In What Excellent Community Colleges Do, Joshua S. Wyner draws on the insights and evidence gained in administering the inaugural Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. This book identifies four domains of excellence—degree completion, equity, student learning, and labor market success—and describes in rich detail the policies and practices that have allowed some community colleges to succeed in these domains. By starting with a holistic definition of excellence, measuring success against that definition, and then identifying practices and policies that align with high levels of student success, the author seeks to contribute to the growing body of knowledge about improving student success in community colleges.
The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover how outstanding community college presidents conceptualize their leadership practices and behaviors and what experiences they believe have prepared them for the presidency. It also sought to learn how their strategic constituencies evaluated the presidents. Purposeful sampling was used to select four community college presidents from a group of presidents identified as outstanding using a peer nomination process in a previous study by C.H. McFarlin (1997). Personal interviews were conducted with each president and representatives of their critical constituencies: faculty, administrators, and the governing board. In addition, at each institution, the president's administrative assistant, a student leader, and a community leader were also interviewed. The research was supplemented with analysis of relevant documents and with a visit to each institution. The data were collected in the fall of 2000 and the spring of 2001 at community colleges in the Midwest region of the United States. Results showed that presidents use a variety of implicit leadership theory to inform their leadership behavior. Presidents described leadership theories that fit the leadership context of their college. Presidents were evaluated positively by their constituencies. Internal constituencies tended to evaluate the presidents based on the extent to which they perceived that authority and governance were shared. External constituencies tended to evaluate the presidents based on their service to the community, especially economic and workforce development. Results of this study reinforced this idea that culture is critical to an understanding of leadership.
This practical resource helps aspiring leaders demystify the challenges associated with becoming a community college president. Building on existing scholarship and research related to historical origins of the community college, this book explores the role and function of the presidency, discusses existing demographics and the importance of meeting the needs of a diverse student population, and unpacks the required competencies and leadership challenges related to becoming a community college president. Including real voices from award-winning and current presidents as well as a step-by-step approach to attaining the position, this is an important resource that speaks to the needs of today and tomorrows’ community college leaders.
Written from the dual perspectives of a community college president and community college board chair, this book covers everything about college leadership. Through personal anecdotes peppered with solid strategies, it offers advice on the responsibilities and challenges that come with leading a college. Whether you are a sitting college president or someday might be, this book will help you. If you serve on a community college board and would like insight into how to lead your college to its greatest potential, this book will help.
Two-year colleges are facing major change. The majority will undergo a turnover in college presidencies in the next ten years, at a time when they are being asked to be engines for economic growth, enable more students - and a greater diversity of students - to gain 21st century qualifications, and provide a pathway to higher degrees, all with reduced state and local funding. Recognizing that future community college leaders - at all levels- will manage increasingly complex organizations, and face very different challenges than their predecessors, this book provides a multidimensional model of leadership suited to these new demands and environments. The model addresses issues of leader cognition, race and gender, the importance of culture, and the need for more collaborative modes of communication and decision making to frame and implement change. It recognizes that there is no longer any one way to lead, and that the next generation of leaders will be more diverse, possess experience and qualifications from a wider variety of careers, and follow new pathways to their positions. Leaders in the future will possess a cultural competency that is fostered by being lifelong learners.Through over 75 individual interviews with leaders and campus members, Eddy is able to provide examples of the model's components in practice and to illuminate which experiences proved the most relevant for these leaders on their route to upper administration. She shows how her model intersects with the leadership competencies defined by the American Association of Community Colleges, and proposes strategies for future leadership development. This book is intended for anyone considering a leadership position, at any level, in a community college; for college administrators and boards responsible for leadership development programs; and for individuals in corresponding organizations who conduct training programs for aspiring leaders. Likewise, those employed at four-year universities may find value in the model as a developmental tool.
A 2008 statement from the Foundation for California Community Colleges in the Chronicle of Higher Education revealed that two-year institutions provide education for approximately half of the nation's undergraduate students (Wiessner, 2008). However, when it comes to benefiting from dollars that are raised from donors for postsecondary schools, community colleges generate only 2% of the total funds that are raised (Lanning, 2008). For the community colleges that are effective as fundraisers, what are their best practices? Within them, presidents are described as the "living logos" of their institutions, but what roles do they play in successful efforts? T study endeavored to answer the following research questions: (1) What kinds of preparation or ongoing training, if any, do community college presidents say has helped them to develop fundraising skills? What preparation do they identify as the most helpful? (2) How do community college presidents rank fundraising in importance among all of their duties, and what percentage of their time is spent on fundraising? (3). What activities constitute the work of fundraising that presidents do and, among those activities, which do they find to be the most effective? Which give them the greatest amount of difficulty? Why? (4) How do the college presidents of successful fundraising community colleges interact with their respective college foundations and/or their development offices, and how involved are members of foundations and development offices in the colleges' mission and long-range planning? I conducted case studies of three Midwest community colleges as well as a cross case analysis. To identify the research sites, I used the Council for Aid to Education's Voluntary Support for Education Survey, which provided more relevant statistical data than IRS Forms. Specific amounts such as Alumni, Corporate, and Employee Giving totals were available. Some state systems required all of their community colleges to complete the survey, and I identified one of them for my study. I chose three within it that were consistent fundraisers, which is to say that their overall money raised or foundation, alumni, or corporate totals gave them an average ranking in the top five. With these criteria, three community colleges that all had similar enrollment numbers emerged. Each community college visit included document study and observations, but the main source was interviews. At each community college, I spoke with at least ten people who included but were not limited to the college president, the executive director of the Foundation, Foundation staff members, Foundation Board of Directors members, and faculty. Interviews ranged from 25 minutes in length to nearly two hours. To better allow for more detailed elaboration on the part of the presidents and executive directors of the respective Foundations, I used the "elite interview" format, a semi-structured protocol employed by Kezar in her 2006 study of college presidents. Doing so allowed for more anecdotal answers as well as deeper insights into the beliefs and perspectives of these individuals who, by virtue of their higher positions, had unique perspectives on fundraising and community college leadership issues. Despite the similarly consistent numbers from the VSE survey, the three colleges could not have been more different. One was located in the center of a large urban area and had a Foundation staff that contained four employees. Its executive director, in addition to his foundation duties, was a dean over the entire development effort at the college, which included having the Public Relations and Marketing Department report to him. Another college was in a nearby suburban area. Its Foundation staff was composed of three full-time employees and a part-time grant writer. Its executive director was listed on the same organizational level as the vice presidents. The third college had a district president who presided over several community colleges in a rural area. At the one, I learned that the chief executive-level campus fundraiser was a provost, which led me to include her with the three presidents in my study. Its foundation staff was the smallest of the three community colleges, with only two 50% employees. The executive director, in the rest of her assignment, directed the college's Institutional Research Office. As she was new to the position, I also interviewed the former executive director, who had been employed at 100%. Interviews were transcribed and coded into an average of approximately 75 different themes per site. After analyzing them through a series of matrices, I reported my findings by addressing each of the four research questions directly. From those, I was able to note best practices of the presidents and make recommendations for both them and the fundraising effort as a whole. Concerning the preparation and professional development in the area of fundraising for presidents, I found that the presidents of the two urban area colleges came strictly from Academic Affairs and had little or no training in fundraising, while the president and provost at the rural area college did. In fact, the president of the rural college gained meaningful presidential-level exposure to fundraising while serving as a provost. She also mentioned that her most meaningful professional development came from face-to-face dialogue with another president, while her provost sought it in other areas. For one of the urban presidents, his professional development came directly from his experience working as president, while the other reported being heavily involved in it since he has similar teaching and learning expectations of others. Looking at the four leaders, I saw efforts to fill needs in professional development in ways that seemed to be consistent with their beliefs and their own needs. In terms of the importance of fundraising, data showed that they all devoted roughly a fifth of their time to it directly. The three presidents all answered questions about time spent on fundraising with responses about time not only with donors, but also in the state legislature. This was curious since they had not been asked about political involvement but only fund raising importance or practices. Concerning practices in fundraising, not all of the presidents asked their major donors for money all the time. Responses ranged from minimal asking on the part of the president of the suburban college to asking nearly every time, which was what the president of the downtown community college did. Though they did not all ask with the same frequency, they all included their Foundation Executive Directors, either to make the ask or to lay the groundwork for them to appeal to the potential donor. Other common practices included their interactions with their Foundation Boards of Directors. They attemded all or nearly all meetings, gave reports about college news as well as their own endeavors with the legislature, stayed in meetings to answer questions and clarify issues or concerns, and personally emailed and met with each board member regularly. The campus level leaders nearly always attended fundraising events as well and foundation leaders reported that they were available at any time in the cultivation process. Finally, each of these leaders emphasized some type of partnership with potential donors in speaking to them. In all three cases, I saw the presidents involving foundations in the mission of the college. As previously mentioned, their executive directors were involved in central leadership. They included the elevated positions each of them held, along with their service on groups such as hiring and planning committees outside their respective Foundations. Having provided these findings, I was able to make several recommendations. (a) Presidents are only as effective in fundraising as their development teams. Ultimately, my data showed that this higher-level relationship was more important that who was asking for money. (b) Future presidents are advised to accept responsibilities that fall outside Academic Affairs and, if possible, should hold positions with responsibilities similar to those of provosts; they should also have some interaction in the political arena, for my study concluded that fundraising meant fundraising and networking with members of the state legislature. (c) For college presidents and Foundations building their college's fundraising efforts, the internal giving campaign should be the first step. Each college had a positive statistic about internal giving should present to the public. (d) Since the alumni effort is cumbersome, colleges should employ faculty and program-level employees as cultivators and networkers and compensate them. The focus of these efforts should be programs of study or college organizations such as campus clubs. (e) Foundation Boards of Directors should have a limited number of members, and their meetings should be run efficiently rather than serving as social functions. The most active participant in meetings should be the president, who also meets personally with each member on a regular basis. (f) In order for feasibility studies to be valued by presidents and their Foundations, there must be contextual similarity to their own community colleges. (g) State community college systems should align audit work and other financial reporting to make it more streamlined with actual tax forms. In order to provide more data, this reporting should also be aligned with the VSE. The findings were used to identify best practices of how community colleges do their fundraising despite having limited resources. The findings and recommendations may assist presidents, community colleges, and state systems as they become more responsible for generating revenue and providing opportunities for the students of both today and tommorw.
Based on a study of 256 exemplary community college presidents, this book examines the attributes of outstanding leaders and their ability to orchestrate organizational change. Chapter 1 provides the background for the study, emphasizes the importance of leadership, and identifies attributes common to transformational leaders; that is, leaders who work with their followers so that each raises the other to higher levels of motivation and morality. Chapter 2 summarizes leadership theory and offers a discussion of transformational leadership and its place in a rapidly changing society. After chapter 3 reviews the study methodology, chapters 4 and 5 present findings on the demographic and leadership characteristics of the presidents selected for in-depth study. Chapters 6 through 10 discuss key elements of transformational leadership, including shared vision, teamwork and collaborative decision making, institutional climate and the relationship between the institution and the individuals within it, motivation as a means of achieving followers' acceptance of the shared vision, and personal values, integrity, and commitment to learning. Chapter 11 examines women in community college leadership roles. Finally, chapter 12 presents a summary of the research, a discussion of the problems faced by minority leaders, and a review of study implications. The survey instruments and an eighty-five-item bibliography are appended.
This book, published by the American Association of Community Colleges, contains valuable information about the nation's community college presidents. The authors provide a comprehensive profile of these leaders, highlighting different characteristics most presidents hold in common as well as important differences that emerge when data are cross-tabulated according to age, gender, and race. The findings on the risk and stress levels of the presidency could be used to encourage (or discourage) interested individuals to pursue the presidency as a career choice, and could be used by leadership training institutes to advise students about career choices and chances of success. The book contains a foreword by David R. Pierce, and chapters include: (1) "The State of the Presidency"; (2) "Family Background"; (3) "Pathways to the Presidency"; (4) "Assuming the Presidency: Routines and Relationships"; (5) "On the Job: Worldviews and Aspirations"; (6) "Views from the Trenches: Seven Presidents Speak Out"; (7) "Looking to the Future: More Views from the Trenches"; and (8) "The Presidency in Transition." The appendix contains the survey instrument. A subject index is also included. (Contains 27 references.) (CB).
Higher education has changed significantly over the past 50 years, and the individuals who provide leadership for these institutions has similarly changed. The pathway to the college presidency, once the domain of academic administration, has diversified as an increasing number of development officers, student affairs and enrollment management professionals, and even politicians have become common in the role. It is important to understand who the presidents are in the current environment and the challenges they face. Challenges such as dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, enrollment shortfalls, Title IX, and athletic scandals have risen to the forefront and have contributed to the issues and role of college and university leadership. The Handbook of Research on the Changing Role of College and University Leadership provides important research on the topic of college and university leadership, especially focusing on the changing role of the college president. The chapters discuss college leadership as it is now and how it will evolve into the future. Topics included are the role of the president at various types of universities, their involvement within university functions and activities, and the duties they must carry out and challenges they face. This book is ideal for professionals and researchers working in higher education, including faculty members who specialize in education, public administration, the social sciences, and management, along with teachers, administrators, teacher educators, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students who are interested in college and university leadership and how this role is transforming.
The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) reports over 900 presidential transitions in the last five years. It also estimated that nearly 50% of presidents will retire in the next 5 years. The flood of imminent retirements of sitting presidents and other senior leaders from community colleges is widely known. As community colleges are facing unprecedented challenges with the exodus of successful presidents, Generation X leaders are stepping in to fulfill the vacant leadership positions. This book is about them—their views on the community college presidency, new challenges facing community colleges, balancing work and other obligations, tapping future rock star leaders, and what every president needs to know that was not taught in graduate school.
