Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Stumpf, Arthur D.

Committee Member

Davis, James E.

Committee Member

King, Stephanie B.

Committee Member

Wiseman, William M.

Date of Degree

5-9-2015

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Community College Leadership

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

College of Education

Department

Department of Educational Leadership

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to review the established sustainability guidelines in place at each of the 15 public community and junior colleges in Mississippi and to illuminate the ways in which these community colleges interacted with environmental sustainability during the 2013-2014 academic year. Dimensions studied within the established guidelines included curriculum, research and scholarship, operations, faculty and staff development, outreach and service, student opportunities, and administration, mission, and planning. This research study was qualitative in nature and utilized a multiple case holistic design. Sustainability guideline documents, informant commentary, college policy documents, and college course catalogs were gathered from 6 of the 15 community colleges in Mississippi and used to prepare a descriptive analysis of the results. The results of this studied showed the following: a) only a portion of the reporting community colleges discuss sustainability topics in courses on campus, b) none of the colleges reported having sustainability guidelines related to research and scholarship, c) all colleges reported having sustainability guidelines and efforts in the area of operations, d) a small number of the reporting colleges noted having faculty and staff development concerning sustainability guidelines on campus, e) half of the reporting colleges noted that sustainability guidelines are incorporated into outreach and service, f) a small number of reporting colleges stated that sustainability guidelines and efforts are incorporated into student opportunities, g) half of all reporting colleges noted that sustainability guidelines are utilized in the area of administration, mission, and planning. Recommendations for further research are discussed.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/17628

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