s
This research could have only been completed with the help, support, and
encouragement of many people.
First, I would like to thank and acknowledge my husband, Rafael. He has
been my biggest supporter and encourager throughout this entire process. He has
taken on additional responsibilities in our home and has spent a lot of time taking care
of our son so that I could write. I love you!
I would like to thank my father, Neil Cordrey, for his passion of leadership
and the example of a leader that he has been in our family. Our discussion on books,
theories, and application of leadership is something I really enjoy. I also thank my
mother, Cindy Cordrey, and my father for their help spending time with my son while
I was in class or needed time to write.
A huge debt of gratitude is owed to all of my family and friends who have
helped watch and love my son when I could not be there: Ron and Susan Cheadle,
Katie Cheadle, Kerry Briscoe, Michelle King, Jennifer and Joseph Cordrey, Deanna
Watkins, Bethany Fisher, and Sonja McCoy. There is no possible way to succeed in a
doctoral program with children without the help and sacrifice of others. Also, thank
you to family members including Zachary Cordrey and Emily Norman, among other
cousins and extended family that have encouraged and supported me the last three
year. Thank you to Brittany Cheadle, my statistics expert.
Thank you to my dissertation advisors and two of the best course instructors
in the program. Dr. Joseph Crossen has been working with me from the beginning of