Leadership in the 21st century will require new insights and a new paradigm. With nearly 100 years of combined experience in community college teaching and administration, the authors of this chapter blend theory and experience into a design for engaging the "new normal."

Describes the 10-year process in which Hagerstown Junior College (HJC) (Maryland) underwent a transition from a passive institution to a proactive agent for community renewal. Indicates that HJC redefined its civic purpose and executed its agenda through community-based programming and the facilitation of community problem solving. Includes 15…

This document explores the changes the 21st century will impose on community colleges and discusses the need for colleges to alter their objectives. It offers five points that colleges should consider in redesigning their organization: (1) change must be mission-driven, containing the element of accountability; (2) the new process must be owned by…

In August 1983, when the second largest employer in Washington County, Maryland, closed its plant, the local unemployment rate was 13%. The following month, Hagerstown Junior College (HJC) received $50,000 in state funds to initiate a dislocated worker (DLW) program. The program included orientation by a counselor, diagnostic testing, and…

Although vocational educators seem to be agreed on the priorities for their profession, research has found that the quality of vocational programs overall is highly variable and that the access of disadvantaged students to good programs is not ensured. The literature suggests that the challenges posed by new technologies and new clients, and a…

Considers the contrasting yet complementary relationship of accountability and parity with respect to part-time faculty. Using Hagerstown Junior College as a frame of reference, considers formative and summative evaluation objectives and procedures for part-time faculty evaluation. Looks at the utility of evaluation and its benefits to faculty and…

A view of the appropriate role of community colleges in the transfer of technology to business and industry is presented in this paper. Introductory material defines technology transfer as a strategy integrating knowledge of the latest technological practices, procedures for their implementation, tactics for their integration into existing…

At Hagerstown Junior College (HJC), a project was developed to integrate the college's need for increased enrollment with community college faculty development and industry's need for worker retraining. The project involved agreements between HJC and Mack Trucks, the largest employer in the college's service area. The first program developed, the…

Honors programs are a viable part of the community college response to the challenges of the late 1980's. The growth in the two-year college memberships in Phi Theta Kappa and the National Collegiate Honors Council suggests that greater attention is being given to the academically able students at the two-year college. A rationale for developing…

This paper portrays community colleges as American institutions facing a critical need for self-assessment, especially as the new millennium approaches and effects an ever-increasing reliance on technology and information. Focusing on organizational sustainability, a generative method for change is described that emphasizes processes, team…

This paper addresses how community colleges should effect multidimensional, dynamic, and rapid change. It describes a three-stage paradigm of educational transition: (1) organizations cannot be changed by imposing an external model; (2) there is no objective reality outside an organization's culture; and (3) dynamic change is the result of…

Recent shifts toward collaborative learning and learner-centered language indicates that: (1) student diversity is increasing; (2) delivery, interaction, and assessment must occur across an expanding range of contexts, cultures, and knowledge parameters; and (3) learners must be empowered to accept responsibility for their learning and also to…

Explains the technology transfer strategy, "Transformations," developed by the Center for Occupational Research and Development to provide pretechnology, technology core, and specialized training to help students learn or relearn the skills needed by today's technological work force. Describes the implementation of the strategy at…

This paper proposes a process for community colleges to engage and direct discontinuous change in the face of the coming millennium. Described are several characteristics of change envisioned in the near future, including a complete break with the past, major reconstruction of nearly every element of the organization, and modification of the…

The pressures engendered by the scarce resources of the 1980s demand the development of new organizational designs that respond to local cultural, economic, and social needs. In the Cumberland and Shenandoah Valleys, a four-state region containing 12 postsecondary institutions, a voluntary association of colleges was formed to solve mutual and…