This exploratory study gathered information about the use of action research within doctor of education programs in educational leadership and explored faculty understanding of and perspectives on action research. Survey data established that action research is used infrequently to meet dissertation requirements. Contributing factors include lack of clarity regarding the nature of action research (AR) and concerns about methodological legitimacy. Because the development of collaborative leadership skills and the pursuit of social justice objectives are inherent to the action research process, these results call for additional discussion regarding this distinctive methodology and its role in the preparation of educational leaders at the doctoral level.

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Although women have studied and written about their positions in the academy forsome time, it is only through ground-breaking work of Belenky, M. F., Clinchy, B. M.,Goldberger, N. R. & Tarule, J. M. (1986), that we have formally acknowledged thatwomen learn, construct, and process knowledge and events differently from men.They determined that women learned in relation to one another, that collaborativelearning superseded competition, and that females perceived teaching and learningin relation to self. That research in turn has led to further understandings of poweræ power in relation to what is valued as the legitimate construction of knowledgeand what is valued as knowledge per se. Campbell (1997), Gore (1993), Lewis(1993) and others have commented articulately on the need to view women'seducation as different in one way or another, yet recognize that such apperception,if accepted, concomitantly supposes a shift in power relations

in 1993. After completion of her graduate studies, she worked as an environmental engineer for the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP). Her research interests include bioremediation of contaminated groundwater and soils; the fate and transport of pollutants in the environment; and applied microbiology in environmental engineering. She is also actively involved in encouraging women to the engineering profession. Kathleen Sernak, Rowan University Dr. Kathleen Sernak, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership, was recruited in 1998 as a faculty member for the brand new Educational Leadership doctoral program. Since then, she has had the responsibility of revising the program in 2001, as well as chairing and writing a new master's program focusing on teacher leadership. Her teaching has included distance learning and video-conferencing to pair students from different universities and backgrounds to enhance understanding of diversity. As the Founder of the Teacher Learning and Discovery Center Program, she is experienced in operating summer enrichment programs for educators.