Welcome to the Center for Community College Development

The Center for Community College Development (CCCD) is a unique resource for institutional and leader development in community colleges. Established in 1986 as the Consortium for Community College Development in the School of Education at the University of Michigan, the Center now operates independently. It employs a distinctively collaborative approach to the design and delivery of programs and services in its work with institutions and leaders, combining theory and research with practices that actually work to improve performance. The Center is committed to:

• helping community colleges develop strategies, structures and processes to prepare for a very different future,
• providing comprehensive programs, services and research to strengthen the capacity of colleges to respond to change,
• developing strategic capabilities in staff throughout the institution,
• facilitating the sharing of ideas and expertise within and between institutions, and
• conducting action research to identify critical issues facing community colleges

Programs and Services

Strategic Horizon Program
A network of 15 colleges working together to develop and implement cutting edge practices in strategic management. Click here for information about the Strategic Horizon initiative.

Think Tanks
Small invitational, regional conferences are facilitated in which presidents and senior administrators collectively consider the critical issues facing community colleges and develop creative strategies to enable colleges to respond effectively.

Leadership Training
Programs for developing strategic capabilities in staff throughout the institution using a multi-modal learning design.

Campus-Based Institutional Development Projects
Collaborative programs carried out with colleges to enhance institutional, program and staff performance using cutting-edge practices in planning, management and assessment

Change Management Monographs
A set of 3 monographs -- Breaking out of the Box, Reaching for the Future, and Making Change Happen – have continued to be a useful resource for managing organizational change in community colleges since their publication in 1996-1999.

The Community College Culture Index
The Community College Culture Index (CCCI) is a scantron-based tool that poses questions which measure the views and perceptions of different campus groups with respect to: 1) organizational character; 2) binding mechanisms; 3) relationship of the organization to its environment; 4) staff perceptions of climate; 5) staff relations and interaction; 6) orientation and development of staff; 7) leadership and followership; 8) management of staff; 9) information and communication; 10) power and decision-making; and 11) criteria for success.

The CCCI is intended to be used as a catalyst to generate college-wide dialogue about perceptions campus groups hold of existing culture, the gap that may exist between it and an “ideal” culture, and collaborative strategies for closing the gap. Understanding how perceptions vary among groups can pave the way for better understanding and communication and lessens the tensions that are a natural part of change. It can also serve as a foundation for action to calibrate a culture with changing conditions as part of an institution's effort to enhance its performance.

Strategic Capabilities Needs Assessments
The needs assessment of the strategic horizon program is a campus based internal audit process in which internal constituent groups evaluate the extent to which strategic capabilities exist within their college. The needs assessment provides the college with an objective starting point for determining where the internal community believes the best return on investment of energy and resources is likely to be achieved. The needs assessment was recently approved for use by the NCA/Higher Learning Commission as a means of qualifying for AQIP self-assessment.

Strategic Planning Tool Kit
A complete and comprehensive tool kit guides the institution through the critical steps of strategic planning, providing exercises, guides and samples. The tool kit, for which training assistance is available, takes the institution from the first step of articulating its planning objectives through strategic priority identification and action plans and evaluation.

Strategic Thinking Learning Module
This learning module, the first of several to be produced by the strategic horizon network, will be available for purchase in late spring, 2006. The module is designed for use with all internal stakeholder groups, leading participants through experiences and exercises which familiarize them with the strategic thinking protocol and prepare them to take a broader view in their analysis and interpretation of their environments and opportunities.

Mission and Thrust

The mission and purpose of the Center for Community College Development is to provide resources to build strategic capabilities and create internal competence that will support community colleges at the forefront of postsecondary education. This is accomplished by equipping individuals with knowledge, skills and awareness of practices that will enhance leadership capabilities throughout the college.

Prior Institutional Projects
The Center has an extensive record of service to community colleges in planning, strategy development, effectiveness modeling and leader development. Since 1990, the Center has completed projects in these and other areas with community colleges in Arkansas, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Connecticut, North Carolina, California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Click here for a list of prior institutional projects.

About the Principals

Richard Alfred is Professor of Higher Education in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan. Patricia Carter is Executive Director of the Center for Community College Development. Working as a team, they spend much of their time with community colleges throughout the nation helping them to build capacity through organizational transformation.

Pat and Dick are nationally and internationally recognized writers, researchers, speakers and consultants. Both began their careers as Sociology instructors at community colleges and went on to serve in a variety of administrative roles in student services, community relations, research and planning, academic affairs and finance. Dick held administrative positions at Cuyahoga Community College and the Metropolitan Community College District in Kansas City before becoming Vice President of Finance, Planning and Management at New York City Community College. Pat held administrative posts as Dean of Students, Campus Dean, and Vice President Academic at Conestoga College of Applied Arts and Technology in Ontario from 1976-1990 before becoming Executive Director of the Consortium for Community College Development in 1991, which became the Center for Community College Development in 2005.

Center for Community College Development

Patricia Carter, Executive Director
P.O. Box 57, Milan, Michigan 48160-0057
Phone: (734) 439-2134/Fax: (734) 439-7861
Email: pncarter@umich.edu /URL: www.cfccd.org