The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) has identified a set of six competencies essential to effective community college leadership. Studies have been conducted to test the validity and usefulness of these competencies in such ways as by surveying community college professionals and to examine the effectiveness of graduate programs in preparing students to become community colleges leaders by incorporating some or all of the competencies. The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has conducted a seven-year project to address issues surrounding PhD completion and attrition, called the PhD completion project. This project found six institutional and program characteristics that are key factors in determining whether a particular student is likely to complete a PhD program. This paper seeks to review the AACC competencies for community college leaders and the PhD completion project and examine the practical implications of both studies.

The Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC) is an affiliate of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) whose members include university-based researchers and community college practitioners who further scholarship on the community college. The purposes of the council are to contribute to the development of education for community college professionals; conduct and disseminate research pertaining to community colleges; serve as a forum for dialogue between university professors, graduate students, and community college practitioners who study community colleges; disseminate information about related conferences and events; provide research and other services to the AACC and its affiliate councils; recognize outstanding service to, research in, and publication about community college education; and provide a unified and formal base of participation for CSCC members in AACC affairs.This special issue of the Community College Journal of Research and Practice (CCJRP) features research presented at the 2010 CSCC conference in Seattle, Washington. We are pleased to be able to offer the works of so many scholars in the biggest special of the CCJRP to date. The topics included in this issue cover community college leadership, finance, students, and other relevant subjects. The chapters on community college leadership consist of an examination of doctoral coursework in leadership programs by Li, Friedel, and Rusche; the information needs of advanced technological education leaders by Badway and Somerville; the role of the media in the wounding

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