Community College Leadership Commons^™

Community College Faculty: Exploring The Process By Which They Determine And Manage Interpersonal Boundaries With Students, Suzanne M. Schmidt

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Higher education instruction is a relational practice that requires skill, reflection, and intentional effort. Faculty-student relationships are critical to learning. Interpersonal boundaries between community college faculty and students are a dimension of the faculty-student relationship that is under-researched and minimally understood.

The purpose of this research was to qualitatively and phenomenologically explore faculty perceptions of their awareness of boundaries between themselves and community college students. Data were collected from seven faculty who work at a large Northwestern community college. Interviews were conducted to explore faculty perceptions of how they become aware of, arrive at, and negotiate change of their interpersonal ...