This Is AuburnElectronic Theses and Dissertations

A Comparision of Faculty Perceptions of Campus Climate at a Predominately White Institution

Date

2009-04-28

Author

Foster, Devona L.

Type of Degree

dissertation

Department

Education Foundation, Leadership, and Technology

Abstract

Research indicates the learning process among others things are influenced by have a diverse faculty. While the population of students in college across the United States is significantly more diverse than ever, diversity among faculty members did not concurrently occur (Smith & Moreno, 2006) and in order to maintain student diversity the presence of a diverse faculty on college campuses is crucial (Smith & Schonfeld, 2000). The success of faculty members is contingent upon the campus climate at their institution (Granger, 1993; Hurtado, 1992; King & Watts, 2004; Phillips Morrow, Burris-Kitchen, Der-Karabetian, 2000; Piercy, Giddings, Allen, Dixon, Meszaros, & Joest, 2005). The purpose of this study is to determine whether race affects a faculty member’s perception of campus climate at a Predominately White institution (PWI) located in the Southern United States. This purpose will be addressed using quantitative data analysis of the ACCFS survey that was administered to all faculty at ‘Traditional University’ and resulted in 438 examine respondents. Additionally, the purpose of the study was to find a relationship between race and campus climate or to see if such a relationship existed among faculty at ‘Traditional University’. A total of four statistical procedures were performed on the data set. A frequency count was used to describe the demographic characteristics. A reliability analysis was also performed to measure the internal consistency of the scores obtained from the summated scale scores of the ACCFS. An Item analysis was also conducted to determine the internal coherence of items assigned to each scale. Finally, an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was employed to assess the difference in the mean scores of the ACCFS between groups. The study will help to understand faculty perceptions of campus climate at PWI’s. The findings of this study may be used as a basis for evaluating the differences of perceptions of PWI’s between different races. The findings of this study will contribute to the literature that currently exist regarding recruitment and retention of diverse faculty as well as the literature on campus climate.