Date of Award

Fall 12-1-2006

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Joshua Powers

Second Advisor

Will Barratt

Third Advisor

Robert Perrin

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand higher education organizations as if they were texts and from that perspective to determine how motive was expressed and community was created through the mission statements of a class of higher education organizations. The mission statements of Carnegie comprehensive doctoral institutions of higher education with a medical and/or veterinary school were rhetorically analyzed and the results organized into groups much as chemists organized elements into the periodic table. In addition to rhetorical studies, organizational studies were employed, especially those that employed Identification Theory. This study provides a model for understanding complex institutions, particularly the creation of community based on shared motives and identification with others. The net results of this study are that some elemental aspects of higher education institutions have been observed and charted in a manner metaphorically akin to charting the chemical elements. The expression of the three-part mission of teaching, research, and service is incredible for its simplicity, consistency, and respectability with a vast audience. But the complexity of institutional motives and of the discourse communities created by higher education mission statements has also been observed and made manageable by Burkean rhetorical analysis and the Pentadic dramatistic charts developed for this study.

Download

Share

COinS