Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
9-2026
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6880-4949
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Katherine Yeager
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Frank Rojas
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Karmyn Downs
Abstract
The experiences of student affairs professionals are critical to the success of higher education, allowing for a concentrated exploration of African American student affairs professionals who are often employed in 2-year U.S. community colleges. The general problem was that African Americans may leave student affairs in community colleges if they do not perceive supervisory support for professional development and, in turn, career advancement. The purpose of this dissertation was to understand and interpret their lived experiences, illuminate the barriers to their career advancement, and discuss the impact of supervisory support. As such, this action research employed qualitative research through the lens of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) in which seven African American student affairs professionals were asked 30 semistructured interview questions via Zoom that highlighted their perceptions and drew meaning from their experiences. Data collection comprised transcription and IPA use, yielding seven themes and subthemes through manual coding. Some of the themes depicted characteristics of supervisory support, how participants envisioned career advancement and its barriers, their perception of professional development, and methods to improve employee retention. This study’s findings reinforced the importance of trust, networks, and mentorship in supervisory relationships, while results suggested institutional programming or initiatives that strengthen supervisory support. Keywords: African Americans, career advancement, career development, community colleges, higher education, professional development, staff development, student affairs, and supervisor development
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Demings, Courtney Nicole, "Don’t Let Us Down: A Phenomenological Study of African American Employees’ Perceptions Regarding the Benefits of Professional Development in Student Affairs" (2026). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1054.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/1054