Describes the development, format, and content of a new faculty orientation and mentoring program. The orientation program targets immediate information concerning employment and getting started in the classroom, while the mentoring program provides peer support for the duration of the employee's first years of service. The initiative is divided…

Guidelines for conducting and facilitating a workshop designed as an orientation for both beginning and experienced adjunct faculty at community colleges are presented in this instructor's manual. The manual contains the following 11 sections, each defining an objective or activity to be undertaken during the workshop, and providing…

In response to California State Assembly Bill (AB) 3, which requires the state's community colleges to implement orientations and other specified matriculation services, Fullerton College (FC) developed two orientation videos in 1989 for native speakers of English and English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) students. The videos were used by counselors…

A multi-perspective qualitative study was conducted during the spring 1996 semester to investigate the impact of a mentoring initiative on the performance of ten adjunct instructors, new to the faculty of Indian River Community College (Florida). The study found that all participants derived a significant value from the mentoring initiative, with…

The new board member will always have concerns about his/her forthcoming trusteeship, such as determining how much time he/she is willing to devote to the job; how he/she should obtain orientation for the job; and what he/she should know about the controversial issues in which the board has previously been involved. In addressing the first of…

Implementation of program evaluation recommendations should persuade people that the rewards of an evaluation outweigh the reasons for resistance. A study was undertaken with the following purposes: identify facilitators and barriers to the implementation of program evaluation; determine the proportion of recommendations made in each of the nine…

At Valencia Community College's Osceola Campus, adjunct instructors make up over 75% of the teaching force. Adjunct faculty are given several challenges: to contribute to every aspect of campus life; to affect major instructional instruction; and to be aware of the constraints created by college policy and a regard for instructional excellence.…

The Metropolitan Campus of Cuyahoga Community College (CCC) in Ohio conducted a survey of 239 institutions belonging to the University of South Carolina's National Resource Center for the Freshman Year Experience (FYE) to identify elements of a model program that could be established at other institutions. The summary revealed five key ingredients…

A study examined the perceptions of four key constituent groups from the Southeast College Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program regarding institutional goal priorities. (Southeast College manages the ADN program for the Houston Community College System.) The study involved 23 ADN faculty, 13 college administrators, 128 ADN students, and 5 ADN…

Researchers have begun to analyze community college retention data in terms of students' stated objectives upon entry. By categorizing students based upon their most important reason for attending college, meaningful follow-up and assessment of students' goal attainment can be conducted. Program evaluation studies have produced evidence that…

It is a commonly held belief that student educational achievement is enhanced when students have goals. But individual goals may vary in terms of difficulty, as well as in terms of their importance and the commitment students make to achieve them. In this study, goal complexity was viewed as the influence of commitment, difficulty, and importance…

The importance of considering the students's goal for attending community college in examining attrition is addressed. A total of 282 new students (18% of all new students) entering a community college in fall 1990 were tracked. Four items from the Entering Student Information Survey were examined: the degree the student plans to work toward at…

This study examined effects of a Dalton Junior College (Georgia) student success course, Dalton College Studies 101 (DCS 101) since it was first offered in 1987. The course meets twice a week, is strictly elective, and carries institutional credit. All students were first-time students and since most students enroll during the Fall quarter, only…

In order to help teachers and students assess the preferred cognitive styles of individual learners, Mount Hood Community College introduced and tested the use of cognitive mapping in its orientation program. A task force of managers, counselors, and instructors: (1) decided to use the Modified Hill Model to assess nine dimensions of student…

The Center for the Study of Community Colleges has been studying humanities in community colleges nationwide. Surveys and site visits have been made to determine what factors are influencing the decline in humanities enrollments and what can be done to alter the trend. Humanities faculty surveys revealed a surprising lack of support of the…