2009 ACCT Leadership Congress: Incoming ACCT Chair Stresses Accountability, Global Education, Engaging Membership

Incoming ACCT Chair Thomas M. Bennett told attendees of the ACCT 2009 Leadership Congress Saturday that “the time has come for community college leaders to define for ourselves what accountability means in the context of the community college.”

Calling the growing calls for accountability “a critical issue,” Bennett said that community college leaders “need to identify the benchmarks that reflect our multiple missions, our purposes, and student goals, and that demonstrate our successes, our effectiveness, and our impact in our local communities, our states, and our nation.”

A trustee at Parkland College in Champaign, Ill., Bennett identified helping students “achieve success in a global economy” and engaging ACCT’s membership through such systems as the association’s state, province and territory coordinator network as the other key challenges for the upcoming year.

“Community colleges had had a great year. We’ve received more attention and focus from the administration, the Congress, and the media than ever before -- and for all the right reasons,” said Bennett. “But there’s more to do.”