Objective: Most community colleges receiving the Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) designation have no specific mission to serve Hispanic students. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how receiving an HSI designation affects the identity and practices of a community college. Method: Ten years of institutional documents…

Objective: This study probes the reasons for high attrition rates and sense of community among students enrolled at a technical institution serving low-income students in Bogotá, Colombia. Although sense of community on campus is the strongest predictor of a student's thriving, scholars in higher education have studied mainly minority students'…

Objective: Beyond understanding whether first-year student success interventions in community colleges are effective--for which there is mixed evidence in the literature--this study's purpose was to uncover how they work to realize observed outcomes, including at times unanticipated undesirable outcomes. Method: This qualitative multiple case…

Objective: Community colleges have long made higher education more accessible to students from diverse academic backgrounds, particularly those who are academically underprepared and require remediation. In light of developmental education (DE) reform, our article answers the following questions: How do campus personnel articulate the unique…

Objective: Some have hypothesized that community college programs are not sufficiently structured to support student success and that students would benefit from more highly structured programs. This study examines the specific ways that structure is expressed in policy and practice at representative community colleges. Method: Using data obtained…

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore organizational changes within the area of student services at one baccalaureate degree-granting community college. Method: Data were collected via in-depth semistructured interviews with faculty and administrators, observations, and organizational documents. Results: Analysis revealed extensive…

Objective: This study seeks to deepen understanding of faculty leaders' perceptions of the concept of shared governance. Moving beyond descriptive considerations of faculty perceptions of efficacy of good or bad governance and the discourse focused on declining faculty involvement and conflict paradigms, I consider governance a co-constructed…

Objective: Traditional-age students attending a rural community college in Kentucky's Appalachian region were interviewed, along with faculty members and administrators, to identify phenomena serving as sources of encouragement or as barriers to retention from the point of entry to the point of transfer. Method: Students' perspectives were…

Objective: Colleges have increased postsecondary educational access for youth, including individuals with disabilities, but completion rates remain low. This study tests the hypothesis that health conditions that reduce social integration predict lower educational attainment among college students. Method: The sample from the nationally…

Objective: Excess credits earned by college students, over and above those required to complete their programs of study, have become increasingly a subject of interest and concern. There has been almost no research on the extent of these credits. This study focuses on all of the associate degree programs within one state's community college system…

As the diversity of students on college campuses continues to increase, the racial and ethnic diversity among faculty members continues to lag (Jayakumar, Howard, Allen, & Han, 2009; Turner, Myers, & Creswell, 1999). An often overlooked segment of this problem is the 2-year-college setting. With increasing numbers of students of color achieving…

While new community colleges proliferated across the nation during the 1950s and 1960s, Indiana's postsecondary educational leaders pursued an alternative route to expanding educational opportunity during the postwar years through extension campuses. The study reported in this article draws on archival documents to gain an understanding of the…

The purpose of this study is to identify the local impacts of national advanced technological education (ATE) centers on their host institutions. A sample of three mature, national ATE centers are chosen, with each center serving as a case for a mixed-methods, collective case study research design. Results, drawn from interviews and surveys,…

This article reports on a qualitative, interpretive case study examining how trustees, administrators, faculty members, and staff members at a rural community college understand their institution's accountability environment. Data analysis and interpretation established that participants conceptualized institutional accountability as dialogic,…

The challenge faced by all community colleges is how to increase student success, whether success is defined in terms of graduating with a degree or certificate, transferring, or retaining a job. With approximately 40% of the nation's undergraduates pursuing higher education through the community college (52% when one considers public institutions…