Janet L. Bokemeier

Administrators’ Perceptions of Affirmative Action in Higher Education

The use of affirmative action programs to implement equal opportunity policies and end employment discrimination has created controversy from its inception. Debate over the necessity, advisability, impact, and effectiveness of such programs is a longstanding theme in both the popular and scholarly literature. As mandated by law, institutions of higher education have been among the earliest organizations to adopt formal affirmative action programs and to incorporate such policies as explicit goals of the organization. Additionally, higher education is often viewed both by members of the educational establishment and the public at large as the central societal institution implementing meritocratic norms and values of equal opportunity. Paradoxically, there is a clear history of failure to meet these standards. For all these reasons the university provides an ideal setting to study issues raised in the ongoing debate over affirmative action.

The Impact of Affirmative Action in Higher Education: Perceptions from the Front Line

Abstract: Campus Affirmative Action officers are conspicuously absent from the research literature on the impact of Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity mandates in higher education. This study reports opinions of AA/EEO directors in research and doctorate-granting institutions concerning the impact of AA/EEO officers on the professional ranks of the academy and investigates the influence of various organizational, program, and individual variables on those views.

Career mobility and satisfaction of women administrators in postsecondary education: A review and research agenda

The purpose of this article is to examine the formal and informal organizational and environmental structures and processes that influence the opportunities, achievements, and satisfaction of women administrators in postsecondary education. A model is developed that synthesizes the research from human capital and structural approaches to occupational mobility and applies it to university contexts. Emphasis is placed on the structural factors, including organizational characteristics, and membership in formal and informal networks. A set of hypotheses is derived from this model. Gaps in current literature and research and proposed avenues for future research are discussed.