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On December 31, 2005, I finished a 31-plus years at Napa Valley College. The next week I begin work for Alliant International University as an Associate Professor/Program Director in the new Graduate School of Education. I will be teaching future leaders in the Doctoral Program in Higher Education. But I thought you retired? Well, yes and no. After 30 tremendous years at Napa Valley, I am relieved not to continue the 60 hour work week mentioned by one of writers in this month’s journal. On the other hand, the transition to teaching in order to give back to our profession feels right. It also fits well with the position I fill with the iJournal. After thirty six years in community colleges, it feels right to now help disseminate cutting edge articles and information on how to better ourselves as professionals. Before we talk about this month’s theme, on behalf of the Editorial Board and the subscribers, I want to extend our appreciation and thanks to Sharon Donoff, the first editor of the iJournal. She worked with the board to generate 11 editions of the journal covering a wide array of topics of meaning to student service leaders. As I transition into this editorial role, every effort will be made to sustain the high level of quality seen both from the writers and in the topics explored developed by Editor Donoff. This current transition is a reversal of succession as she followed me in 1992 as the President of the C4S2A Association.
Collaboration and Partnership
As we venture into this New Year, this iJournal will examine the efforts of collaboration exhibited by two important units on the community college campus, instruction and student services. As the community college continues to evolve, so to must the relationships’ and interactions of these two critical divisions in the community college organizational maps. The articles are intended to be a prelude to the second joint conference by the two statewide organizations comprised of the vice presidents and deans in instruction and student services from our community colleges throughout California. This years gathering will occur on March 15-17 at the Mission Inn in Riverside. It will be another opportunity for these dynamic leaders to explore ways to collaborate and to address the issues of the day impacting our institutions and our students.
In order to explore this concept of collaboration and partnership, this edition includes articles on how collaboration exists and can emerge at an institution and be sustained. We will examine the value of this process through a conversation between the presidents of the two organizations, Robin Richards, CSSO, and Pam Deegen, CIO, as they outline the importance of collaboration and the ‘aha’ of the joint conference. Their article is titled Mission Possible: CIO’s and CSSO’s Working Together. They not only comment on the emergence of the strength of collaboration, but the results it can provide at the sate level.
Transformational Leadership: Dealing with Change
As our institutions address new data systems, fluctuating enrollments and budgets, changing accreditation standards and increased demands for a clear vision for the future, it is imperative for our leaders to communicate and work together. Of course this is easier said than done. Living in time of massive cultural shifts with the weak signals growing louder as related to bio-diversity, digital economies, globalization, bird flu pandemic fears, terrorism (Symre, R. Leadership Going Bananas, 1999) and a crisis in national leadership, community college leaders must reign in the extreme loose couplings (operating as silos) within our institutions through collaboration and understanding. One observation by Russ Marion in Leadership in Education: Organizational Theory for the Practitioner (2002), pg. 356, is that “leaders must learn to deal with a little chaos in the management of the organization and allow reporting staff to address emerging problems free from direct control and without overt micromanagement.” This will require a form of transformational leadership which will allow for the organization to respond and anticipate the coming change in our society and thus in our students. This concept of transformation and the result of collaboration on learning are examined by Dr. Alicia B. Harvey-Smith in her piece titled Collaboration between Instruction and Student Services: a Necessary Connection. But can all of this proposed collaboration work on the community college campus? Dick Robertson and Julie Hatoff provide some real live examples that yes it can work in No Pigs in This Family: A Partnership between Student Services and Instruction to Support Student Success.
Action and Commitment
However, you look at collaboration and whether as a campus leader you feel you have the time or the inclination, the research and demands of the times will not allow for one to ignore this evolving dynamic in our system. The emphasis in accreditation on Student learning outcomes that must be related to each program and service at the institution will not occur easily unless campus leaders engage in collaborative endeavors and bring their faculty, staff and mid-mangers into the discussion and actualization of the process. Collaboration is not just about communication but about action and commitment. I think you will see that in the writers in the March edition.
I want to thank ACT for sponsoring this edition and identifying the products that also provide the data via assessment tools to help us to make better collaborative decisions to help our students. If you have questions or inquiries on these comments or the journal in general, you may reach me at editor@ iJournal.us or eshenk@allaint.edu I look forward to your feedback and involvement.
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