Browsing by Subject "Community colleges--United States"
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Item Mental models and community college leadership(2001-12) Cone, Cynthia Jane, 1951-; Moore, WilliamFour major transformations, over the past thirty years, have brought challenges and changes to community colleges; a transformation from teaching to learning, a shift from management to leadership, a movement away from substantial state funding to entrepreneurism, and a societal revolution from an Industrial Age to an Information Age. These transformations have resulted in opportunities and challenges for community college leaders who are confronted by demands for rapid, intense, and complex planning and decision-making. The purpose of this study was to discover the elements presidents identify in the mental models of their community college. Added to that purpose, the researcher identified the differences between the mental models of traditional community college presidents and learning college presidents. The researcher utilized a mixed methodological framework for this study. The preliminary focus of this research involved an interactive qualitative analysis of five traditional community college presidents to establish a foundation for traditional academic perceptions. The primary focus examined selected learning college presidents in a case study setting. The results identified very different themes among the different academic perceptions. Traditional community college presidents identified the following six themes: Funding Costs, Funding Revenue, Process, Students, Outcomes, and External influences. Learning college presidents identified the following ten themes: Interconnections, Innovation, Change, Students, Vision/Mission/Values, Decisions, Outcomes, Learning, Internal Stakeholders, and External Stakeholders. The findings from this study indicated that there is value in employing mental models to develop effective plans and decisions that impact a broad array of college stakeholders. In conjunction with that, there is value in recognizing the community college institution as an interdependent complex organization in which each unique facet greatly influences all the other interconnected facets. Finally, it is essential to recognize Students as a primary stakeholder and driver of the community college.Item Partnerships as a major strategy for community college improvement: a case study of a community college program(2004) Aguilar, Hector; Roueche, John E.This case study’s purpose was to provide other college administrators and faculty members, who are especially involved in community college workforce programs, an example of a program that partnered with many entities, including multiple business entities, and became one of the best in the country, in its particular field. The study alluded to the difficult realities that many high-technology community college two-year programs are experiencing in trying to offer updated and relevant programs in areas that are constantly changing and where facilities, equipment, and other requirements may be prohibitively expensive to implement. The study focused on a workforce program, the Austin Community College Semiconductor Manufacturing Program, and the benefits that it attained by partnering. The study utilized a qualitative research approach to acquire data to answer three main questions. The first question addressed who the program partnered with, what were the benefits and the challenges, and who and when did what to create structures that then enabled successful implementation of various initiatives? The second question was to find what are essential success factors that are required to make any workforce program more successful, which partners had what effect on these factors, and how did the program rate relative to those same factors (according to the different partners)? The third question addressed what the program did to adapt to a different environment, and how did the department utilize partnerships to implement new strategies.Item Strategy for institutional improvement : application of Baldrige criteria at a selected community college(2001-08) Hackett, Leila Louise Wallace, 1952-; Roueche, John E.The quality of American colleges and universities is coming under intense scrutiny. The annual media rankings, new institutional effectiveness measures required by regional accreditation association, policy requirements of state, regional and national higher education association, declarations of elected officials, apprehension of business and community leaders, policy papers issued by centers for the study of higher education point toward intensified concern for the quality of higher education in the nation. The national interest in collegiate quality opened a wide range of issues on the definition, the measurement, and development of quality. The study reviewed literature relating to the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. In addition, it addressed a case study of a selected community college experience in utilizing the Baldrige model as a tool of total quality management. The research answered three questions related to: (1) the strengths of Central Texas Community College as they relate to the seven quality categories of Baldrige; (2) Central Texas Community College’s cumulative quality index as measured by the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award scoring system; and (3) specific applications result from the Central Texas Community College Baldrige selfassessment. The investigation was a qualitative research study with grounded theory serving as the primary mode of data analysis. When appropriate, quantitative data analysis was utilized. The study assessed the usefulness of the Baldrige Criteria as a tool for institutional self-assessment and for improving organizational performance practices and capabilities. Findings showed that the results of a Baldrige assessment lend themselves to action. As a result of the self-assessment the institution not only produced a roadmap for continuous improvement, but also validated key performance areas, and set in motion a process of discovery and improvement.Item The X factor: Generation X leadership in early 21st century American community colleges(2003) Goben, Allen Floyd; Roueche, John E.A gap exists in the literature between generational studies and community college leadership studies. Concurrently, there is a wave of retirements occurring in American community colleges. The retirement phase is projected to continue, at least, throughout the first decade of the 21st Century. Thus, generational studies are becoming more and more pertinent to community college districts. Since the social age cohort commonly referred to as Generation X is at the appropriate age/experience/education level to fill many vacancies as elder peers retire, this study was focused on opening a dialogue about how Xers might like to lead or be led- and how those preferences are likely to fit with selected established and emerging leadership theories. The goal of the research is to encourage conversation about successful integration of Xers into community college leadership roles. Therefore, the qualitative study is best described as a window through which Xers might be viewed in the specific context of early 21st Century American community college leadership. Generalization of the findings is left up to the reader to determine due to the structure, scope, and context of the study. However, clues did emerge that may be useful in understanding Generation X dynamics and possible implications of an Xer plurality in community colleges. A potential blueprint is offered for successful interaction with Xers combining knowledge from extensive Generation X literature review, a literary review of selected leadership theories, interviews with Xers identified as talented Generation X community college administrators, and the researcher’s observations of Xers both within the study context and from a lifetime of experiences as an Xer.