Date of Award

2026-05-01

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Leadership and Foundations

Advisor(s)

Jesus Cisneros

Abstract

This qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study examined how College Administrative Officers (CAOs) at a research-intensive Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) on the U.S.-Mexico border make sense of and respond to federally induced financial disruptions. Guided by adaptive leadership and informed by sensemaking, the study explored how CAOs interpret funding instability while working to sustain institutional operations, institutional trust, and commitments to servingness. The central research question was: How do CAOs describe their role in maintaining financial stability during federal funding disruptions at a research-intensive HSI on the U.S.-Mexico border? Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with five CAOs representing academic colleges at a public, research-intensive HSI on the U.S.-Mexico border. Participants described their experiences navigating grant terminations, delayed awards, and shifting federal funding priorities that affected personnel, research continuity, and college-level operations. Interview data were analyzed using a multi-cycle interpretive coding process consistent with hermeneutic phenomenology, allowing patterns and meanings to emerge across participants' narratives. Four interrelated themes emerged from the analysis: living with ongoing financial whiplash, protecting people before line items, collaborative sensemaking and shared decision-making in crisis, and carrying the emotional weight of financial decisions in silence. Together, these themes illustrate how CAOs experienced financial disruption as both a technical and human challenge. Participants described operating in environments of continuous financial uncertainty, prioritizing people when making difficult fiscal decisions, working collaboratively across institutional levels to interpret unfolding crises, and quietly absorbing the emotional burden associated with decisions that directly affected faculty, staff, and students. By centering the lived experiences of mid-level financial leaders, this study contributes to the literature on crisis leadership and financial governance in higher education. Although grounded in federally induced funding disruptions, the findings offer broader insight into how CAOs navigate institutional volatility and help stabilize operations in research-intensive institutions serving historically marginalized communities. The study highlights the need for clearer crisis protocols, stronger cross-unit communication, and leadership preparation that reflects the relational, ethical, and adaptive dimensions of financial leadership in higher education.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

105 p.

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Brianna Ashley Licerio

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