An Ethnography of Faculty in a Community College and a Public, Regional, Comprehensive University

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to seek to understand faculty culture at a community college and at a public, regional, comprehensive university. Although public, regional, comprehensive universities and community colleges share a number of characteristics, there are areas where their differences are most apparent, such as student abilities and qualities, faculty credentials, and community orientations, to name a few. While quantitative indicators are readily available by institutional type, there is limited information on the nature of the work of faculty in these institutions or the faculty beliefs about their work. Research on culture in these institutions in particular is also necessary in light of the increasingly complex, economic, technological, and global influences impacting them. In this study, the impact of institutional mission, student abilities and qualities, teaching orientation, and the external pressures related to state, federal government, and national mandates on faculty at community colleges and public, regional, comprehensive universities are analyzed using institutional and neo-institutional theories, as well as culture theory.