Community College Leadership Commons^™

Strategizing For The Future, Pamela L. Eddy, Jaime Lester

Pamela L. Eddy

This final chapter reviews strategies that community colleges can use to address issues of gender and create more equitable and pluralistic environments. It also discusses the need for research that examines the intersection between social identities and community college mission, culture, and environment.

New Faculty Issues—Fitting In And Figuring It Out, Pamela L. Eddy

Pamela L. Eddy

The first chapter in this volume presents an overview of the faculty personnel challenges facing community colleges; the next three discuss the socialization and professional development of new faculty. Authors stress the importance of understanding differences among the typs of community colleges and the importance of gender and racial/thnic diversity among the facultry of the institutions who educate the majority of undergraduate females and students of color. The volume concludes with chapters on legal aspects related to the faculty employment and the experiences of presidents and senior instructional administrators, giving valuable guidance to those actively involved in the hiring process. …

Leading In The Middle, Pamela L. Eddy, Marilyn J. Amey

Pamela L. Eddy

Understanding Community Colleges provides a critical examination of contemporary issues and practices and policy of community colleges. This contributed volume brings together highly respected scholars as well as new scholars for a comprehensive analysis of the community college landscape, including management and governance, finance, student demographics and development, teaching and learning, policy, faculty, and workforce development. Written for students enrolled in higher education and community college graduate programs, as well as social sciences scholars, this provocative new edition covers the latest developments in the field, including trends in enrollment, developmental education, student services, funding, and shared governance. At the end …

Editor’S Notes, Pamela L. Eddy

Pamela L. Eddy

The AACC competencies were initially developed to help provide guidance in developing community college leaders because of predictions of a leadership crisis in the two-year college sector.

Since their creation, the competencies have been used to direct topics in leadership development programs and to guide future leaders about what skills are critical to master. Yet scant research exists on the use of the competencies in practice or on analysis of the competencies within the changing higher education climate.

This issue provides a review of the research on the competencies in the field and posits several strategies for the future use …

A Holistic Perspective Of Leadership Competencies, Pamela L. Eddy

Pamela L. Eddy

The AACC competencies were initially developed to help provide guidance in developing community college leaders because of predictions of a leadership crisis in the two-year college sector.

Since their creation, the competencies have been used to direct topics in leadership development programs and to guide future leaders about what skills are critical to master. Yet scant research exists on the use of the competencies in practice or on analysis of the competencies within the changing higher education climate.

This issue provides a review of the research on the competencies in the field and posits several strategies for the future use …

In The Middle: Career Pathways Of Midlevel Community College Leaders, Regina L. Garza Mitchell, Pamela L. Eddy

Pamela L. Eddy

The leadership crisis in community colleges has led to speculation on who will lead these colleges in the future and how best to prepare leaders for these positions. Traditionally, little research occurred regarding midlevel administrators despite the fact that the majority of presidents come from within the ranks. The findings from this research show that midlevel administrators have little desire to move into top-level positions. Colleges need to consider how to make leadership more attractive and begin developing leaders for future openings.

Framing The Role Of Leader: How Community College Presidents Construct Their Leadership, Pamela L. Eddy

Pamela L. Eddy

Presidents are one of the most studied of administrative roles, yet little research occurs on understanding how these leaders construct their own leadership. Thus, the question guiding the research reported here concerned how community college presidents cognitively framed their leadership roles. This study involved the interviewing of 9 community college presidents. Findings uncovered 3 themes. The first theme identified how the presidents' underlying mental maps guided decision-making and leadership on campus. The second theme linked the basic cognitive orientation of the presidents with on-going situated cognition in their new work settings. Learning evolved based on environmental factors. The final category …

Nested Leadership: The Interpretation Of Organizational Change In A Multicollege System, Pamela L. Eddy

Pamela L. Eddy

College leaders serve important roles as guides for campus understanding during times of change. Within multicollege districts, campus members deal with several levels of leadership, ranging from department chairs, to the college president, to the system chancellor. These leaders may send conflicting messages regarding change, or have competing end goals for change. The research reported here sought to investigate the influence of the system chancellor on change initiatives at the individual colleges within the system. Findings from this investigation concluded that leadership within the system was nested, whereby the overall direction of change came from the chancellor, and was replicated …

Leaders As Linchpins For Framing Meaning, Pamela L. Eddy

Pamela L. Eddy

Community college leaders serve as linchpins for framing meaning on campus. The current pressures on institutions (given declining financial resources, demands for accountability, changing faculty ranks, and societal need for new knowledge) require presidents to juggle multiple priorities while presenting a cohesive message to campus constituents. This study examined how the presidents at nine community colleges communicated with college constituents and framed the meaning of those communications to help the college community make sense of ongoing change. Interviews with the presidents, as well as with key administrators, faculty members, and staff members, revealed that the presidents used emissaries to disseminate …

Crossing Boundaries Creating Community College Partnerships To Promote Educational Transitions, Marilyn J. Amey, Pamela L. Eddy, Timothy G. Campbell

Pamela L. Eddy

Community college partnerships with institutions in other educational sectors (including schools and universities) are important and strategic ways of meeting the educational needs of college constituents and maximizing resources to achieve local and state economic development goals. Understanding what is required for effective partnerships is important in determining when and how to engage in these collaborative, but sometimes costly, arrangements. This article presents a model of partnership development that emphasizes the role of social and organizational capital in the formation of partnership capital that contributes to the long-term success of collaborative efforts.

Grocery Store Politics: Leading The Rural Community College, Pamela L. Eddy

Pamela L. Eddy

Rural America is characterized by decreasing populations, increasing poverty, limited economic growth, and limited access to cultural events. The context of the rural environment makes leading colleges in these locations different than in larger, more urban regions. The research reported here investigated the experience of rural community college leaders to determine more about the phenomenon of how they constructed their leadership given their rural context. Findings indicate less anonymity for rural community college leaders, a reliance on relationship building to accomplish goals, and a smaller local peer network to aid in reflecting upon the duties of the president.

Developing Leaders: The Role Of Competencies In Rural Community Colleges, Pamela L. Eddy

Pamela L. Eddy

Pending retirements underscore the need to develop community college campus leaders. Rural community colleges will be particularly hard-hit by changes in leadership as they represent the majority of 2-year colleges and face unique challenges given their location. To help address the anticipated leadership transition, the American Association of Community Colleges developed a set of competencies to frame critical skill areas and guide leadership development efforts. The research reported here showed both resource development and organizational strategy as areas of weakness for rural leaders and, paradoxically, the areas of most need. Leaders acquired competencies predominantly on the job, which has implications …

Emerging Definitions Of Leadership In Higher Education, Pamela L. Eddy, Kim E. Vanderlinden

Pamela L. Eddy

The higher education literature suggests that alternative leadership styles are replacing the traditionally held definitions of leadership and provide new and different (and possibly superior) ways to understand leadership. This article looks for parallels within the current leadership literature to see if community college administrators use the alternative language or emerging definitions of leadership to self-describe their own leadership or if their self-descriptions fit the more traditional hierarchical ideal of the positional or "hero" leader.