Q and A with William Trueheart
By CC Times, Published January 13, 2010

William Trueheart, the new president and CEO of Achieving the Dream, talks with Community College Times about the initiative and his plans.

What is your vision for Achieving the Dream?

Well, the fundamental vision for Achieving the Dream (ATD) is clear and compelling, and my vision is essentially the same. That ATD vision is to help substantially more community college students—especially low-income students and students of color—succeed in higher education and become productive, globally competitive citizens. ATD will continue to achieve those objectives by promoting institutional change through the better use of student data to inform curricular and student support decisions. What I want to do is build on the successful five-year foundation that has been established to continue the positive momentum of Achieving the Dream. Our success in the months and years ahead will mean that many more colleges will have created enhanced, supportive learning environments that will ensure much higher retention and rates of graduation. That’s the vision.


What specific areas do you want to focus on in 2010? Will fund raising play a larger role in the new year?

2010 is sure to be an exciting year for Achieving the Dream. We have ambitious growth plans that will require focused efforts in our institutional change and policy work. And that’s where the ATD focus will be. We want to expose Achieving the Dream to a greater number of colleges and influence policy change in more states to assist colleges in achieving their objectives. Clearly, with the unambiguous, historic declaration by the president of the importance of community colleges to our nation’s well-being, and his commitment to allocate $12 billion to the colleges, as well as legislation pending in the Senate—you can be sure that we will be paying close attention to what’s happening in Washington.

Fund raising will certainly be an important aspect of my work.  As we secure more resources, Achieving the Dream will be more flexible in providing our services to a greater number of colleges. Importantly, though, we’re not just planning to identify resources for the Achieving the Dream’s provision of services. We will also focus on helping our colleges identify opportunities and strategies to raise their own funds by sharing knowledge about navigating state and federal agency and philanthropic organizations’ systems.


While the concept of Achieving the Dream will remain the same? How will the strategy change and how will that affect the member colleges?

I don’t think our strategy will change. We will continue to rely on the best partners and best minds in the field to contribute cutting edge ideas, resources, and research to our work with Achieving the Dream institutions and the students they serve. We want to embrace the successes occurring at the Achieving the Dream colleges and determine how to take them to scale to positively benefit much greater numbers of students, i.e., well beyond the million or so students our ATD colleges are presently serving.  A rich, strong foundation has been put in place in colleges across the nation, due in large part to the vision and generosity of Lumina Foundation and other important funders around the country. That foundational work will serve us well as we grow and expand our reach nationally.

Economic issues are severe at every level of government, especially the state level, which directly affects community colleges. We will need to think creatively and smartly in order to ensure that colleges that want to be part of Achieving the Dream are able to participate.


How do you think that all of the attention given to community colleges lately will impact Achieving the Dream?

I think the attention will have a number of important implications. It helps to reinforce the fact that community colleges are indeed critical and viable higher education destinations for students of all ages and backgrounds. It speaks to the unique, vitally important role that community colleges play within our higher education system. It will provide new avenues for greater voice and influence in the policy councils at every level of government. It will enhance the opportunities for outstanding leaders such as Dr. Jill Biden (wife of Vice President Joe Biden and community college professor) and Martha Kanter (U.S. Education Department under secretary), who have long and successful experiences with community colleges, to speak with greater support and force about critical community college issues and needs.

However, with greater attention comes greater scrutiny and greater responsibility. It means we have to be vigilant in our work and steadfast in our commitment to student success. It means we have to keep getting better and more efficient. We have to continue doing more with fewer resources. We have to identify what works and disseminate those strategies to benefit as many students as possible throughout the nation.

The president and foundations like Lumina have set ambitious and critical degree attainment objectives for this country. As a nation, I see no way of meeting these objectives if our community colleges do not fulfill their missions. The good news is I believe we are ready and eager to take on these challenges because of the successful work over the past five years working with institutions committed to student success, retention and graduation.


What will be some of the primary challenges that you hope to tackle this year?

The challenges this year will be the same as they’ve been for the previous five years—and for many years before that.  As community colleges are being asked to continue producing results while under immense budget constraints, Achieving the Dream must continue to provide the necessary resources to these institutions so they are able create and sustain learning environments that foster greater student success.  We will be paying close attention to the federal legislation and appropriations in Washington and we will continue to focus on influencing policies in a number of key states.  We will track and analyze student success interventions and identify those that yield significant results.  We want to continue to nurture the Achieving the Dream network of institutions and supporters in service to community college missions.


What attracted you to do this newly created position?

First and foremost was the deliberately unambiguous focus on student success and the fact that Achieving the Dream was raising the bar on success nationally. Community colleges occupy a unique place in our higher education system and they currently sit at the intersection of the national discussion on postsecondary success. They are playing and will need to increasingly play critically essential roles in helping state and national efforts to close achievement gaps and increase degree attainment. Because of this focus on community colleges, there is no more important time for Achieving the Dream to be successful. I believe that it is absolutely critical to our national workforce objectives to have the most effective educational institutions possible serving our highest need citizens. I wanted to serve on the front line of that effort in concert with the leaders of the community colleges and other thought and action leaders in our nation. Achieving the Dream is the most compelling, successful vehicle for achieving those objectives. Education has been my life passion, and this is a challenge I’m prepared for and embrace with great enthusiasm.