Community College Journal - April/May 2011

... IN THIS ISSUE

SolversProblem

If ever community colleges have been challenged to help solve society’s biggest problems, it is now. Each day seems to bring an onslaught of national and international crises—environmental, economic, and educational. And yet, that can-do spirit wired into the collective community college DNA persists. As one administrator asserts, “We don’t just have a mission. We are missionaries.”

This issue of the Journal, and the 91st Annual Convention of the American Association of Community Colleges’ program that it highlights, focuses squarely on solutions to truly tough problems.

The 21st-Century Initiative Listening Tour, described by AACC Board Chair John Sylgielski (“From the Chair,” p. 6) and in more detail in our cover feature (“Listen and Learn,” p. 30), identifies the major challenges confronting our academic and surrounding communities and highlights solutions community colleges are implementing—on their own and in collaboration with others.

EXECU TIVE EDITOR Norma Kent
MANAGING EDITOR Corey Murray
ART DIREC TOR Brian Rees
PROJEC T MANAGER Jerry Parks
CONTRIBUTING Tabitha Whissmore
WRITERS John Sygielski
Jim Gibbons
Robert Templin Jr.
Andrea Orr
Ellen Ullman
Margaret Miller
Bob Violino
Mark Rockwell
Bridget Gorman Wendling
Gayle Lynn Falkenthal
DESIGN/PRODUCTION

No Quit in What We Do

This year’s Convention kicks off in New Orleans, a city that is itself a testament to the promise of regeneration and creative problem solving. The Big Easy fought its way back after Hurricane Katrina, and its will is being tested once again in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster, which dumped an astonishing

4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. In “Cleaning Up” (p. 44), author Bob Violino highlights the extraordinary efforts of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System and other area colleges to restore the environment and train workers in the prevention of future disasters.

Economic recovery efforts parallel environmental solutions, with a major emphasis on workforce preparation. Collaboration is essential to winning the employment race, say Goodwill Industries CEO Jim Gibbons and Northern Virginia Community College President Robert Templin Jr., who are cooperating with AACC to spearhead C4, the Community College/Career Collaboration initiative, which will dramatically expand Goodwill’s already vast job training and employment services network (“On Your Mark,” p. 22). The audience? More than 97 million American adults who have a high school diploma, but lack the college credential necessary for solid career advancement.

Next on the Completion Agenda

As stated by President Obama and other leaders, college completion for millions more citizens is key to our nation’s future prosperity. Community colleges continue to be the designated driver of economic stability. Part of the student success equation requires getting more students into community college and keeping them there.

This is especially true for low-income and minority students who, in places like El Paso, Texas, have become the community’s minority majority. Against strong odds, El Paso Community College (EPCC) has hit on a completion formula that works, awarding in 2008–09 the most associate degrees in the nation to Hispanic students, according to writer and EPCC faculty member Margaret Miller (“Minority Rule,” p. 50).

Better transfer programs are another piece of the completion puzzle. Many community colleges have developed workable strategies that overcome poor communications, bureaucratic morass, and other roadblocks in the transition from two-year to four-year programs. For more, check out “Higher Calling,” p. 38.

PRINTING RR Donnelley–Liberty, Mo.

MANUSCRIP TS Send to Journal Editor, AACC,
AND PHOTOGRAPHS One Dupont Circle NW, Suite 410,
ADVERTISING Townsend Group

2 Wisconsin Circle, Suite 900
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
301/215-6710
AACC@townsend-group.com
SUBSCRIPTIONS Call 202/728-0200, ext. 236 or write
to AACC Publications, P.O. Box
75263, Baltimore, MD 21275.

COMMUNI TY COLLEGE JOURNAL, ISSN 1067-1803, is published bimonthly: August/September, October/ November, December/January, February/March, April/ May, June/July. Subscriptions (nonmember) are $36; group subscriptions ( 10 or more to one address) are $24 each. Single copy price is $6. Ninety dollars of AACC membership fees of institutional and associate members (includes corporate, educational, foundation, and international categories) covers costs for three subscriptions each. Thirty dollars of membership fees for individual associate members covers one subscription each. Periodicals postage paid in Washington, DC, and additional mailing offices by the association. Postmaster: Send changes of address to the Community College Journal, One Dupont Circle NW, Suite 410, Washington, DC 20036.