ABSTRACT

Community colleges located in urban areas face unique challenges and opportunities. How leaders in these institutions respond to this unique setting requires an understanding of the skills that might be required to adeptly work in these environments. Drawing upon survey research from the past 20 years, a research-team developed instrument was administered to a national sample of 466 academic program leaders who held titles similar to a department or division head or chair. With nearly 100 (n = 96) responses, the roles these leaders identified as being most important to their work focused on advocacy and information dissemination. The most agreed upon skills identified were related to sensitivity (including cultural sensitivity), leadership, and judgment, and the most important tasks they undertook were related to communications and creating a positive work environment. These findings suggest that these academic program leaders saw their roles as building supportive environments on campus in highly diverse urban areas, and that they in particular see the importance of serving as communicators between the institution and faculty.

摘要

位于城市地区的社区学院面临着独特的挑战和机遇。这些机构的领导者如何应对这种独特的环境，需要了解在这些环境中熟练地工作可能需要的技能。根据过去20年的调查研究结果，研究团队开发的仪器被用于466名学术项目负责人的全国样本中，他们的头衔与部门或部门的负责人或主席相似。凭借近100（ñ= 96）回应，这些领导人确定对他们的工作最重要的角色集中在宣传和信息传播上。确定的最一致认可的技能与敏感性（包括文化敏感性），领导能力和判断力有关，而他们承担的最重要任务与沟通和创造积极的工作环境有关。这些发现表明，这些学术项目负责人将其角色视为在高度多样化的城市地区的校园中建立支持性环境，尤其是他们认为，在机构与教职员工之间担任沟通者非常重要。