Supervisory skills play an important role in individual staff development and the achievement of organizational objectives. These skills are vital to professionals in community college student affairs, who support a diverse student population and a wide array of programming. This study was conducted to describe the kind of supervisory training…

This qualitative investigation explains the ways in which community college decision makers justify the inclusion of international students at three community colleges in the United States. We identify and explain the ways in which decision makers rationalize institutional policy--particularly recruitment strategies and motivations--related to…

The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of adjunct faculty who aspire to full-time positions at multi-campus community colleges. A paucity of research on this topic revealed the need to examine the experiences of adjunct faculty working at multi-campus community colleges (Wolfe & Strange, 2003). The notion that adjunct…

This qualitative instrumental case study explored the experiences and perceptions of seven community college leaders of their use of anticipatory leadership. Two research questions guided this study: (a) How do community colleges use anticipatory leadership to respond to internal and external changes? (b) How do community college leaders use…

Confidence and related constructs such as self-efficacy have been previously identified as important to college student persistence and performance (e.g., Cox, 2009; Wood & Turner, 2011), but existing research gives little indication of how confidence is shaped by students' day-to-day interactions in class and on campus. Using data from nearly…

As part of my dissertation, I designed and conducted a study that examined the portrayal of community colleges in the media. Previous studies had consisted primarily of content analysis methodology, and as such, they failed to examine the influence these media portrayals had on students' intent to enroll in community colleges. In addition to…

This chapter examines the experiences of five high school students previously enrolled in dual enrollment courses, and discusses the perceived benefits and disadvantages of these experiences from the student perspective.

Objective: Beyond understanding whether first-year student success interventions in community colleges are effective--for which there is mixed evidence in the literature--this study's purpose was to uncover how they work to realize observed outcomes, including at times unanticipated undesirable outcomes. Method: This qualitative multiple case…

The purpose of this study was to understand the nature of collaboration between academic affairs and student affairs units in the community college context from a basic interpretivist qualitative perspective. The aim was to examine the experiences, influences, and perceptions of mid-level and chief student affairs and academic affairs officers…

Systems of monitoring and control have left many educators and organisations in the field of post-compulsory education struggling to find ways to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse society. Education is complex. Many educators would agree that it is influenced by many, often contradictory, voices and power structures. Based on the findings…

The purpose of this case study was to evaluate the lessons learned from the development of a project that set out to revitalize an economically depressed area with an innovative approach to workforce development through partnerships. The focus was to utilize the development of the Niagara County Community College Culinary Institute as an example…

Patterns in analysis of research data on alternative education practices as well as on student and teacher experience in mainstream settings seem to support Pierre Bourdieu and Jean Claude Passeron's theory of symbolic violence. Data from teachers and students suggest that students from low socio-economic backgrounds often disengage from education…

This chapter reports results from a national policy study that examined state dual credit policies and how state policies address the quality of dual credit courses.

Contrary to the model minority myth that portrays Asian Americans as academic all-stars overrepresented in elite 4-year institutions, nearly half of all Asian American college students do, in fact, attend community colleges, and many experience myriad challenges. This exploratory study utilized a qualitative analysis and investigated how model…

Objective: The objective of this article is to delve more deeply into the thought processes of the key decision makers at community colleges and understand how they make decisions. Specifically, this article focuses on the role of the community college president's personal values in decision making. Method: We conducted interviews with 13…