Speakers Emphasize Completion, Governance
During the 2026 ACCT Leadership Congress Friday, keynote speaker ECMC Foundation President Jacob Fraire linked completion to the ongoing crisis of public confidence in higher education, calling it a “disconnect, not a disagreement.”
“I believe most Americans want to have more confidence in American higher education, but we have given them cause to question their faith,” he said. “That’s where you come in. Community colleges will be the place where we foster greater faith in postsecondary education.”
Fraire noted that while overall completion rates have improved, growth has stalled in recent years and achievement gaps persist—exceeding 30 percentage points between the highest and lowest student cohorts. “This is unacceptable, and this is heartbreaking,” he says. “Our higher education systems must ensure that all students complete on par with their peers.”
Community colleges also have a role to play with supporting the 43 million Americans with some college credit but no credential, Fraire said, noting that two thirds of all stopouts started at community colleges. He called growing enrollment numbers a sign that students are “still willing to take the plunge,” but he asked Congress attendees a pointed question: “What are the ethics of reconnection if we’re not doing anything different the second time around?”
“There’s still a great deal of work for us to do,” he said. “Work that requires good governance, strong leadership, and a singular devotion to student success.”
Fraire noted the ECMC Foundation’s efforts to remove barriers for students and build institutional capacity, pointing to its support of the ACCT Kids on Campus program as an example. The foundation’s goal is to eliminate completion gaps by 2040, he said, calling it “a necessary marker if we’re going to make good on our promise to our students and improve our standing with the public.”
Noting the declining tenure of higher education CEOs, Fraire urged trustees to be supportive of their presidents and chancellors. “Authentic improvement in higher education requires staying power,” he said. “And that staying power is the mark of a president-trustee relationship that has the long view in mind and a shared understanding for our primary roles as stewards of our colleges.”
Also Friday, a panel of speakers discussed a just-released survey on community college leaders’ role in economic development released by New America and ACCT’s Center for Policy & Practice. The first publication from the Accelerator for Community Colleges in the Innovation Economy initiative, the report found near universal agreement among trustees and presidents that economic development is central to their mission but gaps in execution.
The report calls on community college leaders to align their strategy with regional economic priorities, allocate resources for capacity building, play roles in policy advocacy and storytelling, strengthen place-based relationships, and balance oversight with empowerment.
Speakers from institutions profiled in the report shared strategies, including Northeastern Community College’s efforts to establish a consortium of agriculture-focused community colleges, Austin Community College’s alignment with the Texas Workforce Commission and hiring a “chief futurist” to keep abreast of emerging opportunities and Harper College’s innovation accelerator. Speakers reiterated the importance of supporting college CEOs as essential for the sustainability of these efforts.
“You’ve got to strengthen your relationship with your president so they have the ability to move the needle and make these things happen,” said Northeast Trustee Steve Anderson. “We all need a workforce, whether it's in my small town of a thousand people in rural Nebraska or it's Chicago.”
Incoming Chair VanDible Stallworth to Trustees: ’Slay’
Accepting the gavel as 2026-27 ACCT Chair Saturday morning, Pretta VanDible Stallworth instead drew on the image of a sword, issuing a call to action to her fellow trustees to “slay” the misperceptions that keep prospective students from their doors.
“Too many people believe in the story of the great ivory tower, surrounded by a moat of unaffordability and guarded by a fierce dragon,” said VanDible Stallworth, a trustee on the Houston City College board. “People are too afraid to walk through the doors… They just need someone to encourage them and put that sword in their hands.”
Noting that the community college sector is the only part of higher education not defined by “how many students it excludes, how many applications it rejects, how many people can’t afford the cost to attend,” VanDible Stallworth called on trustees to cast off the “false humility” about its vital role.
“We know that community colleges are true to our mission. We know they save lives. We know that we are essential to our economic success locally, statewide, and nationally,” she said. “It’s time for false humility to stop. It’s time for community college pride.”
VanDible Stallworth urged trustees to be intentional about “opening the gates and inviting people to come and slay that dragon.”
“Innovation is our business model and we must own it,” she said. “We see the sword in the stone. We see that power in our students. And I see that many trustees have no idea of the power that they wield. You have the power to unsheath that sword. We better start swinging and slaying.”
Also Saturday, keynote speaker Tina Lopez described how her choice to eschew six-figure student loans by attending City Colleges of Chicago was the “foundational decision” that enabled her to meet her goal of being a financially independent entrepreneur within five years of graduating.
“They said I could do better, and I did do better,” Lopez said, calling on trustees to support others making the same decisions. “You are helping the next generation of students to meet their five-year goals. Make it easy for them to take the untraditional path.”