Community college student athletes are unique in their setting in the world of college student athletes. Many compete for the love of their sport, while others have aspirations for transferring to major colleges to continue their participation. The current study made use of the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale with a sample of nearly 400…

Student government is important to community colleges for a variety of reasons, well beyond simply providing students an opportunity to be involved in charting the direction of the college. Student governments provide opportunities for students to learn about the democratic process, how to represent the interests of others, the responsibility of…

Discussions at the local, state, and national level have been focused on the importance of providing access and opportunity for college attendance. While these discussions are important to raising public interest in higher education attainment, they often negate how community values influence the college attendance decision process. This study…

This case study describes the creation of a supportive culture for online teaching at a western university that was transitioning to a new learning management system. The case study highlighted the creation of a faculty learning community as one strategy to address the challenge of faculty working through a change process. The faculty learning…

This chapter describes how rural community colleges use continuing education and other noncredit activities to provide key services to their surrounding communities that aid in creating group identity and engagement in the larger community.

Efforts to enhance college going rates have employed a number of strategies, such as improving recruitment efforts and enhancing financial aid packages. Little effort, however, has been directed at looking at the social and human capital that might impact a residential community, and the subsequent influence this community might have on a…

This chapter describes the various approaches to internal shared governance utilized by community colleges, ranging from approaches that intentionally involve different constituents to those evolved from habit, tradition, and precedence.

The study explored the oral communication apprehension (CA) levels of first-generation college students at a 2-year case study community institution. Overall and general-context CA were measured using the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension-24 (PRCA-24). The survey was sent by e-mail to 2,040 institutionally-identified first-generation…

This paper examines the economic impact of Walker Technical Institute (WTI) in Georgia on its local economy. In 1994, the annual report by Georgia's Department of Technical and Adult Education found a 77% increase from 1985 in the number of students participating in classes. State financial support for the Department of Technical and Adult…

Eight challenges for rural vocational education in community colleges include (1) inadequate state funding; (2) higher professional development costs; (3) higher business costs; (4) difficulty assessing labor market needs; (5) flooding the market with graduates; (6) focus on preserving local culture; (7) difficulty launching new programs; and (8)…

Nearly 60% of all community colleges field athletic teams with over 72,000 students participating in these sports. That represents approximately 11% of all community college male students (5% of female students). Additionally, community colleges invest nearly $50 million dollars annually in financial aid to student athletes. With such a strong…

This paper examines the perceptions and attitudes of the faculty of a rural community college about their institution's mission. The college serves a 19-county area in central Alabama, characterized by high rates of illiteracy, unemployment, and poverty. Surveys were completed by 74 of the 100 faculty members. Faculty generally supported their…

Community colleges have a role to play in providing support for students as they exit vocational or career preparation programs. As colleges have been challenged by an expanding transfer function, it is important that colleges understand student expectations. Such understanding helps to both serve students enrolled in programs and to meet the…

Profiles faculty governance senates in two-year colleges. Reports that an exploratory survey was mailed to a purposive national sample of community colleges; responses revealed that governance bodies were less common than previously thought, and that these structures tended to be more informal than their four-year college counterparts. (Contains…

American colleges and universities rely on a system of shared governance that includes the voluntary involvement of faculty to assist in the decision-making process. With a culture of democratic involvement and an expectation to participate in the democratic process generally, American citizens are accustomed to this type of involvement,…