About Iowa Association of Community College Trustees

Local school boards established Iowa's first junior colleges in the early 1900s.  But only 16 were still in operation in 1965 as well as four post-secondary voc-tech schools.  Iowa's Community Colleges were created in 1965 by Iowa Law, and all fifteen were officially designated by the State Board of Education in 1966.  (see list under Member Colleges button on left).

Creation of an Association

In 1971 the Iowa Council of Area School Boards was created as a nonprofit corporation for the purpose of promoting social welfare by strengthening, developing and correlating the work of the school boards of the Iowa Community Colleges.  The name was changed to Iowa Association of Community College Trustees (IACCT) in 1981.

Governance

Each of the fifteen Community Colleges has a trustee who serves on the IACCT Board of Directors.  The Community Colleges are served by 124 trustees, who are locally-elected officials serving without pay.  They oversee the largest post-secondary education system of the state, serving the equivalent of 22 percent of Iowa's population, or roughly 418,000 students in credit and non-credit in FY2010.