Community College Journal - April/May 2011

“Community
colleges are
uniquely
positioned
to make a
difference.”
—Curtis Ivery, chancellor,
Wayne County Community College District

An Example to Follow such an approach would almost certainly benefit Michigan’s Wayne County Community College District (WCCCD), where Bumphus stopped early in his tour.

Located in one of the most economically and educationally challenged regions of the country, the district’s

service area has a functional illiteracy rate of close to 47 percent, says WCCCD Chancellor Curtis Ivery. In urban Detroit, the jobless rate hovers at 30 percent.

“I don’t think anything prepared
us for what we’ve seen,” says Ivery
of a state that has seen precipitous
declines in its tax base and other fund-
ing sources. “We probably should have
capped enrollment, but we didn’t.”
Rather than turn students away,
Ivery and his district dug deep to open
more doors to more students. Ivery says
he holds firm to the belief that “commu-
nity colleges are uniquely positioned to
make a difference.”
A new District Design Initiative un-
veiled earlier this year aims to redirect
funds toward student success. some
student advising services were shifted
online, and many peripheral services,
such as counseling, were embedded
into the instructional programs, giving
faculty members the ability to provide
services directly to students. What’s
more, a new automated alert system
notifies educators when students are
struggling.

COREY MURRAY is managing editor of Community College Journal. ANDREA ORR is an education writer based outside Washington, D.C.

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