Date of Award
12-2022
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Department
Executive Leadership
First Supervisor
Dr. Byron K. Hargrove
Second Supervisor
Dr. Janice Kelly
Abstract
For over 100 years, community colleges have provided access to a college education that helps citizens become fuller participants in democracy. In response to the recent crisis of low rates of student retention and graduation, community college leaders have instituted holistic student supports strategies to improve student success. In March 2020, COVID-19 presented an additional challenge to community college retention and graduation rates, creating a second crisis to which community colleges had to adapt and respond. This qualitative research case study on leadership and crisis management shed light on the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on a community college and the adaptations a senior leadership team made to maintain their holistic student supports initiative during the first 14 months of the COVID-19 crisis. Results revealed the senior leadership team accelerated their plans for the college-wide holistic student support initiative and made timely policy decisions to address the immediate challenges of ever-changing mandates imposed from outside federal and state agencies, the “new” remote workplace, and threats to student enrollment. Senior leadership teams are recommended to (a) build a collaborative team environment to prepare for future crises on campus; (b) invest more resources in communication professionals and technology to communicate better during the next crisis; (c) add designated human resources and public relations professionals to the senior leadership team to address the needs and concerns of faculty and staff during a crisis; and (d) implement a holistic employee support initiative.
Recommended Citation
Hodge, Michel A., "Governing, Managing, and Leading During the COVID-19 Crisis: A Case Study of How a Community College Senior-Level Administrative Team Adapted a Holistic Student Supports Initiative in Response to the Pandemic" (2022). Education Doctoral. Paper 545.
https://fisherpub.sjf.edu/education_etd/545
Please note that the Recommended Citation provides general citation information and may not be appropriate for your discipline. To receive help in creating a citation based on your discipline, please visit http://libguides.sjfc.edu/citations.