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Special Issue Guest EditorialPatricia Maslin-Ostrowski a , Chantal Sinady a & Rivka Felsher aa Department of Educational Leadership & Research Methodology ,Florida Atlantic University , Boca Raton , Florida , USAPublished online: 13 Jan 2012.

To cite this article: Patricia Maslin-Ostrowski , Chantal Sinady & Rivka Felsher (2012) SpecialIssue Guest Editorial, Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 36:4, 239-240, DOI:10.1080/10668926.2012.637854

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EDITORIAL

Special Issue Guest Editorial

Patricia Maslin-Ostrowski, Chantal Sinady, and Rivka Felsher

Department of Educational Leadership & Research Methodology, Florida Atlantic University,Boca Raton, Florida, USA

This special issue of the Community College Journal of Research and Practice (CCJRP) fea-tures 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 opti-

mistic 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 Canche have

designed the College and Career Capital Survey to illuminate the relationship between student suc-

cess 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 fulfil-

ling 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-to-

part-time faculty. They found that there was confusion regarding the purpose of the legislation

Address correspondence to Patricia Maslin-Ostrowski, Department of Educational Leadership & Research Method-

ology, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431. E-mail: pmaslin@fau.edu

Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 36: 239–240, 2012

Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

ISSN: 1066-8926 print=1521-0413 online

DOI: 10.1080/10668926.2012.637854

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and the meaning of the hiring goals, with the unremarkable result that the legislation has had little

influence on increasing the number of full-time faculty.

Research has shown that it is important for faculty to develop a professional identity, yet little

is known about this for the unique group of adjunct faculty. Thirolf’s in-depth study reveals that

part-time community college faculty teaching in the humanities experience a conflicted pro-

fessional identity. Through their teaching and interactions with students, adjuncts experience

positive identity development as faculty, whereas their involvement with full-time faculty is

associated with a negative identity.

Across the United States, people lament that our educational institutions are failing, so it is

not surprising that many are looking to leaders to fix the problems, to be the hero. Yet Wilson

and Cox question the merit of the popular hero motif and examine how the media portrays com-

munity college leaders through a discourse analysis of articles published in The Chronicle ofHigher Education. They view the masculine hero motif to be self-focused and, therefore, a failed

hero. Instead, they prefer the image of hero as other-focused, which they frame as a

feminist-inspired metaphor. They found few examples of the feminist hero-leader and conclude

that the masculine hero model continues to dominate the higher education discourse.

Maslin-Ostrowski and Floyd take us inside the world of college presidents during a time of

crisis. They help us to understand the president’s experience of facing a sudden and unplanned

stepping aside such as unexpectedly needing to resign or being terminated. Despite the best

efforts and good performance of presidents, sooner or later each encountered a crisis that chal-

lenged his or her role and identity as a leader. Leaders who had a clear set of professional values,

a support system in place, and an exit plan were better equipped to cope with the transition.

A community college may be vulnerable during periods of leadership transitions, especially

following an abrupt presidential departure. In such circumstances, an interim president is likely

to be appointed. Thompson, Cooper and Ebbers’ case study offers insights into how two interim

appointees successfully approached the presidency. A key was that the interim presidents did not

perceive their roles as ‘‘placeholders,’’ and for them it was an advantage to be an ‘‘insider.’’

The challenges and opportunities of leading contemporary community colleges and colleges

are vividly presented in these exemplary studies; thus, it is fitting that we close with Nevarez and

Wood’s article that focuses on training the next generation of leaders. They have developed a

leadership framework for use with case studies to help prepare administrators for the realities

of the workplace. University professors and students in educational leadership programs will

appreciate how this approach can help to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Finally, in the Exchange Section, a recently added feature of the journal, we highlight Risley

and King’s study of a prestigious group of students, the All-USA Community College Academic

Team national winners, and their transition to four-year institutions. Based on the National

Survey on Student Engagement (NSSE) and a web version of the survey, the national winners

surpassed community college transfer students and senior college native students, showing

higher levels of engagement in each of the five benchmark categories.

This special issue of the CCJRP introduces a collection of critical papers presented at the

Council for the Study of Community Colleges 2011 Annual Conference and represents research

on new and enduring issues confronting community colleges across the nation. Scholars, faculty,

administrators, and policy makers continue to harness theory, testing, and application to

challenges essential to student success, workforce needs, curriculum and faculty development,

college leadership, and funding as the context and face of the community college transforms.

We challenge our readers to engage with the ideas raised and models proposed in this journal

in hope of contributing to the quality and success of student growth and learning.

240 P. MASLIN-OSTROWSKI ET AL.

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