Dr. Christine Johnson McPhail became a pioneer in the community college world in 1998, when she founded the Community College Leadership Doctoral Program (CCLDP) at a historically Black college and university.
A staunch advocate for community colleges, who held a number of teaching and administrative positions over the years, McPhail had already become a history maker herself when she was appointed the first woman and the first African-American president of Cypress College, located in southern California.
Now, the doctoral program that she founded and directed since her retirement from Morgan State University in 2010, is changing the face of the community college, by helping practitioners earn advance degrees so that they can advance and take on leadership roles at their respective institutions.
In the two decades since the launch of the program at Morgan, the results have been nothing short of amazing. The doctoral program has graduated more than 91 percent of its students — 75 percent of whom are African-Americans.
In an age when African-Americans still lag far behind their White counterparts in obtaining leadership positions at community colleges, education experts say that the CCLDP program is making a difference.
“Dr. Christine Johnson McPhail continues to be a force for both student success and leadership success in the contemporary community college movement through her scholarly research, leadership and advocacy,” says Dr. Lorenzo Esters, vice president of philanthropy for Strada Education Network, a national nonprofit that uses research, philanthropy and best practices to strengthen pathways between education and employment.
“She recognizes that if community colleges are to realize their fullest potential, there must be a pipeline of diverse, prepared and innovative leaders willing to address the issues head on,” says Esters, who was a doctoral student of McPhail’s at Morgan. “She not only recognizes the need for change, but she also has endeavored to do something about it. And, we are all the better because of it.”
