Historically underserved and minoritized students are more likely to thrive when they are supported and led by diverse faculty and staff. In 2019, leaders of the country's largest higher education system, California Community Colleges, recognized wide gaps in representation: 52% of 2.1 million students identified as underrepresented minorities,…

Purpose: This study addressed issues of chief diversity officers who often face diversity challenges when attracting, recruiting, and retaining, faculty of color in community colleges in California. Perceptions and meaning-making of chief diversity officers were explored as they encountered racism and shaped the discourse on race embedded in the…

Police training programs at community colleges are a vital cog in ensuring that local law enforcement agencies have a steady supply of recruits who have not only the weapons training, legal knowledge and other traditional skills but also professional skills like critical thinking, in an age when police behavior has come under focused public…

The hiring of faculty is at the heart of developing and maintaining programs, as well as the success and achievement of students, in all educational systems, and the California Community College System is no exception. While hiring practices may vary in terms of specifics in the 72 community college districts in California, basic principles and…

In this report, the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (Chancellor's Office) presents its findings, evaluations and analysis of the success and efficacy of the face-to-face community college programs that are being offered to incarcerated students inside California state prisons. The report also discusses barriers and challenges…

This qualitative investigation of the experiences of faculty of color at community colleges identifies current conditions for this population and suggests potentials for ameliorating conditions that inhibit their job satisfaction. We argue that the current conditions for faculty of color, based upon their expressed experiences at the community…

Diversifying the faculty in community colleges, especially with faculty of color, continues to be problematic as we move through the first decade of the 21st Century. National statistics show that overwhelmingly the faculty continues to be Caucasian, even at a time when more and more students are coming from diverse ethnic backgrounds. This…

"Degrees of Freedom" challenges California to include currently and formerly incarcerated students in the vision set by the state's 1964 Master Plan for Higher Education--a vision of college access for all, for the benefit of the entire state. A college education strengthens economies, changes lives and renews communities, and yet, for…

"Degrees of Freedom" finds that California has not been adequately providing effective college opportunities for criminal justice-involved students, despite the fact that such access will help California build safer and more economically viable communities. This report is part of a larger initiative--Renewing Communities--to expand…

California's education system--the largest in the United States--is an essential resource for ensuring strong economic growth in the state. The Career Technical Education Pathways Initiative (the Initiative) became law in 2005 with Senate Bills 70 and 1133 and provided more than $380 million over eight years to improve career technical education…

Community colleges employ more than one-third of the nation's higher education faculty. Nevertheless, the labor market through which faculty are recruited, selected, hired, evaluated and retained or replaced is one of the least understood aspects of these institutions. Functional management and effective policy both require a clear understanding…

California's education system--the largest in the United States--is an essential resource for ensuring strong economic growth in the state. The Career Technical Education Pathways Initiative (referred to as the Initiative in this report), which became law in 2005, brings together community colleges, K-12 school districts, employers, organized…