Abstract:
This study expands the work begun by Kathryn Smoot Egan in 1994, which sherevisited in 1996, and which was replicated by Christine Lash in 2000. Egan and Lash’sstudies attempted to classify women’s worldviews and mentoring styles using Belenky,Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule’s 1986 theory of women’s cognitive development. Thepurpose of this study is to gather information about the perceptions women leaders havetoward their workplace, their work, themselves and career mentoring or, in the words ofKathryn Egan, “women’s worldview or epistemologies.” This study seeks to determinewhat commonalities exist among women who have achieved leadership positions ataccredited, private four-year colleges and universities in Kansas and Missouri.Furthermore, it seeks to follow up Egan’s work by examining how women protégés learnfrom and relate to their mentors.This study contains both qualitative and quantitative elements, and was conductedwith a descriptive approach. The study was conducted through survey research, usingKathryn Egan’s survey in an electronic format, with an additional section regardingdemographics. The survey utilized a cross-sectional design.