Noted Community College Advocates Get AACC’s Most Distinguished Award - April 26, 2011

Dr. Byron McClenney

Dr. Kay McClenney

Drs. Kay and Byron McClenney, faculty members in the College of Education’s Department of Educational Administration, have been honored with the most prestigious accolade that the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) bestows – the Leadership Award.

They received the awards at the AACC’s national conference this year in New Orleans.

“Byron and Kay McClenney have an unwavering commitment to building up the community college movement and generously give their time to help others improve how colleges educate students,” said Dr. Walter G. Bumphus, president and CEO of AACC and former chair of the College of Education’s Department of Educational Administration. “Perhaps their greatest impact has been at helping colleges consider how to apply data and think strategically about student outcomes and college excellence.”

Dr. Byron McClenney’s almost 50 years in the field of education has included serving for 32 years as a community college chief executive at five colleges in four states.
In all of his executive posts he made developmental education a top priority, asserting that dramatically improved education results were possible for every student, particularly underserved minority students.

“Hundreds of community college students and graduates owe their successful college careers – and their future successes – to the hard work and dedication of Byron McClenney,” said Bumphus.

Byron is a senior lecturer in the Department of Educational Administration and serves on the staff of the Community College Leadership Program as project director for Achieving the Dream, one of the largest and most ambitious community college student success programs in the country.

He also serves as co-director for the California Leadership Alliance for Student Success (CLASS). He is a member of the consultant team for the Ford Foundation’s national Community College Bridges to Opportunity Initiative and was co-director of it from 2003 to 2008. He served on President Clinton’s Steering Committee for America Reads/America Counts and on several commissions of the American Council on Education. Additionally, he has held numerous leadership roles within the AACC.

Dr. Kay McClenney has distinguished herself as a major innovator in community college education as the director of the Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE). The Center conducts an annual survey that has been administered to more than two million students in almost 800 community colleges in 49 states. The Center also administers the Survey of Entering Student Engagement, which has gathered input from nearly a million community college students.
Student data obtained in these surveys is used to help colleges identify and understand ways in which they are doing well and areas that need improvement.
“It’s hard to find someone more dedicated to the success of community college students than Kay McClenney,” said Bumphus. “Her three decades of hard work and devotion to improving community colleges have set a standard that few can match. We are delighted to recognize her work with the 2011 Leadership Award.”
Kay is an adjunct faculty member in the College of Education’s Community College Leadership Program, directs the Ford Foundation’s coordinating team for the national Community College Bridges to Opportunity Initiative and directs the MetLife Foundation’s national student retention project.

She also is the senior University of Texas at Austin consultant for the Achieving the Dream initiative, director of the Initiative on Student Success and co-director of CLASS.

A former faculty member and administrator within the Alamo community college system in Texas, Kay also served as the interim president at St. Philip’s College in San Antonio. She is a senior associate with The Pew Forum on Undergraduate Learning.

During her 10 years as vice president and chief operating officer at the Education Commission of the States, Kay was a leading voice in national policy development. She was instrumental in helping elected leaders understand the vital role of community colleges and developed state-level accountability initiatives.
She currently serves on the National Advisory Boards for the National Survey of Student Engagement at Indiana University, the College and Careers Transition Initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the project on Building Engagement and Attainment of Minority Students at the American Association for Higher Education, and the Community College Leadership Academy at Arizona State University.

—Kay Randall, University Communications, 512-232-3910