This is the first article in a two-part series on Achieving the Dream’s 2015 Leader Colleges. These colleges have used data to inform policy and practice to encourage student success at community colleges across the country. View the complete list of this year’s Leader Colleges. When Achieving the Dream (ATD) chose Columbus State Community College […]

Just two years before Thomas Snyder took over as president of Indiana’s Ivy Tech Community College, in 2007, the state had implemented its community college system. Under his leadership, Ivy Tech has grown into the state’s largest public institution of higher education, with an enrollment topping 98,000, and the largest singly accredited statewide community college […]

Austin Community College’s ACCelerator, on the Highland campus, is a one-year-old, 32,000-square-foot learning lab that houses more than 600 desktop computer stations, classrooms, and study rooms. The campus is the first phase of the college’s Highland Redevelopment Project, and the ACCelerator is located in a former JC Penney store at Highland Mall. The former shopping […]

Joyce Ester’s enthusiasm is contagious; after just a few minutes of conversation, it’s hard not to share the Normandale Community College president’s passion for her work and respect for the college. Serious studies “This is not a place where you come to slack off,” Ester says. “I want people to understand they need to come […]

One of the advantages of being an inside candidate for a college presidency, says Kishwaukee College President Tom Choice, is that you and the institution already know a lot about each other. Choice is one of several Illinois community college presidents who were hired from within the ranks of the colleges’ administrators. He took the […]

As more college presidents retire, more midlevel administrators need training and preparation to take the next step in their careers: positions at the helms of the nation’s community colleges. The Association of California Community College Administrators (ACCCA) is paving the way, offering several statewide leadership programs to encourage, support and provide practical skills to the […]

Last month, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) held its annual four-day seminar for midlevel administrators aspiring to step into higher levels of leadership. Presidents, chancellors and others gathered in Las Vegas to share their expertise with the field’s rising stars at the John E. Roueche Future Leaders Institute (FLI). Debbie Derr, of Mt. […]

The California Community Colleges (CCC) system is one of the largest in the country, with 112 community colleges, 86 districts and almost 90,000 faculty members serving 2.1 million students. In November 2014, the creation of an online clearinghouse including professional-development tools and information for all faculty members — regardless of college location or size — […]

Sinclair Community College traces its roots to 1887, when David A. Sinclair, through the Dayton Ohio YMCA, began offering evening classes in bookkeeping and mechanical drawing to unemployed men in the community. Through the years, the college has maintained its commitment to the community, focusing on access, workforce development and, most recently, completion. Today, Sinclair […]

Scott Ralls became the seventh president of North Carolina’s Community College System in 2008, just as the economy was tanking and educational institutions were facing fiscal crises like never before. Yet under his leadership, the system grew 28 percent between 2007 and 2010 and experienced profound improvements in areas such as remedial education, completion rates […]