The study sample was composed of 110 teaching faculty at Vernon College, a multi-campus northwest Texas community college in Wichita Falls, TX. Participants completed two surveys: the Socio-communicative Orientation Scale (SCO) and the Teacher Satisfaction Scale (SAT). Demographic information was collected as well for generalizability purposes. As measured by the SCO, communicator style is a multi-dimensional concept including aspects of assertiveness and responsiveness communication behaviors; the assertiveness and responsiveness dimensions acted as independent variables. Instructor job satisfaction acted as the independent variable. The strength of the independent variables was measured separately in ratio to job satisfaction. Regression analysis results demonstrated that the assertiveness dimension of instructor communicator style is not a statistically significant contributor to instructor satisfaction. However, the responsiveness dimension can explain 12% of the variance in instructor job satisfaction. Beta weight and structure coefficient analysis confirmed the initial regression results for both independent variables. Further, commonality analysis clarified that the two independent variables within the study are in fact orthogonal in nature, meaning that they do not overlap and are not correlated. Hence, the responsiveness dimension of instructor communicator style is directly related to relationship building in an educational context and may be considered in professional development activities. …

Diversity impacts organizations, both internally and externally. Responses to changes in demographics come from legal and moral imperatives. As a reflection of the changes in the population demographics in the United States, universities have seen and sought increased diversity in their student enrollment. Many institutions have purposeful plans to increase representation of under-represented groups as well as those students from low-income families. Some schools also recognize the importance of having diversity represented within their staff and faculty positions as a way of creating a supportive environment that also promotes diversity of thought. As schools increase the diversity of their student population, at what level are they increasing diversity among their tenured and tenure-track faculty? The purpose of this study is to examine the impact on full-time tenured/tenure-track faculty diversity compared to enrolled student diversity at institutions that promote, require, or provide access to training for faculty search committees, including diversity/cultural awareness, legal compliance, and process training, and those institutions that do not appear to have any training requirement as documented on their websites. Only tenured/tenure-track faculty were considered as they are the permanent teaching/research positions and generally represent the core faculty of every department at a university.