Change is a constant both in life and on the typical community college campus. Two-year institutions are constantly adjusting to demographic transitions, workforce needs and the ever-shifting requirements of underserved enrollees. Flexibility around service may also call for internal change. Some community colleges have rebranded their names--a…

Urban community colleges have been studied primarily from a case study perspective, often highlighted by doctoral students conducting research at their institutions. Little of this scholarship, however, has been translated into the base of literature, as less than 5% of the citations in the largest search engines are focused on urban community…

Community colleges navigate a policy landscape or "policyscape" that was not created for them but that affects them in numerous ways. The concluding article introduces the idea of the "policyscape" in the community college context, and provides examples from the volume of when and how policies can be updated (what Mettler calls…

Since the 1947 Truman Commission's recommendation to establish local colleges in communities, the multiple mission community colleges have provided access and affordable education for millions. In the early years of the new millennium, community colleges garnered increased attention as engines of credential completion as the need for a college…

With enrollment down, competition increasing from company training and university associate degree programs, and people's perceptions of community colleges still lagging the robust reality of what they have to offer. Community colleges need to tell their own stories so that others do not do for them. Community colleges are often a misunderstood,…

Community college boards of trustees are not highly visible, but they play a vital role in college and student success through governance and oversight of the mission of open access higher education. The stakes are high as community colleges compete for scarce resources in state budgets making the local and state-level trustee/governing role as…

This guide describes how community college presidents can embed strategic enrollment management (SEM) into mission fulfillment. It emphasizes the importance of setting a vision, ensuring adequate resources, and fostering collaboration. By leveraging data-driven strategies and continuous improvement, colleges can enhance student recruitment,…

Recent data published by the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) found that campus community impacts student success by 44 percent. Students are more likely to thrive when they have access to people who understand and relate to them and when they can gain support from programs that value their culture and ideology. Including…

This chapter provides individual and institutional strategies for confronting the historical challenges facing community college faculty, especially the prestige model, mission ambiguity, and declining resources.

The more polarized American politics become, the more challenging it becomes for institutional leaders of all stripes to maintain a balanced approach and not get crosswise with anyone. Community college leaders are no exception to this reality--and they say succeeding in this environment requires an artful combination of underscoring the natural…

In this chapter, the authors discuss the role community colleges play in alleviating poverty and how this role is reflected in institutional mission statements.

Community college leadership, including governing and foundation board members, must have an ethical framework while using philanthropic fundraising to increase revenues available for community colleges to realize their heroic mission.

This chapter highlights key ideas about multiple and competing community college missions and the leadership required to address them.

This chapter discusses an often neglected aspect of the community college mission: noncredit courses that address local service area needs.

The annual Performance Accountability Report (PAR) serves as an important mechanism by which public colleges and universities in Maryland are held accountable. Through a performance accountability plan, institutions are required to establish and maintain performance standards, and use metrics to assess their effectiveness in tackling institutional…