Developing Community College Leaders for the Future : Crisis or Opportunity / George B. Vaughn.

This paper predicts that there will be 129 presidential vacancies each year in the nation's community colleges, and that individuals moving from one presidency to another will likely fill only 30% of these vacancies. The author offers suggestions for preparing community college leaders for the future, including: (1) the American Association for Community Colleges (AACC) should use its prestige and contacts to obtain funding from one or more major foundations, part of which will be allocated to individuals selected as potential presidents; (2) each community college president in the nation should mentor one individual on his or her campus whom he or she has chosen as a potential future community college leader; (3) graduate programs in higher education should enroll every individual selected by the president as a future leader; and (4) states should cooperate in offering graduate education. If these and other recommendations are implemented, special considerations must be emphasized: (1) professors must be willing to cooperate with AACC, the presidents, foundations, and others in assuring that graduate programs are relevant and flexible; and (2) presidents must take their roles in selecting future leaders very seriously and examine the total pool of applicants on campus, not limiting their choices to those individuals who have chosen to pursue the presidency as a career choice. (EMH)

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