11/21/2025
Congratulations to the recipients of the 2025 Illinois Community College Administrative Leadership Scholarship! The Illinois Community College System recently recognized two winners of the Scholarship on November 21 at the annual Illinois Council for Community College Administrators Conference (ICCCA) at the Embassy Suites in East Peoria, IL. Any of the 1700 administrators in the Illinois 48 Colleges working on a masters or doctorate degree are qualified to apply. Each of the winners received $1500 in recognition of their efforts for the betterment of community colleges in Illinois.
The winners of the 2025 Illinois Community College leadership scholarships are Emily Monte from John A. Logan College & Cierra Morris from Triton College.
Emily is the Director of Academic Programs and Accreditation at John A. Logan College. She is working on her doctorate at Lindenwood University where she has been examining the causes, effects, and solutions related to the enrollment crisis our community colleges are facing. Her research consists of a mixed-methods approach, which will result in both quantitative and qualitative data, including data analysis, interviews, focus groups, and case Studies, and it will provide a comprehensive set of best practices that Illinois community colleges can implement to address declining enrollment and maintain their essential role in workforce development and higher education access.
Cierra Morris is the Director of the Workforce Empowerment Initiative at Triton College. She is pursuing a Doctor of Education in Leadership and Innovation at Purdue University Global. Even with some statewide progress over the years, Cierra will be examining underserved populations—particularly African American, first-generation, and low-income students—and why so many are still e experiencing lower completion and job placement rates in community college workforce programs. The pressing challenge is identifying which leadership practices and structural models most effectively reduce barriers, sustain persistence, and connect
students to meaningful employment. Cierra will be using a mixed methods design, which will include both quantitative and qualitative data, where she will examine enrollment, completion, and employment outcomes at multiple Illinois colleges, and she will also conduct interviews with administrators, faculty, and completers to surface leadership practices linked to improved student success.
The third recipient of a scholarship was Lindsey Nemcek from the College of Lake County. Lindsey is the Public Relations Manager at CLC, and recently completed her doctorate from Northern Illinois University in the Higher Education and Student Affairs Department and received the second half of her scholarship. Her qualitative multi-site case study investigated the pedagogical approaches employed by faculty in Community College Leadership Programs to prepare students for the role of scholarly practitioners.
The Illinois Community College System Foundation (ICCSF), the ICCCA, the Illinois Council of Community College Presidents (ICCCP), and the Illinois Community College Trustees Association (ICCTA) supports studies being conducted and published related to the Illinois Community College System. To stimulate more studies on this topic, these groups have made available an award of up to $3000. The winners receive half when they are selected as a winner and the remaining half when they complete their degree and present their findings at the annual ICCCA Conference. ICCSF Co-President and Scholarship Chair, Dr. Barry Hancock, says there are always several excellent applications for the scholarship each year. Dr. Hancock says over the past 12 years, the Illinois Community College system leadership scholarship has been able to provide financial support, in the amount of $31,100, to 23 different Community College administrators. Please click on the pics for more details.
