Dr. Amanda Latz, Ball State University Teachers College professor of Higher Education and Community College Leadership in the Department of Educational Leadership was named president-elect of the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC) this past spring at the organization’s 65th Annual Conference.

Community

As the name suggests, CSCC is an organization for people who do research and scholarly works in and around the community college sector. Although many members are faculty at four-year colleges in graduate education, helping to prepare people to work in higher education and at community colleges, they are also open and welcoming to scholarly practitioners in the community college arena.

Dr. Latz speaks very highly of the warm and welcoming community she has found in this relatively small organization. She speaks passionately about the mentoring stance the organization takes towards graduate students, something not found in all higher ed organizations. Effort is made to make sure graduate students are supported, and this welcoming culture is something that influenced her decision to run for president.

“I have had such a good experience over the past 10 plus years as a member, as a regular conference-goer, as someone who tries to bring grad students along, and have always personally felt really welcome and supported there. So, when the invitation came to run, it was an easy yes for me.”

Presidential

In this first year of a three-year presidential term, Dr. Latz currently serves at the president-elect. This first year will have the heaviest workload, with responsibilities that include coordinating and planning the annual conference, which will be held April 3-5, 2025, in Detroit, Michigan.

As part of those duties, she drew up and finalized the conference theme: Working in Solidarity for Equitable Community College Futures. She is also responsible for bringing together a conference planning committee of 14 other people who will help promote the conference, encourage people to submit proposals, share feedback on the proposals and the decision of acceptance or rejection, and build the conference schedule, among other things.

Future Terms

In her second year of the three-year term, her title will be president, and she will be the face of the organization. She will participate in, and have responsibilities at, the annual conference in 2026. During her final year, she will be the past president and be responsible for facilitating the nominations of the next round of board members and executive board members.

Dr. Latz notes that she appreciates the mentorship built into the process, as she has never done anything like this before.

“It’s a lot of work but you know that so many other people have come before you to do that work, and it’s kind of like it’s my turn to do it this year. I really am hoping to put on a beautiful conference.”