Community College Presidential Leadership: How Presidents Think and Act to Support the Holistic Needs of Their Students

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore how public community college presidents draw upon data, their core values, and lived experiences to make decisions about how they can best respond to the holistic needs of their students. Method: Utilizing secondary elite focus group data with 15 community college presidents in Texas, we employed a general qualitative approach to analyze the data through a conceptual framework that integrates community college leadership and holistic student development theory. Results: Our findings revealed that community college presidents make decisions primarily through select data sources such as external survey organizations and their own core belief systems. Although community college presidents agreed on the most pressing day-to-day issues affecting community college students today, the way in which they framed their decisions and perceptions varied across individuals and institutional contexts. As such, common strategies for addressing holistic student support are presented in this study. Contributions: The residual effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to impact community colleges in the short and long term. As a result, community college presidents are pressed to develop leadership competencies to enhance their decision-making process. This study offers timely implications closely tied to community college leadership and student development theory to inform how community college leaders can enact relevant, data-driven policies, and practices to support their students holistically.

An Approach to an Online EdD in Community College Leadership Program

The purpose of this article is to provide an example of how an EdD in Community College Leadership program is offered in an online format. First, the benefits of online programs, including increased access and flexibility for working professionals and higher levels of diversity among the student body are discussed. Then, several strategies to promote connection among students and to facilitate a supportive, engaging learning environment virtually are shared. For example, the value of using a cohort model, a carefully designed curriculum with assignments that have practical value, and a balance of synchronous and asynchronous learning activities is described. Finally, the important role of and strategies for incorporating models and mentors into an online doctoral program are discussed.

Leadership model and planning strategies in private Catholic colleges during the COVID-19 pandemic

This paper aims to examine the leadership model and planning strategy of private Catholic colleges during the COVID-19 pandemic in Samarinda City, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. This study adopted a qualitative approach using interviews, observations, and documentation to collect data from 10 lecturers and seven staff as. The collected data were then analyzed descriptively. The results of this study indicate that the leadership model that often appears as a hallmark of private Catholic college leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic is a situational and distributed leadership model, with an emphasis on principles of leadership servant in dealing with changing organizational needs. The planning strategy carried out shows a visionary leadership model, college leaders can rearrange strategies that are adapted to the situation in developing educational programs and improving the quality of the college.

Flattening the Hierarchy Curve: Adaptive Leadership during the Covid-19 Pandemic – A Case Study in an Academic Teacher Training College

The Covid-19 pandemic forced institutions of higher education to adopt agile leadership behaviors. The current research aims to examine how the leadership at the Ohalo teacher training college in Israel dealt with the crisis caused by the pandemic. The research hypothesis, predicting a positive relationship between the college leadership’s decisions and lecturers’ positive evaluations regarding these decisions, was confirmed. Previous research has given scant attention to the relationship between running an academic institution and applying principles of adaptive leadership during a crisis. This article presents a case study of adaptive leadership at an academic institution during the Covid-19 pandemic. The conclusions suggest that ensuring the continued functioning of an organization during a crisis requires skills and competencies reflecting multifaceted and adaptive leadership, agility, and direct channels of reciprocal, cooperative communication. Opportunities for initiative taking should be provided, and a consistent policy must be maintained that aims to “flatten the hierarchy curve.”

Using Social-Situational Learning to Create Career Pathways Into Community College Leadership

This chapter describes a partnership created between a community college and a university designed to create pathways into community college leadership. The program used social-situational approaches to learning, placing students enrolled in the university's higher education graduate programs into graduate assistant positions that had defined responsibilities for the college's key strategic priorities. The program introduced students to multiple leadership pathways through participation in a community college environment. Students engaged in work that significantly advanced the college's strategic initiatives. The program centered social-situational leadership development on multiple levels and circulated through the shared priorities of social justice and inclusive excellence across the community college and the university. The partnership viewed graduate student development through the lens of transformative leadership, focusing on equity, access, diversity, ethics, critical inquiry, transformational change, and social justice. These principles underlie in the mission of both institutions.