To better understand the challenges and opportunities facing community colleges that want to expand apprenticeship opportunities to their students, New America conducted a year-long study. We created an advisory committee to guide this work and spoke to apprenticeship, workforce development, and community college leaders about the community…

Launched in 2021 by a team of undergraduate students, university faculty, associate researchers, and community partners collaborating as genuine equals in a diverse team, the Together Time Story Sacks intergenerational literacies program forms part of an ongoing action research project aimed at understanding and addressing barriers that residents…

The history of Indianapolis' Near Westside, its residents, and the Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus, demonstrates how disenfranchisement, economic injustice, and spatial injustice intricately intertwine higher education institutions and residential communities. Where homes once stood, now stand institutions of…

This article describes the narrative of one small rural community college's concurrent enrollment program, seeking to highlight and make sense of the particular dynamics of operating this type of programing in rural spaces. Dual or concurrent enrollment options can offer students increased access to postsecondary options in rural education…

U.S. rural community colleges serve approximately 3.4 million students, yet there is very little research on these institutions. We conducted a mulitple case study to develop a typology of rural community college locations. We gathered and analyzed publicly available data (n = 25) and private institutional data (n = 6) and conducted in-person…

Schools and institutions of higher education (IHEs) are an integral part of their communities; when a community experiences a major emergency event or incident, schools and IHEs in that community are also affected. Comprehensive emergency operations plans (EOPs) should, therefore, consider all threats and hazards that may occur within the…

The first year of university can be a vulnerable time, especially for students who describe themselves as shy and who may be reluctant to engage socially. Shyness, which can be closely aligned with social anxiety, often reduces opportunities for students to belong. This paper presents the experiences of two students negotiating experiences of…

Constructivism holds that learners construct knowledge when they make sense of the world. It provides the basis for the movement from teacher-centered towards student-centered learning in entrepreneurship, which is accelerating. Yet, research into using constructivism in the entrepreneurship classroom of community colleges in the USA is seriously…

This article tests the project-based research model by analyzing the processes and outcomes of a partnership between a grassroots environmental organization promoting community-based sustainability practices and a series of university-based capstone courses. We begin by contrasting scientist-driven and community-based approaches to sustainability.…

Many historically underrepresented students enroll in online classes because they need the flexibility to balance work, family, and coursework (Phirangee et al., 2016). However, community college students are less successful in online classes than they are in face-to-face classes (Xu & Jaggars, 2014). Feelings of isolation and disconnectedness…

This chapter describes the role microcredentials can play within the context of guided pathways and degree completion, illustrated through three case studies of community colleges and systems.

Emerging Research Institutions (ERIs) are notably one of the most impactful organizations in a state system for addressing social mobility, workforce development, and economic growth of a region. Cultivating research at ERIs often requires the faculty to expand their skill sets beyond basic research to engage students and communities. Faculty…

The benefits of experiential learning can be amplified when these endeavors are shared and implemented by others. This article highlights an example of experiential learning. The authors interviewed the Justice for Fraud Victims team at the University of Alaska Anchorage and found that this form of experiential learning has been beneficial for…

What happens, if a university moves to a town that never had a higher education institution previously? What is the impact of this development both on the community and the institution? The aim of this paper is to answer this question. The authors use the concept of 'social innovation' for understanding the developments. An institute may initiate,…

Alumni demographics are rapidly changing, and alumni associations are looking for new ways to increase alumni engagement. Using Lewin's (1947) organizational change theory and Homans's (1958) social exchange theory, this study examines two Research 1 institutions in a comparative case study. By comparing the experiences of two institutions, alumni…