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…

In Spring 2020, colleges across the nation swiftly transitioned their operations--including both classes and student support services--to remote delivery on an emergency basis in response to the crisis posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. While prior research has documented that the transition was associated with decrements in student outcomes, there…

Previous studies identified student-specific and institutional factors that impact community college student retention. However, few studies have examined associations between commodity prices and community college student retention. Guided by rational choice theory, we examine the relationship between annual, state-level gasoline prices and…

Notable gaps in academic literature exist as it pertains to understanding the influence of institutional characteristics on modality enrollment patterns in the community college environment. Given these gaps, this study examined whether institutional control, locale, and size could serve as predictors of whether a community college is more…

Objective: Policymakers in many states are endeavoring to increase graduation rates among older community college students. However, we know little about how the factors that influence college completion among older students differ from their younger peers. We aim to identify features of institutional contexts in which adult community college…

In this paper, we report the description and evaluation of an annual workshop titled "Capacity Building Workshops for Competitive S-STEM Proposals from Two-Year Colleges in the Western U.S." which was offered in June of 2019, 2020, and 2021 with the goal of facilitating submissions to the NSF S-STEM program from 2-year colleges (2YCs).…

Students' learning experience mainly depends on the knowledge and skills they learned in class. The objective of an interior design program is to teach students innovative design thinking and how to express their creative ideas. Students do individual and team assignments to learn relevant design cases and methods. The main teaching focus of…

In response to policy and accountability mandates requiring California community colleges (CCCs) to address disparities in student outcomes, CCCs must adapt to evolving frameworks, funding structures, and parameters (e.g., definitions, equity populations, and metrics). Recent guidance has focused on race-conscious and equity-minded approaches.…

Community colleges across the nation face many challenges in terms of institutional funding. As legislators in the Southeast continue to define metrics for funding mechanisms that define the amount of funding an institution receives legislators have used performance-based funding to channel funds into higher education institutions since 1979.…

In this article, the authors focus on the intersection of the study of activism and the urban community college. Leveraging the Actors, Contexts, Tactics, and Strategies (ACTS) Framework, the authors (re)examine activism scholarship that illuminates similarities and differences between 2- and 4-year institutions. Ultimately, the article concludes…

The inherent features of universities and junior colleges in Korea may be non-normative based on institution type, suggesting the blurring of organisational identities. This raises concern amid Korea's increasing popularity as an international education destination. There might be confusion in the global marketplace from the perspective of…

It is becoming ever more challenging to address the changing landscape faced by California Community Colleges. Change agents strive to implement needed interventions but are often disappointed in the outcomes. However, the literature shows that the odds of successful change increase when interventions align with the organization's culture. The…

While residents of Los Angeles County appear to have access to seemingly endless postsecondary opportunities within their proximity, the geography of opportunity for accessible options of higher education leading to bachelor's degrees in the area requires further exploration. This case study explores the spatial contexts and 3-year transfer…

This research was originally presented as a chapter in the doctoral dissertation "On Becoming a People's College: An Appreciative Inquiry." Appreciative Inquiry (Ai) is a participatory approach to organizational change focused on an affirmative topic choice. The topic choice of the dissertation was equity, democracy, and justice at the…

While there is no shortage of scholarship on "equity" in higher education, researchers typically examine whether a policy or practice is (in)equitable rather than how those responsible for designing and enacting a policy or practice make meaning of equity. Using a sensemaking framework and case study approach, I explored the collective…