Community College Journal - April/May 2013

FROM THE CHAIR
...
Community College Reimagining the

BY MARIE FOSTER GNAGE

Community colleges are architects and engineers that build bridges of and to opportunity for their students. The bridge of opportunity is access; the bridge to opportunity is uccess. How this is accomplished—how well students are served—brings us both to a discussion of excellence and a need to reimagine the community college. The commitment to mission in community colleges is very strong,
but sometimes in the midst of addressing the myriad needs of our service area,
we falter.

I once read an article by a community college president who recalled looking at the data and seeing quite clearly the failings of his institution. He likened his response to the various stages of grief. He’s not the only community college president to have such a reaction. But community college presidents, faculty, and staff do not long sit and mourn their predicament—they act, by reimagining their four Ps: policies, procedures, processes, and programs.

What does it mean to reimagine the community college? When the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) first published “Reclaiming the American Dream: Community Colleges and the Nation’s Future, a Report from the 21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges” in April of last year, the report laid bare the shortcomings of our nation’s two-year colleges, then immediately posed recommendations to address them. (For more, see “Bridge to Excellence” on page 30.)

As the report states, we must “redesign students’ educational experiences”;
“reinvent institutional roles”; and “reset the system to create incentives for
student and institutional success.”
At the heart of these reforms is our ability to reimagine the community college
model. It’s not about changing the mission; it’s about finding new ways to achieve it,
to serve our communities, and to earn and retain our place as the community’s college.

“It’s not about changing the mission; it’s about finding new ways to achieve it.”

Student support services, whether online or in person, are also more robust. Services include resources that meet students’ needs generally, as well as those tailored to specific groups, such as dislocated workers or veterans.

Much thought is given to providing students with the services and support, funding and otherwise, that they need to be successful.

Students First

The necessary changes start with identifying innovative ways to serve our students both in the classroom and through better support services. A shift in emphasis from access only to access and success means finding new ways to advise students and introducing students to clearer academic pathways to help them meet their personal and professional goals—think stackable credentials, credit for prior learning, and the use of analytics to head off challenges before they impede success.

New forms of course delivery debunk the old “sage on the stage” mentality in favor of an emporium model that includes a blend of in-person and online learning, with an emphasis on individual student outcomes.

Working Together

Partnerships also play a key role in our efforts to reimagine the community college. There is not a community college out there that does not engage in some form of partnership, whether with fellow community colleges, other sectors of education, or business and industry.

Community colleges generally recognize partnerships as important to leveraging resources in periods of decreased funding. Rather than build new buildings, for example, they might ask whether they can gain the resources and improvements needed through partnership or technology. By reimagining these relationships, we allow ourselves to explore new ways of meeting the needs of our students and communities.

But these changes can only happen if our leaders are prepared to think outside the ordinary. AACC’s Leadership Suite and other leadership programs offered by organizations affiliated with AACC can help develop this thinking. The same is true for faculty and staff.

As engineers and architects of bridges to access and success, we must continue to explore possibilities for improving and/or enhancing community colleges—so that we demonstrate excellence in helping our students achieve their educational goals.