Developing Tomorrow's Leaders: Context, Challenges, and Capabilities(The Futures Series on Community Colleges)

The contributions of community colleges to society are well-documented. Yet, today’s community colleges are at a cross road. Decreases in funding support, a push for college completion, attention on developmental course work, and a host of other demands create a dynamic context for community college operations. Who leads these colleges matters as they face these demands and how they lead influences outcomes. Pending leadership retirements provide a prime opportunity for thinking about community college leadership in new ways. Entering this environment are prospective and aspiring leaders who are often not adequately prepared for the complexities of managing in a paradoxical organization. The era of accountability puts a fine point on the need for leaders to pay heed to the policy making process and to requirements dictated by state legislative bodies and accreditation bodies. Foundations and grant funders serve as instigators for changes in community colleges, as well and also support research into ways to link employer needs to college curricular changes. This book argues that neo-leaders are required to lead transformational change for today and tomorrow’s community colleges. No longer can we rely on single leaders atop a hierarchy. Talent throughout the institution must be tapped. The authors argue that networked leadership is needed. For networked leadership, we begin to advance thinking about the role of networks and connections among leaders throughout the college and beyond the college’s walls. This volume outlines underlying values critical for neo-leaders and offers questions leaders at various levels can use to jumpstart the type of courageous conversations needed on campus. The tools presented in this book provide current and aspiring leaders with resources to prepare for successfully leading the way and developing new leaders to shape the future. Our community colleges and their students require nothing less.

Table of Contents:
CONTENTS About the Series Other Books in the Series Foreword Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Setting the Context Chapter 2: Change and Organizational Transformation Chapter 3: Leading the Transformation Chapter 4: Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders Chapter 5: Strategically Looking Forward Index About the Authors

About the Author :
Pamela L. Eddy is professor of higher education in the Department of Educational Policy, Planning, and Leadership at the College of William and Mary. Her research interests include community college leadership and development, gender roles in higher education, and faculty development. Her scholarship was recognized with the 2013 Senior Scholar Award for the Council for the Study of Community Colleges. Debbie L. Sydowis President of Richard Bland College, an affiliate of The College of William and Mary in Virginia. She is President Emerita and Distinguished Professor of English at the State University of New York’s (SUNY) Onondaga Community College and Co-Editor of the Futures Series on Community Colleges. Richard L. Alfred is Emeritus Professor of Higher Education at the University of Michigan. He is Co-Editor of the Futures Series on Community Colleges and Founding Director of the Center for Community College Development. Alfred has published widely in the fields of management and leadership, organizational change and development, and effectiveness and has consulted extensively with colleges engaged in transformation. Regina L. Garza Mitchell is assistant professor of higher education leadership at Western Michigan University. She has over fourteen years of experience in higher education leadership, including senior administration at a technical college. Regina’s research interests include leadership and online education at community colleges.

Review :
The authors’ backgrounds represent experienced community college leadership and higher education faculty with academic credentials in community college leadership. These multiple perspectives add to the richness and strength of the book. . . .The book calls for visionary leaders who are bold, creative, and willing to take risks as community colleges become increasingly more complex in nature. . . .The major strength of the book is the presentation of the past, present, and future in very clear terms. Further, it provides a clear rationale for change that needs to occur due to the shifting environment both within and outside the institution. This book is incredibly bold and forthcoming as a model for a future community college leader. As stated above, this book may make current community college leaders uncomfortable, as it introduces ideas, changes, and processes quite different from what some current leaders may be using today. . . .Overall, this book is a good resource for emerging community college leaders who want to be at the forefront of change as they are gaining the skills and knowledge to prepare themselves to be effective future leaders. This book also provides strategies for current community college leaders who want to inspire transformation in the midst of the rapid growth and change that is happening at their own institutions. Dick Alfred has been influencing community college and leadership development throughout his 45-year career. Now, with co-authors Pamela Eddy, Debbie Sydow, and Regina Garza Mitchell, he pushes the leadership agenda in ways that community colleges have never before imagined. Community college leaders and trustees owe it to themselves to read this provocative book that highlights the leadership required to engineer the disruptive innovations that will position community colleges for their next evolution. Community colleges were created to do what no one else would: address a community’s unmet higher education and workforce training needs. Meeting that dynamic mission requires a generation of creative and bold leaders. This book is an asset for the fearless few who pursue the most important and exciting jobs in American education, knowing that their performance may well determine the nation’s economic future. Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders: Context, Challenges and Capabilities is an important new book about leadership in community colleges in a future that will be dramatically different from the landscape colleges are operating in today. The authors describe the skills that leaders will need to be effective in tomorrow’s colleges, where a new generation of leaders will be found, and how they can be developed. Prominent in this work is an analysis of current approaches to leadership development and a blueprint for changes required to prepare the next generation of leaders. Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders is a critical first step in transforming the way leaders are prepared for careers at the helm of the dynamic organization that is the American community college. As Chancellor, the success of my district depends on great leaders, and this volume serves as an important “how to” for helping us all to think differently about leadership development. Certain to be another bestseller in the series, Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders: Context, Challenges, and Capabilities provides designs for bold, visionary leadership and creative innovation, vital as our complex environment requires seeing things in different ways. The authors develop important concepts related to new power structures and networked leadership that are extremely timely, and I heartily recommend the volume to everyone who is planning for the future. The authors' examination of the community college movement's evolution through the lens of leadership leads one to agree — the ambiguous future requires leaders who can identify real opportunities and implement change systemically. Community colleges are the backbone of the United States’ postsecondary system. This truly American invention provides a pathway to the middle class (and higher) for millions of Americans yet despite their ubiquity, they are often misunderstood and under appreciated. However, the ability of community colleges to continue to function in the uncertain funding environment of the future will require leadership that is adept, knowledgeable, nimble, and most importantly, well-trained. Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders is a timely call to action for the training and guidance of the next generations of community college leaders. As a career-long community college educator, I found the ideas presented in Developing Tomorrow's Leaders timely, evocative, informative, and practical. 21st century community colleges cannot support student success if our model remains essentially what it has been in the 20th century. Authors Pamela Eddy, Debbie Sydow, Richard Alfred and Regina Garza Mitchell have the collective experience, vision and courage to both astutely analyze current community college reality and outline how to nurture the disruptive innovation and leadership necessary to craft a compelling and successful future. Anyone concerned about the contribution community colleges make to individual students, local communities, and society will find the arguments in this book persuasive.