Objective: This study sought to determine how aligned community college students' declared majors were with long-term occupational projections. In addition, the study explored whether this link was sensitive to entry-level education. Method: The current study merged two disparate sources of national education and economic data to form a novel…

There is a dearth of career intervention literature pertaining to underprepared community college students. This student population has insufficient college coursework preparation (CCCSE, 2016), and often exhibits low career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE), which hampers career decision making ability, career goal setting (Hughes &…

Two-year colleges are an increasingly used but understudied pathway to STEM degrees for women from historically underserved backgrounds. This chapter discusses the community college promise in solving the gender gap in STEM attainment, as well as related research findings and directions.

"Career Pathways: From School to Retirement" brings together leading workforce researchers and practitioners to provide new perspectives on school-to-work and workplace career pathways. This groundbreaking book explains the transformations that have taken place in the workplace over the past several decades and how those transformations…

This dissertation examined the experiences of women of color (WOC), defined as African American and Latina women for this study, as they pursued a degree in a criminal justice program at a Midwest community college. Utilizing Schlossberg's transition theory, the qualitative case study sought to learn how WOC experience the transition to being…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of workplace spirituality on employee well-being and intention to stay with the organization among teachers in technical higher education institutions. Furthermore, the study endeavors to test the difference in model estimates across two groups of teachers who differ in their…

The California Community College System is an entry point for the majority of first-generation college students. This case study of a community college in Southern California examined the experiences and motivations of both Latinx students in their major/career decision-making process and the community college counseling faculty who serve, educate…

Community colleges are a vital source of students in the STEM career pipeline. Yet, research indicates that rather than diversifying the STEM workforce, community colleges may be perpetuating gender imbalances. This qualitative phenomenological study was designed to examine differences in male and female experiences in two male-dominated community…

This study uses the Ideology, Pedagogy, Access, and Equity (IPAE) tenets of critical self-examination (Alfaro & Hernandez, 2016) and the construct of critical consciousness (Darder, 2018; Darder, 2015; Freire, 1973; Freire, 1970; Watts, Deimer, & Voight, 2011; Watts, Griffith, & Abdul-Adil, 1999) as a conceptual framework to explore…

The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of adjunct faculty who aspire to full-time positions at multi-campus community colleges. A paucity of research on this topic revealed the need to examine the experiences of adjunct faculty working at multi-campus community colleges (Wolfe & Strange, 2003). The notion that adjunct…

The proportion of underrepresented minority (URM) students graduating with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degrees, matriculating to graduate programs, and entering the STEM workforce continues to be significantly low. The Virginia-North Carolina Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (the VA-NC Alliance)…

Career choice theory traditionally defines career selection as a choice, not a competition; however, desirable limited-access majors often have selective admission processes. For transfer students who come from open-access community colleges, the competition can be an unanticipated obstacle. In this qualitative study, we found that among transfer…

This is a case study of a group of students enrolled in traditional skilled trade certificate programs at a large Midwestern community college. Considering severe shortage of skilled labor in the geographic area of the college, there is great need for better understanding of ways to alleviate the labor shortage by attracting more young adults to…

This report examines the results of the Senior Exit Survey, which is administered annually to all graduating high school students. The threefold purpose of the survey is to explore: (1) the credentials seniors plan to acquire; (2) the institutions they plan to attend; and (3) the fields of study they choose to pursue. All twelfth-grade students…

This study investigated female students who attended a STEM course with the Arts (STEAM) in comparison to a traditional STEM course and the impact it had on desire to pursue a STEM degree. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare female to male students' interest in pursuing STEM degrees. In addition, follow up data for registration…