Oft-cited data from The American College President, published in 2023 by the American Council on Education, demonstrated a drop in average presidential tenure from 8.5 years in office in 2006 to 5.9 years in 2023. The average age of presidents stayed nearly equal across that time period: 59.9 years old on average in 2006, and 60.0 in 2022.
The American Association of Community College’s 2023 State of Community College Leadership report featured interesting results. It confirmed the presidential turnover around 2017 occurred as projected by Aspen’s College Excellence Program. Turnover, however, decreased slightly during the pandemic (2020-2021), but was on the rise again as of 2022-2023.
We’re dialing in the competencies needed for an effective presidency. One of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Plan’s early landmark publications was Crisis and Opportunity, wherein it saw a wave of community college presidents retiring by 2017: 42 percent, or roughly 500 presidents (which comprises nearly half of U.S. community colleges).
Aspen’s College Excellence Plan outlined key competencies for presidents: committing to student success, taking entrepreneurial risks, creating lasting change, enacting a long-term vision, and effectively allocating resources. Look no further than winners of Aspen’s College Excellence Prize for examples of presidents who have embodied some. if not all, of these competencies.
More recently (2024), researchers Jorge Burmicky, Kevin McClure, and their team found a different set of essential competencies, which blend interpersonal and operational skills: trust-building; demonstrating resilience; communication savvy; crafting a cabinet and team building; emotional intelligence; leading with courage; and data acumen and resource management.
We have the basics of leadership from business leaders past and present. We have various sets of competencies specific to the community college presidency. Yet turnover persists in this role – “the loneliest job on campus,” as one former president described it to me.
