Book Review: Confessions of a Community College Administrator by M. Reed:

Reed, M. (2013). Confessions of a Community College Administrator. San Francisco, CA: JosseyBass. 176 pp. $36.00 (paperback). ISBN 978-1-118-00473-9. $28.99 (e-book). ISBN 978-1118-23553-9.Written with the intent of providing an orientation for the next generation of community college leaders, after an introductory section outlining Reed's background, Confessions of a Community College Administrator moves into a general overview of the community college and how it fits in the hierarchy of higher education. Reed argues that community colleges are "designed to serve and produce a middle class that the economy no longer seems to want" (p. 20). Reed's elaboration of this claim, "[a]s with public libraries, there's something irreducibly utopian, and maybe even absurd, about the idea of making higher education available to anyone who wants it, locally, on the cheap" (Reed, 2013, p. 20), sets the tone. The book is intended to be aggressive, controversial, and thought provoking. It delivers on all three.In the opening sections, Reed makes some comparative descriptions of his work at FPU (For-Profit U) versus at the community college. In "Differences in the Classroom," he notes that at FPU there was "incessant attention paid to ways to reach hard-to-reach students" while at the community college, instruction was primarily teacher-centered, and often archaic. He does not appear to be a fan of faculty or tenure, "[b]ut when the whole point of [the community college] is to maintain jobs for people who got tenure three decades earlier, you avoid stirring the pot whenever you can" (p. 27). Reed left FPU over disagreements (he notes) with the home office. The discussion of his arrival at a community college is titled "Careful What You Wish for," and he was soon in another unhappy situation during which he started a blog "Confessions of a Community College Dean." It was the success of the blog that led to the book.The middle chapters describe important perspectives as well as operational issues an academic dean faces. It is here that we see some of the strengths of the book. Insights such as his descriptions in "The True Costs of Construction" provide informative and accurate accounts of the jockeying and politicizing of important issues-in this case construction."If the new space is the result of a renovation rather than entirely new construction," Reed points out, "the space scramble will occur twice: first as the existing area is emptied out and the former occupants are moved into 'swing space,' and again when they move back in and the 'swing space' goes up for grabs." (p. 41)This is true and practical advice, the kind of background information that a new administrator should find useful. He also describes important funding issues such as financial aid, grants, and naming rights, as well, with equally helpful tips and insights."Community College Administration" describes some of the basic administrative positions, but not without some stereotyping-when discussing administrative roles in organizational planning he notes "faculty and individual departments usually try to ignore the broad goals and pursue their own agendas" while "deans have the lucky task of mediating among all of these" (Reed, 2013, p. 70). In discussing some of the responsibilities, there is good insight into issues surrounding course scheduling and cancellations, assessment, program evaluation, and shared governance. "The ability to get relatively comfortable with working with incomplete and flawed data required a significant attitude shift when I went from faculty to administration" (Reed, 2013, p. 79) is an excellent observation, and readers would benefit from seeing more of these perceptive examples. …