Culture and climate theorists push us to examine more closely the social
systems that weave a web of complicated and vital interrelationships – a
web that can either empower and strengthen us or trap and confound us.
Peter Senge (1990) wants us to master the Fifth Discipline, while Jim
Collins (2001) wants us to move to move from Good to Great by leveraging
level-five leadership. Still others advocate that we get in better tune
with our organizational energy systems, develop leader and team maturity,
or look to our authentic selves and organizational souls. Making learning
about leadership even more problematic, chaos theory advocates sometimes
argue that the mix of variables is so out of our control that we have to
release ourselves to this delicate art, which requires a light touch rather
than a driving force. Margaret Wheatley (1999) would say more awareness of
“butterfly wings” and less dogged driving toward strategic plans.
Make no mistake: We feel that these theoretical examinations and
perspectives are useful. However, as Fromm (1956) notes in the opening
quote, to truly advance the art of leadership, we need to test our formal
theories and informal assumptions against the hard and sometimes cold
realities of practice. And with this in mind, we began our initial
conversations about a book dedicated to showcasing the ups and downs, ins
and outs, and joys and pains of leadership.
But it was not just leadership in the abstract in which we were interested.
It was leadership in the community college - this amazingly inspiring and
sometimes confounding context in which we work. We wanted real-life
examples of cases involving community-college governance; executive
leadership; administration and finance; instructional programs and
services; student life; legal issues, politics, and policy; fundraising;
media; technology; and workforce, partnerships, and outreach. And we wanted
a special category for those stories out of the ordinary. The final result
is the new publication from the League for Innovation, The Leadership
Dialogues: Community College Case Studies to Consider.
Of course, our categories are limited in their scope; and we hope to expand
them in the newer versions of this book. Indeed, we see our volume as the
base of an ongoing project to showcase community college cases for use in
graduate programs, leadership institutes, and administrative retreats. It
is meant to be beginning fodder for in-depth conversations about the art of
leadership in the community college.
Why focus only on community colleges? Put simply, all too often we are
lumped into discussions of K-12 or university models without sufficient and
in-depth exploration of the unique nature of our context. We argue that
there are substantially different twists to the art of leadership in a
community college; so much so that we deserve a dedicated dais for our
dialogues.
Before we outline the range and scope of the cases, we need to thank the
dozens of community college leaders who stepped forward to share their
edifying and enriching experiences for this work, which will undoubtedly be
a guide and great resource for those who will follow in their path.
Inspirational and instructive, sometimes wrenching and sometimes wry, these
contributions shine a bright light on the corridor to community college
leadership. To view a sample case study, you can visit the following link
to read George Boggs' Student Diversity Protest case.
(http://www.league.org/publication/abstracts/leadership/labs0304.htm)
To order The Learning Dialogues, visit the League Store at
http://leaguestore.sureshopping.com/, or call Judy Greenfield at (480) 705- 8200. Subscribers to League iStream can download the book free of charge at
http://istream.league.org.
We invite you now to peruse the following table of contents to get and idea
of the twists and turns of leadership in the community college that may be
used to begin your dialogues.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I: GOVERNANCE
1. Jumping In With Both Feet
Mary Ellen Duncan, President, Howard Community College (MD)
2. The Florida Council of Presidents
Susan M. Lehr, Vice President for Government Relations, Florida Community
College
3. Strengthening Community Colleges to Meet Public Needs
Kay M. McClenney, Director, Community College Survey of Student Engagement,
The University of Texas at Austin
4. A Change in Board Composition
David H. Ponitz, President Emeritus, Sinclair Community College (OH)
5. An Attempt at Overlegislation
Charles Spence, Chancellor, Contra Costa Community College District (CA)
6. System Within a System: The Evolution of Hawaii 's Community Colleges
Joyce S. Tsunoda, Vice President for International Ed ucation, University
of Hawaii; Emeritus Chancellor for Community Colleges and Distinguished
Senior Visiting Scholar, East-West Center
PART II: EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP
1. Styles or Hubris: The Balancing Act for Strong Leaders
J. David Armstrong Jr, Chancellor, Florida Community Colleges and Workforce
Ed ucation
2. Growing Our Own Leaders
Michael B. McCall, President, Kentucky Community and Technical College
System
3. Leadership for Transformation
Byron N. McClenney, Community College Leadership Program, The University of
Texas
4. Daring to Leave a Legacy
Pamela L. Whitelock, Dean of Lifelong Learning, Gulf Coast Community
College (FL)
PART III: ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE
1. Build It and They Will Come
John Anthony, President Emeritus, Collin County Community College District
(TX)
2. Thinking Through a Financial Dilemma
Leonardo de la Garza, Chancellor, Tarrant County College District (TX)
3. Raising Tuition: A Conflicting Argument
Glenn Dubois, Chancellor, Virginia Community College System
4. Anatomy of Financial Crises
Rufus Glasper, Chancellor, Maricopa Community College District (AZ)
Debra Thompson, Vice Chancellor, Business Services, Maricopa Community
College District (AZ)
5. A College's Response to a Community's Dream
David W. Sink, Jr., President, Blue Ridge Community College (NC)
6. Weathering the Storm
Tony Zeiss, President and CEO, Central Piedmont Community College (NC)
PART IV: INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS AND SERVICES
1. Assessing Student Learning: What's the Big Deal?
Marsha S. Bordner, President, Terra Community College (OH)
2. Faculty Load Fairness?
Peter D. Boyse, President, Delta College (MI)
3. Creating a Faculty Workload Policy
Diane M. Calhoun-French, Provost and Vice President for Academic and
Student Affairs, Jefferson Community and Technical College District (KY)
4. Partnerships in Technical Programs
Susan A. May, Vice President and Chief Academic Officer, Fox Valley
Technical College (WI)
5. Making the Case for the Baccalaureate Degree
Ed uardo J. Padrón, President, Miami Dade College (FL)
6. A Message of Change
Barbara Sloan, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Tallahassee Community
College (FL)
7. Ensuring Full-Time Quality With Part-Time Faculty
Linda Thor, President, Rio Salado Community College (AZ)
8. Instructional Programming on a Shoestring
B. Kaye Walter, Vice President, Academic Services, Kansas City Kansas
Community College
PART V: STUDENT LIFE
1. The Diversity Protest
George R. Boggs, President and CEO, American Association of Community
Colleges; Superintendent/President Emeritus, Palomar College (CA)
2. Collaboration Leads to New Student Success
Vernon O. Crawley, President, Moraine Valley Community College (IL)
Mary Kay Kickels, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Moraine
Valley Community College (IL)
Patricia Bauhs, Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Executive
Assistant to the President, Moraine Valley Community College (IL)
Delores Brooks, Director of Marketing and Publications Services, Moraine
Valley Community College (IL)
3. Intercollegiate Athletics as an Institutional Priority
Scott Elliott, President, Meridian Community College (MS)
4. Inclusion Rewarded
Dug Jones, Director for Student Life, Santa Fe Community College (FL)
5. Introducing Residence Halls to a Community College
Susan Salvador, Vice President, Student Services, Monroe Community College
(NY)
6. Student and Staff Relational Trust
Bettie Tully, Ombudsperson, Human Development Coordinator, and Counseling
Faculty, El Centro College (TX)
Wright Lassiter, Jr., President, El Centro College (TX)
7. Establishing a Learning Continuum
Karen A. Wells, Vice President, Learner Services and Chief Academic
Officer, Lorain County Community College (OH)
PART VI: LEGAL ISSUES, POLITICS, AND POLICY
1. A Web Untangled
Alfredo G. de los Santos Jr., Research Professor, Arizona State University,
Main; Senior League Fellow, League for Innovation in the Community College
2. When Politics and Ed ucation Converge
Robert A. Gordon, President, Humber College Institute of Technology and
Advanced Learning, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
3. Expanding Enrollments: Legal Ramifications for Widening the Open Door
Patricia Grunder, Vice President for Innovation and College Advancement,
Santa Fe Community College (FL)
4. The Sexual Predators
Bill Mullowney, Vice President for Policy and General Counsel, Valencia
Community College (FL)
5. Effective Political Advocacy at Kirkwood Community College
Steve Ovel, Executive Director, Governmental Relations, Kirkwood Community
College (IA)
PART VII: WHAT?
1. Leading a College and a Life Divided
David C. England, former President, Des Moines Area Community College
District (IA)
2. Is an Employment Contract Worth the Paper It's Written On?
James S. Kellerman, Executive Director and CEO, Missouri Community College
Association
3. Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Larry W. Tyree, Director, Institute of Higher Ed ucation, University of
Florida; Executive Director, National Alliance of Community and Technical
Colleges; Senior League Fellow, League for Innovation in the Community
College
4. The Arrested Vice President
Alice Villadsen, President, Brookhaven College (TX)
PART VIII: FUNDRAISING
1. Re-Energizine Your Board
Brenda Babitz, President, Monroe Community College Foundation (NY)
2. A Firm Foundation
Allen Edwards, President, Pellissippi College (TN)
3. Creating a Comprehensive Foundation
Cheryle Mitvalsky, Vice President of Resource Development, Kirkwood
Community College (IA)
Sue Hawn, Director of Planned Giving, Kirkwood Community College (IA)
4. Performing for Friends and Funds
Cash Pealer, President, Central Florida Community College Foundation
Mary Ann DeSantis, Coordinator of Marketing and Public Relations, Central
Florida Community College
5. Building a World-Class Community College Foundation
Peter A. Spina, President Emeritus, Monroe Community College (NY)
PART IX: MEDIA
1. Media Relations in Good and Bad Times
Augie Gallego, Chancellor, San Diego Community College District (CA)
2. The Media and the Gainesville Student Murders of 1990 Lawrence D. Keen, Associate Vice President for College Communications,
Santa Fe Community College (FL)
3. Engagement: It's More Than PR
Carole Lapensohn, Director, Gulf Coast Community College Foundation;
Director, Institutional Advancement, Gulf Coast Community College (FL)
4. Dealing With the Student Press
J. William Wenrich, Chancellor Emeritus, Dallas County Community College
District (TX)
PART X: TECHNOLOGY
1. Implementing and Sustaining a Technology Management Plan
Jan Bullard, Vice President for Administration and Finance, Santa Fe
Community College (FL)
2. Sex, Cyberspace, and the Pursuit of Academic Freedom
Suzanne L. Flannigan, Doctoral Student in Community College Leadership, The
University of Texas at Austin
Thomas G. Greene, Doctoral Student in Community College Leadership, The
University of Texas at Austin
Barbara R. Jones, Doctoral Student in Community College Leadership, The
University of Texas at Austin
3. Technology Refresh Program
Rand S. Spiwak, Executive Vice President, Daytona Beach Community College
(FL)
PART XI: WORKFORCE, PARTNERSHIPS, AND OUTREACH
1. Reforming Workforce Preparedness
Donald W. Cameron, President, Guilford Technical Community College (NC)
George M. Fouts, Former Executive Vice President, Guilford Technical
Community College (NC)
2. The Little Initiative That Could
Charles J. Carlsen, President and CEO, Johnson County Community College
(KS)
3. ESL Ice Hockey Facility
R. Thomas Flynn, President, Monroe Community College (NY)
4. Taking the Wheel of a New Economy
James L. Hudgins, President, South Carolina Technical College System
5. Partnering for Change
Edwin R. Massey, President, Indian River Community College (FL)
6. A Focus on Learning and Serving
Margaret Spontak, Executive Director, Corporate Training and Continuing
Education, Central Florida Community College
7. Adapting a Workforce Development Project to Meet a Utility Company's
Needs
Jim Willis, Vice President, Workforce Development and Continuing Ed
ucation, Southwest Tennessee Community College