Despite the importance of community college administrative positions and the recognition of their stressful nature, they have traditionally received little scholarly or professional attention. Recently, however, professional associations have been developed solely for the purpose of providing professional development opportunities to college administrators. The literature that does exist suggests that administrators have traditionally come from faculty ranks, and that since 1970, fewer administrators have come from outside the community colleges. Personal characteristics of effective administrators include responsibility, integrity, and intellectual efficiency, while professional skills are related to planning, organization, and office management. The most important ability appears to be having strong interpersonal skills. It has been suggested that college administrators must move toward more open and less inhibiting methods of reaching decisions in order to provide opportunities for faculty and others to become involved in leadership. While the literature on community college administrators contains few empirical studies addressing needs, skills, challenges, and roles, it is fairly clear that as the demographic composition of the United States changes, so too will the leadership of community colleges. Finally, there is a tremendous need to develop administrative research directly applicable to performance and to develop meaningful dialogue throughout higher education about roles and functions of different educational bodies. (Contains 17 references.) (HAA)