Date Approved
12-17-2018
Embargo Period
12-17-2018
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ed.D. Doctor of Education
Department
Educational Services and Leadership
College
College of Education
Advisor
Johnson, Ane Turner
Committee Member 1
Connor, Joanne
Committee Member 2
Kerrigan, Monica Reid
Keywords
College, Fiduciary, Governance, Professional Authority, Sensemaking, Trustee
Subject(s)
College trustees--New Jersey
Disciplines
Higher Education
Abstract
The purpose of this sequential explanatory study was to examine, through the lenses of sensemaking theory and professional authority, the relationship between how largely non-educational professionals in New Jersey experience their fiduciary responsibilities as trustees of the state's public colleges and universities and to what extent their professional orientations influence their oversight.
Trustees draw from a continuum of orientations to navigate their responsibilities and chief among them are professional orientation, institutionally-rooted orientation, and orientations as members of traditionally underrepresented populations. Trustees frequently engage in deferential activities with their fellow board members whose professional or other orientations provide needed context for their decision making. Trustees also rely on informal engagement with their institutions as a vehicle through which they make sense of their responsibilities. This engagement, as well as opportunities to apply their professional orientations to their duties as fiduciaries, contribute to trustee satisfaction but are limited in frequency. Implications for policy, practice, leadership, and research are discussed.
Recommended Citation
Williams-Goldstein, Brittany Ann, "Examining the role of professional orientation in how trustees of New Jersey's state colleges and universities experience their fiduciary responsibilities: A mixed methods study" (2018). Theses and Dissertations. 2626.
https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/2626
