Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2024, College of Education

This study describes two Midwest congregations and how their lead pastor budgets and promotes giving according to an ecclesiological understanding of identity, mission, and ministry. Data was collected through an interview with each lead pastor, an interview with two leadership board members, interviews with three congregants, and participant observation at each congregation. The findings show that these two congregations use their congregational finances differently and they develop unique, opposing cultures of money based at least partially on the differing ecclesiologies of their leaders. When a leader's ecclesiology, use of congregational finances, and the congregational culture of money are complementary, congregation members trust their money is being used for good. When there are conflicts within these three areas, it can lead to confusion and congregational finances not being used to their full potential.

Committee: Judy Alston Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Clergy; Finance; Religious Congregations

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2019, Educational Leadership

Literature on the theories and practices of leadership reveals the roles of leaders in the growth of people and the development of their institutions. Authors such as Bennis and Nanus (1985), Burns (1995), Heifetz (1994), and Kouzes and Posner (2012) acknowledged the styles of leaders and the institutional culture as motivational factors for the commitment of individuals to the achievement of organizational missions and visions. Similarly, scholars including Cook (2013), Doohan (2007), Gardner (2006), and Ozar (2013) highlighted the place of academic leaders in the creation and development of the distinctive culture at Catholic schools and colleges. For more the 50 years, Marianist vowed religious brothers, sisters, and priests from Europe and North America chose countries in the north, center, east, and west of Africa as missionary lands for the expansion of the Marianist spirituality and tradition. These missionaries promoted the principles of Marianist spirituality in their apostolate as teachers and academic leaders, participating in the creation of a distinctive school culture shaped by the Marianist values of education. Today, African educators and academic leaders carry on the mission of sustaining this legacy of Marianist educational tradition. They strive to implement the principles of Marianist spirituality in their educational and leadership practices as a continuity of the work of their predecessors from the West. As such, these educators tend to rely on the western theories of educational leadership in their professional practices. Given the dominate western narratives on leadership that influence organizations worldwide and the absence of literature on the adaptation of Marianist education and leadership in African cultures, this qualitative research explored, through one-on-one interviews, the lived experiences of 13 educators and academic leaders at Chaminade Institute of Technology (CIT) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Informed by pre (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Charles Russo (Committee Chair); Mary Ziskin (Committee Member); Thomas Oldenski (Committee Member); Raymond Fitz (Committee Member) Subjects: African Literature; African Studies; Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Leadership; Organizational Behavior; Personal Relationships; Religious Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2016, Educational Leadership

This study demonstrates the value of organization-specific articulations of exemplary leadership. The research topic relates to leadership and organizational studies in general, and higher educational leadership and organizational commitment in particular. The focus of inquiry is the complex, human-organizational phenomenon of exemplary leadership commitment to mission and identity among lay leaders in the Catholic and Marianist tradition of one top-tier research university in the United States. The context of inquiry is the emerging prominence and critical role of lay leadership in Catholic higher education. The researcher offers an in-depth examination of how exemplary lay leaders experience and practice their personal commitment to Catholic-Marianist mission and identity. The research objective is to understand and describe the essential meanings in the lived experiences of exemplary lay leaders, presenting individual descriptions and collective syntheses of the phenomenon in focus. The intended audience includes leaders in Marianist and Catholic higher education; administrators involved in leadership development and mission and identity enculturation; and researchers in higher education, phenomenology, and interdisciplinary studies in leadership and organizational behavior. Using the transcendental phenomenological research method, the researcher generates eight individual “portraits-in-words,” containing multilayered human portrayals that allow the reader to intuit and empathize with the interior experiences and meaning making of the exemplary lay leaders in this study. The researcher also analyzes the experiential data collectively, presenting numerous “composite syntheses” of the apparent textures and underlying structures of the phenomenon in focus. Finally, the researcher describes three “streams” within the lived experience of the phenomenon, namely: exemplary lay commitment, exemplary Marianist leadership, and the experience of Catholic and (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Molly Schaller (Committee Chair); Carolyn Ridenour (Committee Member); Joseph Watras (Committee Member); David Fleming S.M. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education Philosophy; Educational Leadership; Ethics; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; Management; Organizational Behavior; Personal Relationships; Philosophy; Spirituality; Teaching