Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to learn the positive and negative effects of acculturation on women and minorities relating to promotion to the administrative level within the community college system in California. Methodology. Descriptive statistics was the methodology used to clarify inferences and phenomena represented by the data. Surveys were sent to 1,021 administrators of 105 community colleges in California who represented the population for this study. Sixty-seven percent of the surveys were returned. T-tests were used to determine differences in response within each question by gender. One-way analysis of variance, ANOVA, was used to provide discussion on disparities in answers by ethnicity. Findings and conclusions. The study found no significant differences in the hiring rates or promotion to administrative positions between men, women, and minorities in California's community college system. This study also found fair treatment of minorities in areas of skill involving judgment, leadership, decision making, responsibility, professional development, and retention. This study also found no significant differences in the job administrators were doing from their predecessors in areas of minority acceptance, professional feedback, inclusion in decision making, mentoring, and encouragement. There was also not room for derogatory comments whether in their administration or when accepting partners upon entrance to the system. Responses on gender indicate that women at the top administrative level are almost as numerous as men. Findings indicated that women have not been stereotyped into certain specific positions. Recommendations. Changing question content would strengthen this study to effect collection of more explicit data. Duplication would be helpful in providing more information, but the survey should be reconstructed for further research to identify attitudes, promotional states, and support level in a more complex manner. Further research needs to be done in the area of abusive, sexually derogatory comments or behavior and performance.