U.S. rural community colleges serve approximately 3.4 million students, yet there is very little research on these institutions. We conducted a mulitple case study to develop a typology of rural community college locations. We gathered and analyzed publicly available data (n = 25) and private institutional data (n = 6) and conducted in-person…

Strategic plans are valuable tools for colleges seeking to cast vision and provide focused guidance for leadership and faculty, but it is not clear how these plans address student success. This study analyzed plans from 55 of the 58 community colleges in North Carolina. First, we analyzed the plans using a 10-step strategic planning framework to…

This case study focused on the Open Campus™ initiative at Bossier Parish Community College (BPCC). Open Campus™ is the nation's first free, online, non-credit, developmental, cross-curricular course portal. The courses are self-directed and can be utilized by anyone with an internet connection, regardless of the Bossier Parish affiliation. In the…

Community colleges are experiencing growing numbers of student veterans. Unfortunately, much training for faculty and staff tends to stem from a deficit mindset: the focus is on remediating what student veterans lack rather than building on their unique strengths. Training programs, courses, and college interventions that acknowledge and build on…

The intent of this study is to explore the actions and strategies used by the administration at Bergen Community College to serve its institutional mission in increasing student completion. Facing challenges in low completion rate, Bergen Community College began the student completion initiative to develop a strategy that would best serve the…

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…

Community colleges are continually faced with the challenge of meeting the learning needs of diverse students, many of who are nontraditional and often ill-prepared for college level work. These institutions are respected for furthering democracy through their commitment to educational access and criticized for falling short in supporting…

The purpose of this case study was to holistically investigate the environmental support needs of community college students as they transition into a research university. Both students and staff were interviewed to gain their perspective on the influences of the student transition process. Western University is a Carnegie classified Doctoral…

This study explored how administrators at community colleges conceptualized change related to resource allocation and managing competing priorities to support targeted programming for Latino men. The study included the perspectives of 39 administrators from seven community colleges across Texas using concepts associated with institutional change…

Design thinking is a strategy for innovation popularized in the business press and recently investigated in academic literature. Some research points to design thinking as an enabler of an organizational culture of innovation. Much research demonstrates a link between a culture of innovation and successful business outcomes in every sector, and…

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…

With more than 12 million students enrolled in over 1,150 two-year institutions, enrollment at these institutions constitutes approximately 44% of all undergraduates in the United States. Despite this, research and prevention efforts related to drinking behaviors among college students attending two-year institutions are limited, with similar…

This intrinsic case study explored organizational readiness to implement a campus-wide technology initiative. Specifically, this research examined a rural community college's implementation of an "iPad campus" initiative in which all students, faculty, and staff were required to adopt iPad technology. We apply a heuristic for…

In recent decades, many institutions of higher education have responded to community and student learning needs through the development of service-learning programs (Sapp & Crabtree, 2002). Community colleges have been noted as leaders in the establishment of service-learning programs. The purpose of this study was to better understand the…

Long seen as adaptive, responsive, and flexible higher education institutions in the face of educational, economic, and social changes, the American community college model has been adapted in many parts of the world. However, the extent to which the American community college model could be successfully adapted and implemented depends on the…