1st Edition
Community College Leadership A Multidimensional Model for Leading Change
Two-year colleges are facing major change. The majority will undergo a turnover in college presidencies in the next ten years, at a time when they are being asked to be engines for economic growth, enable more students – and a greater diversity of students – to gain 21st century qualifications, and provide a pathway to higher degrees, all with reduced state and local funding. Recognizing that future community college leaders – at all levels– will manage increasingly complex organizations, and face very different challenges than their predecessors, this book provides a multidimensional model of leadership suited to these new demands and environments. The model addresses issues of leader cognition, race and gender, the importance of culture, and the need for more collaborative modes of communication and decision making to frame and implement change. It recognizes that there is no longer any one way to lead, and that the next generation of leaders will be more diverse, possess experience and qualifications from a wider variety of careers, and follow new pathways to their positions. Leaders in the future will possess a cultural competency that is fostered by being lifelong learners.Through over 75 individual interviews with leaders and campus members, Eddy is able to provide examples of the model’s components in practice and to illuminate which experiences proved the most relevant for these leaders on their route to upper administration. She shows how her model intersects with the leadership competencies defined by the American Association of Community Colleges, and proposes strategies for future leadership development. This book is intended for anyone considering a leadership position, at any level, in a community college; for college administrators and boards responsible for leadership development programs; and for individuals in corresponding organizations who conduct training programs for aspiring leaders. Likewise, those employed at four-year universities may find value in the model as a developmental tool.
Acknowledgements Foreword—George R. Boggs 1. The Need to Re-Envision Community College Leadership 2. Multidimensional Leadership 3. Learning to Lead 4. Communicating and Framing Information on Campus 5. Leadership Competencies 6. Gender, Leadership, and the Community College 7. Planning for the Future Appendix A. Empirical and theoretical Foundations or Multidimensional Leadership Appendix b. Case Studies in Leadership References Index
Biography
Pamela L. Eddy is a Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Policy, Planning, and Leadership at the College of William and Mary. Her area of research concerns community colleges, organizational change, gender equity, and faculty work. Eddy is recognized as a key scholar on community college leadership and received recognition as the 2006 Emerging Scholar and the 2013 Senior Scholar from the Council for the Study of Community Colleges. Additionally, her scholarship was acknowledged by Central Michigan University when she received the 2007 Provost Award for her research and by the College of William and Mary when she received the 2011 Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence. She received a 2009 Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research on college partnerships in Ireland. Eddy is the author of Community College Leadership: A Multidimensional Model for Change, and Partnerships and Collaborations in Higher Education. She served as editor of New Directions for Higher Education—International Collaborations: Opportunities, Strategies, Challenges, and of New Directions for Community Colleges—Leading for the Future. Eddy was recognized for her teaching and received the 2008 Central Michigan University Teaching Excellence Award. Dr. Boggs is Superintendent/President of Palomar College in California and President & CEO Emeritus of the American Association of Community Colleges.
"Pamela L. Eddy’s Community College Leadership: A Multidimensional Model for Leading Change deserves our time for two simple reasons: first, the multidimensional model for leading change transcends community colleges and is applicable broadly within and beyond education; and, second, the author’s thoughtful inclusion of vignettes and case studies provides the day-today grounding to make her model relevant to readers of all professions. Yes, community college readers have the advantage of knowing many of the leadership challenges firsthand and will be more interested than most in sections such as “Challenges of Community College Leadership,” but this book adds sufficiently to leadership literature that it should find itself on the bookshelves of professionals across education and the private sector."
The Department Chair
“Pamela Eddy has done seminal work in creating a multidimensional model for leading change in the community college. This is an excellent resource for all aspiring community college leaders as well as those serving as senior leaders in our institutions. The book is well written and contains an exceptional combination of theory to practice ideas and thoughts. It is sure to become required reading in community college leadership development programs.”
Larry H. Ebbers, Community College Leadership Programs
Iowa State University
“The author has raised the bar on our thinking about community college leadership by presenting us with a dynamic multidimensional model. In this model leaders are viewed as unique life-long learners who lead with great skill embedded in a deep understanding of context, attend to how they create meaning for themselves, and effectively communicate such meaning and work with their constituents.”
Nan Ottenritter, Director of Professional Development for the Virginia Community College System, and former manager ofAACC’s “Leading Forward” initiative
“A significant contribution to the field of community college leadership. Pamela Eddy has written a book that will prove to be useful to current leaders as they continue to learn and to improve their effectiveness. Her audience also includes aspiring leaders who want to learn more about career pathways and how to overcome barriers. Scholars of leadership development, policy makers, and, in general, those who are concerned about the future of America’s community colleges, and who will lead them, will find this book to be valuable and thought provoking.”
From the Foreword by George R. Boggs, President and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges in Washington, DC, and Superintendent/President Emeritus
