PhD thesis,
Attitudes of presidents and board members of Wisconsin private liberal arts colleges on presidential evaluation
The University of Wisconsin, Madison, PhD Thesis, (1992)
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes of presidents and board members of Wisconsin private liberal arts colleges on presidential evaluation. Specifically, the objectives were: (1) To understand the attitudes of college presidents and board members on presidential evaluation. (2) To analyze and contrast these attitudes about presidential evaluation among different types of private liberal arts colleges in Wisconsin. The population sampled were private liberal arts colleges in the state of Wisconsin. Three colleges were selected as case studies. The colleges were selected according to varied populations and comparable lengths of the presidents' terms within the institutions. Field methodology, including in-depth interviews with the college presidents and board members on the evaluation issue, were used to gather the data. The writer uses the work of Theodore M. Newcomb (1961) who stresses that attitudinal relationships occur in communicative situations. He calls this the Ä to B re X" situation. His theory of positive and negative links within a system was used in this study. Answers given by the presidents and board members to questions about evaluation were based on a Likert Scale and placed on Newcomb's communicative triangle. The individual's answers at each college were compared with one another's and with the other colleges. The writer explains that before attitudes on presidential evaluation change, they must occur by changing the cognitive, the affective, and the behavioral components as explained by Triandis (1971) and in communicative situations as demonstrated by Newcomb (1961). The writer concludes by summarizing both presidents' and board members' attitudes toward evaluation and offers recommendations for presidential evaluation for the future.
