This interview with David Pierce, the President of the American Association of Community Colleges, addresses a series of questions related to institutional citizenship. Topics include: what institutional citizenship means; colleges can be effective institutional citizens; whether extra money or staff are required; and why it is important and what…

Looking to save money--and, in many cases, improve stakeholder communication--several community colleges now are producing a variety of formerly paper products electronically. Administrators say the practice is improving efficiencies, providing for the delivery of critical information in a timely manner, and creating more options for students and…

Defines community service, which involves unpaid work to improve the community, and service learning, which blends academic study and community service. Offers a rationale for service learning at community colleges. Explains how to start a service learning program, document students' community involvement, and obtain funding. Discusses…

This article features Pennsylvania's Montgomery County Community College (MCCC), the nation's number 1 technologically advanced community college, and describes the college's secrets and strategies to success. Although technology underpins much of what MCCC does, the college does not receive the honor--from the Center for Digital Education and…

Smart classrooms are just as popular on other community college campuses. Through a combination of PowerPoint presentations, videos, Web pages, and other technologies, faculty can engage students using multimedia to create a richer, more compelling learning experience. This article talks about the use of smart classrooms and the educational…

Teaching is a popular pursuit among many second-generation career-seekers. The road from the private sector to the classroom often is littered with time-consuming and difficult requirements--for subject matter mastery, credentialing, and licensure. Too often qualified people check out the rules, consider the challenges, and give up. That wasn't…

Asserts that community colleges have recreated themselves over the last 100 years in response to the changing American economy. Explains that the new need for community colleges to fulfill the local communities' economic needs calls for renewed civic participation in the colleges. Describes Maricopa Community College District's Civic Participation…

Describes the creation and development of a Citizen Leadership Institute (CLI) and its corresponding Citizen Leadership Training Program (CLTP) by Gulf Coast Community College in an effort to foster systemic change in community problem-solving. States that solutions found by CLI may contain responses to similar problems faced by sister…

Educating America's service men and women has long been a core mission of many community colleges, especially in cities and towns that host military bases and installations. Today, a soldier, sailor, or Marine can be stationed anywhere in the world and continue his or her education with the help of distance learning initiatives. Whether a soldier…

Identifies five building blocks for successful communities of the future and four required competencies for those who lead community development initiatives. Describes a cluster of four projects designed to test the theory that community colleges can be a major catalyst for community and leadership development. Presents questions that colleges can…

Nothing is more important to the success of community colleges than quality of leadership. It influences student outcomes, faculty success, and financial stability at all levels of the institution. With the impending retirements of so many baby boomer community college leaders, the leadership gap is an issue of increasing concern. In this article,…

U.S. innovation and a hardworking American workforce have paved the way for improvements in the lives of Americans that are simply incalculable. Over the past several years, this progress has led to unprecedented growth and prosperity. More recently, scholars have been warning of a "quiet crisis"-- the steady erosion of America's scientific and…

In this article, the author explores how some community colleges have survived, if not thrive, amid the pain of a deep recession. Rather than cut educational options, administrators at Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona have opted to freeze discretionary spending, sweep unspent budget allocations back into its general budget, improve its…

Community colleges, while safe, are not immune to violence. In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, community colleges are committed to making campuses safer. From training first responders to understanding and identifying potential threats, the author describes what schools are doing to eradicate their so-called [in] securities and improve…

Distance learning has been around since the old "course in a box" correspondence classes, but with the advent of sophisticated online course management systems, learning at a distance is contributing to a major paradigm shift in higher education. That shift includes applying corporate concepts to education--students, for example, are "consumers,"…