Competencies and Personal Characteristics of a Community College President
...by someone who was exposed to the liberal arts by college-educated parents (10-15). Another interesting aspect of Vaughan’s study looked at what community college presidents do when they are “off duty.” About 32 percent of the presidents belong to a country club, but the majority of these, 80 percent, use the country club for professional entertaining. Golf was given as the sport of choice for 39 percent of the presidents surveyed, followed by fishing, jogging, swimming, tennis, skiing, and hunting. At point of interest here is there are more deals made on the golf course than in any office in America. Additionally, 86 percent of presidents belong to one or more service clubs; in fact, in many cases service club membership “comes with the job.” Especially in rural areas, the president is expected to join a local service club, in part because these form a point of contact with the business and professional community. The service club of choice for the community college presidents interviewed is Rotary, to which 65 percent belong. Kiwanis is a distant second, with about 14 percent, followed by Lions Club. Of the female presidents interviewed, the most popular organization is Delta Kappa Gamma, followed by American Association of University Women, Business Women and Professional Club, and the American Association of Women in Junior and Community Colleges. Both male and female presidents serve on the board of directors of local Chamber of Commerce (23-25). A follow-up to study to Vaughan’s earlier study reported in The Community College Presidency was done in 1996 and reported by Vaughan and Weisman in The Community College Presidency at the Millennium. The most significant difference found in these two studies was that 1996 there was an increase in the percentage of female presidents. Of the respondents to the 1996 survey, nearly 18 percent are female compared to around 11 percent on the earlier survey. Vaughan and Weisman attribute this increase to a new awareness of the importance of women’s being in leadership roles. National associations as well as state boards of trustees have called for an increase in the number of women in leadership positions (20). Other statistics of the 1996 survey are very similar to the earlier survey, making the point that obviously the presidential profile is very slow to change. The 1996 survey showed the current average of the presidents to be 54, with ages ranging from 29 to 72 and the most common age (mode) to be 58. In the latest survey 93 percent of presidents are between 45 and 65. The average age of presidents has increased slightly since 1984, when the average age was 51. (25-26). Marriage status of presidents has changed little (27), and family background has changed only slightly with the vast majority of community college presidents still coming from blue-collar backgrounds (33). Civil and social affiliation and country club affiliation remain about the same (40-41). Over the past twelve years the number of presidents who hold a doctorate has increased. In the 1996 survey 89 percent of the 677 presidents who responded to the survey held a doctorate compared to 76 percent in 1984. 45 percent of the current presidents hold an Ed.D, and 44 percent have a Ph.D. A doctorate in some form of education is held by 72 percent of current presidents (32-33). What ever the background of the president, he has many duties to fulfill and many constituencies to deal with. According to Vineyard in The Pragmatic Presidency, the four basic constituencies with which the president must deal are faculty, students, regents, and the general public. In dealing with faculty, Vineyard contends that the president “must convey to the faculty that he perceives his professional identity as being on of them who happens to have a broader assignment” (61). Fisher agrees that the president must work closely and well with the faculty since “faculty members are the body and the heart of a college or university. It is the faculty who must deliver. Also, the faculty is the most measurable test of a president’s leadership, influence, and mission.” (101). To get along well with the faculty, the president must continue his interest in instructional matters. The faculty should view the president as an academician, and the president should see that academic standards are upheld throughout the organization. If the president continues scholarly interest and pursuits, he or she may find it easier to relate to the faculty (Vineyard 61-63). On the question of getting along with the faculty, Fisher says that the president should make sure the faculty knows more about the affairs of the institution than they want to and the president should see that the faculty plays a significant role in virtually all campus affairs. However, faculty meeting are not the way to involve faculty. In fact, Fisher says, “To schedule more than two faculty meetings a year is an exercise in intellectual anarchy and will yield a thousand directions, and unhappy faculty, and a frustrated president” (197-198). Vineyard admits that in dealing with the second constituency, students, the president is wise to limit direct interactions; however, he or she must be visible on campus and must be willing to attend activities, greet students on campus, and be accessible to students with problems. The president must be willing to listen to students with problems, examine the circumstances, and make a fair judgment. Students should never feel that an appeal to the president is an exercise in futility. Another area in which the president must deal with students relates to the athletic program. Athletics is one area where the interest of the president and a large segment of the study body meet. The president should not only be the number one fan of the college’s teams but should also make sure that the athletic program of the college stays within the prescribed guidelines of both the institution and athletic associations with which the college is associated. The president is also ultimately responsible for seeing that athletics are kept in a proper perspective (64-66). Simone, in “The President’s Role in Public Relations,” makes suggestions on the president’s dealing with the third constituency, the board. Simone says that to be effective, a president must work closely with the board of trustees and offers three pieces of advice: 1) The board and president must work as a team. 2) The board and president should clearly define the role of each in public relations. (3) 3) The president should help to identify opportunities for the board to work to actively advance the mission of the college (72). Vineyard in his discussion of the president’s relationship with governing board says that it is the president’s obligation to give the board a proper orientation to their role and to keep them informed about instructional affairs. The board cannot be expected to have knowledge of all areas in which policy is needed; consequently, the president must advise the board and must recommend policy. The president is both the advisor and executive officer of the board, and generally he serves as public spokesperson for the board. Unless matters concerning his or her own performance are being discussed, the president should always attend board meetings (67-68). The president should accept the board as a microcosm of the publics which the institution serves, and a negative reaction of the board to a proposal should alert the president that a similar reaction can be expected from the community (Richardson, Blocker, and Bender 132). The forth constituency with which the president must work, the public, may at times be a single individual, but more than likely the public consists of organized groups – local or state government entities, elected officials, support groups, special interest groups. According to Vineyard, the president must assume that all groups have positive intentions, although some may be misguided as to how to accomplish their mission (71). To an extent, Eble, in The Art of Administration, sums up how the president should deal with the public by saying, “Recognition that people come first and that the wise treatment of human beings is grounded in understanding and caring about then are the fundamentals upon which administrative excellence is built” (81). Vaughan, in The Community College Presidency, contends that one of the most important leadership roles of the president is that of educational leader (56). The president must be the primary guardian of academic standards. It is the president’s responsibility to evaluate proposed changes of all kinds related to academics. He or she must give careful consideration to everything from calendar prop...