This book highlights the exciting work of two-year colleges to prepare students for their future careers through engagement in undergraduate research. It emerged from work in five community college systems thanks to two National Science Foundation grants the Council for Undergraduate Research received to support community colleges' efforts to…

There is rapidly growing research on the multiple benefits of nature-based experiences. Some institutions of higher education have incorporated these types of experiences in areas such as building design, travel offerings, residential programs, green spaces, field trips, wellness centers, and freshman orientation programs. Unfortunately, urban…

The COVID-19 pandemic decreased college enrollment and disrupted academic progress, particularly among disadvantaged students and institutions. Just before the start of the pandemic in spring 2020, 31,511 undergraduate students attending colleges of The City University of New York responded to a survey detailing their circumstances. Lasso…

Growing a media department with involved students is not just about enabling them to make their work, but to cultivate critical viewing and passionate film spectatorship by experiencing film in a public setting. A film screening series serves the entire campus by building community, both amongst media students and the larger college populace, but…

This study explored self-efficacy in a sample of urban community college students. The main goal of the study was to determine levels of both general and academic self-efficacy in this population, consisting of first-generation, immigrant, and traditional students. Self-efficacy is an important psychological factor affecting academic motivation,…

After decades of frustration with increasingly complex college financial aid policies, a nationwide shift toward "free college" programs has gained momentum. New York State joined the free college movement in 2017, when Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his goal to make public higher education tuition-free for most students during his…

Librarians at a community college in New York City identified that, unassisted, undergraduate students often find it difficult to categorize the various information formats they are locating and citing, such as a newspaper article, a book, a scholarly article, a blog or wiki entry, or a reference source. Due to their untrained approach defining…

The CUNY Research Scholars Program (CRSP) has provided year-long mentored research experiences for 1678 associate's degree STEM students since 2014. The pluralities (32%) of mentors, all of whom are full-time faculty, have been biologists. Other represented disciplines include, but are not limited to, chemistry, engineering, mathematics,…

The values and benefits of introducing undergraduate research to the college curriculum are both recognized and advocated in the literature. Although the community college environment may not appear to be favorable for undergraduate research projects in STEM fields, a dynamic and visible group of students, who take their path extremely seriously,…

The current phenomenological study explored the emotion-based perceptions of eight Black and Hispanic students' experiences in developmental education classes at two urban community colleges. The researcher utilized a theoretical framework comprised of Critical Race Theory (CRT) with a focus on emotions and Yosso's (2005) model of cultural wealth.…

Two case studies were conducted to examine whether inquiry-based learning (IBL) can help students in understanding normal distributions, and to determine if IBL methods have any effect on students' conceptual and computational capabilities. There were 16 students in the traditional class and 17 students in the IBL-implemented class who…

Instructors expect students to read before class to engage them in using higher-order thinking skills that are critical to performing in group work and engaging in discussions. As many instructors are aware, however, for various reasons many students don't read the assigned textbook. In this study, science news articles were used as prereadings to…

Student reading achievement is a concern throughout the City University of New York because it has shown to be a factor in their academic success in college. Students who do not achieve success in developmental reading either do not matriculate or drop out of college. The problem that this study will investigate is the instructional method in two…

Undergraduate research (UR) is an integral part of the culture at Queensborough Community College, CUNY (QCC), an urban community college with a diverse student population. Since 2015, more than 400 students participate in undergraduate research experiences each year, working with more than 40 faculty mentors from several academic departments.…

The City University of New York's (CUNY) Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) provides wraparound services for eligible students, including financial, academic, and personal support. First piloted in 2007, ASAP has been shown to substantially increase three-year completion rates at CUNY's community colleges. To build on the program's…