FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES
One critical feature of many of these programs is mentoring. From the point of being recognized as a potential leadership candidate to admission to a program, then successful completion and placement, success hinges on the respect and encouragement of community college peers.
"I've been blessed with wonderful mentors," Milliron says.
As stiff as the competition is for the few spaces in some of the programs, so is the desire among the community college experts and high-level officers at community colleges to encourage the up-and-comers to gain the skills they'll need to carry the flag of open-access learning into the future.
While everyone agrees that "there's no substitute for a university-based doctorate," O'Banion says, the old guard also realizes that the community college system needs every trained leader it can get, that there's no one prescription for leadership success. Whether it's a weeklong seminar, or a monthly meeting, or a two-year residency, anything is better than nothing, and these are all steps that will eventually help students take the reins as tomorrow's leaders.
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