What Happened to Re-Visioning Community College Leadership? A 25-Year Retrospective

Abstract

Purpose: This research sought to determine if the gendered discourse on community college leadership has changed since Amey and Twombly published their analysis of community college literature in 1992. Argument: More women now lead 2-year colleges than ever before, and conceptions of leadership have evolved over time; but has the language used to discuss gender and leadership in leading community college journals changed as well? This research entailed a discourse analysis of 148 journal articles published between 1990 and 2015 to identify gendered language in literature focusing on community college leadership. The language used in the scholarly examination of leadership is a reflection of the ground realities of the community college setting and provides insight into the persisting gendered constructions of leadership at 2-year colleges. Conclusion: Four main findings emerged from this research. First, masculine-normed leadership approaches remain unquestioned in the literature. Second, participatory leadership rhetoric emerged as a trend at the turn of the century. Third, women do the bulk of the writing about women leaders. Finally, ideal worker norms still prevail. The roots of authoritative leadership retain a strong hold in community colleges and intentional actions are required to achieve real change in constructions of leadership.