The role of a college president continues to present new and evolving challenges. Cuts to federal and state funding, declining enrollment, rapid changes in technology, and the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, paired with ongoing retirements, have left higher education leaders with a new set of challenges. While women are beginning to…

Funding for public higher education has been cut in Kentucky in the decade starting 2008 (Spalding, 2019). Due to several contributing factors, including entitlement programs, healthcare costs, the great recession, and other competing demands at the state level, this is a nationwide trend and is not predicted to reverse any time soon. This funding…

As a presidential search consultant, Preston Pulliams has had the opportunity to observe and participate in many presidential search interviews and the meetings where hiring decisions are made. He has observed how some interview candidates simply knocked themselves out of contention by employing one or more of five poor interview strategies. In…

First-time community college presidents are typically chosen from the senior ranks of two-year colleges' administrations, so they know what the job entails to some extent--at least from a close secondhand perspective. Leaders of community colleges who have taken the reins in the mid-2010s say that a close secondhand view only goes so far in…

The purpose of this study included two main goals. The first was to provide a common definition for community college institutional effectiveness through a review of the literature and from the personal definitions of a panel of community colleges presidents leading notably effective community colleges. The second purpose was to review the…

Colleges and universities across the nation are seeking a president with unique qualities to transform their institution. Notwithstanding, surprisingly, few studies have examined how African American presidents confront race while also successfully ascending into the presidency. The purpose of this study was to explore and interpret the…

The California Community Colleges, through the Economic and Workforce Development Program (EWD), continue to propel the California economy forward by providing students with skills to earn well-paying jobs. At the same time, EWD helps provide California companies with the talent they need to compete on a global scale. This annual report for…

The purpose of this short article is to review the findings from an instrumental case study that examines how a college president used what this article refers to as "frame alignment processes" to mobilize internal and external support for a college initiative--one that achieved success under the current president. Specifically, I…

Several longitudinal reports predicted a potential crisis in the nation's community college system: a leadership gap due to a sizeable number of retirements of presidents and other high ranking college leaders. First reported at the beginning of 2000, the gap continues to grow, and recent research highlights the continuing trend. In the near…

Building relationships is the essence of the community college. Higher education administrators learned long ago that building rapport with businesses, state and local government, and constituents is the best way to represent the interests of the community. But that does not make it easy. Board members come and go and the shifting dynamics of…

Since its launch in September 2015, Heads Up America has collected information on nearly 125 promise programs across the country, many of which were instituted long before President Barack Obama announced the America's College Promise (ACP) plan in 2015. At least 27 new free community college programs have launched in states, communities, and at…

This study explored how community college presidents understood spirituality as part of a community college institution. Using a purposive criterion sample, five community college presidents were interviewed in the natural setting of their individual colleges. The interviews took place over a thirteen month period of time. A phenomenological…

When the 10 members of the American Association of Community College's (AACC's) 21st-Century Implementation Team 7 (nine of whom are community college presidents) sat down in 2013 to talk about reforming institutional roles and functions at the nation's two-year career and technical colleges, everyone in the room knew the work before them would be…

As community colleges focus on becoming more efficient and preparing more students for success in a climate of reduced state and federal funding, many institutions are reaching out to neighbors in business and industry, forming partnerships and working together to achieve goals that require money and resources colleges are unlikely to raise on…

Amy Morrison Goings was 40 years old in 2013 when she began her presidency at Lake Washington Institute of Technology. She didn't consider herself a representative of all Generation X community college presidents, but as a member of this tight-knit group, she does feel a need to share her insight into what's on the minds of that community.…