This qualitative study explored 14 community college CC board members' understanding about (1) their institutions utilizing organizational identity theory and (2) critical elements of the match between their understanding of the CC and the desired characteristics of the selected presidential candidate. Documents including mission and vision statements and presidential position descriptions from 48 rural and urban CCs across the nation were compared with board members' interview data. CC documents emphasized presidential experience. Board members also discussed experiences; however communication skills and the ability to develop relationships were critical elements in the presidents' selection. Rural interviewees spoke about using their CCs as an institution to preserve the community and culture. Urban interviewees desired their CCs to be an institution of relevance.

Paper presented to the 7th Annual Symposium on Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects (GRASP) held at the Marcus Welcome Center, Wichita State University, May 4, 2011.Research completed at the Department of Educational Leadership