Date of Award

Fall 12-1-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Mary Howard-Hamilton

Second Advisor

Kelsey Bogard

Third Advisor

Annie Liner

Abstract

The history of critical systemic issues in higher education has been well documented in recent literature (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017, Freire, 2018, and Wilder, 2013). Among the critical issues noted, sexism has remained a significant influence suppressing opportunities for women within higher education in the United States. bell hooks (1981, 2003, 2014) shared research about the specific systemic challenges encountered by Black women in the academy, providing a key connection between sexism and racism. The lack of significant proposed solutions to address sexism in higher education scholarship, along with the need for an updated and more comprehensive understanding of faculty perceptions, provided opportunity for additional research. As a result of that prompting, this study aimed to understand the extent to which sexism has influenced higher education tenure, promotion, and review, including research publication practices through a primary question to investigate the extent of the relationship between faculty gender and perceptions of the innerworkings of the academy. A comprehensive analysis of data collected through the 2021 Ithaka S+R U.S. Faculty Survey was conducted to build the body of knowledge about faculty perspectives (Blankstein & Ithaka S+R, 2023). Participants included in the study were 2,315 tenured or tenure track faculty within humanities, sciences, and social sciences disciplines at Carnegie Doctoral institutions within the United States. Non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis tests along with post-hoc Bonferroni tests were completed to evaluate the relationship between the gender of faculty and decisions about publishing scholarly research, ways in which they share their scholarly research, and the frequency of publication in peer-reviewed, scholarly journals. In addition, Kruskal-Wallis tests along with post-hoc Bonferroni tests were completed to evaluate the differences between faculty gender, discipline, and their perception of the difficulty of meeting the research, teaching, and service expectations of academic appointment along with the differences between faculty gender, discipline, and frequency of publication of scholarly research that was authored or co-authored. Results indicated that female faculty were broadly more likely than peer male faculty to prioritize publication in a journal that was widely circulated, well read, and had a high impact factor. Female faculty were also more likely to shape their research and publication choices to match what they perceived would make them more successful in tenure and promotion processes. Male faculty were broadly more likely than female faculty to share scholarly research in monographs, edited academic volumes, and conference proceedings. Finally, there were no significant differences between female and male faculty related to the frequency of their publication in peer-reviewed journals. In addition to these significant findings, this study fulfills its aim and provides a clearer understanding of the relationship between faculty gender and perceptions of publication practices and institutional systems of tenure, promotion, and review.

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