2004 Demographics: Community College Presidents1

This fact sheet describes the demographics of current community college presidents.

Ethnicity:
In comparison with 2001 data (Weisman and Vaughan, 2002), the number of minorities as community college CEOs is increasing rapidly. Both 2001 data2 and 2004 data3 exclude presidents whose race or ethnicity is unknown.
• Overall, the total percentage of minorities increased from 14.3% in 2001 to 19.9% in 2004.
• In 2004, African Americans represented 8.7% of community college presidents, compared to 6.4% in 2001. This is a 35% increase over 3 years.
• The percentage of Hispanics increased by 25% during the same period. In 2001, 5.5% of community college presidents were Hispanic; by 2004, 6.8% of community college presidents were Hispanic.
• Dramatic increases were also apparent for other minority groups. The percentage of Native Americans as community college presidents more than doubled from 0.8% in 2001 to 1.8% in 2004, and the percentage of Asian Americans as CEO’s also doubled, from 0.8% to 1.5% over the same time.

Gender:
In 2002, Weisman and Vaughan reported “between 1991 and 2001, representation of women increased from approximately one-tenth to more than one-quarter of the presidents.” Since the 2001 study, the gender ratio of community college presidents has stayed fairly constant: in 2004, 27.6% of CEOs were women.

Comparison to Student Demographics:

Data for the most recent years available were used to provide a comparison between community college presidents and the students they serve. Since fall 2003 enrollment figures were not available, the fall 2002 student enrollment data is compared with the current (2004) CEO data for the purposes of this report.

Despite an increase in the representation of minorities as presidents of community colleges, these data indicate a continued disparity between the ratio of students who are minority and presidents who are minority. In 2002, minority students comprised 35.8% of the community college student population4 while minority presidents accounted for 19.9% of the presidents in 20043.

Endnotes:
1 This report includes responses from presidents/CEOs of community colleges, multicollege districts, and statewide systems only. The data do not include campus CEOs.
2 2001 CEO data reflects a 71% response rate.
3 2004 CEO data are based upon a population of 79.7% whose race or ethnicity is known.
4 Student data are based upon a population of 92.8% whose race or ethnicity is known.

Data Sources:
American Association of Community Colleges. (2004). Membership database (unpublished). Washington, DC: American Association of Community Colleges.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2004). Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Fall Enrollment Survey. Washington, DC: US Department of Education.
Weisman, I.M. & Vaughan, G.B. (2002). The Community College Presidency 2001. Research Brief Leadership Series, no. 3, AACC-RB-02-1. Washington, DC: American Association of Community Colleges.