Community College Journal - April/May 2011

FROM THE CHAIR

...

National Listening Tour Shapes New Vision for Community Colleges

BY JOHN SYGIELSKI

To meet the challenges we face today and prepare for the chal- lenges of tomorrow, American Association of Community Col- leges (AACC) President and CEO Walter Bumphus and several senior staff recently completed a National Listening Tour with community college presidents and trustees, com- munity and business leaders, and policymakers. The tour provided a forum for a much-needed exchange of ideas and best practices. Under the leadership of AACC, the ideas and information presented at 10 Listening Tour stops across the country will shape a new vision of what community colleges can do. The ultimate goal of these discussions is to create a national road map for AACC and community college leaders that leads to student success.

Findings

The first Listening Tour stop was on Jan. 31 at a meeting of the Texas Association of Community College Trustees and Administrators in Austin. Representatives from 24 area institutions participated in a frank discussion about the completion agenda, developmental education, and strategies to deal with budget constraints.

Notably, each college represented at the meeting had programs in place to improve student success in developmental education. Specifically, attendees cited how modular math programs supported by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board address the need for remedial math courses.

In response to questions regarding how AACC is perceived, the group asserted that the association is primarily viewed as an advocacy platform for most community colleges and a member service organization. Attendees also cited AACC’s role in convening meetings and sharing best practices regarding effective programs. Attendees were especially interested in best practices related to student success programs and budgetary concerns—the very topics addressed at each stop on the Listening Tour.

Stops on the Tour

At the time this article was written, the Listening Tour was also scheduled to make the following stops:

Feb. 17— Detroit, Wayne County Community College, Macomb Community College Feb. 23—Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and D.C. community colleges March 3—Tallahassee, Fla., in conjunction with the Florida Council of Presidents meeting Mar. 21— Jamestown, N.C., Guilford Technical Community College Mar. 23—River Grove, Ill., Triton College Mar. 24— Columbus, Ohio, Sinclair College Apr. 4—New York City, N. Y., CUNY TBD—Gresham, Ore., Mt. Hood Community College TBD—California site pending as of press time

Listening Tour Results

At the time of publication,
only a summary of the first
stop in Austin was available.
From that first stop, we
learned that student comple-
tion, success, and budget
constraints are foremost on
the minds of community
college leaders in Texas. The
same is probably true for the leaders on
your campus. It is critical to share best
practices through the Listening Tour in
order to replicate successful programs
at community colleges. What works in
Texas, Illinois, or North Carolina might
work on your campus, too.

A summary of the Listening Tour’s findings will be presented following the 2011 AACC Annual Convention in New Orleans. Bumphus also intends to name a national commission responsible for reviewing and analyzing the findings to develop a new vision for the future of community colleges—a vision in which we all have a stake.

Many thanks to everyone who participated in each stop on the tour! AACC gained invaluable insights and heard wonderful success stories from participants. Visit www.aacc.nche.edu, or see “Listen and Learn” on page 30 to learn more about what we heard during the Listening Tour.