Six years ago, Front Range Community College President Andy Dorsey sat down with his team and looked at the college's completion and graduation rates. Like a lot of colleges, they were in for a shock. It is not that they had expected to see 80 percent completion rates. But they certainly were not expecting to see only 43 percent of their students…

Survey data were gathered from college and university faculty, staff, and administrators at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) regarding Hispanic culture and Hispanic students as part of an NSF-funded investigation that focused on the characteristics and programming of HSIs as well as the background and experiences of their students. Two surveys…

A data-gathering project using elements of Participatory Action Research was conducted at the Auraria Library, which serves the University of Colorado Denver, the Metropolitan State College of Denver and the Community College of Denver. The project was administered in order to shape a plan to develop a Learning Commons environment at the library.…

Best practice in the field of communication, especially intercultural communication, emphasizes seeking to understand and enter your interlocutor's perspective. This practice would seem directly applicable to college faculty and staff when they interact with students, especially given the cultural and ethnic diversity in college student…

The problem addressed in this study was the assumption that faculty at the postsecondary level in the U. S. are not sufficiently or effectively engaged with student learning outcomes assessment (LOA) activities and/or practices. This issue emerged in two primary ways within the Scholarship of Assessment (SoA) body of literature: (1) as a…

Are part-time faculty members satisfied with their roles in higher education? Data from part-time faculty responses regarding their experiences in higher education vary. Valadez and Antony (2001) analyzed data from 6,811 part-time faculty collected from the National Center for Education Statistics' (NCES) 1992-1993 National Survey of Postsecondary…

This report presents the results of a study conducted by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE) to determine the impact of providing health and dental benefits to adjunct professors who are employed by one or more public institution of higher education and teach an aggregate of 15 or more credit hours in a twelve month period. In order…

Previous research has shown that there are not distinct career lines leading to the chief academic officer (CAO) position in community colleges.Rather, it appears that a variety of skills and experiences contribute to advancement to this position. This paper examines the perceptions of women CAOs as to the importance of professional development…

This study was conducted in two phases. One, the Cost Analysis, reports on inventory and analysis of actual estimated costs for delivering financial aid services to students and potential students in thirteen Colorado Community College System (CCCS) community colleges in Fiscal Year 2003. Additionally, an assessment of services and functions is…

Reports results of a statewide survey of student intentions administered to a sample of 3,219 community college students. A positive relationship was found between the number of credits completed and the number of intention shifts, and a negative relationship was found between the number of credits completed and perceptions of goal attainment.…

In May 1985, a study was conducted by Arapahoe Community College (ACC) to determine the preferences of service area adults for educational opportunities. Questionnaires were mailed to 2,000 randomly selected households and distributed by local libraries, recreation centers, and other nonprofit organizations, soliciting information on interest in…

Describes a study of the direct services to business provided by Colorado's community colleges, including all customized, contracted instructional and noninstructional activities. Compares Colorado with national trends with respect to diversity, concentration, expansion, and tension between academic and business-service roles. (MAB)

Examines the feasibility of developing training programs in the Colorado community college system for paraeducators (i.e., technicians who provide personal care, instructional services and behavior management to students with disabilities and remedial needs) based on a survey of directors of special education, teachers, and personnel directors.…

A study was conducted to determine if different benefits would accrue to Colorado graduates of Associate of Applied Science Degrees (AAS), Associate of Occupational Studies Degrees (AOS), and vocational certificate programs if the programs were of equal length, occupational curriculum content, and quality of instruction. As a part of the study, an…

This edition of a statistical report on Colorado's academic libraries begins with a section of tables organized by sector (public or private) and board (governing board or agency) that includes library-by-library statistics as well as summary figures for boards and sectors. Following these tables are three sections of charts that illustrate how…