From free and low-cost dental clinics provided by dental hygienist students, to home building by students in construction programs, to more individualized service-learning across a wide array of courses, two-year schools are putting the "community" in community college by mixing academics and service in a panoply of creative ways. These…

It is crucial for writing center professionals who discuss community to ask ourselves what we mean by the term as applied to writing centers. In this keynote, I explore various notions of community that are influenced by writing center growth, expansion, and complexity, especially in relation to Iowa's writing center. After relating a personal…

Indian Hills Community College had the numbers behind them upon passing a bond measure in November 2021. More than 12,000 voters in 17 Iowa counties gave their approval for a $28 million referendum designated to fund a brand new campus and additional major improvements. The bond, which needed 60% support to pass, cleared that hurdle with more than…

The dramatic decline of rural industries (such as coal mining, millwork, or farming) over the last several decades coupled with most jobs requiring some sort of postsecondary education in today's U. S. economy means postsecondary credential attainment has taken on increased importance for rural social mobility. College accessibility appears to be…

The Short Readings Group, a reading group collaboration between faculty and the library, allows educators to deepen their understanding of their subject area and of the teaching profession by engaging with current articles and texts from various subject areas. For the library, the model allows librarians to showcase library resources, engage…

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how I used the Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW) pedagogical framework in conjunction with Project-Based Learning (PBL) to develop a campus-community partnership while enhancing and promoting the goals of the local blues society. In order to achieve the goals of the AIW framework, I created a major…

In this book, Carrie B. Kisker illustrates how community colleges can utilize design thinking to identify and evaluate entrepreneurial opportunities, and experiment with the internal changes necessary to optimize outcomes for stakeholders. Kisker outlines a process whereby college leaders can empower faculty and staff to think creatively about how…

This chapter discusses an innovative state public policy which has incentivized Iowa's community colleges to become the economic drivers of their region. Created in the 1983 legislation, it continues to this day to affect Iowa's rural communities and their colleges.

This paper is a proposal, project, and dissertation for Kenneth Johnson, Doctor of Philosophy degree in Science Education, in the Graduate College of The University of Iowa. I propose analyzing the writing assignment in an undergraduate online physics course offered by a small midwestern community college (CC). The goal is to study how Writing to…

Last summer, the National Education Association (NEA) developed a New Business Item to explore retrenchment: "The NEA shall make a statistical study on the effect of significant faculty retrenchment at community colleges on future faculty cuts" (NBI 78, 2022). ASA Research (ASA) conducted exploratory research in an attempt to identify…

Investments in professional development have been more important than ever for community colleges this past year against the backdrop of the pandemic and all that it has changed. While some colleges are facing declining enrollments and less in the way of state funding, they are stretching every professional development dollar they can get their…

Extension is positioned to develop and implement high-quality, high-impact internship experiences for college students in local communities. The creation of the Rising Star Internship program arose from interest in providing experiential work opportunities for Iowa State University students coupled with the organizational goals of promoting…

International students contribute much to community college campuses and their surrounding communities, both economically and culturally. In the 2018-19 academic year, community colleges enrolled more than 86,000 international students, according to data from the Institute of International Education's Open Doors report. However, at a time when…

The annual community college tuition and fees report provides information about tuition and fees charged at each of Iowa's 15 community colleges. This report also provides trends in tuition and fees among Iowa's community colleges, sources of general operating revenue and comparisons among states and institutions. For fiscal year (FY) 2023,…

Increasing the number of transfers and graduates in engineering who start at community colleges (CC) requires strategic partnering between institutions. Reflecting on the results of a five-year partnership between a large, multi-location CC and a large four-year university, we present the goals, conceptual framework, specific results, and best…