In 2016, the CCC Maker initiative provided the California Community Colleges with an influx of resources and energy designed to foster maker-centered learning (MCL). These hands-on practices have the potential to support the broader CCC mission by providing opportunities for engaged, empowering, and collaborative learning for the system's diverse…

Hundreds of community colleges are attempting transformational pathway reform, also known as guided pathways, to improve student outcomes. This qualitative case study explored sensemaking and organizational learning, early processes of transformational change, among administrators, faculty, and staff implementing pathway reform in a California…

This qualitative case study aims to better understand the institutional impacts of implementing Competency-Based Education (CBE) at a large, multi-campus community college through the perspectives of college staff and administration and non-academic units. Recent United States Presidential Administrations have put community colleges at the…

The study and practice of servant leadership in institutions of higher education is gaining momentum because the application of servant leadership can make a difference in the daily work associated with campus tasks and missions. Servant leadership characteristics include the ability to listen, empathy, healing, self-awareness, persuasion,…

A survey on the state of academic customer service for students found that academic customer service provided on the nation's campuses is fair or weak at best and is a cause of many students leaving a college. Basic service functions such as training, telephone skills, and returning voice mails and emails are rudimentary service functions that are…

Over the past five years, North Carolina community colleges have experienced a plethora of rapid changes, which can have a negative impact on employee engagement. Individuals who possess a transformational style of leadership typically inspire employees to engage in their work despite a rapidly changing environment. The specific business problem…

Survey data were gathered from college and university faculty, staff, and administrators at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) regarding Hispanic culture and Hispanic students as part of an NSF-funded investigation that focused on the characteristics and programming of HSIs as well as the background and experiences of their students. Two surveys…

Best practice in the field of communication, especially intercultural communication, emphasizes seeking to understand and enter your interlocutor's perspective. This practice would seem directly applicable to college faculty and staff when they interact with students, especially given the cultural and ethnic diversity in college student…

The Successful Transfer Approach Research (STAR) Project investigated seven California Community Colleges with consistently high transfer rates. Teams of experienced researchers spent two days at each college, interviewing 16-18 administrators, faculty, researchers, and student support service professionals. Focus groups and interviews were also…

Community colleges are an integral part of the American higher education system, providing open access to postsecondary education to all who have the ability to benefit. These institutions, however, often suffer from negative perceptions regarding their effectiveness and quality of instruction. Community colleges can address these perceptions by…