Author: Lorenzo Lamar Esters

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 458

ISBN-13:

Community colleges have been faced with many changes in recent years including changes in mission, increased enrollments, and decreased state support. To keep America's community colleges viable amidst these changes, some presidents are discovering the need to become entrepreneurial in their pursuit of nontraditional sources of funding. As with the CEOs of major businesses and corporations, best practices for success through entrepreneurship can be found with community college presidents; however, there is a paucity of research examining this phenomenon in community colleges. The purpose of this study was to examine the entrepreneurial behaviors of community college presidents in one southeastern state in an effort to identify actions beneficial for securing financial resources for community colleges. To adequately examine these practices, the presidents' activities were assessed based on five elements. A sequential exploratory mixed methods approach was utilized to investigate the research questions in this study. The researcher interviewed five community college presidents using purposive confirming case sampling. Additionally, a survey was electronically mailed to twenty-three community college presidents in a southeastern state community college system to solicit their responses to questions regarding their entrepreneurial practices. The results of this analysis revealed meaningful information that is beneficial for community college presidents seeking to transform their colleges through entrepreneurial leadership. These findings indicate entrepreneurial presidents do exist and their practices can be identified. The findings also indicate that presidents' engagement in certain specific entrepreneurial practices do result in increased nontraditional funding secured. A summary of these key findings may be used as a guide for current and future community college leaders who desire to become more entrepreneurial. -- Abstract.