Community College Leadership and Administration: Theory, Practice, and Change (review)

In an attempt to take on the monumental task of preparing the next generation of leaders for community colleges, Carlos Nevarez and J. Luke Wood have created a primer for those who would like to better understand the robust nature of contemporary community college leadership. With unusually high rates of community college administrators retiring in the coming years, works of this nature are quite welcome.

In 2006, The Chronicle of Higher Education estimated that more than 50% of senior administrators will retire in the next five to 10 years, and “human-resources consultants say many colleges are poorly prepared to replace the administrators who will soon depart” (Leubsdorf, 2006). The Chronicle followed up the next year with an article that took the position: “Colleges can’t simply recruit their way out of their leadership shortage.” Many presidents have retired prematurely from community college posts because “they were not prepared to deal with union negotiations or fund raising or local politicians” (Ashburn, 2007).

Anyone who has studied contemporary leadership issues in higher education can appreciate the wide array of concerns that academic leaders must confront to sustain and improve educational opportunities for students.

Carlos Nevarez, Director and Associate Professor of the Doctorate in Educational Leadership Program at California State University, Sacramento, and J. Luke Wood, Statewide Co-Coordinator of the Arizona Program for Policy, Ethics, and Education Leadership, identify and offer best practices to issues facing academic leaders in Community College Leadership and Administration: Theory, Practice, and Change.

They outline contemporary issues in community college leadership by addressing the vision and mission of community colleges. They also provide a noteworthy history of this type of higher learning institution that has found its way to all 50 states and has continued to grow in enrollment with few signs of slowing. In 2008 the nationwide enrollment in public two-year institutions was 6,640,071, representing a 35% increase in a 10-year period (“Growth in Undergraduate Enrollments,” 2010).

This history will help readers appreciate that the community college is relatively new compared to the traditional four-year model and has undergone significant metamorphoses in a short period of time. Nevarez and Wood identify Joliet Junior College, founded in 1900 and offering a comprehensive curriculum since 1901, as the oldest public two-year college still in existence (p. 33).

Each of the book’s 12 chapters begins with a brief abstract and follows with questions to be considered, a comprehensive discussion of the issue, and a follow-up case study for the aspiring or practicing academic administrator/leader to analyze. These 12 chapters are: “The Community College Vision and Mission,” “Historical Legacy of Community Colleges,” “Leadership and Leadership Theory,” “Achievement Gap and the Role of Community Colleges,” “Ethical Leadership and Decision Making,” “Faculty in the Community College,” “Demographic Trends,” “Leadership in Student Affairs,” “Community College Finance,” “Community College Governance,” “Leadership Development in the Community College,” and “Emerging Trends in the Community College.”

All of these topics are worthy of consideration, but the three most crucial to Nevarez and Wood are the need for leadership in student affairs (Chapter 8), finance (Chapter 9), and emerging trends (Chapter 12).

The authors point out the lack of scholarly literature on the role of student affairs (p. 176), which they divide into three operations: (a) technical (e.g., registration, counseling), (b) campus life (e.g., student government, clubs/organizations), and (c) nexus (e.g., academic advising, retention). While each operation could be a book by itself, the authors’ intent is to highlight this often-neglected, or at least deemphasized, aspect of community colleges. Nevarez and Wood recognize that student affairs is “directly linked to three core aspects of the community college mission: (1) serving ‘local community needs,’ (2) providing ‘comprehensive educational programming,’ and (3) student success (i.e., aiding students in achieving their academic and career goals)” (p. 182).

They see the marginalization of student affairs offices as contributing...