Patricia Maslin-Ostrowski

Resisting Fragmentation Calling for a Holistic Approach to Professional Practice and Preparation for Educational Leaders

An online survey (using forced-choice and open-ended questions) of faculty at two university-situated degree-granting leadership preparation programs revealed that the faculty describe critical connections for developing leadership capacity: theory-practice nexus, university-based learning and “real-life” experience, and nurturing deeper faculty-to-student and faculty-to-faculty relationships. The faculty perceive that accreditation, certification, and licensure requirements have more influence over curriculum than legislative or local regulation; they voiced concerns about future impacts, although they did not identify current negative repercussions. The faculty reported doing reasonably well addressing contemporary domains of adult learning and development and social-emotional dimensions of leadership. Institutional supports are needed for furthering connections, holistic preparation, and practice.

Internationalizing Educational Leadership: How a University Department Jumps the Curve From Local to International

Purpose: This study describes how an educational leadership department transformed its regional identity and localized practices over a ten-year period (1997-2007) to become internationalized in terms of research, teaching, and service. Research Methods/Approach (e.g., Setting, Participants, Research Design, Data Collection and Analysis): A basic qualitative approach (written narratives, interviews and document analysis) was used. All faculty holding tenured, tenure earning, and clinical, non-tenured positions were invited to participate. Fifteen out of 18 department faculty chose to participate. Findings: We found that the success of internationalization rests not only with individual faculty champions and flexible opportunism, but also with collective actions. In one decade, the department shifted from individual, isolated pursuits in the international arena, to a department having an integral, international dimension across research, teaching, and service. Many factors contributed to stages of internationalizing: The role of the department chair was instrumental; having a willing and capable faculty was necessary to reach the more advanced stages of internationalization; international activities were always contingent and voluntary, not mandated or controlled; and, the recruitment, participation, and encouragement of international and internationally oriented graduate students were critical to supporting a bottom-up, top-down synergy. Implications for Research and Practice: The study of internationalization within higher educational institutions, specifically in educational leadership, involves complex theory[ies]. Like Dimmock and Walker before us, we sought to overcome superficial comparisons of attitudes, behaviors and policies which lead to simple, but often misleading correlations. We recommend, instead, a conceptual framework that can account for changes over time and across individual-group interactions, that is, multi-organizational levels.

On being wounded: implications for school leaders

Examines stories of school leaders who experienced a serious conflict, dilemma or critical event in their leadership practice that in some way profoundly affected or “wounded” them, a situation akin to an illness that reflects some of the same characteristics: loss of control, predictability and functioning, disassociation, fear, anger. Focusses on the meaning of being wounded and implications for school leaders. Concentrates on not only the content of stories told by so‐called “wounded leaders,” that is actions, events and responses, but primarily on the kinds of stories that they tell themselves and how these stories address their own “woundedness” and help them, in a sense, to heal. Based on extensive in‐depth interviews, we explored three assumptions. First, woundedness is likely an inevitable and necessary part of leadership. Second, for most school leaders, the wound takes different forms and can be a double edged sword. Finally, story can be used by leaders to make sense of their crises of practice...

Daunting Realities of Leading Complicated by the New Media: Wounding and Community College Presidents

Community college presidential leadership is more taxing than ever; leaders face unprecedented economic declines, increased expectations, and the immediacy of media reporting. The smallest of rumors can escalate into campaigns for good or ill within minutes via the Internet, social media (such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook) and electronic news. Using a basic qualitative design, this paper examines key struggles of community college presidents and describes challenges of leading in the new media spotlight. In-depth interviews were conducted with four presidents to identify their perspectives of how a crisis became a “wounding experience.” The leader stories reveal how the daunting realities of leading can be complicated in the digital era, and the paper concludes with some insights and implications for how to cope with a leadership crisis and the new media.

When the Time Comes for the Community College President to Step Aside: Daunting Realities of Leading

This interview study examined seven community college presidents’ experiences of facing a sudden and unplanned stepping aside (e.g., unexpectedly needing to resign or termination) in order to understand the meaning of the transition experience for leaders. It provides an up-close view of presidents’ perspectives on leaving the college. Despite the best efforts and good performance of presidents, sooner or later each encountered a crisis that challenged his or her role and identity as a leader, and they came to a crossroad in their careers. Being in control of stepping aside from the presidency, regardless of what brought them to that decision point, distinguished how they perceived the crisis that led up to their exit and how they viewed the transition. Presidents discussed the importance of recognizing that sometimes things happen that cannot be controlled such as broken promises and a change in board membership. The presidents we interviewed were celebrated with pomp and circumstance when entering; however, exiting the presidency for some was dramatically different, i.e., lonely, disappointing, even devastating. Leaders need an exit plan. Conditions contributing to a smooth, nontoxic leaving are described.

Leaving a Community College Presidency: The Inevitable Career Transition

This article provides a succinct synthesis of research about community college presidents who have experienced a crisis or dilemma as leaders and focuses on issues surrounding a sudden and unplanned departure. In addition to describing themes, the authors present implications for leaders and potential areas for future research.

In One Voice: Aspiring and Practicing School Leaders Embrace the Need for a More Integrated Approach to Leadership Preparation and Development

This article examines the views of graduate students who are aspiring or practicing school leaders and faculty from two university degree granting leadership preparation programs. Drawn from a larger mixed methods study, the authors focus here on survey results that show how these groups rated the effectiveness of 14 potential curricular dimensions drawn from traditional leadership content e.g., budget/finance, legal compliance and more recent contemporary additions to leadership curricula e.g., reflective practice, adult learning and development, social-emotional capacity. Both traditional and contemporary areas received high ratings for effectiveness and importance to professional growth and development. Implications of this research point to the joint importance and feasibility of a more integrated approach to leadership education that includes contemporary and traditional dimensions. These finding may have important implications for other settings as well.

Managing Adaptive Challenges Learning With Principals in Bermuda and Florida

We interviewed eight principals from Bermuda and Florida about how they identify and manage their most pressing challenges. Their challenges are composed of both adaptive and technical work, requiring leaders to learn to diagnose and manage them. Challenges focused on change and were traced to accountability contexts, yet accountability was not the driving force for all principals. Neither external demands nor principals themselves dictated whether the problem was technical or adaptive; instead, it was the nature of the problem itself. Leadership preparation programs are encouraged to provide a framework to address managing phases of adaptive, technical, and mixed challenges.

Special Issue Guest Editorial

This special issue of the Community College Journal of Research and Practice (CCJRP) features papers that were presented at the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC) 2011 Annual Conference held in New Orleans, Louisiana. The CSCC is the oldest affiliated council of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). The process for inclusion in this special issue involved two rounds of rigorous peer and editorial reviews resulting in the top papers being chosen for publication. We begin with Li, Friedel, and Katsinas’ study that provides a wide-angle view of the hot topic issues confronting community colleges today. Based on an annual survey of state directors, a group that has a strong influence on policy decisions, they found that the state leaders are optimistic about the increased attention being devoted to student success and to the new data systems to track student achievement. They, however, have an unfavorable view of state funding policies and the development of baccalaureate degree programs. In the current era of accountability, there is a spotlight on whether or not students graduate from college and become gainfully employed. D’Amico, Rios-Aguilar, Salas, and Canché have designed the College and Career Capital Survey to illuminate the relationship between student success and employment outcomes. In this exploratory study with students at a southern community college, they examined three elements of career capital (knowing why, knowing how, and knowing whom) and college-career alignment. They call for community colleges to adopt a more active role in ensuring that students’ employment while attending college is more strategic and purposeful. Few would dismiss the important contributions made by adjunct or contingent faculty to fulfilling the teaching mission of community colleges; however, there is little agreement on the best ratio of full-to-part-time faculty. McNair and Herbert-Swartzer present a cautionary tale based on an analysis of California’s 20-year-old state policy designed to increase the ratio of full-topart-time faculty. They found that there was confusion regarding the purpose of the legislation

Using the Wisdom Development Theory to Conceptualize Student Professionalism Development in Community Colleges

ABSTRACT Historically, community colleges have played a vital role in career and vocational preparation for students. In today’s complex and ever-changing work environment, professionalism issues are at the forefront of employers’ concerns related to millennials and other young students and recent graduates. This issue is aggravated by the rise of social media and other trends that pose challenges related to, for example, professionalism in communication. The community college community is an excellent site for a movement towards structured professionalism training and research that is process-centered and that emphasizes lifelong learning. Drawn upon the literature review and our own experiences in career counseling, we expand on the perspectives of professionalism at the individual and group levels. And we present on how community colleges’ offices, instructors, and administrators can use the Model of Wisdom Development to understand whether and how are students developing professionalism.