Housatonic president focuses on competency
FAIRFAX, VA – Tomorrow’s
college leaders will need competency levels that are greater than
ever.
Published: New Haven Register Friday July 30, 2004
That was the message Housatonic Community College President Janis M.
Hadley delivered recently to top college managers at the first Black
Issues in Higher Education national conference in Arlington, VA in
June.
“The nature of our world will demand a level of competency rarely experienced
to date,” Dr. Hadley said in a panel discussion. “To achieve these
levels, prospective leaders must take another look at the intellectual, physical,
emotional, and spiritual fitness needed to be tomorrow’s leaders and begin
developing that fitness.”
Hadley was one of three college leaders addressing Shifting Leadership Paradigmsat a conference focusing on Benchmarks & Barriers for People of Color in
Higher Education.
The conference commemorates the 20th anniversary of the magazine Black Issues
in Higher Education and the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education,
which opened the doors of higher education to African-Americans and other minorities.
“As a leader, you know you can’t be all things to all people,” said
Hadley, who was one of several educational leaders interviewed in the June 17
edition of Black Issues.
“
But the leaders of the future must posses ‘re-defined competencies’ that
make them feel that they can, in fact, strive to be all things to all people.”
Being competent and confident, she said, means “education, publication,
public speaking, getting known and getting your name out there. Part of this
is to know exactly what you are looking for so you can achieve your professional
goals,” she said.
Being a lifelong learner, she said, means continually expanding educational horizons.
It means leading people to understand “that you are learning from people
at your college and through your reading and professional development.”
“
It means marketing the fact that you are not omniscient without compromising
your leadership position,” she said. “It means communicating the
fact that not knowing everything does not mean incompetent.”
Living your life in a bubble, without blemish, is essential to achieving professional
standing and advancement, particularly in view of the today’s focus on
ethical behavior of people in the public eye, Hadley said.
“
It will stand as an example for those who want to follow in your footsteps,” she
said. “They, too, will want to live their life in a bubble without blemish,”
African American leaders represent a shrinking segment of higher education, she
said.
“We are in a pattern of recycling our leaders rather than growing new leaders,” she
said.” We move from campus to campus in a succession of lateral moves.”
“
Clearly, we must initiate ways to bring new leaders along,” she said. “As
today’s leaders, we have an obligation to find, assist and encourage our
successors. We need to be acutely tuned to recognize the drive and ambition in
those around us that portends leadership and we must find the time and be willing
to nurture and sustain those who will step into out shoes.”
Organizations such as the President’s Round Table provide a network of
African-American presidents, provosts, and chancellors who network and offer
professional development, she said. The Round Table each year sponsors the Lakin
Institute for Mentored Leadership for those who wish to attain the highest positions
in higher education.
Its success rate is eye-opening, she said. One in 3 participants has become a
college president, chancellor or CEO.
“
Community colleges are a key factor in this equation,” she said. “Community
colleges provide the modeling and training needed to help students receive the
education they need, while nurturing and mentoring the leaders the educational
system needs.”
“
It also allows us to become the leaders able to expand the Brown vs. Board of
Education decision to the reality of equal educational resources and opportunities
for all Americans,” she said.
Since it moved to the new campus in January 1997, HCC's enrollment has increased
76 percent.
According to the most recent statistics released by the Washington D.C- based
American Association of Community Colleges, Housatonic was the Northeast’s
second fastest-growing community college and its fastest-growing in terms of
full-time students.
