ERIC ED417789: The Community College Presidency at the Millennium.

189 Pages·1998·1.7 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
JC 980 187
ED 417 789
Vaughan, George B.; Weisman, Iris M.
AUTHOR
The Community College Presidency at the Millennium.
TITLE
American Association of Community Colleges, Washington, DC.
INSTITUTION
ISBN-0-87117-311-5
ISBN
1998-00-00
PUB DATE
188p.; Foreword by Donald E. Puyear.
NOTE
Community College Press, American Association of Community
AVAILABLE FROM
Colleges, One Dupont Circle, N.W., Suite 410, Washington, DC
20036 (Order No. 1418, $26 members; $33 non-members).
-- Reports - Descriptive (141)
Books (010)
PUB TYPE
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EDRS Price MF01 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
*Administrator Attitudes; *Administrator Characteristics;
DESCRIPTORS
College Administration; *College Presidents; *Community
Colleges; Comparative Analysis; *Educational Background;
*Employment Experience; Females; Leadership Qualities;
Males; Minority Groups; National Surveys; Two Year Colleges
*Career and Lifestyle Survey
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
Based on a 1996 national study of community college
presidents, this monograph presents a snapshot of presidents' personal and
professional characteristics. A preface describes the purpose of the study
and reviews methodology, indicating that the Career and Lifestyle Survey
(CLS) was sent to 926 presidents, resulting in 680 responses, and that
in-depth telephone interviews were conducted with 1.1 presidents. Chapter 1
presents background information on the CLS and reviews general
characteristics of past presidents involved in the foundation of colleges in
the 1960s and 1970s. Chapter 2 presents findings related to resrondents'
(2) educational and
(1) demogr&phics;
personal characteristics, including:
family background; and (3) lifestyle factors, such as geographic mobility,
social affiliations, and leisure activities. Chapter 3 focuses on
professional characteristics including work background, professional
activities and attitudes, employment status, and plans to leave the
presidency. Chapter 4 summarizes comments from the 13 presidents interviewed
regarding the community college mission, available resources, and existing
threats. Chapter 5 provides a comparison of presidential characteristics by
race and gender and reviews issues related to increasing the representation
of women and minorities in the presidency. Chapter 6 reviews respondents'
techniques for establishing and maintaining relationships with college boards
and faculty. Chapter 7 addresses issues facing college leaders in the next
four or five years and respondents' strategies for preparing for the future.
The CLS and telephone interview questions are appended.
(BCY)
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4
a
ABLE.
'n'OPY
2
The
COMMUNITY
COLLEGE
PRESIDENCY
at the
MILLENNIUM
George B. Vaughan
and Iris M. Weisman
Foreword by Donald E. Puyear
COMMUNITY COLLEGE PRESS®
a division of the American Association of
Community Colleges
Washington, D.C.
3
© 1998 American Association of Community Colleges
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including, without limitation, photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without written permission.
Requests for permission should be sent to
Community College Press
American Association of Community Colleges
One Dupont Circle, NW
Suite 410
Washington, DC 20036
[phone]
Printed in the United States of America.
ISBN 0-87117-311-5
4
CONTENTS
List of Figures
iv
List of Tables
iv
Foreword
v
Preface
ix
xv
Acknowledgments
1 Building on the Foundations
1
2 A Personal Profile of the Presidency
19
3 A Professional Profile of the Presidency
45
4 Mission and Milieu: Views from the Trenches
73
5 Women and Minorities in the
Community College Presidency
97
6 Establishing and Maintaining Relationships
125
7 Issues Facing Community College Leaders
at the Millennium
137
Appendixes
1. Survey Instrument
159
z. Interview Questions
163
References
165
Index
169
About the Authors
173
111
Figures
Presidents by Race or Ethnicity
Figure 2.1
24
Figure 2.2
z6
Current Age of Presidents
Figure 2.3
Presidents' Political Party Affiliation
and Political Ideology
29
Figure 3.I
Presidential Tenure
47
Figure 3.z
Years in Current Position
48
Total Number of Presidencies
Figure 3.3
49
Figure 3.4
Position Held Before
First Presidency
53
Presidential Membership in
Figure 3.5
Professional Organizations
57
Figure 3.6
Publications by Presidents
59
Presidents' Plans to Retire
Figure 3.7
69
Tables
Presidents by Gender and
Table 5.1
Race or Ethnicity
100
I0I
Table 5.z
Current Age of Presidents
Average Presidential
Table 5.3
1oz
Tenure (in Years)
Table 5.4
Age at First Presidency
103
Average Reported Hours
Table 5.5
per Week Spent Performing
Presidential Duties
104
Table 5.6
Perception of Stress Associated
with the Presidency
105
Table 5.7
Perception of Risk Associated
io6
with the Presidency
Table 5.8
Likelihood of Presidents Seeking or
Accepting Another Position within
the Next Five Years
107
'08
Presidents' Plans to Retire
Table 5.9
iv
6
FOREWORD
George Vaughan and Iris Weisman have provided another
important contribution to our understanding of the com-
munity college presidency. This is the third national study
Vaughan has conducted on the characteristics of community
college presidents. The information presented throughout the
book will be useful to those who wish to understand commu-
nity colleges and their leaders. The sections of the work that
address both historical and future issues facing community col-
lege leaders are intriguing.
The historical perspective of chapter 1 sets the context for a
review of personal and professional profiles of today's commu-
nity college presidents in chapters 2 and 3 ("A Personal Profile
of the Presidency" and "A Professional Profile of the Presidency,"
respectively). These two chapters, and a good bit of chapter 5
("Women and Minorities in the Community College Presidency"),
come from the most recent iteration of Career and Lifestyle
Survey (CLS). In this survey, community college presidents were
asked a series of questions regarding their personal back-
grounds, their education and experience before becoming pres-
ident, their personal and professional lifestyles as president, and
Community College Presidency at the Millennium
vi
their future plans. As is demonstrated by the type of analysis in
these chapters, this research becomes even more valuable when
it is repeated over time. Trends are identified and the results of
the trends are analyzed.
In chapter 6 ("Establishing and Maintaining Relationships")
the human and relational aspects of the presidency are consid-
ered. This chapter draws on information on the president-
board relationship previously obtained from a complementary
study by Vaughan and Weisman.
In-depth interviews with a number of community college
presidents are included in a new and quite fascinating feature
of this volume. In these interviews, the issues, concerns, and
visions of the presidents are explored in a most effective man-
ner. These results are reported in chapter 4 ("Mission and
Milieu: Views from the Trenches"), chapter 5 ("Women and
Minorities in the Community College Presidency"), and
chapter 7 ("Issues Facing Community College Leaders at the
Millennium"). These sections are the heart of the work; here
one gets the sense of what is really important to today's com-
munity college presidents.
Also in chapter 7, the presidents' responses to the survey
questions regarding the major issue facing the community col-
lege in the next three to four years and what presidents can do
to prepare their institutions to face the issue are synthesized.
These issues and strategies are followed by comments of the
interviewed presidents regarding the leadership skills that will
be needed by presidents in the millennium.
Many of the presidents interviewed for this book stated that
getting community and political leaders to understand the com-
munity college mission was one of their greatest challenges. Is
that, perhaps, because we are hanging on to the old answers
when it is the questions that should be doctrine? What are the
educational and training needs associated with today's and
tomorrow's societal imperatives and how and where are this
8
FOREWORD
Vii
education and training to be provided? The answers must be
developed anew in light of the changing demographics, tech-
nology, and needs of today's citizens. They must be developed
in collaboration with those who will be served. As community
colleges serve their communities with renewed vigor and vital-
ity, they just might be better understood.
In this book, Vaughan and Weisman have chronicled
changes in the characteristics of community college presidents
as we have moved from the first to the second or third genera-
tion of presidents at most colleges. Most of the founding presi-
dents, and even most of the immediate protégés of the founding
presidents, have moved on. The corps of presidents has become
more diverse in gender and to a lesser degree in race or ethnic-
ity. Yet one thing has not changed: Presidents need to have a
vision of the contributions that community colleges can make
to society and the zeal to lead their institutions to accomplish
their missions.
DONALD E. PUYEAR
Executive Director
State Board of Directors for
Community Colleges of Arizona
PREFACE
This book provides a snapshot of the community college
presidency by studying the personal and professional pro-
files of community college presidents. The data used in this
book come primarily from national studies in which presidents
completed a Career and Lifestyle Survey (CLS). In addition,
interviews with 13 community college presidents further reveal
the challenges that community college presidents currently face
and those they will face in the next century.
In 1984, 591 out of 838 public community college presi-
dents (71 percent) participated in the CLS study; in 1991,
837 out of 1,097 public community college presidents (76
percent) participated in the study; and in 1996, 680 out of
926 public community college presidents (73 percent) partic-
ipated in the study:
The surveys taken in 1984, 1991, and 1996 provide the
data for assessing changes that have occurred in the presidency
over time. During that 12-year period, some personal charac-
teristics did not seem to change at all, whereas other changes
1. See Vaughan, 1986, and Vaughan, Mellander, & Blois, 1994, for a com-
plete description of the results of the first two studies.