Married couple earns doctoral degrees

Drs. Lea and Joseph Antone celebrate end of five-year journey

By California State University, Bakersfield

May 19^th, 2022

Married couple Lea and Joseph Antone have both earned their doctorates in educational leadership from California State University, Bakersfield this semester.

This spring marks the end of a five-year journey for the Antones, who live and work in Palmdale and would drive to CSUB on Saturdays to attend classes.

“It’s been quite the road, a very adventurous road,” Dr. Joseph Antone said. “It’s nice to finally have it done.”

Dr. Lea Antone said she never thought when she first started going to college that she would ever get a doctoral degree. She feels thankful to have reached this milestone.

“I am truly overjoyed that we get to walk the stage together and that our family, especially our children, can see that all the hard work has paid off,” she said.

In 2017, Joseph was teaching middle school while Lea has worked as the undergraduate advising and tutoring coordinator at CSUB’s Antelope Valley campus. Lea said her boss, Dr. Randy Schultz, taught the Ed.D program and encouraged her to go to an informational session about it.

At around the same time, Joseph was also considering pursuing an administration credential, so they decided to attend the session together. They both came out of it interested in applying for the program.

“We thought if we’re going to do it, we should do it together,” Lea said.

The Antones have three children, all of whom were very young at the time they applied for the program. Luckily, they said their parents agreed to watch the children on Saturdays so they could attend their classes at CSUB.

The Antones also said their employers were supportive and were willing to work around their school schedules.

“You definitely need to have support from your employer for when you have to make accommodations,” Lea said. “Every time I had a presentation, I requested the day off beforehand so I had time to plan ahead and rehearse.”

The Antones were able to lean on each other as well as receive support from CSUB faculty to help get them through challenges and setbacks they faced, such as having the start of their research delayed due to the onset of COVID-19 in early 2020.

“I feel faculty was very encouraging, very supportive. They guided us in how to get it done,” Lea said. “It’s a lot of work, but the faculty are there with you, guiding you and encouraging you. They remind you how important the research itself is.”

Conducting the research

For her dissertation, Lea looked at transfer rates at colleges and universities across California. Through her work at CSUB Antelope Valley, she noticed that the Antelope Valley and other areas of the state have low rates of residents with higher education degrees.

“Many community college students express a desire to transfer but a low percentage do end up transferring. I wanted to see what changed their minds,” she said. “Areas that don’t have enough choices for colleges or universities tend to have lower rates. I wanted to see if that was a reason why in the Antelope Valley we are so low on transfers.”

Lea surveyed students at several colleges in the state and found the biggest factor was how long a student had been in school.

“After the two-year mark, the desire to transfer dropped significantly,” she said. “A large percentage wanted to attend an institution within 25 miles, so location does matter. Having access to something close by that you don’t feel like you have to move or commute too long-distance makes a difference.”

Dr. Schultz, who was Lea’s dissertation chair, said she was easy to teach and already had the skills needed to succeed in the program.

“It was a joy to watch her grow from doctoral student into researcher during her dissertation process,” he said. “She exhibited all those attributes that we encourage students to develop: a growth mindset, grit, perseverance and a focus on letting the data define the answers to her research questions. I have no doubt that Dr. Antone will continue to look for answers to big questions that will benefit the students at CSU Bakersfield – both the Bakersfield and the Antelope Valley campuses.”

The focus of Joseph’s research changed a few times over the course of the program. He ultimately decided to focus on the effects of willful defiance bans on suspension equity for African Americans.

Dr. Antone examined suspension data from schools that had a willful defiance suspension ban and compared them with schools that did not.

“There was significant reduction of suspensions of African American students, but it was not as clear-cut when it came to their representation compared to other groups,” he said. “Even though we can say the rate went down overall, it still seemed, in many cases, they were not represented equitably in willful defiance suspensions.”

Joseph’s dissertation chair was Dr. John Stark, dean for the School of Business and Public Administration.

“I found him to be focused, good at asking questions when things were not clear and methodical in working through the process,” he said. “He was also very patient in getting feedback and committee input along the way. His commitment was exemplary and served as the foundation for his success.”

'Just stick with it'

While the Antones have finished the doctorate program, they are both eager to continue working on their research.

“Even though the degree is done, I don’t think the research is done,” Lea said. “It just leaves you with wanting to do more research, and I think that’s the point.”

Joseph said he wants to expand his research to include school districts outside of the Valley.

“I would really like to take the results and expand the scale, where instead of just comparing one district to a few others I can expand it to Southern California districts to see whether the results I got on a more local level holds up on a more regional level,” he said.

While Lea plans to stay at CSUB Antelope Valley, Joseph said he would like to work as an administrator. He currently works as a high school teacher.

For any CSUB students who are considering getting their doctorate, the Antones have some words of wisdom having just gone through the experience.

“Pick a topic you love, because you’re going to breathe it for at least three years,” Lea said. “It has to be something you’re really interested in and passionate about, something you want to pursue even after the degree is done.”