American Association of Community Colleges
2011 Leadership Award
Byron McClenney
Project Director
Senior Lecturer, Educational Administration,
Community College Leadership Program,
, Achieving the Dream
; The University of Texas at Austin
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. His tireless focus on
improving developmental education
and enhancing students’ community
college learning experience has
affected institutions throughout the
United States.
McClenney’s 49 years in education
include a remarkable 32 years serving as
a community college chief executive—a
career that spans five colleges in four
states. He continues to be one of
the most respected and sought-after
national leaders for strategic planning in
community colleges.
He established developmental education
as a priority at each institution where
he served as CEO, believing that
dramatically improved results were
possible for every student, particularly
for underserved minority students.
His motto is: “Give people good data
and they will make good decisions.”
This faith in the education community
is a hallmark of the kind of inspiring
leadership that turned the Community
College of Denver into one of the
most highly regarded community
colleges in the country. Its successes in
developmental education are considered
to represent an ideal to which all other
community colleges aspired.
