Leadership Theory and the Community College: Applying Theory to Practice

This book presents leaders and aspiring leaders in community colleges with a theoretical and practical framework for analyzing their leadership styles, and determining the dimensions of leadership they need to improve in order to strengthen their capacity to resolve complex issues and effectively guide their institutions.

It does so through presenting theories about leadership that are congruent with the notions of equity, access, diversity, ethics, critical inquiry, transformational change, and social justice that drive the missions of community colleges, and at the same time provides the reader with the strategic skills to prepare for and navigate the profound changes ahead.

Readers will gain an understanding of how to use theory as a tool to guide their practice, better understand the intricacies of the issues confronting them, the power dynamics and organizational context in which they operate, predict potential outcomes, and develop processes to achieve desired outcomes. Utilizing theory in conjunction with case study analysis provides community college leaders with the tools needed to comprehensively interrogate and inform decision-making processes.

The authors provide a number of rich and realistically complex case studies, all of which are situated in a community college environment, to which readers can apply the various theories and perspectives, develop their view about the principles and actions most likely to lead to satisfactory outcomes, and hone the approaches to leadership that are authentic to them, and effective.

The authors aim to help readers develop the multi-faceted approach to leadership that is essential to running complex organizations. They aim to promote development of the “whole” leader through a three-fold framework of theory, practice, and introspection in context of institutional change. In doing so, leaders will be better equipped to lead community colleges in challenging times.

The authors tie AACC’s competencies to the leadership theories they cover, as well as to the analysis of the case studies, and leadership inventories, as an essential framework for developing the skill sets to enact the community college mission.

The book is suitable for personal reading and reflection, institutional leadership retreats and training, and as a text for higher education courses.

Carlos Nevarez

J. Luke Wood is an Assistant Professor of Administration, Rehabilitation, and Postsecondary Education at San Diego State University. He also is co-­director of the Minority Male Community College Collaborative (M2C3), a national project that partners with community colleges across the U.S. to enhance access, achievement, and success among minority male community college students. He is also the founder and current editor of the Journal of African American Males in Education, chair of the Multicultural and Multiethnic Education Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association, and chair-elect for the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Council on Ethnic Participation (CEP). Dr. Wood has authored nearly 70 publications, including more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles. He is author of three textbooks: Community College Leadership & Administration: Theory, Practice, and Change (2010), Leadership Theory in the Community College: Applying Theory to Practice (2013), and Ethical Leadership and the Community College: Paradigms, Decision-Making, and Praxis (Stylus, in press). He also is editor of Black Men in College: Implications for HBCUs and Beyond (2012), Black Males in Postsecondary Education: Examining their Experiences in Diverse Institutional Contexts (2012), STEM Models of Success: Programs, Policies, and Practices in the Community College (in press), and Community Colleges and STEM: Examining Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Minorities (2013). Dr. Wood received the 2013 Barbara K. Townsend Emerging Scholar Award from the Council for the Study of Community Colleges and the 2010 ASHE CEP Mildred Garcia Award for Exemplary Scholarship.

Rose Penrose

Eduardo J. Padrón is President of Miami Dade College.