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We gave up our letters so you can find yours: Recruitment counselors' negotiation of voluntary disassociation from sorority membership

Carnell, Katherine Elizabeth`
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8363-9883
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1490999355922611

Abstract Details

2017, PHD, Kent State University, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration.
One opportunity for involvement within a sorority community is serving as a sorority recruitment counselor. The sorority recruitment counselor guides potential new members (PNMs) through the sorority recruitment process. This position is considered a peer-leadership educator role, filled by an experienced, undergraduate sorority woman, who is responsible for providing impartial advice to women interested in joining the sorority community. The recruitment counselor role has many requirements, but one most notably is to disassociate, or temporarily step away from or separate oneself from sorority membership. The purpose of this interpretive, qualitative study was to describe the perspectives of sorority recruitment counselors as they negotiate disassociating from each of their sororities for a finite period. Framed in the lens of Bridges’ (2004) and Schlossberg’s (1981) approaches to transition, I sought to describe the participants’ experiences as each moved into, through, and on from this role, returning to sorority life. Eight sorority recruitment counselors from one university campus participated in the study in the fall of 2014. The recruitment counselors were interviewed using Seidman’s (2013) three-series phenomenological interview technique. Participants described their experiences in two ways, or two categories: the recruitment counselor experience, and negotiating disassociation. The results indicate that recruitment counselors find disassociation a necessary requirement to performing this role, although more emphasis on what it means to actually be disassociated from sorority membership is needed. Implications for those who advise fraternity and sorority life, as well as opportunities for additional and extended research are also addressed.
Mark Kretovics, PHD (Committee Co-Chair)
Susan Iverson, EDD (Committee Co-Chair)
Catherine Hackney, PHD (Committee Member)
235 p.
Higher Education; Higher Education Administration

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Carnell, K. E. (2017). We gave up our letters so you can find yours: Recruitment counselors' negotiation of voluntary disassociation from sorority membership [Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1490999355922611

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Carnell, Katherine. We gave up our letters so you can find yours: Recruitment counselors' negotiation of voluntary disassociation from sorority membership . 2017. Kent State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1490999355922611.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Carnell, Katherine. "We gave up our letters so you can find yours: Recruitment counselors' negotiation of voluntary disassociation from sorority membership ." Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1490999355922611

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2017, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.