A member of the 2007-08 Leadership class, masters the high elements of the ROPES course on the Jackson County Campus.
Employing qualified, dedicated and capable personnel is among Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College’s ten strategic initiatives. Growing leaders from within is a top priority at the college, and the impetus for establishing the MGCCC Leadership Program in 2003.
Today, the program is led by Dr. Joan Haynes, vice president of instruction and student services, and Dr. Billy Stewart, vice president of administration and finance. The purpose of the program is to help participants expand their knowledge about the college, visit each comprehensive campus and center, and interact with Executive Council members. It is a research-based model, which integrates the American Association of Community Colleges leadership competencies, including organizational strategy, resource management, communication, collaboration, community college advocacy and professionalism.
The program encompasses a year-long curriculum, and participants must go through an application process before being selected. Dr. Haynes, who went through the program in 2004 while she was an academic business instructor, said recent additions to the curriculum have helped create a program which she expects may become a model for other community colleges around the country.
The program first utilized the six leadership competencies identified by AACC as the basis for the curriculum in 2006, with a team project component added. “There is value in challenging a team to solve a problem,” Haynes said. The leadership class is divided into project teams, with each team drawing one of the college’s strategic initiatives. The team is challenged to develop a project that will address the strategic initiative and suggest an improvement for the college. A paper and presentation is prepared for the Executive Council at the completion of the Leadership class by each group.
