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Asian American leaders in higher education: Career aspirations in student affairs
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INFORMATION TO USERS
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ASIAN AMERICAN LEADERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION:
CAREER ASPIRATIONS IN STUDENT AFFAIRS
by
Julie Marianne Wong
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(EDUCATION)
May 2002
Copyright 2002 Julie Marianne Wong
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UMI Number: 3073864
Copyright 2002 by
Wong, Julie Marianne
All rights reserved.
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
The Graduate School
University Park
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90089^1695
This dissertation, w ritten by
Julie Marianne Hong
Under the direction o f h.?J... Dissertation
Committee, and approved b y ail its members,
has been presented to and accepted b y The
Graduate School, in partial fulfillm ent o f
requirements for the degree o f
D O CTO R O F PH ILOSOPH Y
v \ / t
Graduate Studies
Date
D li
Chairperson
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DEDICATION
I dedicate this dissertation to my parents
Dick and Stella Wong for their constant love and support.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Knowledge without wisdom is meaningless and I have learned through this
process that nothing significant is ever accomplished alone. First I want to give
thanks to God for giving me the confidence that “all things are possible.” Second I
want to thank Him for all the people He’s put in my life to encourage me to finish
the dissertation.
Stella, you are the perfect mom: fun, wise, confident, outgoing, loving,
savvy and I’m proud to call you my number one role model. Dad, I’ll always
remember the time you went to Sonoma with me to work on my dissertation
proposal. You watched T.V. in the bedroom so I could work on my laptop in the
living room and then made me dinner just in time to watch the Golden State
Warriors. To my sisters: Jodie, for proofreading each chapter and Jeri for taking me
to the movies and out to eat for study breaks.
Estela, you have not only been my advisor but a mentor and friend. You
challenged me to go beyond what I thought I was capable of, instilled in me a
grueling work ethic, and pushed me towards excellence. To my committee
members, Gay Yuen Wong, Melora Sundt, Donald Polkinghome, and Richard
Sundeen: thank you for your guidance, time, and patience. To the past and present
staff at the Rossier School of Education, Julia White, Lisa Galvan, and Arlease
Woods I am grateful for your support and friendship.
To my friends and fellow doctoral students: Maya, I would not have been
able to finish the dissertation nor enjoyed the process as much without you. Thank
iii
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you for standing by me till the very end. Michael Paul, I will never forget going to
the Rosebowl and Coliseum with you to witness USC beat UCLA and sharing the
spotlight with you on the vision screen during the Notre Dame game. Gwen, thanks
for being my life coach and believing in me when I didn’t believe in myself. Natalie,
this dissertation is proof that God answers prayers.
Finally, to the participants of this study, my life has been made richer by
knowing you personally and professionally. Thank you for your openness and
inspiration for this study.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION............................................................................................................ii
A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S ..........................................................................iii
LIST OF T A B L E S .......................................................................................vii
LIST OF F I G U R E S . ...........................................................................viii
ABSTRACT ............................................................. ix
CHAPTER 1. IN TRO D U CTIO N .......................................................................... 1
Statement of the Problem . . . . . . . 5
Asian Americans in Higher Education and California . . 6
Asian Americans in the University of California (UC) System 9
Asian Americans in the California State University (CSU) System . 13
Asian Americans in California Community Colleges . 15
Urgency of Asian American Lopsided Representation . . . 17
Possible Reasons for the Underrepresentation of Asian Americans in Student
Affairs Senior Management Positions . . . . 18
CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Asian Americans as the “Model Minority” . . . . . 22
Communication and the Perception of Language Barriers . . 25
The Stereotype of Asian Americans as not Having an Interest in Being
Leaders . . . . . . . . 26
Asian Americans and the Glass Ceiling . . . . . 28
The Emergence of Collaborative Leadership Models . . . 31
Career Path for a Senior Student Affairs Officer (SSAO) 34
Women and Minority Administrators in Higher Education . . . 36
Kanter’s Theory of the Structure of Opportunity . . . 39
Summary and Conclusion . . . . . . 43
CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Overview . . . . . . . . . 45
Background of the Researcher . . . . . . 46
Data Collection Methods . . . . . . . 49
Pretest and Pilot Test . . . . . . . 50
Purposeful Sampling . 51
Generating a Sample . . . . . . . 53
The Participants . . . . . . . 53
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Data Collection . . . . . . . . 56
Data Analysis . . . . . . . . . 57
Ethical Responsibilities . . . . . . . 60
Validity and Reliability . . . . . . . 61
Limitations to the Study . . . . . . . 62
CHAPTER 4. DATA PRESENTATION
Highest Career Aspirations of Asian Americans in Student Affairs . . 64
Cultural and Family Pressures to Pursue Science, Engineering, & Business. 69
Fighting Stereotypes: Hard Workers but Not Good Leaders. . 73
Internalization of Stereotypes. . . . . . 76
Lack of Asian American Mentors . . . . . . 82
The Glass Ceiling: Being Passed Over and Overlooked . . . 86
Learning to Play The Game: Navigating Organizational Politics . 96
Ground Breakers: Asian American Senior Student Affairs Officers. 99
Stereotypes Regarding Lack of Leadership and Management Potential 100
The Internalization of Stereotypes by Asian Americans and Society 101
The Small Pipeline of Asian Americans in Student Affairs . . 102
Navigating Organizational Politics . . . . 1 0 3
Institutional Racism . . . . . . 1 0 3
Lack of Asian American Mentors a Non-factor of Senior
Administrators . . . . 1 0 4
CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Summary of Major Findings of Asian Americans in Student Affairs 108
Perspectives from Mid-Level Administrators. . . 108
Perspectives from Senior-Level Administrators . . . 110
Interpretation of Findings Through the Conceptual Framework of the Structure of
Opportunity . . 1 1 2
Recommendations for Asian Americans in Student Affairs . 116
Recommendations for Institutional Leaders . 118
Areas for Further Research . . 1 2 2
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . 124
Postscript . . . . . . . . . 124
R E F E R E N C E S ................................................................................................ 127
APPENDIXES
Appendix A: E-mail Message Sent to APA List-serve 143
Appendix B: Informed Consent Form . . . . 144
Appendix C: Interview Protocol . . . . . 145
Appendix D: Participant Profiles . . . . . 147
Appendix E: Summary/Cover Sheet. . . . . 148
Appendix F: Connections between Themes and Sub-themes . 149
vi
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LIST OF TABLES
1.1 Executive, Administrative, Management Employees
Nationwide, 1997. . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Asian American Students, Senior Managers, and Senior Student Affairs
Administrators in California Public Higher Education, 2001 . . 9
1.3 University of California (UC) System-wide Senior Managers and
System-wide Student Undergraduate Enrollment, 2000. . 10
1.4 California State University System-wide Management and Student
Enrollment, 2000. . . . 14
1.5 Race and Ethnicity of Managers and Student Enrollment (1997) in the
California Community College System . . . 16
2.1 Job Qualifications and Skills for Senior Student Affairs Positions . 32
3.1 Participant Demographics . . . . . . 55
4.1 Highest Career Aspirations . . . . . . 65
4.2 Reasons for so Few Asian Americans in Senior Student Affairs Positions
Given by Mid-level Participants . . . . . . 69
4.3 Ethnicity of Mentors . . . . . . . 82
4.4 Most Important Reasons Why There are so Few Asian Americans in Senior
Student Affairs Positions. . . . . . . 100
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LIST OF FIGURES
1.1 Asian American and White Students and Managers in the UC System . 11
1.2 Comparison of Student Affairs Staff and Students at UC Berkeley . 13
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Julie M. Wong
ABSTRACT
ASIAN AMERICAN LEADERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION:
CAREER ASPIRATIONS IN STUDENT AFFAIRS
Asian American undergraduates are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups
on university campuses yet they are woefully underrepresented in administration.
The disparity between the growing Asian American student population and the
relative invisibility of Asian American administrators indicates a need to develop a
pool of Asian American leaders in student affairs. The model minority myth of
success has effectively deracialized Asian Americans as a group and created a
dynamic where they have become visible on campus yet marginalized in positions of
power.
This study documents the career aspirations of 36 Asian Americans who hold
administrative positions in student affairs and identifies their perceptions about why
there are so few Asian Americans in senior leadership positions. The qualitative
method of in-depth interviews was selected as the primary mode of data collection.
The main finding of this study shows that Asian Americans in this study have high
career aspirations and want to move into positions of power. The data suggest that
the participants in this study saw themselves as having; experienced a glass ceiling
and subtle racism in academia. One of the most challenging forms of subtle racism
included the stereotype that Asian Americans in this study were hard workers but not
good leaders and that they were not interested in advancing in leadership. As a
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result, they felt they were rarely considered as potential candidates for senior level
positions and that they were often passed over for promotions. In addition, a lack of
Asian American mentors and family pressures to pursue stable and lucrative
professions created some cultural conflicts in choosing student affairs as a career.
The question of why there are so few Asian Americans in leadership positions
challenges the Black/White race paradigm and encourages administrators to embrace
a more universal perspective of race and leadership in higher education.
Recommendations for further research as well as implications for policy and practice
are discussed.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Asian Americans are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups on college
campuses. While White student enrollment increased 13%--ffom 9,076,100 in 1976
to 10,266,500 in 1999--the Asian American student population nationwide rose
360% from 197,900 to 909,700 (Almanac, 2000, 2001). Asian Americans are not
only well represented in public institutions but also at the most elite private
institutions such as Stanford (24%), Harvard (17%), Yale (14%), Wellesley (23%),
and Northwestern (17%) (Princeton Review, 2001). Despite their growing numbers
they are underrepresented in faculty, staff, and administration. National statistics
show that Asian Americans have the lowest faculty tenure rates (60%), hold the least
number of administrative positions (1.8%), and represent a mere 0.5% o f all college
presidents (Hune & Chan, 1997). Although Asian Americans are considered
overrepresented as students, they are severely underrepresented in positions of
administrative leadership which is the focus of this study. Table l.l shows that
compared to other ethnic/racial groups, Asian Americans hold the fewest positions as
college and university executive officers (e.g., chancellors, presidents, vice
presidents, and deans) nationwide.
Table 1.1
Executive. Administrative. Management Employees Nationwide. 1997
Asian
American
Chicano
Latino
African
American
White Total
2,863 4,256 13,242 129,040 151,363
1.8% 2.8% 8.7% 85.2% 100%
Source: U.S. Department of Education, 2000
Note 1.5% of managers did not state race/ethnicity.
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The overwhelming success of Asian American students who attend college
can be deceiving when looking at the larger picture of higher education. The
growing number of Asian American college students makes it easy to overlook the
fact that Asian Americans are not represented in positions of power on campus.
Furthermore, this view creates a new problem, since it leaves the impression
that Asian Americans, unlike groups that have been officially identified as
underrepresented, have no need of special interventions to encourage greater
integration and do not require special services or programs. Calling Asian
Americans overrepresented also gives the impression that they do not experience
prejudice on campus. While this perception may be true of some Asian American
undergraduates, it is not correct for Asian Americans who are underrepresented, such
as Pacific Islanders and Southeast Asians, or for Asian Americans in leadership.
Appropriate representation among administrators is important, not only because of
equity issues, but also because of the importance of role models for faculty, staff, and
students (Fugimoto, 1996; Saigo, 1999).
Student affairs is an area that has the reputation of being particularly sensitive
and responsive to issues of diversity on campus, especially in recruiting and retaining
students from ethnic minorities (Smith & Associates, 1997; Turner; Garcia, Nora, &
Rendon, 1996). Although no data exist identifying the ethnicity of mid- and senior-
level officers in student affairs, my personal observations supplemented by anecdotal
evidence corroborates the generally low representation of Asian Americans in this
administrative subfield.
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The guiding question for this study was “Why, despite the rapid increase of
Asian American undergraduates, are there so few Asian Americans in leadership
positions in student affairs?” I became interested in this question while reflecting on
my personal experiences as an Asian American woman pursing an administrative
career in student services. After several years in entry-level and mid-level positions
in areas such as residence life and student activities, I realized that I not only had the
potential to serve in a leadership position but that, in fact, I wanted to someday
become a vice president of student affairs. This realization was a surprising
discovery because I had not been groomed for leadership. On the contrary, the
messages I had received from supervisors while acquiring my master's degree in
student affairs at a Midwest university and later working at an entry-level position
made me believe that I did not possess the attributes of leadership. My graduate
advisor wrote in my evaluation, “I question whether Julie has what it takes to be
successful in student affairs.” During my first few years as a professional,
supervisors said that I was “quiet” and needed to “participate” more in staff
meetings. The messages I received could have discouraged me from pursing a career
in student affairs administration but I worked through and rejected the belief that I
could not be a leader and began my career as a Residential Life Coordinator at
University of California, Berkeley and as an Assistant Director of Residence Life at
California State University, Los Angeles. Over the years, I have learned to match
the profile of a “student affairs” professional and display qualities, which have led to
career advancements as an associate dean and dean of student affairs at private and
public institutions.
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During my first year as a doctoral student, I spoke about this personal
experience in “The Politics of Difference: Restructuring the Academy." I suggested
that the underrepresentation of Asian Americans in higher education might be caused
by internalized stereotypes and socially constructed images of Asian Americans as
hard workers but poor leaders. I explained people like me as “late bloomers,”
realizing relatively late in our careers that we are capable of management, and
suggested that my experience might also be typical of others who had to unlearn the
beliefs, stereotypes, and feelings about our leadership capabilities that others created
for us. (I will discuss this concept in more detail later in this chapter.) This tentative
exploration seemed to strike a meaningful note with other Asian Americans, and I
began to read the literature, wondering if research had confirmed or countered my
intuition.
I am well aware that from the perspective of normal science, using my
personal experience as the basis of determining the questions to be studied would not
meet the criteria for what constitutes “good research.” On the other hand, feminist
social scientists and social scientists of color assert that knowledge, particularly
about people who have been left out of the canon that starts from their lives is
valuable and valid research (hooks, 1996; Rendon; 1996). For example, Patricia
Hill-Collins (1986), an African American sociologist, relied on her personal
experience as the “outsider within” to provide a different understanding of how “to
do sociology.” She argues that many Black female intellectuals have made “creative
use of their marginality” to detect anomalies in society regarding those who are
4
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oppressed. “Outsiders within occupy a special place . . . and their difference
sensitizes them to patterns that may be more difficult for established sociological
insiders to see” (p. 59).
My experience as an Asian American student affairs professional provided
me with “outsider within” status in at least two ways. First as an Asian American, I
was sensitive to the fact that this was indeed a problem which was not seen as a
problem from the perspective of most scholars and administrators in higher
education. Second, as an Asian American student affairs administrator, I had access
as well as credibility to a large network of Asian Americans in the profession.
This chapter is organized into four sections. In the first section, I provide a
general overview of the status of Asian Americans in higher education in California.
The second section examines the problem of the sparse number of Asian Americans
in student affairs and why it is worth studying. The third section offers possible
explanations to account for the paucity of Asian American administrators in senior
management. Lastly, I discuss what might be learned or changed as a result of
identifying why this problem exists.
Statement of the Problem
As campus life has become more complex over the past quarter century,
student services staffed by professionals trained in cross-cultural competence are
critical in the success of students, particularly minority students (Leon, 1997; Moore,
1982, Ragins, 1995; Shandley, 1989; Solarzano, 1998). The disparity between the
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growing Asian American student population and the few Asian American
administrators in student affairs is troubling because of the lack of role models for
Asian American students and the relative absence o f people in decision-making
positions who are knowledgeable of Asian American issues (Osajima, 1995;
Reisberg, 1999; Woo, 1997). California’s higher education system provides a good
example of this disparity which shows that the number of Asian American students
are increasing but that the number of administrators are not increasing at the same
rate or percentage.
Asian Americans in Higher Education and California
Asian Americans make up 11% of the general population and close to 25% of
all postsecondary students in California (U.S. Census, 2001). By all indications,
including access and persistence, Asian American adolescents appear to be
extremely successful in higher education. Unlike other minority groups, they are
well-represented in prestigious institutions and, as a group, outperform most Whites
in gaining access to higher education (Carter & Wilson, 1997; Wilds, 2000). It is
important to note that Asian Americans are usually viewed from the narrow
perspective of those who are successful. Chang & Kiang (in press) argue that the
“popular and oversimplified characterizations of Asian Americans—coupled with
the pervasive absence of substantive learning opportunities about Asian Americans
at all levels of education—have resulted in widespread misunderstandings and
mis/disinformation about this very group.” Similarly, Tuan (1998) demonstrates
that a double bind occurs when educators view Asian American students to be
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academic superstars and their institutions become reluctant to provide educational
services to those students, particularly immigrants, who may need additional
assistance to improve their language skills. Conversely, when educators view Asian
American students as a population needing remedial attention to learn English, they
are less likely to encourage those students to pursue academic majors or professions
that demand strong verbal, writing, or social skills. Without these skills, Asian
American students may be barred from future leadership roles.
One of the responsibilities of administrators in higher education is to
intervene when cycles of distortion exist. Non-Asian American administrators have
the capacity to address Asian American issues in higher education, however, most
have not shown that they see the problems as clearly as they should. In most
institutions, Asian American students are still the primary agents of calling attention
to changes that are necessary to be more inclusive of Asian American students on
campus (Chiang & Kiang, in press).
Universities have been slow to respond, even when Asian Americans have
taken an active role through sit-ins, teach-ins, and protests around the country. The
following three incidents show how Asian American students perceive that campus
administrators have inadequately addressed their concerns on campus.
• On February 8,2001, over 500 UC Davis students marched to a teach-in and
appealed to the administration to respond to a series of hate crimes against Asian
Americans. The protest was sparked by the assault of two Korean students with
racial slurs and physical beatings by a group of White students. Protesters
obtained 4,000 signatures and demanded two full-time Student Affairs Officers
(SAO) for Asian American and Native American students and the establishment
of a center for Asian American studies (Chen, 2001).
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• Frustration with the administration over a lack o f staff of color prompted Asian
Americans at Wellesley College to organize a 90-student sit-in on February 22,
2001. They demanded full-time cultural advisors for Asian Americans and
Latinas. After the administration failed to take action, the students planned a
hunger strike at which point the university agreed to hire two full-time
advising/administrative positions for the Asian American and Latina
communities (Jung, 2001).
• On February 27, 2001, three White students beat four Asian American students at
State University of New York, Binghamton. The administration’s failure to
inform the community and the victims’ parents in a timely manner angered
students who held a rally and presented 9 demands to the administration. The
university responded by hiring one Asian American counselor and one full-time
tenured faculty to teach Asian American studies in the history department
(Zabala, 2001).
These incidents reveal some of the tensions and violence associated with a
growing Asian American population. Universities have not adequately planned to
accommodate the growing presence of Asian Americans on campus, foreseen racial
tensions, or acted to protect students against interracial violence. Asian American
students around the country have organized themselves to express their
dissatisfaction with administration. Similar protests have also occurred at UC-
Irvine, the University of Maryland, and Michigan State University; in all three cases,
Asian American students have demanded more staff to address such issues as Asian
Americans in the curriculum, identity development, generational issues, and anti-
Asian sentiments.
If one looks at the three tiers of California’s public higher education system it
is readily obvious that Asian Americans are more than well-represented. However,
when one looks at the representation of Asian Americans in management positions,
they are severely underrepresented. In fact, Table 1.2 shows that Asian Americans
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are represented far below parity in senior management positions and student affairs,
both by percentages and actual numbers, compared to the numbers of undergraduates
who are Asian American. The following section provides a brief synopsis of Asian
Americans in the University of California, California State University, and
California Community College systems. All three tiers provide evidence of a glass
ceiling in management.
Table 1.2
Asian Americans Students. Senior Managers, and Senior-Level Student Affairs
Administrators in California. 2001
University
of
California
(8)
California
State
University
(22)
California
Community
Colleges (108)
Total
Asian American 51,929 64,077 229,565 345,571
Students 37% 21% 16% 25%
Asian American 12 87 41 140
Academic
Senior
Management
3.8% 7% 5.2% 5%
Asian American 0 out of 8 1 out of 22 4 out of 108 5
Senior Student
Affairs Officers
0% 4.5% 3.7% 3%
Source: Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education Conference 2001,
California Community Colleges Management Information Services, Statistical
Library 2001, CSU Analytic Studies of Statistical Reports (2001); University of
California, Office of the President (2001).
Asian Americans in the University of California (UC) System
Asian Americans comprise 37% of the student population but only 3.8% of
senior managers in the University of California (UC) system. In contrast, Whites
make up 38% of the student population but a staggering 84.3% of senior managers.
Table 1.3 shows the wide gap between the number of Asian American senior
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managers and students. Just as efforts have been made to increase the number of
underrepresented students on college campuses, the same efforts need to be made in
terms of hiring Asian American faculty, staff, and administrators.
Table 1.3
University of California (UC) Svstem-wide Senior Managers and Svstem-wide
Student Undergraduate Enrollment. 2000
White Asian
American
Chicano
Latino
African
American
Total
Undergraduate 53,400 51,929 17,402 4,478 141,366
Students 38% 37% 12% 3% 100%
Senior 257 12 17 18 312
Managers 84.9% 3.8% 5.4% 5.8% 100%
Source: University of California Office of the President, 2001.
Note. 6% student population race\ethnicity was not stated or unknown
When one looks at Asian American senior managers in the UC, they are
severely underrepresented in both percentage and in comparison to other groups. In
examining the rate of other minority groups being hired at senior levels in higher
education, the Asian American “success” rate dips sharply. Although Asian
Americans nearly equal the number of White students on campus system-wide, they
still represent the least number of senior managers in comparison to all other groups.
In looking more closely at the difference between the percentage of Asian American
and White administrators, we see how drastic the difference becomes between these
two groups (See Figure 1.1).
10
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100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Figure 1.1 Asian American and White Students and Managers in the UC System
Source: Tanouye, 2001 - UC Berkeley Report on Asian Americans at Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley, offers some illumination to the near
invisibility of Asian Americans at the senior level. In 1989, Chancellor Ira Heyman
at Berkeley formed a campus-wide Advisory Committee on Asian American Affairs.
According to the committee’s report, Asian Americans made up 13% of the total
workforce at UC Berkeley but held only 5.1% of management positions. In
particular, the committee found that:
The lack of role models for Asian Americans in the top administrative ranks
is related to the feelings of powerlessness and frustration expressed by Asian
American staff about not being given fair consideration for advancement and
promotional opportunities. (ACAAA 1989, p. 10)
In response to the question: "What barriers, if any, do Asian American
faculty tend to encounter in participating in campus administration," the report
11
□ Other
■ Asian
■White
Students Managers
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identified four: (a) the impression that Asian American faculty did not care about
campus administration (b) the perception that they have language problems, (c) overt
discrimination, and (d) the perception that the “good old boy effect” impacts decision
making and administrative appointments (ACAAA, 1989, p. 49).
Several interviews, dialogues, and discussion groups pondered why the
flagship university, located in a metropolitan area with a large Asian American
population, was unable to recruit and retain Asian Americans in senior management.
Among the reasons identified by the committee was a “style over substance”
problem experienced when evaluating Asian American leaders. “The discrimination
they felt was not overt but subtle, and primarily based on the common Asian
stereotypes, such as Asians lacking language skills and Asians not having the
qualities necessary for being good managers” (ACAAA, 1989, p. 67). In addition,
the “quiet and conscientious” characteristic of many Asian Americans became a
disadvantage when they were being evaluated for promotions into management.
Although valued as workers, they were seen as lacking leadership potential.
Twelve years later, a follow-up report was submitted to Chancellor Robert
Berdahl on the status of Asian Americans on Berkeley's campus. The committee
found that Asian Americans continued to be excluded from upper management and
were unfairly passed over for promotions. There was a strong perception among
Asian American staff that institutional barriers limited their career advancement
(Tanouye, 2001).
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The committee also found that the high numbers of Asian American
undergraduate students (42%) were not reflected in the ethnic configuration of the
student services staff. Only 78 Asian Americans (6.8%) held staff positions in
student affairs. The committee concluded that Asian Americans students lack
adequate role models among the staff (Tanouye, 2001). Figure 1.2 shows that Asian
Americans were the only group in which the student population was larger than the
percentage of staff from their same ethnic group.
Asian Black Latino White
Figure 12
Comparison of Student Affairs Staff and Students at UC Berkley
Source: Tanouye, 2001 - UC Berkeley Report on Asian Americans at Berkeley
Asian Americans in the California State University System (CSU1
The glaring disparity of overrepresentation at the student level and
underrepresentation at the administrative level is not an isolated case in the UC
system. Asian Americans are the fastest growing minority group in the California
State University (CSU) system and comprise 21% of the student population. Asian
£ L t\Q / A
50% '
■ Staff
■ Students
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Americans hold the fewest number of managerial positions with a system-wide total
of 7%. In contrast, Whites occupy 75% of all managerial positions system-wide
(See Table 1.4). The ratio of students and administrators in the CSU system parallels
the UC system where the proportion of Asian Americans decreases sharply once they
begin moving up the career ladder, while the number of Whites increase substantially
once they move into management.
Table 1.4
California State University Svstem-wide Management and Student Enrollment. 2000
Source: California State University Office of the Chancellor, 2001
White Asian
American
Chicano
Latino
African
American
Total
Undergraduate 109,529 55.443 60,262 17,14 1402
Students 46% 21% 22% 16% 100%
Management 1,051 87 138 116 279,577
75% 7% 10% 8% 100%
Note: 6% of students did not state their race/ethnicity.
In 1990 Chancellor W. Ann Reynolds of the 22-campus California State
University (CSU), established a system-wide 25-member Asian Pacific American
Education Advisory Committee to study the status and needs of Asian Americans in
the CSU system. Based on their review of numerous reports, studies, and
testimonies at statewide hearings, the committee arrived at the following findings
and conclusions: (a) The CSU campuses have largely ignored the problems and
needs of Asian American students, due in part to the widespread acceptance of the
model minority stereotype which characterizes Asian Americans as a phenomenally
successful, problem-free minority group; (b) many Asian American students do not
find the campus climate comfortable or inviting, feel that student service programs
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tend to exclude them, and are indifferent to their problems and needs; and (c)
although about 8% o f the faculty and staff in the CSU are Asian American, they tend
to be concentrated in some areas and sparse in others. One of these other areas was
administrative/management positions, where Asian Americans held fewer than 5% of
the positions— even fewer in higher-level executive positions. Most importantly for
the purposes of my study, the report showed that there were only three Asian
Americans out of 151 student affairs professionals in supervisory positions
(APAEAC 1990, p. 33).
In 1994, the CSU system conducted a follow-up to the 1990 APAEAC report,
reviewing the status of Asian Americans in the CSU system for the chancellor. Of
the 71 administrators at the rank of vice president or higher, only two (less than 3%)
were Asian American. In a word, they continued to be the most underrepresented
management group in the system (APAEAC 1994).
Asian Americans in California Community Colleges
Contrary to the popular belief that Asian Americans are super-minorities
studying at the most elite campuses, the majority of Asian American undergraduates
(229,565) in California attend one of the 108 community colleges (see Table 1.2).
The number of Asian Americans in the community college system parallel the
demographic pattern of Asian Americans in the UC and CSU systems: namely,
significant increases in raw numbers and percentages, especially in urban areas.
Despite the growth in numbers of Asian American undergraduates, unparalleled by
any other ethnic group, Table 1.5 shows that Asian Americans hold fewer
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managerial positions in the California Community College system of any ethnic
group. Thus, it is important to point out that the invisibility of Asian Americans
managers is consistent in all three higher education systems in California.
Table 1.5
Race and Ethnicity of Managers and Student Enrollment (1997) in the California
Community College System
Asian
American
White Chicano
Latino
African
American
Other Total
Managers
41
5.2%
599
76.3%
66
8.4%
68
8.7%
19
1.4%
744
100%
Students
229,840
15.9
642,749
44.5%
351,043
24.3%
109,469
7.6%
112,234
7.7%
1,445,335
100%
Source: California Community Colleges management information services
statistical library, 2001
Note: To be consistent with the most recent data on managers, this table uses 1997
student enrollments.
In summary, the tiers of California’s public higher education system have
three things in common regarding the status of Asian Americans in higher education.
First, reports from all three systems document the growing number of Asian
American students on campus and the conspicuous absence of Asian American
administrators on these same campuses. Statistics for each of the three educational
tiers show that, at every level of higher education, Asian Americans were below
parity in management positions. Second, specially commissioned reports by the
chancellors of the three tiers recognize the growth and diversity within the Asian
American community and the lack of role models for this group. Lastly, the
recommendations made in the various campus reports have not been implemented
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and follow-up reports document that there have been no signs of improvement to
increase the number of Asian American administrators in California’s public higher
education system.
Urgency of Asian American Lopsided Representation
One might ask what difference an Asian American administrator can make on
a college campus. Although studies on the impact of a lack of Asian Americans in
senior management are missing, an informative illustration is the career of Dr. Bob
H. Suzuki. Before he became president of California Polytechnic, Pomona, in 1991,
Suzuki was an administrator at a public institution with a large counseling center
however, not one of the counselors was Asian American even though Asian
Americans made up 15% of the student population. When Suzuki inquired about
this lack of representation, the student services staff told him that Asian Americans
seemed well adjusted and had few personal problems. He questioned the validity of
these assumptions and insisted that the center make greater efforts to hire an Asian
American counselor. After much persistence from Suzuki, the center hired its first
Asian American counselor. Within four months, she was inundated with Asian
American students seeking professional assistance on a wide range of psychological
problems (Suzuki, 2002).
Suzuki’ s ability to overcome the inertia and stereotyping occurring in the
student affairs office is an example of why Asian American administrators at high
levels are important. Asian American staff members in entry-level and mid-level
positions rarely have the influence to make changes in the organizational structure,
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particularly in hiring decisions. Senior administrators exercise a significant degree
of power and control over resources, giving them the opportunity to provide
culturally sensitive services and programs for Asian American students and other
minority groups.
Possible Reasons for the Underrepresentation of Asian Americans in Student
Affairs Senior Management Positions
Clearly, there could be a number of reasons for the small number of Asian
Americans in senior management positions in student affairs. As I have already
discussed, my initial hypothesis was that Asian Americans are late-bloomers because
they have internalized the stereotype of Asian Americans not having management,
and it takes time to unlearn stereotypes and gain the confidence and experience to
move into leadership positions. “Late-blooming” may also be a function of not
having supervisors who can see beyond the stereotype of Asian-Americans and take
the time to mentor them and facilitate their career advancement. As my personal
experience shows, this was certainly the case for me, and I thought the
generalizability of the phenomenon of late blooming was worth exploring. Under
these circumstances it is easy to see how a cycle o f frustration at being repeatedly
passed over would lead to self-doubts about one's ability, which would lead in turn to
hesitation in pursuing credentialing opportunities (such as crucial committee
assignments, training opportunities, degree-seeking, etc.) that can position the
individual for advancement when opportunities arise. Depending on the person, it
may take years before they realize they are indeed management potential and a great
deal of effort and persistence to compensate for lost time and opportunities.
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A related explanation is that Asian Americans frequently appear not to be
"leader-like." Typically leaders are seen as individuals who present themselves as
self-confident, charismatic, and assertive (Bensimon et al., 1989). Even though there
is not much empirical evidence on the relationship between these leadership
characteristics, they are still used as the criteria to judge whether someone shows
leadership qualities (Bensimon et al., 1989). Judged according to these criteria,
Asian Americans as a group are not leadership material, and the few unusual
individuals who are leaderlike, are, to that extent, atypical of Asian Americans in
general.
In not exhibiting the characteristics associated with our images of leadership,
there may be a perception that Asian Americans are not inclined to pursue senior
management positions. For example, Haro's (1991) study on the lack of Asian
American leaders in higher education quoted a campus executive who said, “Asians
are not interested in student affairs jobs . . . They are not, by temperament, prepared
for such roles and are more interested in research or business jobs” (p. 153).
The third explanation for the underrepresentation of Asian American leaders
in higher education is the operation of institutionalized racism that, in effect, creates
a glass ceiling for certain segments of the workforce (Woo, 2000). Several
researchers who have explored the career advancement of people of color have
documented significant disadvantages due to prejudice, stereotypes, and an overall
lack of opportunities to rise in organizations (Cox, 1993; Cox & Nkomo, 1991;
Ramey, 1995; Thomas & Alderfer, 1989). Matsuura (1996) found that a lack of
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mentors, the degree of acculturation, and various discriminatory factors related to
Asian American's minority status may explain why so few Asian Americans
occupied administrative positions.
The question that I explored in this study is simply, “Why are there so few
Asian Americans in senior management positions in student affairs?” I interviewed
Asian American mid- and senior- level administrators in order to explore their career
history and professional aspirations and gain a better understanding of the factors
(e.g., experiences, relationships) that Asian American student service administrators
perceive as enabling or inhibiting their career advancement. The experiences of the
36 Asian American administrators can provide a valuable source of knowledge about
the kinds of strategies needed to increase their representation among the senior ranks
of student affairs professionals.
In the next chapter, I provide a review of studies that focus specifically on
barriers— structural and perceptual— that stand in the way of Asian Americans
moving into leadership positions in various fields.
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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
The increasing presence of Asian American students in higher education is
undeniable. In the state of California, Asian Americans constitute over 11% of the
population and close to 25% of the college student population (U.S. Census, 2000;
U.S. Department of Education, 2001). Yet Asian Americans are conspicuously
absent (1.8%) from higher education administration and particularly from student
services (U.S. Department of Education, 2001). On campuses in the University of
California system and the California State University system, Asian Americans make
up the largest ethnic population on many campuses. Still they are absent from
decision-making processes, program planning, student life issues, and staff selection
(APEAC, 1994; Tanouye, 2001). The change in California’s demographics has
created an imbalance in which Asian Americans are overrepresented as students and
underrepresented as administrators. Both factors have important implications. The
research literature on Asian Americans in higher education is extremely sparse, and
the literature on Asian American leaders in higher education is almost nonexistent
except for a few dissertations (Ideta, 1996; Matsuura, 1996; Shintaku, 1996). For
this reason, I have broadened my literature review to include studies in social
science, business, government, and psychology.
In this chapter, I elaborate on the assumptions about the lack of Asian
Americans in leadership positions that I briefly introduced in Chapter One.
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Specifically, I focus on three factors that contribute to the perception that Asian
Americans lack the qualities associated with leadership potential and the ambition
for leadership. First, I describe how the very characteristics that have earned Asian
Americans praise and admiration as the “model minority” turn into deficiencies
when viewed from the perspective of trait theories of leadership. Second, I discuss
the glass ceiling effect which prevents people from moving up the career ladder due
to subtle racism and discrimination. Third, I examine cultural differences which
create a clash between American mainstream values and Asian values in leadership.
After discussing these factors, I provide a brief overview of the student
affairs profession and the traditional career trajectory into the field, followed by an
overview of the experience of women and minority administrators in higher
education. Last, I provide a conceptual framework for this dissertation based on the
work of Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1977). Kanter's work focuses on the structure of
opportunity and the impact of being a minority or token in an organization.
Asian Americans as the "Model Minority"
The media created the model minority concept in the mid-1960s when there
was a growing awareness of the underclass of African American and
Chicano/Latinos. In contrast to the media images of poverty, dysfunctional families,
and criminality attached to these groups, Asian Americans became the group that
exemplified the fulfillment of the American Dream. They were labeled a "model"
minority group because of their high socio-economic mobility and educational
achievement. As the model minority, Asian Americans are portrayed as hard
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workers, obedient, quiet, and well assimilated. In particular, Asian Americans are
viewed as a group that does not "rock the boat" with demonstrations and demands for
services and fair treatment (Osajima, 1988). Although these characteristics have
positive connotations, from a leadership perspective, they make Asian Americans
appear ill-suited for leadership (Chan & Wang, 1991; Chang & Kiang, in press;
Duleep & Sanders, 1992; Lee, 1996; Osajima, 1988). For example, Wu (1997)
interviewed a participant in her book, Asian Pacific Americans in the Workplace who
said, "...upper-level management regards Asian Pacific American workers as
hard-working, diligent, but nevertheless to be seen but not heard, to be bossed, not
bosses" (p. 167).
In essence, the attributes for which Asian American students have earned the
reputation of "model student" appear to work against their career advancement.
Conformity, obedience, and quietness turn into disadvantages because they are seen
as substitutes for the lack of communication and leadership skills. As a result,
individuals who are in positions to mentor or sponsor Asian Americans and enable
their career ascension often track Asian Americans into lower and middle positions.
Asian Americans pursuing leadership positions have to confront a widely
shared belief that they lack leadership skills and do not possess the attributes
associated with management potential (Sue, Zane, & Sue, 1987). The perception
that Asian Americans are not leaderlike prevails not only in education (Hune, 1998;
Hune & Chan, 1997; Nakanishi 1993), but also in government (Commission, 1995),
business (Cheng, 1996), and science and engineering (Tang, 1997; Wong &
Nagasawa, 1991).
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Several factors, all of which are based on stereotypes, contribute to the image
of Asian Americans as not being good candidates for leadership positions. Lay
theories of leadership focus on traits, the “most often cited are confidence, courage,
fairness, respect for the opinions of others, and sensitivity” (Bensimon, Neumann, &
Bimbaum, 1989, p. 36). In contrast, being soft-spoken and behaving in ways that
suggest insecurity are viewed as weaknesses. Trait theories of leadership have been
discredited by scholars of leadership; however, these images of leadership persist;
and as we shall see, when Asian Americans are judged according to these
characteristics, they do not measure up to expectations of leadership (Bensimon et
al., 1989, p. 36).
Trait theories of leadership associate effective leadership with physical and
behavioral characteristics, many of which are primarily associated with White men.
Thus, when judgments about leadership potential are guided by trait theories, women
and minorities are put at a disadvantage. For example, Hune (1998) found that Asian
American women administrators were often not taken seriously because their
youthful appearance and small stature implied that they were immature. These
women voiced concerns that their proficiency, rather than leading to rewards, often
led to being invisible and being taken- for- granted.
Asian American men face similar, but slightly different stereotypes than
women. Cheng (1996) examined 214 Asian American and White male students at
five different universities in various organizational behavior courses and found that
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Asian American men were not perceived as "management material." A
mini-assessment that the program's students used to select team managers identified
eight characteristics of good managers: aggressive, ambitious, analytical, athletic,
competitive, decisive, independent, and charismatic (Cheng, 1996). The participants
in the study described Asian American men as “cheerful, gentle, naive, shy, quiet,
too nice, and passive” (Cheng, 1996 p. 181). Although 13 Asian American male
students volunteered to be team managers, not one was elected to a leadership
position by students in his group. In contrast, 23 of the 25 White male volunteers
were selected as team managers (Cheng, 1996). And in a survey of 194 White
college students, in which they were asked to read the profile for fictitious Asian
American and White 18-year olds and rate them on (a) how well qualified the
student was to seek training in certain occupations, (b) the probability of success in
16 different occupations, and (c) how likely this individual was to be accepted by his
or her co-workers in those occupations, Asian Americans were seen as being less
likely to succeed in insurance sales than Whites but more likely to be successful as
engineers, computer scientists, and mathematicians (Leong and Hayes, 1990).
Communication and the Perception of Language Barriers
Trait theories of leadership also work against Asian Americans in that they
place a very heavy emphasis on communication skills that symbolize strength,
confidence, assertiveness, charisma, etc. As might be expected, Asian Americans for
whom English is not their first language and who speak with an accent tend to be
overlooked for leadership positions. The experience of Chang-Lin Tien (1998) who
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became the Chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley provides a good
example. Upon being appointed Chancellor, he reported that some colleagues
encouraged him to get coaching to eliminate his accent. He commented:
While British, German, and French accents are acceptable or even
prestigious in academic circles, Asian and Latino inflections are
problematic. A European inflection conjures up images o f Oxford or
Cambridge In contrast; an Asian or Latino accent is more likely
to be considered an indication of a lack of schooling. (1998, p. 34)
He also reported that selection committee members doubted his ability to excel at
fund-raising and to support athletics, manifestations of the stereotype that Asian
Americans lack communication skills and the ability to deal with large groups (Tien,
1998).
The Stereotype of Asian Americans as not Having an Interest in Being Leaders
Beyond the assumption that Asian Americans lack leadership skills lies
another stereotyped perception: that they are not interested in leadership positions.
Wong and Nagasawa (1991), in their multi-year (1988-1991) national U.S study of
Asian American scientists and engineers, found that Asian Americans were severely
underrepresented in management. The first part of the study analyzed the 1982,
1984, and 1986 National Science Foundation surveys of 88,000 scientists and
engineers. The researchers found that Asian American scientists were seen as highly
qualified in technical areas, but lacking essential attributes for administrative or
executive positions. White respondents reported that Asians were “too passive and
self-effacing for administrative roles, not interested in climbing the corporate ladder,
and contented with their careers.”
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Tang (1997) explored whether Asian Americans in science and engineering
fit the image of a successful model minority and whether, compared to Whites and
African Americans, Asian Americans have similar opportunities for moving into
management. Drawing from the 1989 Survey of Natural and Social Scientists and
Engineers (SSE), Tang found that Asian American men in engineering had a lower
likelihood of becoming managers, compared to White males with similar
backgrounds and characteristics, while African Americans were about as mobile as
Whites across fields and organizations. “During this period from 1982-1984, 10% of
White males and 11.1% of African American males entered management, as opposed
to 8.4% of Asian American males” (p. 302). Tang attributed this difference to the
perception of the passive interpersonal style of Asian cultures which contrasted
unfavorably as a "leadership" characteristic with the more assertive style of African
Americans.
Surveys show that most Asian Americans (56%) are in fact interested in
obtaining promotions to administrative positions (Wong & Nagasawa, 1991).
However, data showing that Asian Americans are dramatically more likely than
Whites (47.4% versus 8.6%) to agree or strongly agree with the statement “people in
authority don’t think Asians make good managers or administrators” (p. 5) makes it
clear that Asian-Americans are well aware of the obstacles they need to overcome in
order to move up the administrative career ladder.
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As in science and engineering, Asian Americans in higher education assert
that they are not being identified, mentored, or recruited for management positions
(Hune & Chan, 1997). While some Asians may prefer non-leadership roles, just as
some Whites do, it is neither accurate nor fair to make this assumption about all
Asian Americans.
Asian Americans and the Glass Ceiling
The term "glass ceiling" was coined in 1986 to address the challenges women
experience in achieving upward mobility in the workplace. Women who have
played by the rules and aspire to leadership positions at the top, often find an
invisible barrier between them and their goal. The glass ceiling is not simply an
obstacle for an individual, but applies to women as a group whose careers are limited
because they are women (Morrison, White, & Velsor, 1992; Woo, 2000).
Awareness of the glass-ceiling effect has since expanded to include people of color.
Asian Americans usually have no problem gaining entry-level positions when they
graduate from college; however, they experience abrupt plateauing in their careers
once they reach the point where a mid- or higher management position becomes the
next logical promotion.
Research suggests that the glass ceiling metaphor captures the situation of
Asian Americans. Compared to Whites, Asian Americans are reported to experience
subtle racism (Woo, 2000), pay inequities (Zhou & Kamo, 1994), discrimination
(Duleep & Sanders, 1992), and barriers to management positions (Commission,
1995; Cabezas, Tam, Lowe, Wong, & Turner, 1989; Rights, 1992). While the
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history of Asian American exploitation and racism in the United States is widely
known and accepted, many argue that Asian Americans currently have high upward
mobility in education, income, and occupation. Research shows otherwise.
Even though Asian Americans perceive themselves as marketable when they
graduate, studies show that they do not earn as much as Whites in similar positions.
According to an in-depth analysis of earning patterns based on U.S. census data,
Zhou and Kamo (1994) found that Asian Americans experience significant earning
disadvantages relative to their White colleagues with identical credentials, regardless
of college education or state of residence. Friedman and Krackhardt (1997) also
found lower returns for education for both immigrant and American-born Asians. In
their study, based on data from five work teams at a major bank staffed by a sizable
number of Asian Americans, Asian Americans were less likely to turn human capital
(experience, education) into improved career outcomes by producing greater social
capital (career advancement, access to power). They also found lower returns to
education for Asian Americans in terms of their managers' assessment of career
potential in the organization. Friedman and Krackhardt (1997) argue that this gap is
best explained by group membership “because social capital attainment appears to be
the mechanism that transforms education into workplace gains” (p. 330).
Although the causes are almost certainly more complex than a single factor,
the number of Asian Americans advancing into management does not match the
growing presence of Asian Americans in engineering and science. Similarly, the
growing number of Asian American students in higher education is not matched by
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an increasing number of administrators from this group. These data directly
challenge the model minority thesis, which predicts that Asian Americans should
exhibit more upward mobility than African Americans and do as well as
Whites (Tang, 1997).
In Glass Ceilings and Asian Americans, Deborah Woo (2000) suggests that
subtle racism and prejudice are quietly reproduced and embedded into the routine
activities of the institution. She asserts that many barriers for Asian Americans are
systemic and invisible, not easily traceable to individuals or specific procedures. In a
case study of a large government operation with a large concentration of Asian
American scientists and engineers, she found no Asian Americans at the senior
executive level even though 53 out of 105 Asian Americans in her study expressed
an interest in career advancement. She concluded that the organization was unable
to recognize managerial styles that departed from the traditional White male
leadership model. “Interview after interview echoed the observation that Asian
Americans were characterized as less ‘aggressive,’ ‘self-promoting,’ or ‘outspoken,’
and thereby less likely to be perceived as having the necessary ‘communication
skills’ or leadership qualities”(p. 157).
In this section I have provided an overview of the literature— limited though it
is— on Asian Americans in leadership positions. They are underrepresented in all
fields in which studies have been conducted. Thus, the underrepresentation in
student affairs is not unique.
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Based on this literature, it appears that Asian Americans in professions such
as business, science, and engineering, face three obstacles to career advancement.
First, the supervisors who act as gatekeepers to senior management have
unconscious stereotypes about who can be a leader. Asian Americans' physical
characteristics, language, demeanor, and self-expression do not fit implicit images of
how a leader looks, acts, and speaks. Second, Asian Americans not only experience
a glass ceiling in all fields of management that have been studied, but they receive
lower returns on their education in both compensation and career opportunities.
Third, because of the first two obstacles, Asian Americans are less likely than Whites
to receive the mentoring, sponsorship, and critical assignments that are crucial to
career advancement.
The Emergence of Collaborative Leadership Models
In the 1980’s, we saw a shift toward models of leadership borrowed from
Asian traditions, e.g., “Theory Z” (Ouchi, 1981) and with an emphasis on
participative management and team approaches. These non-hierarchical leadership
models build on values associated with Asian culture, such as hard work, dedication,
modesty, and commitment to the group.
As part of the background research for this study, I decided to look at the job
announcements for student affairs vice presidencies in the Chronicle o f Higher
Education (2000-2001) and a Student Affairs list-serve and determine the
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requirements for these positions. In Table 2.1,1 provide the announcements for five
positions in California institutions that appeared between November 2000 and
February 2001.
Table 2.1
Job Qualifications and Skills for Senior Student Affairs Positions
Qualifications
Cal Poly
Pomona
CSU, Monterey
Bay
Cal Poly San
Luis Obispo
UC San
Diego
Occidental
College
Position
Vice President
for Student
Affairs
Vice President of
Student Affairs
Vice President of
Student Affairs
Dean of
Students
Dean of
Students
Education Earned
doctorate
Ph.D or Ed.D Earned doctorate Doctorate
preferred
Experience 5 years
successful,
responsible,
experience
8 years experience
in a similar
organization
Experience in
vision, supervision,
and planning
Experience in
student affairs,
and residence
life
7 years o f
experience,
demonstrated
leadership
Administration Management
experience
Management
experience
Management o f
complex functions
Management
experience
Supervision
Knowledge
and
commitment to
student affairs
Knowledgeable o f
trends in higher ed.
and student affairs
Contributes to
Student Affairs
Profession
Involved in
professional
organizations
Problem
solving ability
Conflict resolution Problem solving
ability
Conflict
resolution
Initiative Initiative,
creativity
Self Directed Creativity, Vision Analytical
skills
Communication ‘'Excellent’’
interpersonal
and com
munication
skills; ability
to partner with
faculty
Interpersonal skills,
ability to work with
faculty, students &
staff
“ Strong”
interpersonal skills,
ability to develop
collaborative
relationships
“ Excellent”
Interpersonal
and
communication
skills with both
individuals and
with groups.
“ Excellent”
oral, writing,
and
interpersonal
skills; ability to
work with
faculty and staff
Commitment to
diversity
Ability to
work with
diverse
backgrounds
Sensitivity to
multicultural
community
Commitment to
diversity and
multicultural issues
Supervision and
leadership
Collaborative
style o f
leadership
Interest in involving
students in decision
making process
Ability to
supervise, train,
and motivate
staff
Demonstrated
leadership and
teamwork
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education, 2000-2001; APA List-serve, 2000-2001
As can be seen, three of the four institutions that specify supervisory and leadership
qualifications mention as desirable qualities “collaborative style of leadership”,
“ability to develop collaborative relationships”, “involving students in decision
making processes”, “demonstrated leadership and teamwork.”
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At the risk of over generalizing, it could be expected that the rising popularity
of styles of leadership that are linked to Asian values would advantage individuals
who have been socialized to these ways of leading. However, even though the
values, customs, and beliefs of Asian Americans would appear to make them ideal
candidates for the “new” models of leadership it still remains that nationally only
2,863 or 1.8% of those holding executive, administrative, managerial positions are
Asian Americans (U.S. Department of Education, 2000). If we take another look at
the announcements we can see that, in addition to collaborative leadership, all of the
positions are described as requiring candidates who have “excellent” or “strong”
communication skills and interpersonal skills. Based on the previous discussion it is
very likely that the characteristics which enable Asian Americans to be good at
collaborative leadership, such as deference and modesty, are the very characteristics
that lead selection committees to judge Asian American candidates as poor
communicators.
In the next section, I discuss the typical career path of senior professionals in
student affairs. As I will show, involvement in leadership positions during the
undergraduate years plays a very important role as the starting point for a career in
student services. To the extent that Asian Americans do not pursue positions such as
elected office in student organizations or volunteer for committees, they are further
disadvantaged.
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Career Path for a Senior Student Affairs Officer (SSAO)
Hunter (1992) claims that the personal relationships between student affairs
professionals and undergraduates provide the main entrance into the profession.
Once introduced to the field, the prospective student affairs administrator typically
pursues a master's degree and an assistantship in student affairs. An assistantship is
a part time job in a particular area in student affairs such as residence life, student
activities, judicial affairs, minority student affairs, or career development. The
purpose of the assistantship is to gain more in-depth experience in the field as well as
apply student development theory in a practical and supportive environment. The
individual also begins participating in professional organizations such as American
College Personnel Association (ACPA) and National Association of Student
Personnel Administrators (NASPA) where networking, research, and
programs/workshops are presented.
Around the time of degree completion, the candidate is hired in an entry-level
position in residence life, student activities, leadership development, orientation, or
multicultural programs. Typically, a person remains in an entry-level position from
two to five years depending on the individual, the needs of the institution, and the
size of its student services staff. A person can anticipate promotion or hiring at a
higher level at another institution in three to five years. The mid-level student affairs
administrator is usually responsible for hiring and training students and professional
staff, preparing budgets, and writing reports.
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Sponsorship into the field begins early in a person's career usually when the
future professional is a student volunteer or paid worker in some level of student
government or student activities. Hunter (1992) has identified mentorship as one of
the most successful ways to enlarge the pool o f candidates from which student affairs
professionals may be chosen. Which stereotypes operate at the undergraduate level
in student activities mentoring? Mid-level and senior-level student affairs
professionals have limited time and energy to act as mentors. Undoubtedly, they
make decisions, whether consciously or unconsciously, about which students are the
best candidates for mentoring in light of the probability of their future success in the
field. I am not aware of any studies that have focused on how student affairs
professionals make mentoring decisions; therefore, it remains an open question
which stereotype has the most weight: (a) the perception that Asian Americans are
seen as good followers, but poor leaders, or (b) the perception that Asian Americans
are very bright, high-achieving, dependable, hard-working, and reliable, all of which
are very desirable traits for entry-level positions. Given the relatively few Asian
Americans in SSAO positions, it seems unlikely that already established SSAO’s are
selecting Asian Americans involved in residence life or student activities for
mentoring at the undergraduate level, thus giving them internship opportunities and
opening the doors of the profession to them. But further research is required to
establish this point.
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To partially compensate for the lack of studies of Asian Americans in
administrative positions, I examined research about women and people of
color in higher education. Even though there is not a single minority group
experience, the experience of women or African Americans or Latinos can
shed light about the underrepresentation of Asian Americans in student
service leadership positions.
Women and Minority Administrators in Higher Education
Researchers have documented that women and people of color face a chilly
climate in higher education, frequently facing exclusion, isolation, and alienation
(Blackhurst, 2000; Bowen & Muller, 1996; Chilwniak, 1997; David & Woodward,
1998; Harvey, 1999; Johnsrud, 1993; Johnsrud & Heck, 1994; Johnsrud & Sadao,
1998; Ramey 1995; Sandler, 1993; Shakeshaft, 1989; Turner, 2000). Faculty of
color are less satisfied with nearly every aspect of their jobs compared to Whites
(Johnsrud, 1993; Turner, 2000). Yolanda Moses (1993), reflecting on her experience
as a faculty member, administrator, and college president, hypothesizes that
“universities and colleges do not know how to engage in sustained dialogue about
how to incorporate diversity throughout their operations” (p. Bl). Unfortunately,
people of color pursuing administrative positions face many o f the same barriers as
nontraditional students. “Beyond a reluctance to reorganize to pursue cultural
diversity, a closely related institutional barrier is an ingrained resistance to change, a
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fear of what cultural diversity will do to the status quo or to life in the academy as
we know and love it” (p. Bl).
Johnsrud and Sadao, (1998) in a study at the University of Hawaii where
thirty-one percent of the faculty are minorities found that professors of color reported
different experiences than White faculty. They concluded that the faculty of color
they interviewed had to cope with three stresses that did not affect White faculty: (a)
negotiating between two cultures, (b) ethnocentrism on the part of White
administrators who consisted of 69% of the population, and (c) racial discrimination.
To succeed, faculty of color reported that they had to learn to play by the rules of the
majority culture. They were willing to do so but still, frustratingly, felt that their
White colleagues saw their perspectives as, not different, but inferior (Johnsrud &
Sadao).
After reviewing the research literature on recruiting, advancing, and retaining
minorities in student affairs, Sagaria and Johnsrud (1991) found that to increase
minority participation, the profession must attend to (a) the crucial roles of key
administrators and (b) the informal processes by which persons are matched to
administrative jobs. To increase the number o f racial minorities hired as student
affairs professionals, they challenged Senior Student Affairs Officers (SSAO) to
mentor and recruit more people of color into the pool of candidates for student
affairs positions. These researchers pointed out that by mentoring other
administrators of color, they would become role models for other supervisors to
follow. More importantly, by appointing people of color to mid-level leadership
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positions, they would achieve diversity in student services because increased
representation of people of color at mid-level creates greater opportunities to hire
them at the senior level.
Another of Johnsrud's (1991) studies on administrative mobility and gender
suggests that decision makers promoted women they already knew within the
institution for two reasons: (a) because these women were known, they were
somewhat more predictable, or (b) promoting women within the organization was
the least threatening way of meeting affirmative action requirements.
Even though affirmative action has resulted in the hiring of more women and
minorities, it has brought with it the negative implication that people of color receive
promotions in higher education because of their minority status and despite their
substandard qualifications. Countering this stereotype, Bowen and Muller (1996)
argue that people of color are often more qualified than Whites, not only by
education and experience, but because they also have cross-cultural competencies
which are crucial to improving the quality of service to large populations of students
of color.
Although these findings about women and other minorities in higher
education are suggestive in their application to the comparative dearth of Asian
Americans in student affairs, much additional research is still needed. Despite a
plethora of research on leadership and culture, the research literature contains almost
no analysis of how cultural differences affect leadership development (Armino et al.,
2000). The majority of research on people of color and leadership has come from
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outside higher education with a particular emphasis on management literature (Cox,
1993; Morrison, 1992). Of this body of research, the work of Rosabeth Moss
Kanter’s structure of opportunity is particularly relevant for this study.
Ranter's Theory on the Structure of Opportunity
To help frame my research questions and the direction for this study, I drew
on Ranter's (1977) theory of the structure of opportunity for women in the corporate
sector. According to Ranter (1977), opportunity refers to expectations and future
prospects for advancement. The "structure of opportunity" (mobility and growth) is
determined by opportunities for promotion, skill development, and monetary
rewards. People with low opportunity often feel "stuck." They are unable to see
themselves in higher positions, abandon their hopes for promotions, and lose the
desire to move up. In contrast, people with high opportunity have high aspirations
and a strong commitment to the organization. They can see themselves functioning
in positions that are higher on the career ladder. Individuals who are in career tracks
perceived as highly mobile tend to develop attitudes and values that propel them to
the top, while exactly the opposite occurs with those who fill positions that are
perceived as low mobility tracks. As a result, cycles of advantage and disadvantage
are perpetuated.
Access to high-mobility tracks is mediated by influential sponsors or
mentors. In her case study of a large multi-national corporation, Ranter documented
that individuals who are in positions to sponsor subordinates are drawn toward
subordinates who are similar to themselves. Ranter (1977) describes the tendency
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among individuals in positions of power to "reproduce" themselves as the
“homosociality” phenomenon. As long as the upper levels of management are
dominated by White males, the phenomenon of social homogeneity acts as an
invisible barrier against men and women of color as well as White women. Kanter
suggests that homosocial reproduction is a function of the level of uncertainty about
job activities. That is, decision-making rules at the higher levels of administration
are ambiguous and value-laden therefore one of the ways of reducing this ambiguity
is by selecting individuals whose experience, culture, values etc. are most similar to
the person doing the selection and thus more likely to act as they would in a similar
situation. Accordingly, to maintain stability, managers tend to hire people whom
they can trust, who fit the organizational culture, and who will be loyal to the
organization's values and goals— in short, people "like us." Even if these qualities are
not articulated explicitly, Kanter argues, people tend to be more comfortable and
communicate more easily with people who are similar to them than with those who
are different.
Kanter (1977) also explores the relative status of majority and minority
people within an organization. The dynamics of tokenism (or hiring very few
members of minority groups) leads directly to "role encapsulation". In this situation,
the rare minority member who is promoted to a leadership position is, if he or she
finds the role difficult, seen as confirming the stereotype that minority members are
not good leaders. On the other hand, if the individual is a strong and successful
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leader, this success does not dismantle the stereotype. Rather, he or she is seen as
the exception that proves the rule. Such individuals can never be themselves. They
are always fighting stereotypes while simultaneously trying to conform to the
majority group's values.
She further maintains that organizational change cannot usually occur until
the ratio of majority and minority employees reaches 65:35. When slightly more
than a third of an organization consists of minorities, they then have the potential of
forming coalitions and influencing the organization's culture. At this population
level, they also begin to become individuals, differentiated from each other as well as
the majority. The situation of Asian Americans in higher education is unique
because they are simultaneously the majority and minority-overrepresented as
students but underrepresented as administrators.
In sum, Ranter's (1977) research documents how the structure of opportunity
affects promotion within an organization. The opportunity structure in which a
person's current job is located has both direct and indirect effects on upward
mobility. Opportunity structure also affects invitations to serve on significant
committees, appointments as acting directors, increased responsibility, participation
on selection committees, and other opportunities that give an individual experiences
that qualify him or her for advancement. Supervisors determine whether staff will
participate in training programs, receive internships, and meet with senior
administrators. According to Kanter, such sponsorship is a key to upward mobility.
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Sagaria and Johnhsrud (1992) documented that the same phenomenon occurs
in higher education institutions. Based on a two-year analysis of 699 staff and
administrative job listings at Ohio State University, they found that women and
minorities did not benefit from sponsorships and were not chosen for newly created
positions as frequently as White men. O f the 3,170 positions in the administrative
ranks for 1983-85, 55.2% (1,749) were held by White men, 36.6% (1,160) by White
women, and 8.2% (261) by minorities. The study’s authors concluded that the
distribution pattern showed that White women and minorities were clearly
disadvantaged in their placement within the organization, while White men were
advantaged by hiring and promotion practices. The patterns for women and
minorities were similar; both groups were overrepresented at the lower
administrative levels and underrepresented at the higher levels (1992). A number of
other studies, primarily focused on the impact of gender in promotion and
advancement, are relevant to this study in demonstrating the tendency to promote
people who have backgrounds and experiences similar to those of the decision
makers (Johnsrud, 1991; Johnsrud & Heck, 1994; Sagaria, 1988). Because White
men hold the majority of senior-level positions in higher education, the opportunity
for women or minorities to be mentored or sponsored by someone of the same race
or gender is slim. In addition, research has shown that White men may not be
comfortable mentoring women or people of color due to their lack of knowledge of
these individuals' different cultures and backgrounds (Thomas, 1990).
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A study by Konrad and Pfeffer (1991) on the conditions under which women
and people of color were hired for administrative positions in a sample of 821 U.S.
institutions also lends support to Kanter’s description of how the structure of
opportunity operates. Specifically, they found that: (I) Women and minorities were
more frequently hired for lower-paying positions in the institution; (2) certain jobs
and occupations were seen as more appropriate for women or minorities; and (3) if a
woman or minority person had previously held the position now vacant, the
likelihood of hiring a woman or another person of color as a replacement was much
higher due to the positive role modeling and the reduction of uncertainty.
Summary and Conclusion
As the literature review in this chapter has shown, Asian Americans must
struggle against occupational stereotypes, the glass ceiling effect, clashing cultural
values, and structural barriers embedded in the organizational culture to forge careers
in higher education. Kanter (1977) takes the position that structural barriers prevent
people of color from moving up the organizational career ladder. This theory frames
my study on the career aspirations of Asian American leaders in higher education as
Kanter's research on low opportunity and social homogeneity is helpful in
understanding the experience of Asian American leaders in higher education.
The research questions for this study are framed in a way that does not view
Asian Americans as deficient in leadership skills, but as limited by organizations that
have structural barriers. Instead of asking the traditional questions of why Asian
Americans lack particular skills in leadership or how they can change to fit the
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mainstream culture, I tried to leam from the perspective of a group of Asian
American mid-level and senior administrators what factors they felt had enabled
impeded their career progression.
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CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter explains the methods used to study the career aspirations of
Asian Americans in student affairs. Following a general overview that includes the
purpose of this study, I describe the background of the researcher and methods of
data collection. Next, I give my reasons for choosing in-depth interviews as the
vehicle for collecting data and discuss the methods used to generate a sample. After
describing the participants and the process used for data analysis, I address ethical
responsibilities, issues of validity and reliability, and limitations of the study before
concluding with a summary of this chapter.
Overview
The purpose of this study is to investigate why there are so few Asian
Americans in student affairs administration. In order to accomplish this, I asked
Asian American student affairs professionals about their career aspirations and
organizational experience in higher education. Findings from this research will add
to the body of knowledge on Asian Americans in higher education and bring
attention to the low representation of Asian Americans in senior management
positions. It is hoped that these findings will prompt universities to reconsider
aspects of their organizational culture that determine who are recruited and who are
not; who are mentored and who are not; and who are selected for senior leadership
positions and who are not. By presenting data on non-traditional leaders and their
career paths, this study may encourage the academic community to look beyond the
traditional view of leadership.
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Background of the Researcher
I am a third-generation Chinese American, bom and reared in San Francisco,
California. I grew up in Chinatown and attended a high school with a 90% Asian
American student population. My principal role models in leadership are members
of my family. My grandfather was the president of the Lee Association for the
United States and Canada, and my mother was on the board of directors for the
Asian Women’s Health Center and the Chinatown YWCA. In addition, my aunt was
a founding board member for Chinese for Affirmative Action and took an active part
in Asian American politics and community issues. I developed an interest in Asian
American issues at an early age by attending Asian American theater in San
Francisco and community fundraisers with my family. While in college, I enrolled
in an Asian American studies course at San Jose State University and have attended
numerous conferences and workshops on Asian Americans issues since earning my
baccalaureate degree. While attending graduate school at Michigan State, I helped
organize the first Asian American Caucus at that institution.
For the past eleven years, I have worked as an administrator in higher
education at five different institutions in California. I am currently the Dean of
Student Affairs at a public university and one of my responsibilities is leadership
development.
While working at the University of California, Berkeley, I participated in the
planning of an Asian American issues conference by serving as the program
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co-chair. I have also conducted studies on Asian American student leaders and mid
level administrators and presented my findings at the American College Personnel
Association (ACPA), the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators
(NASPA), the Western Association of College and University Housing Officers
(WACHUO), and a Qualitative Research Conference. In addition, I am a member of
Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education (APAHE) and have attended their
conferences for the past five years. I am also a member of Leadership Education for
Asian Pacifies (LEAP) and the ACPA list-serve for Asian Americans in Student
Affairs. In 1999,1 attended the LEAP\APAHE Leadership Development Program
for Asian Americans in Higher Education to gain further insight into this research
topic. The LEAP/APAHE program is designed to promote leadership skills and
professional development of Asian Americans and prepares faculty, staff, and
administrators to move into senior-level leadership positions.
As an Asian American administrator, I readily admit to having some biases
and assumptions regarding the topic of this study. Among my personal biases is the
belief that Asian Americans can be effective leaders in higher education and that we
are presently underutilized in the field. Furthermore, I believe that certain
organizational barriers and glass ceiling issues present obstacles to the advancement
of Asian Americans. I also assume that Asian Americans may internalize
stereotypes about their leadership abilities, which can create cultural conflicts in their
career development. It is virtually impossible to free oneself completely from
personal bias and experience related to a certain topic. However, my approach to
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avoiding such bias in this study was to pose open-ended questions and refrain from
asking leading ones. The interviews were semi-structured, allowing the conversation
to flow in any direction the participants chose to pursue. In addition, Polkinghome
(1991) recommends that the researcher adopt a stance of “empathic neutrality,” in
which he or she maintains a neutral position while becoming involved with the data.
This can be accomplished by using a variety of sources for data collection-e.g.,
conducting interviews, attending conferences, reviewing literature, and drawing from
personal experience. However, as Polkinghome (1991) suggests, producing research
that is free of personal bias ultimately depends on the researcher’s personal
commitment to the collection of credible data and objectivity during the analysis.
Despite the challenge of dealing with personal bias, I found many positive
aspects to being an insider in this study. Insider status gave me access to the
participants and enabled me to establish a good rapport with them. For example, I
attended the American Council of Education’s Asian Pacific American Leadership
Development Seminar, the Asian Pacific American Women’s Leadership Institute
(APAWLI), Asian Professional Exchange (APEX) meetings, and the National
Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) conference. These
gatherings provided me with national as well as regional perspectives on Asian
American leaders. I continued to attend conferences pertaining to Asian Americans
throughout this study as a form of fieldwork and a means of communicating with
Asian American leaders in higher education. This enabled me to develop a strong
network of Asian Americans in student affairs in preparation for my data collection.
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Data Collection Methods
In order to gain an understanding of the career aspirations and challenges of
Asian Americans in student affairs, I chose to use an interpretive, naturalistic
approach by interviewing the participants in their natural settings. Interviews are an
important form o f data collection in ethnography, which is based on the assumption
that culture is learned and shared among members of a group who have something in
common (Boyle, 1994). The behavior and experiences of group members can be
described and understood by observing their conduct in specific situations.
The participants in this study shared two cultures: their Asian American
cultural heritage and leadership positions in a college\university setting (Spradley,
1979). The in-depth interviews I conducted helped me to gain insight into the
perspectives of a group that is often marginalized in academe. As the interviews
took on a conversation tone, the participants revealed a great deal about their
personal history and background (Kvale, 1993).
According to Spradley (1979), ethnographic interviews describe a culture.
The essential core of this activity is to understand another way of life from the
native’s point of view. Although I am considered an insider to this study, I became a
student seeking answers to such questions as why do so few Asian Americans hold
senior level positions in student affairs, what are their career aspirations, and what
challenges do they face (Spradley, 1979). Taking the stance of a student, I asked
open-ended questions in an attempt to maintain objectivity. The advantage of open-
ended questions is they encourage spontaneity and allow one to leam what the
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participants feel is important, without reflecting the personal biases of the researcher.
In-depth interviews provided me with a holistic understanding of the Asian
American experience in student affairs rather than the one-dimensional perspective
derived from the model minority myth.
Good rapport between the interviewer and interviewees encouraged
participants to speak freely about challenges they faced within their respective
institutions. Kvale (1996) describes the interview as a specific form of conversation.
These interviews were characterized by a methodological awareness of questions
that created a special dynamic between the participants and the researcher. In their
course, I obtained rich data about the participants’ world and allowed them to
generate questions as well as answers (Dey, 1993).
In the final analysis, in-depth interviews provided an excellent vehicle for
understanding the participants’ experiences in leadership positions. The career
aspirations of Asian Americans in student affairs and the challenges they face in
achieving them are rarely discussed. The participants’ openness to my questions
throughout this study can in part be attributed to the fact that I was an insider who
identified readily with the individuals being interviewed.
Pretest and Pilot Test
As I satisfied the criteria for a participant in this study, I decided that I myself
should be interviewed, with another person asking me the questions to see if they
made sense and flowed naturally. The person I chose to interview me was a Ph.D.
candidate with experience in qualitative research. The self-interview helped identify
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my own assumptions, expectations, and biases that might have prevented me from
maintaining a neutral stance throughout the study. I noted the time required for
responses and ascertained whether the questions were clear or needed to be
rephrased. Following the interview, I asked for feedback, particularly on the
potential of the questions for generating rich data. After making some minor
adjustments to the interview protocol, I proceeded to set up a pilot test.
The pilot test enabled me to practice using my protocol as well as my
equipment in a campus office. During the interview, I used a laptop computer and
tape recorder. I then transcribed both the pre-test and the pilot test and reviewed the
transcripts to see whether the responses to the interview questions answered the
research questions. A second meeting was set up with the pilot-test participant and
the pre-test interviewer to discuss what had worked well during the interview and
identify areas in need of improvement. After the protocol was revised a second time,
I was ready to begin selecting individuals to interview.
Purposeful Sampling
Purposeful sampling (Schwandt, 1997) was the primary method used to
identify participants for this study. I developed relevant criteria and then recruited
individuals who met them (Mason, 1996; Schwandt, 1997). In addition, I also used
snowball sampling. Beginning with a group from the purposeful sample, I asked
each administrator to refer others with similar characteristics who might be willing to
participate in the study (Mason, 1996).
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The career aspirations of Asian American leaders in higher education and the
challenges they face can be studied from three perspectives. One can look at senior-
level administrators who have succeeded in breaking through the glass ceiling; one
can look at mid-level leaders who have not yet broken through; or one can look at
both groups. I chose the third option because it promised to provide richer data for
answering the research questions. Mid-level administrators can offer current insight
into the challenges they face at present, while senior-level administrators are able
share the benefit of their experience and describe the steps that led them to success.
Mid-level administrators typically report to a top-level officer, administrator, or dean
(Rosser, 2000). Robert Young (1990) states that mid-level management is one of
the most important yet least respected levels of administration. Mid-management is
where administrators develop or fail to develop career commitment or generativity
(Young, 1990). Mid-managers also link vertical and horizontal levels of their
organizations and interact with diverse constituencies-e.g., senior administrators,
faculty, students, alumni, parents, and trustees (Young, 1990).
Senior-level administrators provided the perspective of Asian American
educational leaders who have broken through the glass ceiling. Their experience and
wisdom were deemed important for the study as well as instructive for mid-level
administrators. There are very few Asian American senior student affairs officers,
and the majority of them work in California or Hawaii. This being the case, it was
relatively easy for me to arrange for introductions at various conferences, and several
student affairs professionals agreed to be interviewed. The following section
describes how I recruited participants for the study.
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Generating a Sample
The sample for this study was generated in two ways. First, I attended
conferences that focused on Asian American leadership in education, business, and
nonprofit organizations. At each conference, I introduced myself to student affairs
professionals, told them about my research topic, and asked if they would be
interested in participating in the study. We would exchange business cards, and this
was the beginning of my list of potential participants.
Second, I posted an e-mail message on the ACPA Asian American list-serve,
which described the study, solicited participation, and included a short survey. As
the surveys were returned, I determined whether the respondents matched the
participant criteria. Those who did were then added to my list of potential
participants and asked to participate in a campus interview. In addition to the APA
list-serve, I sent an e-mail to people I had met at conferences and set up interviews
with them as well. Networking at conferences proved to be invaluable, in that I had
a 100% response rate from people willing to participate in my study. I believe that
this was not only the result of networking, but also because the participants felt this
study was important for the Asian American community and student affairs. The
next section describes the participants chosen for the study in greater detail.
The Participants
Thirty-six mid-level and senior-level Asian American administrators in
California and one administrator from Hawaii participated in this study. California
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and Hawaii were chosen because they both have a large percentage of Asian
American students as well as administrators. Moreover, these states offered
convenient access for the researcher. These 36 participants represent a significant
portion of Asian Americans in the West Coast who are in positions to move into
senior management. The number of Asian American student affairs professionals
has not been documented in previous research; however, to provide some
perspective, in 2000 there were 215 self-identified Asian American members
nationwide in the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) or 2.81% of the
total membership of 7,645 according to executive director Carmen Neuberger.
The minimum criteria for participation were as follows:
• Supervision of staff
• Master’s degree in student affairs or related field
• Work in a two- or four-year institution of higher education in California
or Hawaii
• Mid-level or senior-level administrator with at least three years of full
time professional experience in student affairs
The number of participants was determined by an interest in having a diverse
sample. First-, second-, and third-generation Asian Americans of varied ethnic
backgrounds were included. However, to establish certain boundaries, the first-
generation participants had all attended college in the United States and lived here
for at least six years. Six years was chosen by the researcher as a sufficient length of
time to ensure that the first-generation participants were acculturated. The ethnic
breakdown of the participants was as follows: 13 Chinese Americans, 11 Japanese
Americans, 8 Filipinos, 1 Indian, 1 Korean American, I Pacific Islander, and 1
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Vietnamese American. The gender breakdown was 18 women and 18 men. I visited
11 private institutions and 25 public institutions. There were several reasons for this
disparity. First, on an organizational level, public institutions tend to be more
diverse in terms of faculty, staff, and students, which creates a more welcoming
environment for minorities. Second, on a more practical level, public institutions in
California generally offer higher salaries as well as greater benefits. As a result,
Asian Americans are drawn to these institutions.
Five o f the institutions I visited were community colleges and 31 were four-
year universities. I interviewed 7 vice presidents of student affairs and 29 mid-level
administrators. According to my research on this topic, there are 8 vice presidents of
student affairs in California and Hawaii. I interviewed 7 out of 8 vice presidents for
this study which make the findings about this group credible for understanding the
experience of senior level administrators in California and Hawaii. Table 3.1
presents participant demographics regarding ethnicity, gender, type of institution,
and position.
Table 3.1
Participant Demographics
Ethnicity Position Institution Gender
13 Chinese 4 Coordinators 11 Private 18 Women
11 Japanese 16 Directors 25 Public 18 Men
8 Filipino 4 Assoc. Deans
1 Indian 5 Deans 5 - 2 year
I Korean 7 Vice
Presidents
31 - 4 year
1 Pacific Islander
1 Vietnamese
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The demographics show that twice as many Chinese and Japanese
participated in this study than members of the other ethnic groups combined
(24 Chinese and Japanese, 12 others). This reflects the fact that the Chinese and
Japanese have been in the United States longer than other Asian groups and have
participated in higher education in greater numbers. Vietnamese, Southeast Asians,
and Pacific Islanders have not succeeded in higher education as rapidly as Chinese,
Japanese, Koreans, and South Asians. Census data reveal that Filipinos will soon
become one of the largest Asian American groups, outnumbering Chinese and
Japanese. Overall, the Filipinos I studied were younger than the Chinese or Japanese
participants. The Filipinos were between 28-37 years of age, while the Chinese and
Japanese were between 31-54. A participant profile in Appendix D lists the
ethnicity, generation, age, degree, position, number of years in the field, type of
institution, and highest position desired of the participants in this study.
Data Collection
The interviews were conducted over a two-month period and lasted from 45
to 90 minutes each. Thirty-three interviews took place in the work environment of
the participants, and three people were interviewed by telephone because I was not
able to travel to their campuses. Having the interviews on campus contributed to the
comfort of the participants and allowed me to observe their interaction with others in
the institution. Seidman (1998) states that people’s behavior becomes meaningful
when placed in the context of their lives and the lives o f those around them. As the
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primary interviewer, I constantly examined and summarized what was said in order
to ensure accuracy before moving on to the next question (Tiemey, 1991).
The interviews were conducted in a semi-structured fashion to encourage
spontaneity. The protocol focused on career aspirations, organizational experience,
and ways to increase the number of Asian Americans in the field. All interviews
were tape-recorded and notes were taken with a laptop computer. A summary sheet
was completed within 24 hours to record important topics, interesting quotations, and
tentative conclusions. I transcribed the tapes within two weeks of the interview in
order to familiarize myself with the data. When all of the interviews had been
transcribed, I began to analyze the data.
Data Analysis
Morse (1996) states that researchers are in the business of producing social
explanations or addressing intellectual puzzles. With this in mind, the first step in
my analysis was to reduce the data to an organized and manageable form, so that I
could extract useful descriptions of Asian Americans’ career aspirations and
challenges. Qualitative designs call for vivid and rich descriptions of each category.
Thick description (Gertz, 1973) reveals common threads of meaning woven into the
pattern of the participants’ organizational experiences in higher education.
The data analysis involved several phases. In the first phase, a completed
summary sheet was attached to each data set after the interviews were transcribed.
The summary sheets included general information about the participants, key topics
discussed, noteworthy quotations, and questions raised for further research. The
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transcriptions, e-mail surveys, summary sheets, resumes, and informed consent
forms were placed in two three-ring binders with separators between the interviews.
In addition to the binders, I set up a file on the computer, which enabled me to
retrieve each interview with ease and to cut and paste different passages during the
analysis.
After having organized the interviews, I began reading the transcripts in order
to gain familiarity with the data and find ways to reduce it. As I read, I kept my
theoretical framework in mind. I also revisited my research questions and thought of
possible categories for each of them, as well relevant stories I could extract from the
data. Several questions came to mind during this phase of the analysis:
■ Is there a pan-Asian leadership experience?
■ What can we leam about the career development of Asian Americans?
■ What role does family play in career decisions of Asian Americans?
■ For those who do not want to move up in their career, how much of it is
internal (cultural) and how much of it is external (structural)?
■ How can Asian Americans benefit from the data?
■ How can organizations benefit from the data?
In the second phase, I went through each transcript again and highlighted five
areas that pertained to my three research questions and the theoretical framework:
■ Lack of Asian American Leaders
• Career Aspirations
a Challenges
■ Recommendations/Advice
■ Internal and Structural barriers related to Kanter's theory of the structure
of opportunity, power, and tokenism
Each area was highlighted with a different color. This code enabled me to reduce the
data so that I could focus on the areas that related to my research questions and
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coincided with the theoretical framework. Sections that pertained to more than one
area were coded with all appropriate colors.
In the third phase, I organized the data by assigning codes and categories so
that I could find patterns and make connections (Dey, 1993, Wolcott, 1994).
Creating categories involved looking for meaningful sections of data. As I reread
each transcript, I circled sections of particular interest. Then as I put a keyword or
phrase by each circled section, different categories began to emerge. At this point, I
had not determined a set number of categories because I wanted to be open to as
many as the data would reveal. After going through all of the transcripts, I created a
table with the 36 participants in one column and all 33 of the categories from the
transcripts in separate columns. Next, I went through the transcripts again and put
the page number of each quotation in the correct column and row. This enabled me
to find specific passages by looking at the participant number and going to the
corresponding page of his or her transcript. In the process, I eliminated several
categories that contained only a few responses.
The last phase of the analysis involved linking categories as well as
categorizing data (Dey, 1993). Once the data had been coded and classified, I
examined them for regularity and variation. In doing so, I was able to see logical
connections between the categories and began to detect patterns in the data (Dey,
1993)
Searching for patterns, I reviewed my tables and counted how many
participants had responded to each category. The number o f participants who
responded to a particular category was placed at the bottom of the column.
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Throughout the process, I looked for ways to combine and or eliminate categories.
Next, I listed my research questions and identified categories related to my research
questions or the theoretical framework. Several of the categories pertained to at least
two of the questions.
The categories that were the most salient in the interviews became the major
themes of the study. I then made an outline of the major themes and sub-themes
within the categories and noted the number of times each was found in the study. At
this point, four main areas were revealed:
1. Lack of role models and mentors
2. Glass ceiling issues
3. Stereotypes
4. Family/cultural influences on career
In order to present the data and link categories visually, I created a diagram
of my main research question and four major themes and sub-themes (Appendix F).
The final step in the analysis describes the ethical responsibilities to which I adhered
throughout the study (Dey, 1993).
Ethical Responsibilities
The informed consent form (Appendix B) served to ensure that the
participants understood fully what it meant for them to take part in this study. They
were made aware of the purpose of the study and any risks that might be involved
(none were foreseeable) before the actual interview took place. Furthermore, each
person was provided with a brief overview of the study and informed that
participants and institutions would be given pseudonyms to be used in coding the
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data in order to maintain confidentiality. It was also made clear that the decoding list
would be destroyed upon the completion of the dissertation. Before signing the
informed consent form, the participants were told that the findings would be
presented at national conferences and possibly in journal articles. Furthermore, all
quotations would be taken verbatim from the audio tapes of the interviews. In
addition to upholding ethical standards for the protection of the participants, I made
every effort to ensure that my data were valid and reliable so that they could be used
for further study.
Validity and Reliability
In Mason’s (1996) view, validity is contingent upon the “end product,”
including a demonstration of how the interpretation has been reached. Four major
themes emerged from my interpretation of the data; all other perspectives appeared
less compelling. I have demonstrated that the concepts and connections identified
are grounded in the data, and that my ideas taken from the data are based on
frequency as well as content (Dey, 1993). Reliability depends on whether or not a
study is repeatable and generalizable (Denzin & Lincoln, 1998). Consequently, I
have explained this study step by step, so that it can be replicated by another person
(Schwandt, 1997).
Furthermore, I reflected on my biases toward the study and made an effort
not to ask leading questions that might inadvertently influence the participants’
answers (Kvale, 1996). In order to maintain consistency, I did all of the
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transcriptions and coding myself within two weeks of the interviews. The tapes were
transcribed verbatim so that the full context of the interview was presented. As the
primary interviewer as well as transcriber, I was able to avoid discrepancies that
might have occurred had the transcriptions been done by someone who was not at
the actual interview and therefore did not have immediate experience of the
participants’ emphasis, facial expressions, and emotions (Kvale, 1996).
Finally, validity and reliability were achieved by establishing trusting and
confidential relationships between the participants and the interviewer. My
experience in the field provided me with access to the participants and contributed to
the development of our rapport (Morse, 1994). Maintaining confidentiality and
keeping the participants informed about the status of the interview was accorded
high priority. I arrived early for every session and explained the purpose of the
interview and my interest in the study verbally, as well as in writing. In the next
section, I will discuss the limitations of the study.
Limitations to the Study
The first limitation of this study was that all the participants lived and worked
in the Western region of the United States, specifically California or Hawaii. When I
posted the e-mail message on the ACPA-APA list-serve to recruit participants,
several people who expressed interest did not meet the criterion of working in
California or Hawaii. One person felt that a nationwide study would be more
compelling because he believes the Asian American experience differs according to
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the part of the country in which one lives. I considered interviewing a nationwide
sample by telephone, but ultimately concluded that the face-to-face contact of a
personal interview was essential to the study. I agree that it would have been
interesting to compare the experiences of Asian Americans in the Midwest and East
Coast with those in the West Coast; however, because of time constraints and limited
resources, the study could not be expanded to encompass a wider population. These
limitations notwithstanding, several of the participants had either gone to graduate
school or worked in the Midwest or East, and I asked them to elaborate on their
experience.
A more comprehensive study would have included interviews with
subordinates as well as their supervisors to ascertain whether their perceptions were
similar. This is significant because immediate supervisors make most of the
recommendations for promotions. Furthermore, as I was not able to interview three
of the participants on their campuses, I interviewed them by telephone and found that
these exchanges were much shorter than the face-to-face interviews. Finally, two of
the participants did not have master’s degrees in student affairs or a related field.
Both had enrolled in master’s degree programs at one time, but family circumstances
prevented them from finishing. I chose to keep these participants in the study as well
as the people I interviewed on the phone because I wanted to have as diverse a pool
as possible in terms of age, institutional affiliation, and experience in the field.
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CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION
This chapter is based on interviews I conducted with 36 Asian American
mid-level and senior-level administrators, in which we discussed their career
aspirations as well as challenges they have faced in student affairs. Following an
overview of the highest career aspirations of the participants in the study, I discuss
three reasons why so few Asian Americans hold senior-level professional positions
in student affairs administration. Next, I describe two challenges Asian Americans
experience in moving up the career ladder. Finally, I present the reasons given by
seven senior student affairs officers for there being so few Asian Americans in senior
management.
Highest Career Aspirations of Asian Americans in Student Affairs
Administration
I think there will be more Asian Americans in senior management
positions.. .part of it is the coming of age in our community. I don’t
think it’s a question of if; it’s really a question of when.
-Associate Vice President of Student Services
There’s still a lot of work to be done, but it’s really gratifying for
older seasoned veterans like myself to see such a youthful committed
group that is coming up [from] the ranks. It’s exciting to hear young
people thinking about their doctorates and taking our jobs.
-Dean of Students
When someone asks why there are so few Asian Americans in student affairs
administration, the automatic assumption is that they don’t want to be in leadership
positions. To determine whether there is any basis for this common perception, I
asked Asian American mid-level and senior-level leaders in higher education what
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their highest career aspirations were and where they saw themselves in five to ten
years. Their responses revealed that thirteen of these leaders wanted to be college
presidents, ten wanted to be senior student affairs officers (SSAOs), seven wanted to
be dean of students, and six wanted to be directors of departments. Thus, one of the
most important findings of this study is that Asian Americans in this group had high
career aspirations.
Table 4.1
Highest Career Aspirations
Director Dean Vice President President
6 7 10 13
Table 4.1 shows that the greatest number of respondents aspire to be
president, which dispels the assumption that Asian Americans do not desire power.
One vice president of student affairs was firmly convinced that he would someday be
the head of a college or university:
Once the Ph.D. is completed, my goal is to be the president of an
institution. What size, what tier, prestige, those are still things I’m
open to, but I have shaped my career and people have guided me into
that role.
The current president is aware that this individual wants to be a president himself
and is grooming him for such a position. Several other vice presidents had their eyes
on the presidency as well. One participant in the study was nominated to attend
three days of intensive training for future presidents sponsored by the American
Council on Education (ACE). According to him, “The application process consisted
of [submitting] a letter of intent and [your curriculum] vitae as if you were applying
for a presidency.” In the course of the training, he was interviewed by presidents and
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headhunters and received feedback on his resume, background, and qualifications.
As one of the consultants observed, “Even though it’s possible for a vice president of
student affairs to become a president, it’s not the usual route because they usually
come from the academic side.” However, the participant believes he possesses a
compensatory advantage: “What distinguishes me from other candidates is [that] I
oversaw university advancement and increased the budget from $3 million to $14
million in 2.5 years.” His experience in development notwithstanding, he realizes
that coming from the administrative side will present a challenge. He said, “I know
that not being faculty and [not] having a lot of publications will be a barrier, even
though I recently co-authored a book on resistance to multiculturalism and taught a
class on men of color in the Ethnic and Women’s Studies Department.” The
consultants told him he should have “taught in a more traditional department like
Behavioral Science.” He said he didn’t like the people in the other departments but
“loved the people in Ethnic Studies.” While he understands that such choices are
“narrowing” his options, at his present age he needs to be “happy with what he’s
doing.”
A second participant said he was confident in his ability to move up the
career ladder and articulated a clear plan for becoming the president of a community
college:
It took me 15 years to become a dean, and my goal is seven years
after that to become a vice president and in six years to be a president.
I think that career-wise I am at the level where seeking a vice
president is within reason for me.
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Five out of the seven SSAOs wanted to be the president of a university. One
woman said, “I was nominated for the president of Newport State University and
went there for a campus interview. Another woman from the Midwest was offered
the position but later turned it down, so they did a completely new search.” Another
woman applied for the presidency of Richmond College and was one of four
finalists, but did not get the position as a result of the “politics of the community.”
The search was reopened three times because the board could not find a candidate
who they were willing to accept. The participant said that the “college had about a
75% Latino population and heard comments that the president had to be Latino.”
Another vice president of student affairs was offered a presidency but turned it down
because he did not want to relocate his family to another state. Several participants
were hopeful that Asian Americans were on the verge of moving into more positions
of power. As the data revealed, 23 out of the 36 aspired to be a president or vice
president.
Only three members of the group were content with their current positions
and did not wish to seek higher positions in student affairs. An assistant dean at a
private university said, “I’ve never aspired to high-ranking positions. I still don’t
have my eye on anything other than programs that impact students.” Having entered
the field of student affairs to work specifically with students, he felt that moving up
in the hierarchy would provide him with fewer opportunities to do so.
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In contrast, two Asian American women, one in her late 40’s and the other in
her early 50’s, wanted to remain in their current positions for different reasons. The
one who is the Director of Multicultural Affairs had this to say:
This is it. I’m not going anywhere. I know what my level of
incompetence is, and I’m competent in this position. I don’t know
that I would be competent at the next level. I like what one of my
earlier bosses told me. He said I would be really good running a
small professional office, and that’s what I’m doing now and I’m
competent in this position.
The other woman, who had been the Director of Student Outreach for over 15
years, likewise had no desire to move up through the ranks. When asked what the
highest position she wanted was, she said:
This one. I’m very happy doing what I’m doing presently, and I don’t
have any higher aspirations; and there’s nothing preventing me from
going up further, and I don’t need to aggravate myself any further.. . .
I’ve got enough problems here, I don’t need any more. I like the staff
I have right now. I don’t want to trade that for anything. I have an
ideal position. I’m sitting in a job I enjoy. I’m sitting in a position
where the staff is tight right now. We’re doing a lot of good things
despite the fact that we’re under incredible pressure... . Why would
I want to give that up?
Other than these three participants, the majority wished to pursue senior-level
positions. Several had plans for how and when they were going to make their next
career move. Given the high aspirations of the participants, the question of why
there are so few Asian Americans in senior student affairs positions remains
unanswered. According to the mid-level administrators in this study, three reasons
may account for this phenomenon. The first reason stems from strong cultural and
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family influences that have an impact on career decisions. The second reason relates
to the stereotype that Asian Americans lack leadership skills and are not considered
management material. The third reason involves the lack of Asian American role
models and mentors to encourage Asian Americans to enter the field. Table 4.2
shows the number of times the mid-level participants gave these reasons.
Table 4.2
Reasons for so Few Asian Americans in Senior Student Affairs Positions
Given by Mid-level Participants
Cultural
Family
Stereotypes No Role
Models
Glass
Ceiling
17 14 13 7
Cultural and Family Pressures to Pursue Science, Engineering, and Business
I don’t think Asian Americans are encouraged to go into education.
It’s not engineering, it’s not medicine, and it’s not law. I also think in
education you are interacting a lot with people, and again, culturally,
that skill is not fostered in terms of speaking publicly and being in a
public interactive position. People expect you to be gregarious and
engaging and confident, and I don’t think those attributes are fostered
in our culture.
-Director of Student Life
Participants described family pressure to succeed financially and enter a
prestigious profession as a major reason that discourages Asian Americans from
pursuing a career in student affairs. One participant said that she was a pre-med
major as a sophomore and changed her major to psychology after taking a class in
that subject. Her parents felt that “Only flakes who can’t cut it in science go into
psych.” Her compromise was that she would “do psych and then go to med school.”
In her senior year she almost had a nervous breakdown when she was about to take
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the MCAT. At that point, she told her dad “I can’t do medicine and really want to go
to grad school in psychology.. .my dad saw how upset I was and said, ‘O.K., as long
as you get your graduate degree.’” A second participant said, “On a cultural level,
we’re not encouraged to pursue this as a profession because it’s not prestigious and
it’s not lucrative.” Another participant I interviewed was a third-generation Asian
American man who came from a family of farmers. Both of his parents spent their
lives working themselves “out of a hole” because they lost everything when they
were relocated to Japanese internment camps during World War II. He said, “It was
always an expectation that my sisters and I would go to college.” His parents wanted
him to be “a pharmacist and a good role model for the Asian American community.”
However, he majored in sociology and ended up working in student affairs. He said,
“My parents still don’t understand what sociology is and are amazed that I could turn
it into a career that I love.”
Another participant changed his major from engineering to counseling
psychology. His parents were “very concerned because engineering offered security,
high salary, and something they knew how to explain to their family and friends.”
While Asian American parents encourage their children to earn advanced degrees as
a means of overcoming racism and attaining a better life in American society,
educational administration is not considered a viable profession. As a result,
participants were faced with the prospect of pursuing a career without support from
their family. One person exclaimed, “My father’s reaction when I became the
Director of Orientation was ‘Is that a real job?”’ Cultural values and family
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pressures are passed down from generation to generation. Even as second- and third-
generation Asian Americans, many participants were brought up with the
understanding that the primary way to be successful in the eyes of their family was to
become a doctor, a lawyer, or an engineer. Academia was sometimes an acceptable
option because teaching was regarded as a noble profession. However, working in
student affairs was a foreign concept. One person said, “the only thing my parents
were happy about [regarding] student affairs was [my] going to graduate school; it
was a compromise for them.”
An Asian American woman who is the Associate Director of Student
Development described the quandary of being in a non-traditional career and at the
same time trying to earn the respect of her parents. Her brother is a microbiologist,
and her parents understand that he “looks under a microscope and writes papers with
big words.. .and they love it.” They have no idea what she does in student life. The
only affirmation she received from them was when she received the title of Assistant
Director and they said, “You have status now.” Some of the participants were not
encouraged as children or young adults to pursue leadership positions. An Asian
American man stated, “I don’t think our parents raised us to be leaders.” He
explained, “Our parents had high aspirations for our generation, but the opportunities
were limited, so they always encouraged us to go into fields that were safe. My
parents always wanted me to be an engineer or a lawyer.” He said that based on
their experience in the United States, “they never knew I could be a president of a
college or that it was possible.”
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Asian American parents often have subtle ways of conveying their lack of
respect for student services. Although the participants were successful as student
affairs professionals, they did not always feel they had the full support of their
parents. Although he has a master’s degree and is currently an assistant dean, one
participant contends that he still does not receive recognition or support from his
parents with regard to his career.
They’re very indirect, you know. It’s very Asian.. . . Any time I say
something in my career that I’m not happy about, like the long hours
and hard work, they might respond by saying, ‘You know you can
still be a lawyer; its not too late to go back to law school; or you can
get an engineering degree . . . you’re young enough If you
wanted to be a doctor, you could be one’.. .which is so insulting.. .1’ve
worked really hard to get where I am, and I’ve gone through a lot, and
I’m proud of my position. It would be nice if they could let me know
that they’re proud of me once in a while.
Another obstacle the participants faced was that student affairs is not as
lucrative as other professions. An Asian American woman, who is a director of
student life, said she felt pressure to get a degree in order to make enough money to
support her family.
Money is a big issue. You can’t think about fulfilling yourself
professionally if you’ve got a family to support, and that was a
struggle for me. I had to ask, ‘Am I going to make money in this?
I’m going to have to take care of my parents later, and there’s not a
lot of money in student affairs.’ My mentor said, ‘Do what you love,
and the money will follow’; and I said ‘okay,’ but it was a risk.
Family pressure to be successful was compounded with concerns by Asian
Americans who were not encouraged by advisors to choose professions that involve
working with people because they were stereotyped as not being suited for this “kind
of work.” According to the mid-level administrators, the second reason that so few
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Asian Americans moved into senior management position was the stereotype that
they lack leadership skills and are not considered management material.
Fighting Stereotypes: Hard Workers but Not Good Leaders
There is a perception that Asian Americans don’t make good leaders,
that Asian Americans are foreigners, that they are hard workers but
don’t have skills at leading people that aren’t Asian American.
-Assistant Dean of Student Affairs
How real is this perception? Robert, a director of career development,
acknowledged that it was very difficult for him to get his “foot in the door” and
move into management because of the perception that he would not be personable
enough as a manager. After he got the position, his colleagues told him that he “was
their third choice The first person they hired dropped out in one month, and the
second person they hired lasted for only one year.” He found out from his supervisor
after he was in the position that he had a “lot of reservations” about promoting him
to assistant director. Robert could have easily been discouraged from applying for
higher positions because senior administrators did not think he could do the job.
Similarly, other participants were also perceived as non-assertive. An Asian
American women who is an associate director of student affairs said,
I think we get put in these roles where we’re great support staff. They
say, you take care of business, you always handle emergencies, you’re
great in that position, and if you move up, who’s going to help me? I
think people think I’m a great support person because I take care of
the details. I’m rational and logical, and that’s great for a support
person and a great role for an assistant director. It’s hard for people to
see me as a director because they don’t see me as one.
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By and large, the participants felt that they were not seen as leaders on their
campus. As an assistant dean of students observed, “Asian Americans still
experience subtle racism of being foreigners and not real Americans who have
anything worthwhile to contribute to higher education.” He also believes that Asian
Americans are not visually what people think of when they think of a leader. The
stereotype of Asian Americans being foreigners is still evident today, which impairs
people’s judgements in terms of visualizing Asian Americans in leadership positions.
In addition, he said,
I also think we’re perceived as foreigners. I don’t see that perception
changing. For a time there, I thought that perception was changing,
but looking at world events. It just takes the drop of a hat [and]
suddenly we’re Communists and Chinese spies and things like that.
So the perception that we’re foreigners is almost rising, whereas the
model minority myth seems to be subsiding, although it’s still around.
Connie, who is the Director of Multicultural Affairs at a large public
university, said, “There are not many visible Asian American managers around
campus and very few in student affairs, where you have a large (40%) Asian
American undergraduate population.” She added, “There is a lot of
stereotyping...that results in not too many opportunities for Asian Americans.” One
of the biggest stereotypes is that “Asian Americans make good technical people, but
they are not good managers.” On her campus, there are a few Asian American
directors, but they are in the technical areas and not in student affairs: “Most of the
Asian American directors are in business services and financial services, and we
have one director of transportation.” Connie also reported that there were “unspoken
questions, such as ‘Do Asian Americans make good managers?’ ‘Do Asian
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Americans have good leadership capability?’ ‘Are Asian Americans good at
anything besides being good technical people?’ and ’How does accent play into
being a good leader?”’ Connie mentioned Chang Lin Tien, the first Asian American
to head a major U.S. university (the University of California at Berkeley), as an
example of someone who overcame the stereotype of Asian American shortcomings
in terms of leadership: “I think former Chancellor Tien did a lot to dispel some of
those stereotypes . . . one of the first stereotypes people had of him was [that] he
doesn’t even speak good English. He has a heavy-duty accent, and I can’t
understand him.” He dispelled the stereotypes by being visible and engaged with
students and staff, which was not expected. In addition to defying critics who were
concerned about his fundraising ability and whether or not he would support
athletics, Tien became a dominant voice. He did this by opposing the elimination of
affirmative action in the University of California system, which debunked the
stereotype that Asian Americans don’t make waves and are apolitical. According to
Connie,
People were surprised at how successful he was, particularly at
fundraising. At the same time, the budget was really bad and he was
able to preserve the faculty excellence program. He was also
politically savvy during the Prop 209 debates. He spoke publicly
against ending affirmative action and wrote several articles about the
issue. He was a real master, a skillful politician, and that surprised a
lot of people.
Tien did not let his accent or stereotyping deter him from pursuing
leadership positions. He turned challenges into advantages. His concentration on
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building athletics and fund-raising programs helped to overturn stereotypes of Asian
Americans.
Internalization of Stereotypes
One of the damaging effects of the stereotype that Asian Americans are not
good leaders is that some Asian Americans in this group internalized the stereotype
and came to believe that it was true. The perception that Asian Americans lack
competence in management can prevent them from applying for positions “beyond
their reach.” For example, Alan, who is an assistant dean of students at a large
private university, shared his experiences and thoughts on why there are so few
Asian Americans in student affairs administration. At the age of 49, Alan has been
in the profession for 20 years. Although he has applied for several deanships, he has
not been offered any that he would consider seriously. He turned down one position
because it lacked the “right fit” between his values and those of the organization.
Alan explained, “My job searches are very strategic, and I apply for one or two jobs
at a time, where I’m confident there’s a match with my skills and the needs of the
organization.” He admitted being concerned about his competence because he didn’t
always have high self-esteem. “There are not that many of us [in student affairs],
and I think there are still cultural and language barriers to overcome.” Alan said that
only recently has he become comfortable in leading and directing people. When
asked why, he explained:
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Part of the reason has to do with the history of how Asian Americans
have been treated in this country. During WWII, the Japanese
Americans were seen as a threat and put in internment camps. My
parents taught people in my generation to hide and not be
conspicuous, which discouraged us from seeking attention through
public positions.
Alan also said, “English was my second language; and I didn’t come from a
privileged background; my father was a laundryman and my mother was a
seamstress.” He added, “I feel I can be there now, but I had to overcome
institutional racism as well as cultural baggage.” In his view, “a lot of people give
up on you before you get to a point where you have the experience to become a
senior manager.” Although Alan has the experience now to move into a senior level
position, he expressed ambivalence about doing so:
I should probably apply for jobs that are beyond my reach. . . there’s
this Asian thing where you have to be so qualified. I think for most of
my career, I carried around these assumptions that you had to be
overly qualified for jobs. My socialization left me unwilling to
pursue those kinds of jobs, and I was puzzled as to why anyone would
want to take a job in which they weren’t qualified. Other people take
these positions and learn on the job. I’ve never done that, and in a lot
of regards that probably hurt my career.
Alan was “flattered” when he was asked to apply for a dean’s position at a
campus where he had worked previously. He said, “It raised my expectations when
the opportunity presented itself to me, and it opened my mind . . . and it became clear
to me that I could be one.” In his current position, the final candidates were Alan
and a Chicana. He said, “The Chicana was very charismatic, and I’m not
charismatic.” For his on-campus interview, he presented a program called
“Listening for a Change.” According to Alan, “The way we communicate is loaded
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with power and class issues . . . so I took something basic like listening, put a spin on
it, and they liked it... so it was good enough to bypass the charisma.”
Ambivalence regarding one’s leadership ability in visible positions of power
was evident with other participants as well. One person said, “My career aspirations
change [from day to day]. Sometimes I think I would love to be a president, but
then I think of the political issues you face on any campus . . . and as I deal more
with that, I don’t know that I would be any good at being president.” The
internalization of stereotypes caused self-doubt, and participants began to question
their leadership ability. Key phrases such as “beyond my reach” and the assumption
that they had to be “overly qualified” shows that Asian Americans may have some
“cultural baggage” that should be addressed before they attempt to advance in their
career.
The perception that Asian Americans are better suited for work as assistants
and support staff than as organizational leaders prompted some participants to seek a
balance between their Asian and American cultural backgrounds. Some chose to
adapt to the organizational culture of their institutions in order to be viewed as
competent in mainstream culture. For example, an Asian American woman dean of
students explained,
I have a tendency to adapt to other people’s working style more than
bring my own in and know that when I work for White professionals,
I don’t bring a lot of Asian American qualities into the work place
unless it’s safe and comfortable. I don’t talk about my culture. So I
think I’ve turned into your average administrator, although I’m
comfortable doing that.
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Other participants in the study struggled with how they and their supervisors
viewed their leadership style. An assistant director of residence life stated, “My boss
says that I can be quiet when it comes to our managers meetings. I’m more of a
quiet leader, and my supervisor encouraged me to explore that part of me more.”
She admitted,
I’m not always the first one to speak up. [Being] sort of reflective, I
tend to listen to other people first, and he wishes I would be more
verbal and [be] an advocate for my area. I explained to him that it
doesn’t mean that I’m not an advocate for my area; it’s just that I have
a different style.
Cindy, a college advisor at a large public institution, describes her leadership
style as being quite subtle and says she prefers to take control in other ways. For
example, if a meeting were going off on a tangent, she would take the initiative to
get the group back on track and ensure its progress. Cindy is in a doctoral program
and is considering writing a dissertation on cultural communication. She explained
that Asian Americans have a communication style that is very different from the
communication style of European Americans: “European Americans may see
leadership as someone who takes a stand, [is] not afraid of conflict, and has an
individualistic world view. Asian Americans have a much more collective world
view.” She said, “there’s a real sense of collaboration and trying to find a middle
point. Traditional mainstream management sees Asian Americans as being passive
and not taking a stand; and because they don’t look like them, they can’t see them in
leadership positions because the Asian American ways of leadership are not valued.”
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For example, in Cindy’s office a White woman and an Asian American
woman were working on a project together. “The White woman said, “This is how
we’re going to do this,” and the Asian American woman answered in ambiguous
terms that there were issues and concerns about the project. . . . The White woman
continued working on the project because she wasn’t aware of how uncomfortable
the Asian American woman felt about how the project was moving.” According to
Cindy, the Asian American woman told the White woman in a non-confrontational
way how she felt about the project, but the White woman “missed the boat” in terms
of understanding the message. The White woman responded, “If she had an issue,
she should have just come right out and said it, and she should communicate the way
I communicate. How am I supposed to read her mind?” Cindy contends that this
kind of “blatant disrespect of cultural differences and devaluing of cultural values is
what’s going on today, and these issues definitely keep Asian Americans out of
management.” The lack of cultural understanding contributes to the perception that
Asian Americans are not competent enough as communicators to be effective in
management positions. Cindy believes this way of thinking is prevalent among
managers today.
Several participants felt there were still misgivings in the field of higher
education about Asian Americans’ ability to cope with the pressures of senior level
positions. One participant observed, “For Asian American students to divert
themselves to a non-traditional arena such as higher education—especially in the
executive level—it would be quite a risk, because I’m sure other folks question
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whether or not Asian Americans could do those roles effectively.” A coordinator of
residence life said,
The stereotype of being non-confrontational or not making waves, the
quiet-serious nature that’s out there probably limits Asian Americans.
They don’t see us as people who can motivate staff members to bring
a team together like a coach or increasing morale and building trust so
that the team will function effectively. A lot of folks who are in these
positions now aren’t Asian American and probably question whether
or not we could do that.
Stereotypes can lead to the unintentional tracking of Asian Americans into
fields that are considered more suitable for them, such as science,
engineering, and mathematics. As the recruitment of leaders for student
affairs begins at the undergraduate level, this can be problematic. A director
of Asian American programs stated, “There is a very traditional way of
entering student affairs.” When he was an undergraduate, he was an English
major and a resident assistant (RA). “When I went to graduate school, an
overwhelming majority of my fellow graduate students were also RA’s, so
from my experience, being an RA is a good launching pad to get into the
field.” He also said that it is uncommon for Asian Americans to major in
social sciences or become RA’s.
Mid-level student affairs professionals believe that the third reason for
there being so few Asian Americans in senior-level positions is the lack of
Asian American mentors.
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Lack of Asian American Mentors
I wonder if the reason there are so few Asian Americans is the whole
concept of mentorship. It’s hard for us to see ourselves in certain
positions unless we can already see us in that position.
-Assistant Director of Residence Life
As the mid-level participants indicated, they believe that a lack of Asian
American mentors and role models is the third reason for the under-representation of
Asian Americans in student affairs administration. Table 4.3 shows that eleven of
the participants had mentors who were Asian American. Of the others, twenty-three
had non-Asian American mentors, and two said that they did not have a mentor.
Table 4.3
Ethnicity of Mentors
African
American
Asian
American
Chicano
Latino
White No
Mentor
3 11 4 16 2
Cross-cultural mentors of color were instrumental in the career development
of many participants in this study. One participant stated, “I have been lucky in
terms o f mentors. They have not been Asian American; they’ve all been African
American, and parts of that is identification with another woman of color.” The
participants were grateful for the guidance and support of their non-Asian American
mentors. However, 16 participants mentioned the absence of Asian American role
models and mentors as a major factor contributing to the paucity of Asian Americans
in student affairs. An Asian American woman who is a dean of students observed,
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There won’t be a lot of Asian Americans in higher levels of student
affairs until we start seeing them there, and we won’t start to see them
there until people start pursuing those positions. Mentoring is really
important for an up-and-coming Asian American professional to
know they are not the first ones who have gone through this or faced
these challenges. It’s important for them to see there are people like
them who are doing what they want to do. We’re leaving out a whole
population of students that aren’t seeing themselves reflected back
from the faculty, staff, and administrators on campus, and that’s
unfortunate.
While they recognize the fact that there are very few Asian American role
models in the field, several participants still desired a mentor who could understand
their experiences.
Jennifer, the Dean of Students at a small private university, has been in
student affairs for seven years. She is 32 years old and has aspirations of becoming a
vice president of student affairs and possibly a president. Jennifer knows the value
of mentors from her experience at the Institute for Emerging Women Leaders,
sponsored by the National Association of Women in Education (NAWE). Having
been mentored as an undergraduate by several non-Asians, she now would like to
have an Asian American mentor. After looking for a woman of color to be her
mentor for several years, Jennifer says, “There are very few Asian Americans in this
arena, other than Doris Ching [real name] at the University of Hawaii and Christine
Wilkinson [real name] at Arizona State; they’re so busy... it’s hard, unless you
know them well.”
A vice president of student services expressed the opinion that mentoring
should also occur in career development. He said, “Career development offices can
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be more inclusive o f services they offer. If they were to address the issue of family
pressures to enter certain careers, that may free up some students to consider other
fields.” He also believes that “we have to encourage young Asian Americans to
select a career in education. I think that’s the biggest hurdle and after that we have
to support them by developing their leadership, networking, and political skills.”
A group of participants in this study benefited from having mentors from a
particular multicultural center at a large public university. Detecting a trend in my
interviews, I decided to look further into these relationships. I found that active
involvement and mentorship as undergraduates was critical for nine participants who
were affiliated with Palm University. Two characteristics of this institution stand
out. The first is that its Asian American student population is over SO percent of the
total enrollment. The second is that Palm has a multicultural center with an Asian
American component as well as Asian American staff.
One participant said, “I was very involved as an undergraduate at Palm
University. I worked at the Multicultural Center and was fortunate to have a mentor
who said, ‘You have skill in this area; did you know this is profession?’ I had no
idea, and she was helpful in letting me know my options for graduate school.”
Another participant said, “Being a person of color at Palm University, I felt pretty
comfortable because there were a lot of Asian Americans on campus. But working
at the Multicultural Center opened my eyes to issues that Asian Americans deal with,
and that was the turning point in terms of my own political awareness.” I asked the
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Director of the Multicultural Center at Palm University why she thought several
Asian American students from her institution were going into student affairs. She
replied,
Because students are involved. Our orientation program has over 100
orientation leaders, and the Multicultural Center has 20 volunteers
each quarter. We have seven interns at the center, so student activism
and student participation is high. We also have a lot of peer mentors
in the counseling and advising staff.
Another participant stated, “I would have to applaud mentorship as the reason
I got involved in student affairs. The mentors at Palm University shaped me the
classical way. I was an orientation leader and an intern at the Multicultural Center.
My mentor was an African American woman who was the Director of the
Multicultural Center several years ago. 1 was her intern, and she was my guide in
terms of getting into the field.”
An Asian American woman found that the Multicultural Center was a bridge
to help her deal with what she felt was a bicultural identity. The Assistant Director
at the Multicultural Center helped her reconcile the Asian values from her home with
mainstream American values. She stated that the reason she went into student affairs
was to help other students with a bicultural identity like hers succeed in college. She
also said:
Everything I’m talking about in terms of my decision to pursue a
career in student affairs stems from my experience at the
Multicultural Center. I put on some great programs and got some
great skills as a student leader, but it was the relationships that were
built with the Multicultural staff that really made a difference.
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Such comments were typical among the other participants who received their
undergraduate degrees from Palm University. An Asian American man said, “I went
into Student Affairs because I was highly involved at Palm University. I was an
orientation assistant and an assistant at the Multicultural Center, and it was very
fulfilling. I wanted to impact the students the same way I was impacted.” In
addition to significant mentor relationships, active student involvement and political
activism appeared to be significant factors in increasing the number of Asian
Americans in Student Affairs at Palm University.
The following section describes two challenges Asian Americans in this
study experienced in their career advancement: the glass ceiling and navigating
organizational politics.
The Glass Ceiling: Being Passed Over and Overlooked
It’s not education that keeps us behind; we’re not given enough of the
experience to have leverage to take on senior level positions. It’s not
that someone has more experience; it’s that we have not been given
the opportunity to gain some of the same experience.
-Executive Director of Student Development
Competency is not the question. It’s whether or not the university is
ready for an Asian/Pacific American.
-Director of Student Outreach
According to the participants in this study, the greatest challenge Asian
Americans experience in their advancement to senior levels of administration is the
glass ceiling. The stereotype that Asian Americans lack leadership skills creates the
perception that they are not interested in leadership positions. An Asian American
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associate vice president of student affairs stated, “We still suffer [from] stereotypes
in the minds of those who are in the decision making process, that we’re not
charismatic, not creative, and can’t think expansively.” Similarly, a director of
student life contends that one of the institutional barriers to career advancement is
the question as to “...whether or not Asian Americans are effective leaders, which in
turn affects promotion, delegation of assignments, and mentoring.”
I interviewed an Asian American woman who was the Associate Director of
Student Development at a large public institution. Jean is 34 years old and has been
in student affairs for nine years. As we sat at a table in her office, she told me her
career aspiration was to be a dean of students. When I asked her what her supervisor
was doing to prepare her for that role, she sighed and said, “It’s hard to say right now
because she’s only been here about a year. I’ve had to teach her a lot about my
position and all the things it entails.” I asked Jean if she considered applying for the
director’s position, and she said that in a casual conversation about the position with
her former supervisor, she had expressed concern about the judicial affairs aspect
because she did not have much experience with student conduct. From that point on,
“It blew into I didn’t want the position.” Jean said she was never asked formally if
she would consider the position and found out later that the judicial affairs portion
had been taken out of the job description. When she asked about the revised
position, “They finally asked me if I wanted to consider it, and I said I would be
interested.” In the end, Jean was one of two internal candidates considered for the
job, but she did not get the position.
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Interviewing another participant, I asked her what her institution has done to
prepare her for her next position. She said, “Nothing.” Karen is 47 years old and
has been an administrator for 11 years. Karen was unclear about her career
aspirations but open to pursuing a presidency at the right college. She said her
former president, who was always recommending her for president and vice
president positions, would tell her, “You’re ready; go for it.” Karen thought the
encouragement was nice, but it was “just a paper thing and nothing on an ongoing
basis.” When the Vice President of Student Affairs position opened at that campus,
“the President passed me over.” This prompted her to move on, so she left to
become the Vice President of Student Affairs at her current campus. When asked
why she thought she was passed over for the other position, she said, “It was a very
political campus, and there was a woman from the faculty side of the house who got
the position with little experience in student services; and so possibly, the whole
thing was set up.” She also said another possibility was that they needed a strong
dean to “correct problems in financial aid and EOPS, and I had a background in both
of those areas and could walk right in and clean it up.” Therefore, the president
might have felt “I could serve a better role for the university in that capacity” as dean
rather than by being promoted to the vice president.
Helen, A third participant who has been in the field for over 25 years, was
also passed over for a promotion. Helen is 50 years old. A third-generation Chinese
American, she speaks fluent English and Spanish. When the Vice President of
Student Affairs of her college left, she was the Dean of Students and presumably the
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obvious choice to serve as Acting Vice President of Student Affairs. However, the
President appointed a White woman who had been at the institution for eight months
and whose only experience with student affairs was in student activities. The faculty
and staff saw this as a grave injustice and wrote a letter urging the board of trustees
to give the acting position to Helen, who had been involved in all aspects of student
services during her tenure at the college. The board of trustees agreed that Helen had
the qualifications and experience to be the Acting Vice President and saw no reason
not to give her that opportunity. The board then used their power to overturn the
President’s decision and later told Helen, “We didn’t reverse the decision because of
the letter; we did it because you earned it. You just don’t go from student activities
coordinator to vice president.” I asked Helen why the President did not appoint her
to the position in the first place, and she said her previous boss influenced him. “She
didn’t recommend me for the position because she didn’t feel I stood up to things
strongly or moved quickly enough. She’s quite an activist and didn’t feel I was
politically a mover and a shaker.” Helen disagreed with her former supervisor and
said, “In my own way, I’ve been political and an activist, especially concerning
issues of race. I developed and advocated for EOPS, non-traditional, work-study,
and first generation students.”
These three scenarios were not isolated cases. Several other participants
described how they had been passed over for internships and jobs that would have
prepared them for management positions. Lori was the Assistant Director of
Admissions at a large public institution. She is 42 years old and has been an
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administrator for nine years. I met her as a fellow participant in the Asian Pacific
American in Higher Education/Leadership Education for Asian Pacifies
(APAHE/LEAP) Leadership Development program. Lori believes one of the main
reasons for there being so few Asian Americans in senior leadership positions is that
“People aren’t given chances and opportunities. We’re still looking at an old boys
network; they always tell you that you don’t have the educational background or the
experience. There’s not a whole lot of support [to gain more experience].” She
applied for an internship with the ombudsmen at her former institution, but her
supervisor denied the interim appointment. The supervisor said, “We’re not going to
let you go because you are the third person in this office to set up an internship
before asking us, and it would be too much of a strain on our department at this time
if you left.” Lori accepted this and continued in her position. During this time, she
fired an employee for poor performance. Because the person became disgruntled,
Lori no longer felt safe in the office. In an attempt to get out of this situation, she
created another internship as an analyst in a department that had campus security.
When she asked to transfer to that department for safety reasons, her boss told her,
“You’re not going to be any safer in another department because everyone knows
you and knows her.” After failing in several attempts to get an internship, Lori
decided to apply for a position in yet another department on campus. When she did
not get that position, she asked the chair of the selection committee why she had
been turned down.
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She told me 1 didn’t have enough political savvy. I was not as
competitive as the one that got it. I needed to be more concise. When
I asked what I could improve upon, she said I shouldn’t think about
the answers too much and should talk about what I could bring to the
position and what I could bring that would add to the diversity of the
university and to be more positive about my accomplishments. In
other words, she was telling me to brag about myself. I think it’s
cultural... I’m not too comfortable doing that, but I have to learn to
do it to be competitive.
In addition to her own experience of not being given an opportunity to
advance, Lori related the experience of her husband Milt, who worked on the same
campus in admissions. In Milt’s case, one of the assistant directors of his office was
promoted to the director’s position without a search. Milt was one of many assistant
directors, and the administration did not invite him or any of the other assistant
directors to apply for this position. Because he had two masters’ degrees and nine
years of experience, Milt felt he was qualified to be the director, so he told his
supervisors he was upset over not being given the opportunity to apply. He
understood that it was an administrative decision, but he felt he should at least have
deserved an opportunity to compete. Fed up with discriminatory treatment, Milt left
his job and went to work for another university.
Similarly, an assistant dean at a private college voiced his frustration over
bias in university hiring. He said that his entire student affairs staff was White
except for him. “We had seven opportunities to hire people of color, and we hired
seven White people; and in the process we lost two African American staff
members.” The first, second, and third time they hired a White person, he said, “I
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understand, things happen; but the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh time--that just
seems ridiculous.” Another dean of students agreed:
I think the proverbial glass ceiling does still exist, Hope University
has over 50% Asian Americans with a freshman class of nearly 60%
Asian American, and the highest-ranking Asian American in Student
Affairs on their campus is Director of the Multicultural Center.
That’s a crying shame.
An Asian American director of multicultural affairs concurred, saying that
she does not think people “recognize the need, that there is something missing by not
having Asian Americans in upper management when a campus has a significant
Asian American population.” Another associate dean of students observed, “Despite
[Asian Americans] being the largest ethnic minority on many campuses in
California, institutions feel no remorse for not hiring any Asian Americans in senior-
level positions in student affairs.” He went on to say, “If you have a qualified Latino
or African American, most decision makers feel there are consequences if you don’t
hire them. But if you [bypass] a qualified Asian American, there are not the same
consequences.”
There is no backlash from not hiring Asian Americans as there would be with
other groups of color. This is reflected in the experience of Rick, an Asian American
who was interviewed for an assistant dean position at American University. “It came
down to two of us, and the Dean of Students called me to have a conversation about
his decision.” Rick was told that even though both candidates were “desirable and
qualified,” the job would go to his competitor because there was greater pressure
from the African American community. When Rick was not hired, there were no
protests or pressure from the Asian American community.
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I also spoke with Greg, a third-generation Asian American man who was 40
years old and had been an administrator for 13 years. During the interview, Greg
told me that he was once asked to “throw his hat in the ring” for the position of
Executive Director of Alumni Relations. He had been on the Alumni staff a few
years before, and a number people who worked there thought of him when the
position became open. At their encouragement, Greg submitted his application. He
made it through the preliminary round of the selection process and was one of two
finalists. The choice came down to Greg and an older White man who had worked
with intercollegiate athletics. He said, “It was clear that an unstated issue of race and
age came into the final decision-making process, and I wasn't selected.” Greg found
out later from people on the committee that the decision had nothing to do with his
skill level but hinged on another issue. The university had an Asian American
president at the time, and a major concern of the committee was the public
perception of having Asian Americans in both of these highly visible positions.
“There was a sense of too much ‘Asian-ness’ at the top leadership level,” which
smacks of the age-old canard of the “Yellow Peril.” There always seems to be an
element that considers Asian Americans foreigners, no matter how many generations
their families have been in this country. Having two Asian American leaders in
senior-level positions might send a message that Asian Americans were “taking
over” and discourage potential donors from contributing to the university. People on
the committee informed him of the “other” issue because they did not want him to be
crushed when he heard that he didn’t get the job. They also told him not to give up
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and wait until the current president left because he would have a better chance of
becoming the Director of Alumni Relations without an Asian American president at
the university.
Another example o f ‘Asian-ness’ as a liability occurred on a small private
campus. David is a 43-year-old second-generation Chinese American who grew up
in California. He was a business major and never intended to go into student affairs,
but was recruited by his alma mater to work as the Coordinator of Student
Employment. David had intended to work on campus for the experience and move
on, but he has remained in the field for the past 17 years. In 1991 the university told
David they were going to pass him up for the dean’s position because he was not
aggressive enough as the assistant dean. This was his response:
You mean compared to Eurocentric White males like yourself? I told
them to be careful how they define aggressive because I thought they
made a culturally biased statement. I was taught to be respectful of
my superiors, so I never challenged anyone or my colleagues.
According to David, the university did a national job search in the Spring, and the
application pool was sparse. In August, the administration asked him to be the
Interim Dean with the condition that he could not apply for the permanent position.
He answered, “I’m going to be a dean whether you believe in me or not, and I would
love the opportunity to be dean for a year.” David took the position, and in
November the Provost and the Vice President of Student Affairs asked him if he
wanted to apply for the permanent position. He said, “Why now? Ten months ago
you didn’t want me to apply. What’s changed?” They replied, “For the past two
months, we’ve heard nothing but positive things about you from the staff. You’ve
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built a team effort here, and we’re very impressed with what you’ve done.” David
reminded them, “All I wanted was a chance and you never gave it to me; I’m not
sure I want to apply for this job.” However, after meeting with the President, the
board, and several administrators, David decided to apply for the position. Then in
April, while attending a professional conference, he received a phone call from the
Vice President of Student Affairs informing him he did not make it to the final round
of the selection process. “When I got back to campus, the chair of the selection
committee told me I had to leave campus during the interviews and that the
university would pay me to be off campus. I was angry because I wanted to stay and
have input on who would be my next boss.” David walked off campus that day,
intending to be gone for a week. That night, he got a call from the Vice President
who said, “There’s a petition going around campus, and we’d like you to stop it.”
When the students found out that David was not a finalist for the position, they
circulated a petition and got over 700 signatures on a campus of 1500 in one day to
support his candidacy. In the end, the final three candidates consisted of an
experienced White male, a young White woman who had just finished her Ph.D.
with three years of experience, and an African American male with five years of
experience in multicultural affairs. The White male was chosen for the position even
though over 50 percent of the students wanted David as their Dean of Students.
After 15 years of service, David left the university and became the Dean of Student
Affairs at a community college. In addition to the glass ceiling, another challenge
that mid-level administrators experienced was dealing with organizational politics on
campus.
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Learning to Play the Game: Navigating Organizational Politics
I think there are so few Asian Americans in management because
we’re not big on political bureaucracy. We’re all doers; we have very
little patience with bullshit.
-Director of Student Outreach
Reading organizational dynamics is a skill some Asian Americans in
this study found difficult to acquire, and this may be one reason why some
Asian Americans chose not to pursue upper management positions in student
affairs. Contemplating barriers to her mobility, an Asian American assistant
dean had this to say:
There’s a lot of compromising and politicking involved, and I don’t
know that I would be good at that. I’m not sure if I would be
effective dealing with the politics of the board. I look at them and
don’t see people like myself, and I don’t know how to play their
game.
When I asked her how she knew she wouldn’t be good at “playing their
game,” she replied, “I don’t like the politics at the level I’m at now and can only
imagine what it must be like for my dean, who has to deal with it on a constant
basis.” Asian Americans are stereotyped as not making waves and not being
politically savvy. One vice president of student affairs observed,
I think Asian Americans probably thrive better in an environment that
is stable and traditional rather than political. As a general
stereotypical rule, we tend to be apolitical and can easily get
swallowed up in the environment. It can be so political that we don’t
know how to read the dynamics o f the organization and how to
manipulate the politics.
Many of the participants in this study acknowledged that they chose careers
in student affairs in order to work with students and were uncomfortable with the
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politics in senior management. A 28-year-old mid-level Asian American man
recognized this and said, “My highest career goal in student affairs would be the
associate director level. I knew in graduate school that I didn’t want to pursue a vice
president position because at that level, it becomes less about student contact and
more about politics.” Another Asian American man who is moving from a director’s
position to become a special assistant to the Associate Vice President of Student
Affairs told me, “I’m looking forward to not having to supervise people. Dealing
with staff and personnel issues are things I did as a manager, but not necessarily
things I liked doing. A lot of it is cultural, not liking to deal with conflict.” I also
interviewed an Asian American woman who is an associate director of student
services and supervises five staff members. Janice is 31 years old and a first-
generation Asian American. She has a master’s degree in student affairs and has
been an administrator for seven years. Her highest career aspiration is to be a
director in student affairs, but admits, “There was a point in my life when I wanted to
be a president of a small institution.” What changed her mind? Politics. Janice
worked at a small private school on the East Coast, where she was the only non-
White on a committee for enrollment management. After observing some of the
political machinations, she realized how difficult it would be to be constantly
fighting about certain things. “I don’t know if I’m interested in doing that. I want to
maintain strong contact with students and staff.” Janice lost interest in becoming a
college president when she realized that ‘The glamour was not enough for me to be
put continuously on guard.” She went on to say she would “love to have a mentor”
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to teach her the informal aspects of how to behave or present herself in a high-
powered meeting, and in particular “being Asian American and having stereotypes
placed on me, and how to balance that.” Another Asian American woman attested to
the value of having a mentor and related how she learned to maneuver the political
landscape under his tutelage.
A lot o f Asian Americans say they don’t want to be political, but if I
look at my career, I made the greatest movement when I had a
mentor. How I survived in the beginning was because of my mentor,
and I didn’t appreciate him until he was gone; and then I said, ‘Oh
shit, I can’t rely on him anymore.” I didn’t realize how powerful and
popular he was. People knew we had a mentor relationship, and so
they couldn’t touch me. They perceived me as having power because
he was my mentor. When he left, all of a sudden I was totally
invisible, and it didn’t matter how good or hard I was working, or
how effective I was. A lot depends on the damn political context.
An Asian American woman discussed the importance of understanding not
only organizational politics, but also the “racial" politics that affect Asian Americans
and their career development in higher education. An Asian American man also
brought up this point:
Politically, as Asian Americans, we have to understand the politics
we’re in and areas we should not go into because there are landmines.
As a minority, we are always a victim because people don’t view us
as people. They view us as Asians and we have to be careful about
not pushing our agenda too strongly so that we don’t turn people off.
He said, “We can be proud of our heritage, but we have to do it in a
conscious manner so we don’t become a threat.” An Asian American woman who
works as a college advisor at a large public institution expressed a similar opinion:
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Understanding the racial politics that go on in an office is important,
because if there are differences in your world view as an Asian
American and working in a predominately European American
environment, you will feel those differences and need to be able to
sense where you stand so you can find a middle ground. Some people
will make the choice to give up some of their cultural values in order
to fit the cultural framework they are working in. You have to be
aware of how much you’re willing to give of yourself in order to
move up in your career, and be clear on what you’re gaining and
losing because that’s going to impact your sense of self and integrity.
An Asian American dean of students concurred and recalled that one of his
mentors had told him, “If you don’t know who you are, others will define you for
you.”
Navigating political waters is not an easy task, particularly when there are
glass-ceiling issues as well. Several participants in this study became so frustrated
with their situations that eventually they changed campuses. However, some senior
student affairs officers were able to break through the glass ceiling to overcome these
challenges. The perceptions they expressed regarding the limited number of Asian
Americans in their ranks were somewhat different from those of the mid-level
participants.
Ground Breakers: Asian American Senior Student Affairs Officers
I interviewed seven vice presidents and one acting vice president of student
affairs in California and Hawaii. All seven vice presidents were gracious and
generous with their time and advice for mid-level administrators. From the
perspective of people who have succeeded in student affairs, the most important
reason for there being so few Asian Americans in senior-level positions in student
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affairs is the stereotype that Asian Americans lack leadership skills and managerial
potential.
Table 4.4
Most Important Reasons Why There Are so Few Asian Americans in
Senior-level Student Affairs Positions
Reason Cultural
Family
Stereotypes No Role
Models
Glass
Ceiling
Mid-level 17 14 13 7
Senior
Level
2 6 3 2
Total 19 20 16 9
While the mid-level administrators agreed that stereotypes regarding
leadership skills certainly created obstacles, they also believe that cultural and family
pressures and the lack of role models are important reasons for the limited number of
Asian Americans in SSAO positions. Table 4.4 shows that six out of seven vice
presidents cited stereotypes about Asian American’s leadership abilities as the most
important barrier to their attaining senior management positions. No other reason
elicited as strong a response. Table 4.4 also shows that when the mid-level and
senior-level responses were combined, stereotypes ranked slightly ahead of both
cultural and family pressures and a lack of role models.
Stereotypes Regarding Lack of Leadership and Management Potential
The SSAOs agreed with the mid-level administrators that Asian Americans
are not considered management material and made similar comments. According to
a vice president of student affairs who works at a large public institution, “Asian
Americans are not viewed as good at working with people.” A second vice president
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who works at a private institution observed, “The stereotypes are prevalent because
there’s not much information about who we are, and our innate skills and
competencies may get glossed over from a perception of what people have of us and
what we ought to be doing.” A third vice president of a large public institution
added, “We’re not viewed as leaders; we’re seen as dependable and efficient but not
necessarily out in front.” A fourth vice president from a community college said,
“There is a lot of prejudice about accent and not being aggressive or strong enough”
to be in this role.
In the view of a vice president from a large public institution, “Unless we
[Asian Americans] step up into being directors of programs, we’re seen as ‘really
strong worker bees,’ dependable and efficient but not out in the front as leaders.”
She provided the following example of how her competence had been questioned:
When I first took my position, initially they were very cautious, and
there was a sort of testing of me when I first came on board. Some
people wanted to see if I was going to be assertive enough, to see
whether I was going to make the tough decisions, all those kinds of
things that might be rooted in negative Asian stereotypes.
The Internalization of Stereotypes bv Asian Americans and Society
Several vice presidents reinforced the notion that the internalization of
stereotypes also contributed to the paucity of Asian Americans in senior management
positions. As one participant expressed it, “I think we don’t aspire to these positions,
so we’re not viewed as leaders. If an opportunity came up, one might get overlooked
and consequently not reach their full potential.” Another vice president agreed and
said, “Stereotypes can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and Asian Americans don’t
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attempt to apply because they aren’t seen as senior management material and won’t
apply.”
The stereotype that Asian Americans lack interpersonal skills is prevalent in
higher education as well as society in general. A vice president of student affairs
shared a conversation he had with a business executive from ZIP Corporation
(pseudonym):
Asians aren’t good ‘people’ people. They’d rather be in technical
positions and student affairs is about people. ..so I said I knew Asian
Americans that were very people-oriented, and he replied, well, that’s
not been my experience at ZIP.
An Asian American woman I interviewed agreed with the business executive.
According to her, “In education you are interacting with people, and culturally,
Asians don’t foster that skill. People expect you to be gregarious and engaging and
confident, and I think those attributes are not fostered.”
Another vice president agreed and said, “When people talk to me on the
phone, I can tell they are surprised when they meet me that I am an Asian American
who doesn’t have an accent, [someone] who is articulate and can speak their
language, so to speak. They’re just not used to seeing Asian Americans in student
affairs at this level.”
The Small Pipeline o f Asian Americans in Student Affairs
The vice presidents in the study also cited a “small pipeline” as contributing
to the under-representation of Asian Americans in senior-level administrative
positions. One person said, “It’s not just student affairs, but faculty as well. If you
don’t have people in mid-management or entry-level positions, you’re never going to
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get people into senior management positions.” Another vice president agreed and
gave an example from her campus:
I don’t think there are that many at the lower levels—in my area, I
have 150 managers and full-time staff. I have one Filipino nurse, one
Vietnamese clerk, and one Chinese counselor. That’s it. So when I
look to mentor or promote people, if they’re not there to begin with,
it’s really hard.
Navigating Organizational Politics
The senior-level administrators were much more comfortable in dealing with
organizational politics and did not consider this a major challenge in their careers.
One Vice President of Student Affairs said she was comfortable socializing with
senior management but had to learn the skills for doing so. In her opinion, “We’re
not bom knowing how to do wine-and-cheese things, and how to work a room. You
just have to get out there and start attacking a room.” Another vice president of
student affairs expressed the belief that politics and bureaucracy are not bad but
necessary and have a purpose. “Politics is about making connections and
relationships—people will not support something if they don’t know anything about
it.” She also believes the purpose of politics is to give and receive information and
can be used to your advantage if one is creative. Her advice to younger Asian
Americans is to “try it and not rule it out altogether.”
Institutional Racism
With regard to racism, one vice president believes that the collective society
is not willing to accept Asian Americans as part of the mainstream. He explained
that in the past “30-40 years (sic) we’ve been in wars with Japan, [North] Korea, and
[North] Vietnam. Men in this country have gone to fight in these wars, and
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afterwards “Nobody debriefs them when they get off the plane.” He said, “I come
walking in and apply for positions with these men who have fought in the wars;
[they] look at me, and I remind them of their boot camp experience. I’ve had my
resume sent back to me with gook stamped on it.” He said that people need an
understanding of the screening process and negative influences that can come from
the “collective unconscious.” “I hope the next generation will not have to go through
all the conflicts and lack of understanding that I experienced.”
The question remains as to whether institutions are ready to accept Asian
Americans in positions of power. A vice president of student affairs expressed this
opinion:
Most institutions probably are not ready to hire Asian Americans,
because I’m not sure if institutions see the effectiveness of Asian
Americans as keenly as they should; and I think perhaps the Asian
American style is not well understood by many presidents who
ultimately make the decision of hiring an Asian American or not.
Lack of Asian American Mentors a Non-factor for Senior Administrators
Only three senior-level administrators mentioned the lack of Asian American
mentors as barriers for Asian Americans. An important difference between the mid
level and senior-level administrators was that six out of seven SSAOs had significant
mentor relationships. While the Acting Vice President of Student Affairs did not
have a significant mentor relationship, she regarded her supervisors as mentors.
Three of the SSAOs had Asian American mentors, and the other three had White
mentors. These relationships appeared to be one of the primary facilitators in their
career development, and race was not a factor in the relationship.
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An SSAO said that one of her mentors was the famous author and lecturer
Leo Buscaglia. “He would serve me breakfast, make a picnic lunch, and then we
would take walks around the lake with his associate. It was a wonderful
relationship.” Her other mentor is now the president of a university on the East
Coast. They met when she was a dean of education and he was the president of that
institution. She said, “He felt I had the qualities to be a vice president of student
affairs because he wanted somebody to be able to bridge academic and student
affairs.”
Another SSAO said that his primary mentors in higher education were the
chancellor of a community college district and the president of a community college.
However, he was also mentored by the mayor of a city and a very influential
individual in state government. He said, “I’ve been fortunate to work with Willie
Brown as his assistant while he was Speaker of the Assembly, and I was responsible
for policy areas in higher education. The friendship and the mentorship were
incredible, in addition to the opportunity to work with someone who had such an
impact on California.” Yet another SSAO said he had several influential mentors:
When I got to Harvard for my doctorate, my advisor took an interest
in me, and we got to be very good friends. In addition, one of the
department chairs told me I was going to be a great psychologist some
day, and he said, “I don’t say that to many people.” One of his former
students at the time was a vice president of student affairs and he
called him and had him bring me out to California for an internship.
He then introduced me to an African American psychologist who just
wrote a book and wanted us to hook up. These folks took an interest
in me and offered me opportunities, and I will be forever grateful.
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The SSAOs did not have problems finding mentors and did not consider a
lack of Asian American role models as a challenge to their career. In addition, while
two people mentioned that family and cultural values might prove a hindrance for
some mid-level professionals, they did not consider it a barrier for them personally.
The SSAOs did not mention the glass ceiling as an obstacle, as this seems not to
have impeded their advancement. From the perspective of senior-level
administrators, the stereotype that Asian Americans lack leadership skills and
managerial potential was the primary reason so few Asian Americans reach the
senior levels of administration. All too often, these stereotypes are internalized by
Asian Americans as well as the non-Asian majority in this country, which
contributes to the former being passed over for selection and promotion to senior
management positions.
I learned many lessons from the experiences and challenges of the
participants in this study. These lessons and their implications for the formulation of
policy are discussed in the next chapter, which also provides recommendations for
the recruitment of Asian Americans and other ethnic minorities in student affairs.
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CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Asian Americans are the fastest growing ethnic group on college campuses,
particularly on the West Coast, yet they are conspicuously missing in senior
administrative positions despite this dramatic growth. The absence of Asian
Americans from decision-making positions increases the possibility that the needs of
Asian American students will not be addressed on campus. The purpose of this
study was to explore from the perspective o f Asian Americans why so few move up
to senior positions. The paucity of Asian Americans in student affairs seemed an
especially rewarding area of study given that this field is known for a strong
commitment to diversity and multiculturalism.
When I embarked on this study, one of my hunches was that the participants
might have internalized stereotypes about their leadership abilities and as a
consequence decided not to pursue higher level positions. To my surprise, I found
that Asian Americans had high career aspirations. However, they found that due to a
combination of individual and institutional circumstances, the ascension to the next
level was surprisingly difficult, given how easily they rose to the mid-level.
This chapter is organized into four sections. In section one, I briefly
summarize the major findings of my study by explaining why there may be so few
Asian Americans in student affairs senior management from the perspective of mid
level and senior-level administrators. In section two, I interpret the findings using
Kanter’s theory on the structure of opportunity. In section three, I provide
recommendations for Asian Americans and for institutional leaders who have the
power to create organizational change on their campus. I conclude with a postscript
o f my personal experience of how I broke through the glass ceiling.
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Summary of Major Findings of Asian Americans in Student Affairs
Based on 36 interviews with 18 Asian American men and 18 Asian American
women in student affairs positions in California (35) and Hawaii (1), the most
important single finding was that most of the Asian Americans interviewed in this
study had high career aspirations. As mentioned briefly earlier, these participants
represent the next generation of Asian Americans who may move into senior
management in the near future.
All but six individuals expressed a desire to be a dean or vice president of
student affairs. In addition, 13 of the same participants wanted to become a college
or university president. Therefore, at least for this sample, lack of interest is not the
reason for the low number of Asian Americans in senior student affairs positions.
The high career aspirations among the study’s participants contradict the assumption
that Asian Americans lack motivation and interest in positions of power (Cheng,
1996; Commission, 1995; Haro, 1991; Hune & Chan, 1997; Rights, 1992; Tang
1997; Wong & Nagasawa, 1991). Given these high aspirations, I approached the
interview materials with the following question: In what ways do the participants
explain the trajectory of their careers? What do they think has enabled their career
aspirations? And what do they think has impeded them? The answer to these
questions differed between mid-level and senior level administrators.
Perspectives from Mid-Level Administrators
According to the mid-level administrators, their high aspirations have not
been actualized because of three factors: (a) cultural\family pressures, (b) stereotypes
regarding Asian American leaders, and (c) lack of Asian American mentors.
Family pressures. When I asked interviewees to identify reasons for lack of
career mobility, 17 felt that the pressure from family members to pursue careers that
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were stable and lucrative such as business, science, and engineering had delayed
their entry into the field. Several participants shared how difficult it was to declare
to their families (and possibly to themselves) that they had decided to pursue a career
in student affairs and not receive support for their decision. Simply put, for many of
the participants the entry into the profession caused a great deal of anguish and
doubt.
Stereotypes about Asians and leadership. Second, 14 mid-level participants
listed negative stereotypes about the leadership ability of Asian Americans as
impeding their careers. They felt that their supervisors perceived them as diligent
workers but lacking in leadership qualities. Six participants believed they were
passed over for promotions because their supervisors did not have confidence in their
leadership ability.
The data of this study suggest that assimilation into mainstream culture does
not guarantee acceptance into senior management. Despite reporting education and
experience comparable or superior to those of the successful candidates, eight
participants were not promoted into management positions in their organizations.
Surprisingly, third- and fourth-generation participants, who were fully acculturated
to mainstream U.S. society, still felt that their supervisors were biased in their
evaluations and stereotyped them as lacking leadership skills.
Lack of mentors. Lastly, 13 of the 29 mid-level administrators with high
career aspirations identified lack of Asian American mentors as a major reason why
so few Asian Americans have pursued careers in student affairs. Previous research
has documented that mentoring is an important relationship that provides guidance
and support to aspiring careerists (Blackhurst, 2000b; Moore, 1982; Ragins, 1995).
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More specifically, the participants in this study identified the lack of Asian American
mentors who could be seen as successful role models in the field.
Perspectives from Senior-Level Administrators
Seven of the 36 people in this study had achieved their career aspiration of
being a vice president of student affairs and offered their perspective from that
position. According to my research of this topic over the last 5 years, I found that
there were only eight Asian American vice presidents in California and Hawaii.
Thus, the perceptions of these seven participants are significant because they
represent the majority of Asian American vice presidents on the West Coast.
Senior-level administrators identified stereotypes— specifically, the stereotype
that Asian Americans lack leadership skills— as the greatest hindrance to their career
mobility and that of other Asian Americans.
The participants recalled that, at crucial career points, colleagues and
supervisors had stereotyped them as quiet, passive, and poor communicators; all
negative traits which made them seem less competent leaders or potential leaders.
The fact that the mid-level managers in my sample perceived a lack o f mentors as the
chief obstacle to advancement while senior-level managers (those who had positions
to which mid-level managers aspired) instead saw racial stereotyping as the chief
obstacle could mean that mid-level Asian American administrators may be
misreading the culture of their institutions. This finding is consistent with Xin’s
(1997) research on impression management, which shows that Asian Americans tend
to seek career advancement by demonstrating traits like loyalty and hard work while
the traits that their supervisors see as more valuable are interpersonal skills and
understanding organizational dynamics.
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Senior-level administrators agreed that having a mentor was significant to
their careers--in fact, six out of the seven identified strong mentor relationships as
the most important reason for their success. Although, four of them had cross-race
mentors, all seven said that the mentor's race was not important, unlike the mid-level
managers who felt handicapped by the lack of Asian American mentors. More
important than race was the fact that someone took an interest in them as individuals,
challenged them to seek higher office, and provided either assistance or
encouragement or both. However, even though the senior-level administrators felt
satisfied with their mentoring, D. Thomas (1990), in a study of 88 African American
and 197 White managers found that, same-race relationships provided significantly
more psychosocial support than cross-race mentors, a finding that supports the need
expressed by mid-level administrators in this study for same-race mentors.
Significantly, the senior-level administrators in this study believed that mid
level administrators needed to learn how to navigate organizational politics, form
networks, and develop positive relationships with informal and formal leaders in the
institution. Three participants in this study at the mid-level chose not to pursue
higher advancement because they did not wish to acquire these skills. The three
mid-level participants who expressed discomfort in "boasting" about their
accomplishments seem to be reflecting the same concern. Three additional
participants started their careers with high aspirations but became disillusioned by
having to deal with the bureaucratic aspects of management and by the need to form
political networks to get things done.
The tendency among many of the participants to talk themselves out of
seeking higher positions by telling themselves "you're not ready" and "don't take
risks" clearly works against the career mobility of Asian American professionals in
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student affairs. When one of the vice presidents of student affairs in this study was
asked for advice to young professionals coming up the ranks, she promptly said she
would urge them, “Go for it!” She felt that the comparative paucity of Asian
Americans in senior management has occurred because Asian Americans fail to
pursue these positions aggressively. She recommends that Asian Americans appraise
their abilities candidly, identify the skills they must develop to be successful, acquire
them, and then energetically pursue desired positions.
I now turn to interpreting the data from Kanter’s perspectives on structural
barriers such as sponsorship, bias, and stereotypes which were evident in the
participants’ organizational experience.
Interpretation of Findings Through the Conceptual Framework of the
Structure of Opportunity
Kanter (1977) maintains that the location of a position in an organization
often determines career opportunities for advancement as a result of sponsorship,
career growth opportunities, and access to people with power in the organization.
The participants felt that a serious obstacle to promotion was not being given
opportunities to develop new skills and expertise. These unintentional practices
reflect the way unequal outcomes are produced. Some participants in this study
reported that their career growth was often limited because they were not given
opportunities to develop strengths in new areas or gain competence through more
responsibility. They attributed being overlooked for these crucial opportunities to
their supervisors' failure to envision them in decision-making roles or positions of
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power. As a result, participants began to question their leadership potential and
began to internalize stereotypes that they were not management material. Without
empowerment from their supervisors, it was difficult to gain campus-wide
experience, which would later be beneficial for career advancement.
If I interpret the findings from the perspective of the structure of opportunity,
I would conclude that the reason for the low number of Asian Americans in senior
management for this group is a function of taken-for-granted practices that
systematically disadvantage Asian Americans. Because racist outcomes are
produced by long-time practices that are viewed as objective, merit-based, fair, etc.
their discriminatory effects on particular groups are not obvious, making it all the
more difficult to bring about change. One of the ways in which structural barriers
are manifested from the perception of the participants is in the proclivity of selection
committees to hire people like themselves. Some of the participants noted that when
they were bypassed, the individuals who were selected tended to be more similar to
the person making the hiring decision in terms of their leadership style. The
participants in this study perceived that their supervisors saw them as not interested
in moving up in their institutions; therefore, these Asian Americans were not
sponsored or mentored into positions of power.
For example, one of the participants in this study was told not to apply for
the position of Director of Alumni Relations until the university president, who was
also Asian American, resigned. This participant’s informant explained that there was
a widely shared understanding of too much “Asian-ness” at the top. No matter how
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many generations Asian Americans have lived in the United States, they are still
considered “foreigners” (Tuan, 1998). In essence, the protestant ethic of working
hard and playing by the rules may accrue benefits only for those who are part of the
mainstream culture. Because supervisors’ racial stereotypes and prejudice are often
unconscious, the problem of getting them to “see” Asian Americans as management
material is a difficult one.
Unfortunately, three participants lost their desire to move up the ranks
because they were never encouraged to pursue higher positions. For example, one
participant said,
I don’t know that I would be competent at the next level. I like what
one of my bosses told me. He said I would be really good running a
small professional office, and that’s what I’m doing now and I’m
competent in this position.
O f course, one definition of success does not fit everyone, and this woman may be
genuinely happy in the position that she now occupies. However, one can not avoid
wondering whether this person would have gone further had her supervisor told her
she would be competent as a senior manager and that she would be good at running
an entire division. Would her career aspirations have been higher if her supervisor
had communicated confidence in her ability to climb the same career ladder that he
was obviously on? Another respondent in my study unconsciously used a revealing
phrase in answering a question, commenting that he recognized that he should apply
for positions “beyond my reach.”
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Stereotypes regarding Asian Americans in this study were so pervasive that
they may have subconsciously believed they were not management potential and
thus not expressed interest in or competed for preparatory experiences and
promotions. This cycle is hard to break because if supervisors do not perceive Asian
Americans as interested in senior management, they frequently do not provide them
with opportunities to develop their skills. To the extent that Asian Americans
internalize these images of themselves, they may question whether they are capable
of senior leadership positions. They might also opt out of advancement opportunities
because they do not believe they have the political skills to succeed at the senior
management level. At the same time, Asian Americans may be so busy meeting the
demands of their current positions that they fail to focus sufficiently on career
development.
A possible explanation for the underrepresentation of Asian Americans in
management positions is that they move into these positions at a later stage in their
careers (the "late bloomer" thesis explained in Chapter One) because they must work
their way out of the internalized stereotypes that they are not management material.
By the time they realize that they are indeed management material, they have lost
valuable time in gaining the experiences that make them marketable as senior
managers. This pattern was, in fact, bom out of the participants' interviews. Ten
people reported that supervisors and colleagues perceived them to be hard working,
quiet, and passive but lacking in the charisma necessary to lead and motivate a group
of people.
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Recommendations for Asian Americans in Student Affairs
Asian Americans can improve their opportunity for advancement in student affairs in
five ways.
/. Find a mentor.
Mid-level Asian American administrators should find sponsors or mentors at
their institution so that they can acquire experience in navigating the political
landscape and learn which kinds of credentials are considered necessary for moving
into senior management. Needless to say, having mentors who are Asian American
is highly desirable; however, it is important to recognize that non-Asian mentors
could be just as beneficial, particularly if mentors of the same race are not available.
This study found that the mentor's race was less important than having a mentor take
a deep interest in the person’s career growth.
2. Take advantage o f professional development opportunities
Participants in this study also emphasized the importance of professional
networking and training programs. If supervisors are not supportive, individuals can
seek mentoring and career guidance through professional organizations and
leadership development programs such as APAHE\LEAP Leadership Development
Program for Asian Americans in Higher Education, American Council on Education
Fellows Program, the Harvard Institute for Educational Management, and Summer
Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration, ACPA’s Mid-level
Management Program, NASPA’s Alice Manicur Women’s Symposium (For women
aspiring to become SSAO’s), and the California State University Administrative
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Fellows Program. Some of the senior-level Asian Americans in this study
participated in leadership development programs to develop their skills and build a
network of colleagues and mentors.
3. Be cognizant o f the glass ceiling.
Another recommendation by senior-level administrators was to be cognizant
of the glass ceiling and prejudice in higher education. Some of the participants dealt
with this situation by moving to another campus where career advancement was less
difficult for Asian Americans. Others garnered support from the campus community
and challenged what they perceived to be biased decisions on the part of their
supervisors. Whether they choose to stay or leave an institution, Asian Americans
should be attuned to organizational messages that their career is plateauing.
4. Develop skills in navigating organizational politics.
A final recommendation for career enhancement is that Asian American
professionals in student affairs should be aware of political “land-mines.” Asian
Americans are readily sought for entry-level and mid-level positions, but promotion
is usually blocked above that level. Since the study did not include interviews with
the supervisors of the participants, their reasons for not promoting Asian Americans
cannot be identified; but I am assuming that to the extent their decisions reflected
racial stereotyping, these supervisors were not conscious of it. It is possible, even
probable, that in at least some cases there was a candidate with more experience or
with a particular kind of experience that the supervisor felt was more important for
the job. In other words, it is possible that the Asian American really was the weaker
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candidate. At any rate, institutional change must originate from the senior levels of
administration; if senior administrators are not open to having an Asian American in
senior management, no matter how hard Asian Americans work toward assimilation,
such one-way efforts will remain ineffectual (Nkomo, 1992).
Recommendations for Institutional Leaders
Individual personal improvement programs for Asian Americans are helpful
in positioning Asian Americans for leadership, but inadequate because they do not
address the structural changes that are necessary to eliminate barriers that block
marginalized groups from achieving positions of leadership. Ragins (1995) argues
that effective changes that result in greater diversity of staff often require changes in
vision, traditions, symbols, management practices, and reward structures.
Structurally integrating minorities into mainstream leadership positions may reduce
stereotypes and prejudice by increasing contact among heterogeneous groups. This
form of structural change is important for organizations to become more inclusive of
different leadership styles. Greater diversity among those who occupy positions of
power and influence will create opportunities to change the organizational culture.
Accordingly, to increase Asian Americans in senior management requires that
individuals in powerful positions act as gateways rather than as gatekeepers. One
step in creating change is for individuals in positions of power to develop a
commitment to create an environment for all people to succeed. To bring about
systemic change and greater inclusion for all minority groups, it is important that we:
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(1) move beyond the Black/White race paradigm when institutionalizing diversity;
(2) incorporate cultural competence into the mission of the university; (3) identify
and encourage Asian Americans to apply for senior level positions; and (4) expand
the traditional image of what constitutes good leadership.
1. Move beyond the Black/White race paradigm when institutionalizing diversity.
The analysis of the status of minorities in organizations has traditionally been
guided by a Black/White race paradigm. This is problematic for Asian Americans
because from this perspective they are often treated as “honorary” Whites. Asian
Americans hold a unique position in higher education. They are considered both
minorities (as administrators) and majorities (as students). This position provides
them with insights that no other group in higher education is able to provide. They
have experienced both privilege and racism in higher education. Ancheta (1998)
points out:
In essence a Black/White model fails to recognize that the basic
nature of discrimination can differ among racial and ethnic groups.
Theories of racial inferiority have been applied, often with violent
force, against Asian Americans, just as they have been applied against
Blacks and other racial minority groups. But the causes of anti-Asian
subordination can be traced to other factors as well, including
nativism, differences in language and culture, perceptions o f Asians
as economic competitors, international relations, and past military
involvement in Asian countries.. . . All of these considerations point
to the need for an analysis of race that is very different from the
dominant Black/White paradigm, (p. 13)
The double standard of being used as a model, but being incapable of
leadership, leaves Asian Americans feeling frustrated and dissatisfied with their jobs,
a situation that is fraught with potential for high tum-over. In fact, five of nine mid
level managers in this study who had been passed over for promotions successfully
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applied for senior-level positions at other institutions which suggests that Asian
American are often taken for granted at their own institutions.
2. Incorporate cultural competencies into the mission o f the university.
For institutional change to occur, individuals and organizations must become
more culturally competent and develop a commitment to create an environment for
all people to succeed. One definition of cultural competence is the person’s ability to
work successfully with someone of a different ethnicity, culture, or race (Ebbers &
Henry, 1990). According to Troy Duster, a sociologist affiliated with Berkeley’s
Institute for the Study of Social Change, it will require one to know how to operate
as a competent actor in more than one cultural world. Supervisors will be required to
know what’s appropriate and what’s inappropriate, what’s acceptable and
unacceptable in behavior and speech in cultures that are radically different from
one’s own. It will also mean knowing how to be “different” and feeling comfortable
about it; being able to be the “insider” in one situation and the “outsider” in another.
The participants expressed a strong desire for mentors, and immediate
supervisors have a natural opportunity to fill this void but in order to do so, they need
to develop cultural competence. Supervisors may be unaware of their influence in
mentoring (or failing to mentor) Asian Americans and other marginalized groups,
preparing them for senior-level positions and advancing their careers.
Institutionalizing cultural competence means incorporating diversity as a value in the
university’ s mission and providing resources to improve training, recruitment, and
retention of faculty, staff, and students of color. It also means that cultural
competence should be incorporated into job descriptions and evaluation processes of
all staff. It is counter productive to recruit a person of color to an organization while
maintaining an organizational framework that reflects only values o f the dominant
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ethnic group. It is easy for such an individual to become frustrated and
marginalized, particularly if he or she is the only person of color in the department.
The experience of repeatedly standing alone on issues or of being the only voice
proposing certain problem-solving strategies can easily result in alienation and loss
of self-confidence.
In addition, selection committees should be aware of cultural differences and
need to be trained on how to run effective searches that attract people of color to
their campuses. Institutions can supply on-going training for staff members on how
to recruit and mentor Asian Americans and other minorities. A common reason
institutions give for not hiring women and minorities is that there are none in the
pool of candidates. I argue that hiring staff of color requires a commitment from the
institution, but it is also a skill. Training manuals, books, and guidelines need to be
made available to supervisors who have the power to hire and promote staff.
3. Identify, develop, and encourage Asian Americans to apply for senior level
positions.
Increased efforts need to be made to recruit and mentor Asian Americans for
senior-level positions because the perception that most Asian Americans would
rather remain behind the scenes is not accurate. Despite having the proper education
and experience, Asian Americans feel they are bypassed for leadership positions
because of cultural bias in leadership styles. Because Asian Americans may
internalize the stereotypes that they are not management material, the importance of
personal invitations to apply for senior level positions may prove to be a worthwhile
endeavor. Simply asking Asian Americans to apply for positions might increase
many applicant pools given the high aspirations that they showed in this study.
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4. Expand the traditional image o f what constitutes good leadership.
Institutions should recognize that their image of leadership is based on
traditional Western values, a framework with undeniable strengths, but also
weaknesses. Leaders and decision-makers, rather than simply accepting this
framework, need to step outside their assumptions and see the value of different
leadership frameworks within the university. Until this paradigm shift occurs,
people in positions of power will continue to hire people who are like themselves,
replicating social homogeneity in top leadership positions (Kanter, 1977). Kanter
(1989) describes leadership teams that value diversity as more innovative, informed,
versatile, and integrative than those for whom diversity is of lesser value. She claims
(1983) that “innovating companies seem to deliberately create a marketplace of
ideas, recognizing that a multiplicity of points of view needs to be brought to bear on
a problem” (p. 167).
Most universities are still operating from a model of leadership that
emphasizes characteristics such as charisma, assertiveness, and vision (Bensimon,
Neumann, & Bimbaum, 1989). As long as this is the prevailing view, the only Asian
Americans likely to succeed are those who come across as American.
Consequently, traditional views of leadership need to be expanded to include
approaches that value understated, collaborative, and quiet leadership.
Areas for Further Research
If I were to continue this research, the next logical step would be to study
how Asian Americans are perceived by their supervisors as leaders. This study dealt
primarily with how participants perceived their supervisors assessment of their
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leadership capabilities. An in-depth study of supervisors would expand our
understanding of how changes can be made.
Second, this study raises questions regarding the dynamics of race and
leadership in higher education. Little is known about the impact of race and
leadership and how these two variables affect the careers of Asian Americans and
other minority groups in higher education. New leadership theories about the
intersection between race and leadership (Arminio et al., 2000) need to be developed
from a nontraditional perspective that uses race as the starting point of inquiry
(Nkomo, 1992). How does race impact leadership development in higher education
and the cumulative impact of occupational stereotypes on people of color? Must
Asian Americans still attempt to become White to succeed? Alternative leadership
practices need to be explored which include race and its effect on both mainstream
and non mainstream leaders in higher education.
Third, further research should be conducted among Asian American leaders
who were bom and raised in Hawaii where Asian Americans make up the majority
of the population. Two o f the seven senior-level administrators were bom in Hawaii
and they did not report having experienced occupational stereotypes; moreover, they
had access to many role models who were both Asian American and White. They
had high aspirations and were mentored in their home state and their careers, unlike
those o f the “late bloomers” seemed more consistent with the normative career
trajectory.
Lastly, more research regarding leadership and supervision in an increasingly
diverse environment is needed. Much of the research has focused on individual
deficiencies rather than barriers embedded in the organization (Nkomo 1992). We
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for my next career move. This research allowed me to understand the experience of
the participants from the perspective of someone who was experiencing similar
career issues. The accounts from the participants provided important lessons which
helped me be more strategic in my search for a dean ship. I want to share these
lessons because not everyone will have the benefit of developing relationships with
senior level administrators as I did throughout this study.
During the writing of this final chapter, I was offered and accepted a senior-
level position at a research university. Two mid-level colleagues in student affairs
suggested I apply for the position because they thought I was ready for senior
management. In the same manner that some of the participants were reluctant to
apply for higher level positions because they felt they needed to accumulate more
experience, I also was reluctant to apply for the deanship because I felt I needed a
few more years of experience as an associate dean. I too told myself "you're not
ready" and "don't take risks." As mentioned earlier, I attended the LEAP/APAHE
Leadership Development Program for Asian Americans in higher education in 1999.
I believe this week-long program prepared me for success in the selection process.
During the course of the program, I received coaching from several Asian American
mentors, feedback on my interviewing skills, and training on communication and
presentation skills. More importantly, the Leadership Development Program
challenged me to find a balance between my Asian American and traditional
mainstream leadership values.
In preparation for my interview, I did extensive research about the campus
and talked to several members of the institution, as well as past employees and
students. Based on what the study’s participants told me, I was well aware that the
interview committee might have concerns about my leadership and communication
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skills. Thus as part of the preparation for the interview I dedicated a lot of time to
coming up with ways o f managing the committee’s impressions of me as a leader
and avoid being seen as quiet and reserved. I practiced how to come across natural
and relaxed, demonstrate my sense of humor, present myself as a confident woman,
and dispel any preconceptions that committee members might form based on my
height, demeanor, tone of voice, etc. Ironically, despite my great efforts to make
sure that the committee members saw me as I wanted them to see m e, I later learned
from colleagues who served as references that some committee members felt I was
"naive" and possibly not "assertive" enough to be a dean of students. These concerns
are consistent with the literature as well as the findings in this study. Hard work,
competence, knowledge, education, and experience were all satisfactory, but the
unanswered question of some committee members was whether I fit their image of
the kind of person that they associate with the position. Their concern about my
perceived naivete was somewhat puzzling to me, since my professional experience is
very broad and in my previous jobs I had supervisory responsibilities and on many
occasions had to resolve volatile campus racial and social issues.
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Appendix A
E-mail Message Sent to APA List-serve
Dear California Colleagues:
I am a doctoral student at the University of Southern California and am conducting a
study on Asian American leaders in student affairs. The purpose of my research is
to learn about career aspirations of Asian Americans and how being Asian American
impacts their organizational experience. If you are interested in participating in this
project and hold a position in California or Hawaii, please complete the following
information and return it to me via email (wong@chapman.edu). The time
commitment consists of an interview at your campus for approximately 1 hour. In
addition to the interview, I would like a copy of your current resume.
Please list names and addresses of people you know who might be interested in
participating in this study or you may forward this message to them. Thank you for
your time and interest in this study. Please contact me if you have further questions
at (714) 532-6067.
Sincerely,
Julie M. Wong
Ph.D. Candidate
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
Asian American Leaders in Higher Education: Career Aspirations in Student Affairs
Name:
Address:
E-mail:
Job Title:
Institution:
Degree(s):
Number of years as a full-time administrator:
Birthplace:
Age:
Languages Spoken:
Generation:
Your Ethnicity:
Mother’s Ethnicity:
Father’s Ethnicity
143
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Appendix B
Informed Consent Form
Agreement to Participate in
Asian American Leaders in Higher Education: Career Aspirations in Student Affairs
Julie Wong
One University Drive
Chapman University
Orange, CA 92866
(714)997-6761 wong@chapman.edu
Project Description
Thank you for agreeing to participate in this study. You have been selected to participate in a
research project, which will look at the careers of Asian American leaders in student affairs. This
research is in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy within the
Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California.
The purpose of this research is to find out why there are so few Asian Americans in student affairs
administration. In particular, I am interested in the career aspirations of Asian Americans and how
race affects their organizational experience. If you decide to participate in this study, you will be
involved in one in-depth interview at your campus which will last approximately 1-1.5 hours. The
interviews will be tape-recorded and benefits from this research will hopefully increase awareness of
the lack of Asian American leaders in student affairs. Data from this study may be used for
presentations at conferences and publication.
There are no foreseeable risks in this study and your participation is completely voluntary with no
compensation. If at any point during your participation you decide to withdraw, you may do so
without any consequences. The information obtained in the study will be kept confidential. Names
and institutions will be changed to maintain confidentiality o f the participants.
Before we begin, I will give you an opportunity to ask me any questions you may have regarding the
study. Thank you again for your time and your willingness to participate in this project. You may
contact me at wong@chapman.edu or (714) 532-6067 if your have farther questions.
I certify that I have been told of the possible risks involved in this project and that I have
been given satisfactory answers to my questions concerning this study. I have been advised that I am
free to withdraw my consent to continue participation in the project at any time without consequences.
Participant Signature Date
Graduate Researcher Signature Date
Faculty Investigator Signature Date
cc: Signed copy to participant
144
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Appendix C
Interview Protocol
Career Aspirations
• What is your current position and responsibilities?
• What made you decide to go into student affairs?
• Was there any particular experience in your life that influenced your career?
• What is the highest position you hope to attain?
• What are some of the barriers that might prevent you from getting there?
• What is the likelihood of you getting that position?
• Is there anyone you consider to be a mentor? Can you describe that
relationship?
• What does the mentor do for you?
• What professional organizations are you a part of and what has been your
involvement?
Organizational Experience
• There were probably a number of people who could have been considered for
the position you hold. What do you think are the most important reasons why
you were selected?
• What was the selection process like for your current position?
• If a friend or colleague asked you what this place is like for Asian Americans,
what would you say?
• How have the institutions you’ve worked for supported your career
development?
• Are there things you wish you could change about your current position to help
advance your career?
• Do you serve on campus-wide committees? If yes, what role do you play?
• Would you feel comfortable socializing with senior management at this
institution?
• If I asked your supervisor what you are like as an administrator/leader, how
would s/he describe you?
• If I asked people who report to you, how would they describe you as
supervisor, leader?
• What is your definition of leadership?
• How would you describe yourself as a leader?
• Have you applied for other positions? What was the interview process like?
• What were the outcomes? Were you offered the position?
• If not, why do you think you weren’t?
• Five years from now, what position do you hope to be holding? Ten years?
• If you had to do things all over again, is there anything you would do
differently regarding your career?
145
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Increasing the numbers
• Why do you think there are so few Asian Americans in senior management
positions in student affairs?
• What can be done to increase the number of Asian Americans in senior
management in student affairs?
• What advice would you give to Asian Americans pursuing a career in Student
Affairs
146
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Appendix D: Participant Profiles
Ethnicity Generat
ion
Age Degree Position Experience Institution Highest
Position
1 Korean 1 31 MA Director 8 4yr. Private Vice President
2 Chinese 2 31 MA Asst. Dean 8 4yr. Public Dean
3 Chinese 2 32 MS Dean 7 4yr. Private PresidentWP
4 Filipino I 37 MS Asst. Director 9 4yr. Private Director
5 Filipino I 33 MA Asst. Dean 6 4yr. Public Dean-President
6 Filipino I 31 MS Asst. Director 7 4yr. Public President
7 Chinese 2 43 MA Dean 17 4yr. Public President
8 Japanese 3 53 Ph.D. VPSA 13 4yr. Public President
9 Filipino 1.5 34 MS Asst. Director 9 4yr. Public D ean -V P
to Filipino 1.5 29 MA Director 6 4yr. Public Vice President
11 Chinese 1 27 MS Asst. Director 3 4yr. Private Dean
12 Indian 1 40 MS Vice President 16 4yr. Private President
13 Japanese
2
47 Ph.D. Vice President 11 2yr. Public President
14 Chinese 1 49 EdD Asst. Vice Pres. 25 4yr. Public Vice President
15 Filipino 1.5 30 MA Coordinator 5 4yr. Public Dean
16 Chinese 2 42 BA Asst. Director 10 4yr. Public Vice President
17 Filipino I 26 MS Asst. Director 3 4yr. Private Dean
18 Chinese 2 54 MS Coordinator 9 2yr. Public Dean
19 Chinese 2 52 MS Vice President 20 2yr. Public President
20 Chinese 2 49 MS Asst. Dean 20 4yr. Private Assoc.Dean
21 Chinese 3 50 MA Vice President 29 2yr. Public Vice President
22 Japanese 3 46 Ph.D. Vice President 15 4yr. Public President
23 Chinese 3 37 MA Coordinator 15 4yr. Public Dean
24 Japanese 3 44 BA Director 13 4yr. Public Vice President
25 Chinese
2
46 MS Director 25 4yr. Public Director
26 Chinese 2 42 MPA Dean 9 2yr. Public President
27 Chinese
2
50 Ph.D. Director 17 4yr. Public Director
28 Japanese 3 31 MA Coordinator 4 4yr. Public Vice President
29 Japanese 4 29 MA Director 5 4yr. Private Vice President
30 Japanese 2 54 MA Asst-Vice Pres. 31 4yr. Public Assoc. VP
31 Japanese 1 32 Ph.D. Asst. Dean 4 4yr Private Director
32 Filipino 1 28 MA Asst. Director 6 4yr. Private Assoc. Director
33 Japanese 3 59 Ph.D. Vice President 18 4yr. Public President
34 Japanese 3 41 MA Asst. Director 17 4yr. Public Asst. Director
35 Pacific Isander I 30 MA Director 5 4yr. Private President
JO Vietnamese L 48 t d D Director 24 4yr. fublicc Vice President
147
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Appendix E
Summary/Cover Sheet
Research Project: Career Aspirations of Asian Americans in student affairs
Participant:
Position:
Institution:
I. Key topics discussed:
2. Quotable Quotes:
3. Issues to be investigated further:
4. Tentative conclusions regarding:
a. Leadership
b. Asian American Issues
c. Career Aspirations
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Appendix F
Connections and Linkages between Themes and Sub-Themes
Asian Americans in Student Affairs
of Career Planning Lack
VPSA
President
Career
Tracking
Pre-Med
Science,
Engineering
Breaking
Ground Small
Pipeline
Family
Cultural
Pull
Lack Role
Models &
Mentors
Personal
happiness
in career
Why are there
so few APA’s in
student affairs?
Stereotypes
Politics
Not
Leaders
Glass Ceiling
Foreigners
Passed
Over
Invisible
Lack
Opportunities
Subtle
Racism
Internalized
Oppression
149
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Wong, Julie Marianne
(author)
Core Title
Asian American leaders in higher education: Career aspirations in student affairs
School
Graduate School
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Degree Program
Education
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
Education, administration,education, higher,OAI-PMH Harvest
Language
English
Contributor
Digitized by ProQuest
(provenance)
Advisor
Wong, Gay Yuen (
committee chair
), Polkinghorne, Donald (
committee member
), Sundeen, Richard A. (
committee member
), Sundt, Melora (
committee member
)
Permanent Link (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c16-235508
Unique identifier
UC11334736
Identifier
3073864.pdf (filename),usctheses-c16-235508 (legacy record id)
Legacy Identifier
3073864.pdf
Dmrecord
235508
Document Type
Dissertation
Rights
Wong, Julie Marianne
Type
texts
Source
University of Southern California
(contributing entity),
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
(collection)
Access Conditions
The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...
Repository Name
University of Southern California Digital Library
Repository Location
USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA
Tags
education, higher