Critical Trends in Community Colleges

Case Study

This chapter provided a general summary of the mission of the community colleges in light of current and emerging trends facing these institutions (e.g., minority student initiatives, part-time faculty, bachelor’s degrees, and Obama administrations initiatives). Our goal has been to convey to leaders that all trends, in one way or another, relate directly to the mission of these institutions. These trends challenge community college leaders to serve as mavericks in realizing and advancing the mission of the community college.

Below, we present a case study that requires leaders to utilize their understanding of the historical, current, and future trajectory of these institutions in responding to a leadership dilemma. In addressing the case study scenario, pay particular attention to the role of emerging trends (presented in this chapter) in resolving the case. President Cathryn Addy Tunxis Community College Farmington, Connecticut Converging Issues as an Opportunity for Change Background Doe Community College, located in an eastern city of 100,000, was founded in 1952. It has an enrollment of 6,780 FTE (full-time equivalent) and a headcount enrollment of slightly over 8,000 in credit classes. Noncredit enrollment is around 3,000 annually. There are 100 full-time faculty who ← 286 | 287 → teach a 12 credit load on average, 280 adjunct faculty, and approximately 60 other professionals and administrators. There is one campus of approximately 300,000 square feet on 10 acres of land, and one satellite campus 50 miles away in a rural area that opened in a renovated high school 20 years ago. Doe CC is one of 14 publicly supported community colleges in the state but gets one-third of its funding locally, drawn proportionately from each of the 17 school districts in its service area. Another one-third comes from the state according to a long established allocation formula, and the remaining one-third comes from tuition, fees, and auxiliary income from grants, noncredit enrollments, and other enterprises such as the bookstore and a small restaurant on campus run by the culinary students. Over the last three years, the local districts have become more and more vocal about no longer being able to afford to provide funding to Doe, and have been threatening to withdraw from the partnership. The college has just been given an 18-month window in which to develop an alternate plan for the funding its needs at the local level. The state has made it clear that it does not intend to make up the difference, and has also limited the amount that can be raised from a tuition increase. Programmatically, Doe CC has always been strong in the applied technology and science areas, and its students have reflected that: 80 percent (60 percent male) are enrolled in Associate of Applied Science programs, while the remaining 20 percent (80 percent female) are in Associate of Arts program areas. Recently the college has struggled to maintain its enrollment levels as the economic status of the region has suffered due to manufacturing jobs disappearing and little new growth occurring in any other sector of the economy. However, they have noted an increase in demand for students coming out of their allied health programs but have not had the funding to support expansion of their “flagship” nursing or dental hygiene programs, where the demand has been the strongest. They have also noted that more and more students are attending on a part-time basis and many of their classes at traditional prime times are not fully subscribed, but that they often have waiting lists for many of the classes offered in the late afternoon and at night. The main campus reflects the industrial character of the surrounding city in which the college is located. The buildings are showing their age and in need of updating as well as repairs. Some issues that the college will ← 287 | 288 → have to face include new roofs, new wiring to accommodate the expansion of technology in the classrooms and offices, expanded parking facilities due to the recent demise of the local mass transit system, and a new chemistry lab to replace the one that was recently burned out when a lab experiment went awry. There are also needs at the satellite campus up north. Although initial renovations were paid for by a grant when that campus first opened, Doe must now pick up the tab for some deferred maintenance issues as well as the upgrading of its computer labs and library. There are also equipment needs due to the reinstatement of a Practical Nursing program that had been dormant for about ten years. Finally, in the last two years, 64 percent of faculty members have become eligible to retire, as have 50 percent of the professionals and administrators. In addition the president (who has been at Doe since 1985) has just announced his intention to retire. Thus, an institution that has long been stable and steady is about to enter a new era, and many at the college are worried about its ability to survive the “boat rocking.” Statement of the Problem You are the academic vice president of the college and have been at Doe for only five years. The president has spoken with you about his intention to name you as the interim president to bridge the time between his leaving and a new, permanent president arriving.

If you accept this responsibility, you will have to decide the following:

•What are the four or five major issues that Doe Community College faces?

•What steps must the college undertake to address these issues, and in what order?

•What should the leadership of the college do to solve the present problems?

•What should the leadership of the college do to plan the college’s future?

•What knowledge and skills must the interim president possess to facilitate institutional change?