Community colleges are experiencing a retirement crisis. The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and the Association of Community College Trustees (2018) reported that as many as half of community college presidents presiding in 2016 were likely to retire by 2021. Many current community college vice presidents are not interested in…

The graying of community college leadership is an issue across the country. More than half of all community college presidents expect to retire in five years, according to data from the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). Succession planning is yet another opportunity for colleges already navigating a variety of reforms to innovate.…

The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of faculty-to-faculty mentoring programs on the experiences of both mentors and first-year instructor proteges in Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs with an emphasis on practitioner-educators in nursing and in welding-fabrication. The study was undertaken for four reasons: (a)…

This article talks about the retired faculty members from different types of institutions around the country that were interviewed to find out how well their preparations for retirement are serving them now. Like other state employees in California, faculty members at public institutions participate in the California Public Employees' Retirement…

Literature lacks documentation on the leadership characteristics of public community college faculty. As higher education institutions begin to prepare for what appears to be a current leadership retirement wave, it is important for community colleges to begin searching for replacements. The research was conducted to explore self-perceived…

This article discusses how community colleges respond to the rising number of faculty members who are eligible for retirement. Many faculty members at community colleges are near retirement largely because many of the colleges were created and did the bulk of their hiring between 1965 and 1975, when the first group of baby boomers was entering the…

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Great Recession began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. With a duration of eighteen months, this recession was almost double the length of the average post-World War II economic downturn. Although the worst recession since the Great Depression is now technically over, this analysis…

Community colleges are facing difficult times. Resources are becoming increasingly scarce, enrollments are growing to unprecedented numbers, the student body is becoming increasingly diverse, the economic downturn continues to have an effect on curriculum and mission, increased demands for accountability are driving decisions, and faculty turnover…

Community college leadership programs may take a variety of forms, among them university-based programs, leadership institutes, community college-based "grow your own" programs, professional organization-based institutes, or a combination of these. University-based doctorate leadership programs are the principal providers of these…

Between 1965 and 1975, over 500 community colleges opened across the United States. Thirty-five years later, the founding faculty has begun to retire. This study was designed to reveal the experiences of veteran community college faculty as they left their teaching role. The study examined the role exit experience of faculty, comparing the…

Scope and method of study. This descriptive case study was designed to describe the critical issues surrounding Baby Boomers and their motivations to attend community college, in addition to their perceptions of learning and curriculum needs. Additionally the study explored what these Baby Boomers plan to do after completing their courses and…

This report describes recent hiring and retirement patterns as well as tenure-related changes and actions taken by public and private not-for-profit postsecondary institutions that offered an associate's or higher degree in fall 2003 and participated in federal Title IV student aid programs. The 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty…

Much of the research on faculty retirement focuses exclusively on 4-year institutions. This study fills a gap by describing the age distribution of faculty in public 2-year institutions, the retirement plans of these faculty, and factors related to the retirement decision-making process using data from the 1999 National Study of Postsecondary…

With the average age of faculty members exceeding 55, it is expected that "large numbers of community college faculty may retire at virtually the same time and in the near future" (Gahn & Twombly, 2001, p. 260). In the wake of their exodus, it is a reasonable assumption that community colleges will be faced with hiring many new full- and part-time…

As the age of the population continues to increase, faculty retirement issues are becoming more central to campus-level planning and management. Academic planners and senior administrators recognize that there are positive, negative, and unintended consequences associated with various retirement programs and policies, whether they are early…