A number of task force-recommended activities have already been initiated by AACC staff. The following activities are identified by category: recruitment, preparation, and support.

Recruitment Strategies

• Web Career Center and Job Bank. AACC's Web site offers an online Career Center and Job Bank. Colleges may post classified ads and, for a fee, search resumes posted by job seekers. People looking for a job at a community college may post resumes and forward information about job postings to friends.
  
   
•  Leadership Program Database. In November 2001, AACC added a Web-based inventory of university-based higher education administration programs to the Career Center. The database currently contains more than 140 college and university degree programs. In Phase II of this project, currently underway, AACC will expand the database to include nondegreed leadership-development opportunities such as seminars, institutes, and workshops, such as those offered by AACC Affiliated Councils, NILD, and the League for Innovation in the Community College. Phase II data should be available on the Web by mid-2002.
  
   
•  Community College Times - CareerLine. For more than 10 years, the CareerLine has, provided a marketing vehicle for classified ads.

Preparation Strategies

• Virtual Community College. In collaboration with the Education Commission of the States and the League for Innovation, AACC is seeking funding for a computer program that could be used as a training tool in community college leadership programs. Virtual Community College would allow an "administrative team" to run a virtual college and experience statewide budget cuts, a faculty vote of no-confidence, and many other challenges that community college leaders face.  
  
   
• Leadership Certificate Program. In progress, but as yet not totally defined.  
  
   
• New Leaders Institute. Proposed academy for developing future community college leaders. The program will look at issues facing community college leaders today and will incorporate presentations by current community college leaders to provide insights about solutions.  
  
   
• Presidential Leadership I: Thoughts and Clues for Aspiring Presidents (pre-convention workshop). This workshop provides valuable information about the qualifications, skills, and attributes of the successful presidential candidate as well as the successful president. It explores ways to make applications stand out, how to develop skills, how to prepare for a successful presidency, and how to avoid common mistakes of first-time presidents.  
  
   
• Presidential Leadership II: Interviewing for the Presidency (pre-convention workshop). This workshop provides a valuable simulation of the presidential interview process. Participants practice interviewing in a typical presidential-candidate, search-committee, or board-interview session, with feedback from professional search experts. Participants are encouraged to cultivate their own style and present themselves in their own unique way to capitalize on outstanding qualities that will make them a successful candidate.

Support Strategies

AACC Support Activities

• Presidents Academy Institutes. Through a series of in-service programs, the PA supports the professional development and welfare of AACC member CEOs. The institutes provide opportunities for presidents to network, exchange ideas, and express their views on a variety of issues.
  
   
• Hit the Ground Leading: A Crash Course for First-Time Presidents (pre-convention workshop). This workshop is designed for first-time CEOs still discovering the many things they never knew would be included in the president's job. Participants meet a public relations expert and learn some basics on working with the local media to ensure fair and positive coverage of their college. The workshop explores innovative ways to create a good working relationship between presidents and boards of trustees and offers suggestions for making a greater impact on the business community.
  
   
• Grow Your Own Leaders (pre-convention workshop). A number of colleges have had impressive success with college programs designed to bring out the leadership potential of existing personnel or to recruit from beyond the campus. This session focuses on successful models that are encouraging leadership development while also enhancing diversity.
  
   
• A Strategic Approach for Board Retreats (pre-convention workshop). The board retreat can be a useful tool to refocus and revitalize board members, or it can be a frustrating waste of everyone's time and energy. This preconvention workshop helps CEOs identify the elements of a well-planned retreat, provides strategies for structuring content, and targets resources for making the next board retreat dynamic, challenging, and productive.
  
   
• When Crisis Hits - And It Will (pre-convention workshop). Even before the events of September 11, many colleges were vulnerable to a variety of potential crisis threats.This session delineates the role of the CEO in a crisis, describes how to build an effective crisis management team, and presents model crisis plans that work for campus and community.
  
   
• Crisis on Campus (November 13, 2001, 90-minute teleconference). This teleconference focused on how to create the best crisis plan for a college. It covered issues such as setting new contingencies in the wake of September 11, preventing public panic with pre-planning, choosing the crisis management team; measuring plan effectiveness; planning for mass casualties; protecting against hostile intruders; and tapping into FEMA, Red Cross, and other community resources.

AACC Publications

Community College Press Books and Monographs

• The Leadership Gap: Model Strategies for Leadership Development   
• Community Building: The Community College as Catalyst   
• Insider's Guide to Community College Administration   
• Balancing the Presidential Seesaw   
• The Knowledge Net: Connecting Communities, Learners, and Colleges   
• New Expeditions Issues Papers   
• Managing Your Institution's Effectiveness   
• Before Crisis Hits: Building a Strategic Crisis Plan (in press)   
• Managing Media Relations (in press)

AACC Research Brief Leadership Series

• No. 1: The Critical Impact of Impending Retirements on Community College Leadership, Christopher Shults, AACC. This research brief synthesized information from several sources to predict the effect of coming retirements among community college leaders including presidents, administrators, and faculty. Data indicate that these retirements will cause voids in all levels of the leadership pipeline.
  
   
• No. 2: Career Paths and Career Issues for Community College Leaders, Marilyn J. Amey and Kim E. VanDerLinden, Michigan State University. This brief examines the careers of administrative leaders who may or may not be on the path to the presidency. Although much information is available on community college presidents, relatively few studies address the lives and career paths of other administrators.
  
   
• No. 3: The Community College Presidency 2001, Iris M. Weisman, Antioch University McGregor, and George B. Vaughan, North Carolina State University. This brief presents results of the 2001 Career and Lifestyle Survey of community college presidents. It also indicates that a growing number of presidents are planning to retire, and a relatively large percentage of presidents have held a CEO position for five years or less. In addition to information on demographics and background, this CLS also sought information about the frequency that presidents met with business and government leaders and presidents' involvement in community activities.
  
   
• No. 4: Community College Faculty Profile (in production), Christopher Shults, AACC. Based on the Department of Education's National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF) surveys, this brief will present a profile of community college faculty. It will include demographic information, education levels, workload issues, institutional satisfaction, instructional methods, and professional-development opportunities. It will provide information on part-time and full-time faculty, comparisons against four-year institutions, and trend information across three collections of NSOPF data.
  
   
• No. 5: The Institutional Context for Community College Administrators (in production), Marilyn J. Amey and Kim E. VanDerLinden, Michigan State University. This brief will focus on the rapidly changing environment for community college administrators. Changes in students and technology combined with the incorporation of new administrative offices, services, and positions have resulted in new institutional challenges for administrators.

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