Objective: To examine the discursive strategies deployed by community colleges to sustain legitimacy in an evolving and contradictory institutional environment. Method: Using corpus linguistics software, I compared 1,009 mission statements from 2012-2013 with a reference corpus of 427 mission statements from 2004. Results: Keywords analysis,…

Arthur M. Cohen and his colleagues at the Center for the Study of Community Colleges have made significant and broad contributions to the scholarly literature and empirical research about community colleges. Although Cohen's interests are comprehensive and his writings touch on multiple issues associated with community colleges, his empirical work…

Describes the development and offerings of North Shore Community College's Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, which uses a variety of organizational and methodological strategies including team-teaching, multi-discipline courses with one instructor, thematic courses, and discipline combinations. Describes the 15 courses in the curriculum and…

Assesses William Rainey Harper's role in the junior college movement, covering his founding of junior colleges, his plan for educational excellence, and the impact of his ideas on curriculum reform. Sees Harper's major legacy in the distinction he clarified between the curricular organization of community colleges and liberal arts colleges. (AYC)

Identifies the major functions of short cycle education and two aspects of governance and administration related to these purposes: specifically, local or regional autonomy v national control, and comprehensive, multi-purpose v specialized programs. Considers short cycle education in 12 countries. (AYC)

Describes North Carolina's efforts toward the articulation of vocational education programs between high schools and community colleges. Focuses primarily on the Articulation Research Project undertaken in Duplin County, its expansion to other areas of the state, and the three-tier program intended to build upon the Duplin project to include…

Describes a study conducted by the Center for the Study of Community Colleges to investigate the liberal arts credit offerings of 164 community colleges nationwide. Considers the make-up of the college curriculum, trends in course level (remedial, standard, or advanced), average class size, and total enrollments. (DMM)

Discusses the background of and rationale for a newly published requirement of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools that all accredited undergraduate degree programs contain a basic core of general education courses. Considers the possible effects on community colleges. (DMM)

Discusses the ways early childhood programs presently fit into community colleges, describes five related issues (i.e., the ambiguities of the early childhood field, the open-door policy, faculty responsibilities, power structures, and funding), and makes suggestions for further development of the community college/early childhood relationship.…

Argues that general education differs from liberal education in its underlying assumptions, ideological orientations, pedagogical methods, curricular structures, and ultimate aims. Contends that understanding these differences is important to curricular reform. (DMM)

Considers the general education component of technical programs as a means of helping adults adjust to today's industrial changes in processes, machines, and management and thereby to hold jobs, move into new ones, and change careers. Reviews the literature on the general education needs of students in high technology programs and models for…

Contrasts the approaches to sociology of universities and community colleges in Ontario, examining educational factors shaping the micro-social engineering focus of community college sociology programs. Reviews study findings regarding the place of sociology courses in the community college curricula, course content, occupational relevance, and…

Drawing in many cases from documents in the ERIC junior colleges collection, cites examples of programs using four approaches to integrating the humanities into occupational curricula: interdisciplinary courses; specialized courses for targeted occupations, humanities modules in use and in production, and use of resource materials or people. (AYC)

Examines the theoretical, philosophical and practical background of tourism and how it relates to the placement of tourism education within the curriculum of postsecondary institutions. Although tourism education is rapidly growing, research related to these programs and their placement within the curriculum are virtually nonexistent. As tourism…

Suggests that the educational role of community colleges will stabilize. Recommends that program and staff development planning focus on human and organization dynamics, helping teachers provide remediation within the subject classroom, faculty retraining and career alternatives, productive retirement for instructors, performance appraisals.…