data and inductive thematic analysis was implemented in this study. Key findings developed from the themes with implications for changes to organizational culture as well as faculty recruitment and retention practices. Policy recommendations include: the appointment of a Diversity Office designee to the Joint Advisory committees; faculty recruitment through the development of a minority faculty recruitment program; faculty retention through the development of a minority faculty success retention program, along with parallel diversity training for all MCC employees. This study would promote social change by offering focused practices for hiring and retaining African American faculty.

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