Interim presidents in higher education: An analysis of factors influencing the interim presidential leadership experience in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this research project was to expand the knowledge base pertaining to interim presidential experiences within the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin. This qualitative research project was a phenomenological study based on interviews with nineteen individuals regarding their perspective of interim presidents within the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin. The nineteen interviewees consisted of eight interim presidents, four from Minnesota and four from Wisconsin. These interim presidents have had at least one experience as an interim president within Minnesota or Wisconsin within the past ten years. The interim experiences were at public institutions of higher education fitting the classification of a Master's University as defined by the Carnegie classification. Interviews were also conducted with the chair or a member of the search and screen committee seeking a permanent president during these eight interim presidential periods. Finally, three top administrators within the state systems of Minnesota and Wisconsin were interviewed. Two of these administrators were from Minnesota, one from the University of Minnesota System and one from the Minnesota State College and University System. The other system administrator interviewed was from the University of Wisconsin System.
Data from these nineteen interviews was analyzed with the help of Ethnograph v5.0. This software helped in the management of data files and effectively coded the data files for analysis.
The finding of this research project contributes to prior research conducted by, Sheahon Jay Zenger (1996) who determined that Dr. Shankel used a consensus building style of leadership. However, since Zenger's research dealt with the leadership style of only one individual, he posed the question of whether other interim leaders also used the consensus style of leadership. The analysis of the data determined that interim presidential leaders do in fact use the consensus-building style of leadership. All eight interim presidential leaders described their leadership style using terms indicating that they relied upon the consensus style of leadership.