Developing Leadership Competencies in the Heartland

The Leading Forward Initiative of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) outlined a set of essential competencies for effective leadership in community colleges. Research has confirmed that community college leaders agree the competencies are important to effective leadership. Few studies, however, have examined how these leadership skills and abilities are developed. In addition, there is limited research regarding the AACC leadership competencies and the differences that exist between and among rural, suburban, and urban community colleges. This article considersthe context of the rural community college, representing 60% of all community colleges in the United States (Hardy & Katsinas, 2007). The study provides data from a sample of senior-level leaders in rural community colleges, and it examines the perceptions of respondents regarding the importance of selected professional development activities in developing the AACC leadership competencies. Findings reveal that 8 of the 10 professional development activities with the highest perceived importance were internal to the community college or local community activities. The article concludes with implications for practice and for future research.