Week One Activities
Students will review some of the most important events and reports that led to the development of the comprehensive community college to identify the issues that were being dealt with and how the issues shaped higher education.  What were the societal issues that led to the seminal reports?  How did they influence the development of community colleges?  How well did community colleges respond to new demands?

Topics

  • The Morrill Act of 1862
  • The Morrill Act of 1890
  • Founding of Joliet Junior College in 1901
  • Founding of the American Association of Junior Colleges in 1920
  • Launch of Junior College Journal in 1930
  • Passage of the GI Bill of Rights in 1944
  • Truman Commission Report of 1947
  • Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka
  • Associate Degree Nursing Programs started in 1958
  • Kellogg Leadership Development Programs started in 1960
  • Higher Education Act of 1965
  • Creation of League for Innovation 1968
  • Proposition 13 in California 1978
  • Establishment of NISOD 1978
  • Commission on the Future of Community Colleges Report 1988
  • Introduction of the Learning College Principles 1993
  • New Expeditions Report 2000
  • Founding of Achieving the Dream 2004
  • The Spellings Commission Report
  • White House Summit on Community Colleges 2010
  • Issuing of Completion Call to Action 2010 (AACC)
  • Report of the 21st Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges 2012 (AACC)
Week One Reading and Review Assignments

Required readings or reviews of websites

American Association of Community Colleges Website: http://www.aacc.nche.edu/

American Association of Community and Junior Colleges (1988). Building communities: A vision for a new century.   A report of the Commission on the Future of Community Colleges.

American Association of Community Colleges (2000).   Download The knowledge net: Connecting communities, learners, and colleges. The New Expeditions report. 

Association of Community College Trustees Website:  http://www.acct.org/ 

Boggs, G. (2010).    Download Democracy’s colleges: The evolution of the community college in America. Prepared for the White House Summit on Community Colleges.  Washington, DC: American Association of Community Colleges.

Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) (Links to an external site.).   Legal Information Institute, Cornell School of Law

Center for Community College Student Engagement Website 

Gilbert, C. & Heller, D. The Truman Commission and its Impact on Higher Education Policy from 1947 to 2010. (Links to an external site.)The Pennsylvania State University.

League for innovation in the Community College Website: http://www.league.org/ 

Luskin, B. (2011).  Download Legacy of leadership: Profiles of the Presidents of the American Association of Community Colleges, 1958–2010Washington, DC: W.K. Kellogg Foundation and American Association of Community Colleges.

National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) Website:  http://www.nisod.org/ 

Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society  Website: https://www.ptk.org/

The Higher Education Act of 1965, Pub. L. No. 89-329 (Links to an external site.).  

The GI Bill’s History.   American Legion website.

The GI Bill history video (Links to an external site.).  American Legion.

Wood, S. (1987).  The People’s College: A history of Joliet Junior College (Links to an external site.). Joliet Junior College Foundation.

 Recorded Interviews:

View the recorded interviews with Dr. Walter Bumphus (Links to an external site.) and Mr. J. Noah Brown (Links to an external site.).

Optional Interview (Not Required)

Interview with Dr. John Sygielski. (Links to an external site.)

Recommended Resources:

    1. Boggs, G. and McPhail, C. (2016). Practical Leadership In Community Colleges: Navigating Today’s Challenges. Hoboken, NJ:Jossey-Bass (A Wiley Brand).  Available from: https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Leadership-Community-Colleges-Navigating/dp/1119095158/ref=sr_1_3? (
    2. Boggs, G. and McPhail, C. (2019). Team Leadership In Community Colleges. (Links to an external site.)  Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, LLC.
    3. Gleazer, E. (1998). The community college: Values, vision, & vitality.  Washington, DC: American Association of Community Colleges. Washington. Available from: http://www.amazon.com/The-community-college-Values-vitality/dp/0871170973.
    4. Morrill Act of 1862.  Retrieved from http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=33
Week Two Activities
Students will study some of the most important events since 2000 that led to today’s community college and the issues they face.  What were and are the societal issues of the day?  What impact have they had on community colleges?  How well are community colleges responding to new demands?

Topics

  • Founding of Achieving the Dream (2004)
  • The Spellings Commission Report (2006)
  • Establishment of Complete College America (2009)
  • White House Summit on Community Colleges (2010)
  • Issuing of Completion Call to Action (2010, AACC)
  • Report of the 21st Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges (2012, AACC)

 

Week Two Reading and Review Assignments

Week Two Reading and Review Assignments

Achieving the Dream (Links to an external site.).

American Association of Community Colleges (2010).  

American Association of Community Colleges (2010).   Prepared for the White House Summit on Community Colleges, Washington DC.

American Association of Community Colleges (2012). Reclaiming the American dream: Community colleges and the nation’s future (Links to an external site.).  A report from the 21st Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges.

American Association of Community Colleges (2014). Empowering community colleges to build the nation’s future: An implementation guide.   (Links to an external site.)

Boggs, G. (2011).  Community colleges in the spotlight and under the microscope. New Directions in Community Colleges, 2011(156), 3-22.  doi: 10.1002/cc.462. 

U.S. Department of Education (2006).  A test of leadership: Charting the future of U.S. higher education. (Links to an external site.) Spellings Commission report.

U.S. Department of Education (2010). White House summit on community colleges: Conference papers  October 2010.

Recorded Interviews

Please view the recorded interviews with Dr. Linda Garcia (Links to an external site.) and Dr. Lynn Tincher-Ladner (Links to an external site.).

Recommended Resources:

Boggs, G. (2022). Transitions. (Links to an external site.)  Unpublished memoir.

Gleazer, E.  (1970). . AAJC

Gleazer, E. (2000). . NISOD

Gleazer, E. (2005). . Unpublished

An Interview with Dale Parnell (Links to an external site.).

Week Three Activities

Week Three Activities

 

Student Success and the Learning College

Students will study the historical evolution of the focuses on student learning and student success and will discuss issues that affect learning and completion.

President Obama challenged the nation’s community colleges to produce an additional 5 million certificate and degree completers over a ten-year period, approximately a 50% increase over 2010 levels. Leading foundations are funding a number of initiatives to find ways to bring successful efforts to scale. Leading community college associations have joined in a call to action, promising to assist the colleges to improve completion rates.

Critical Questions:

  • What is meant by “the completion agenda?”
  • What are the factors that affect student success?
  • Does everyone really need a college degree?
  • Are there ways to increase completion rates without negatively affecting access or quality?
  • Is it a good or bad idea to fund higher education institutions based upon performance?
  • What does it mean to be a Learning College?
  • Why did the early authors refer to the Learning College as a paradigm shift?
  • What does the Learning Paradigm mean for students?
  • What does the Learning Paradigm mean for faculty?
  • How has the Learning College Movement impacted higher education?
Week Three Reading and Review Assignments

Week Three Reading and Review Assignments

Recorded Interviews

Please view the recorded interview with Dr. Terry O’Banion. (Links to an external site.)

Optional Recording: Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab (Links to an external site.).

Week Four Activities

Week Four Activities

Economic Cycles & Entrepreneurial Leadership

Students will discuss how economic cycles affect community colleges and their students and how entrepreneurial strategies can provide necessary resources.

Economic downturns, such as the one from 2008 to 2010, put a spotlight on the nation’s community colleges as enrollment surges in these institutions at the same time that states cut financial support to them. Even in good economic times, the percentage of state revenues going to higher education was in decline. AACC has documented that, while community colleges serve 54% of the students in US public higher education, they receive only 28% of the public higher education revenue.

Critical Questions:

  • How do colleges manage through economic downturns? Is the open-access, comprehensive mission sustainable?
  • What are the consequences if it is not?
  • What can community college leaders do to plan for and address these issues?
  • How does your campus deal with financial shortfalls?
  • As the economy improves, how are decisions made to allocate new resources?
  • What is meant by the term “entrepreneurial leadership” and what risks do entrepreneurial leaders take?
Week Four Reading and Review Assignments

Week Four Reading and Review Assignments

 

Recorded Interviews

Please view the recorded interview with Dr. Jerry Sue Thornton (Links to an external site.)

Optional Recording: Dr. Don Cameron (Links to an external site.).

 

Recommended (Not Required)

Roueche, J. E. & Jones, B. (2005). The Entrepreneurial Community College. Washington, DC: Community College Press

Week Five Activities

Week Five Activities

Regulation, Accountability, Accreditation

 (Links to an external site.)

Higher education is being asked to be much more transparent and accountable. The Commission on the Future of Higher Education, initiated by former Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, criticized colleges and universities for their lack of accountability. Under the Obama Administration, the calls for accountability did not diminish. It is too early in the Trump administration to tell what the emphasis will be for higher education, but the focus on accountability will likely continue.  AACC, working in partnership with the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) is developing a Voluntary Framework of Accountability (VFA) for the nation’s community colleges. The VFA initiative is supported by a $1 million grant from the Lumina Foundation for Education and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Critical Questions:

  • What are the advantages of developing a VFA for community colleges?
  • What are the risks?
  • Do we really need another form of accountability? What role should accreditation play in accountability?
  • How are colleges accredited, and what are the different kinds of accreditation?
  • What is your college doing to improve transparency and accountability?
Week Five Reading and Review Assignments

Week Five Reading and Review Assignments

Recorded Interviews

View the recorded interviews with Undersecretary James Kvaal (Links to an external site.) and Secretary Margaret Spellings (Links to an external site.).

Optional recordings: David Baime  (Links to an external site.)& Belle Wheelan.

Week Six Activities

Week Six Activities

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Students will discuss the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion and what these terms mean in the context of the community college.

Critical Questions:

  • The United States is becoming more racially and culturally diverse, yet challenges remain.  What role does education play in addressing the challenges?
  • Issues involving race, gender, and class can be some of the most difficult to anticipate and resolve.  Are there strategies that can be effective?
  • How can these divisive issues be dealt with in a sensitive way?
  • How can we close access and achievement gaps?
  • What is the difference between the terms equality and equity?
Week Six Reading and Review Assignments

Week Six Reading and Review Assignments

Recorded Interviews

View recorded interviews with Dr. J. Luke Wood (Links to an external site.), Dr. Christine McPhail. (Links to an external site.)

Optional recording: Dr. Estela Bensimon

Week Seven Activities

Week Seven Activities

Governance, Employee Relations, & Bargaining

Students will examine how community colleges are governed from internal participatory (shared) governance to the roles of governing boards.  Issues involving governance, employee relations, and negotiations with employee groups will be addressed.
Boards of trustees are elected or appointed to represent the interests of the owners of the colleges.  In the case of public colleges, trustees represent the public in the geographic area served by the college and ensure that the college is administered effectively and efficiently and plans proactively for the future.  A well-functioning Board can make a positive impact on the success of a college.  However, there are many examples of the negative effects of split Boards, trustees who put special interests ahead of the interests of the college, or of unethical behavior on the part of a trustee.

Critical Questions:

  • Is the public money spent on governing boards a wise investment?
  • How functional are the college boards that you have seen?
  • How do college leaders deal with rogue trustees or with split Boards?
  • Public employee unions have been under attack around the country. Do they serve an important purpose in providing a balance of power for public employees, or has their power created an unsustainable drain on public financial resources?
  • Have they created an unnecessary adversarial relationship between college leaders and employees?
  • Is the effort to curtail public employee unions tarnishing the image of public employees, including college faculty?
  • Will this attack on unions weaken them or energize them?
  • What issues do the employee unions create and solve on your campus?
  • What is an effective model for participatory or shared governance?
  • How have governance issues and bargaining issues been resolved?
  • Are votes of no confidence an effective negotiations tool?
Week Seven Reading and Review Assignments

Week Seven Reading and Review Assignments

 

Recorded Interviews

Bill McGinnis, Butte-Glenn Community College District (CA) Truistee (Links to an external site.)

 

Recommended Readings (not required):

Enabled:
Statistics Tracking
Week Eight Activities

Week Eight Activities

Campus Safety and Security

One of the most important responsibilities of leaders is to ensure the safety of students, faculty, and staff and to protect college facilities, technology, equipment, and supplies.  Every year, there are reports of natural disasters, violence (including sexual assault), infectious diseases, racial and religious intolerance, and even deaths.

Students will discuss the leadership necessary to ensure campus safety and security, how to prepare for emergencies, and what to do when an incident occurs.

Critical Questions:

  • How should leaders prepare for emergencies?
  • Do weapons on campus make students and employees more or less secure?
  • How should leaders deal with student protests and civil disobedience?
  • What can be done to reduce incidents of sexual assault on or near campus?
Week Eight Activities

Week Eight Activities

Campus Safety and Security

One of the most important responsibilities of leaders is to ensure the safety of students, faculty, and staff and to protect college facilities, technology, equipment, and supplies.  Every year, there are reports of natural disasters, violence (including sexual assault), infectious diseases, racial and religious intolerance, and even deaths.

Students will discuss the leadership necessary to ensure campus safety and security, how to prepare for emergencies, and what to do when an incident occurs.

Critical Questions:

  • How should leaders prepare for emergencies?
  • Do weapons on campus make students and employees more or less secure?
  • How should leaders deal with student protests and civil disobedience?
  • What can be done to reduce incidents of sexual assault on or near campus?
Week Eight Reading and Review Assignments

Week Eight Reading and Review Assignments

Chronicle of Higher Education (May 13, 2019).  A Campus Culture of Cybersecurity. (Links to an external site.)

Grasgreen, A. (April 12, 2012). “Plenty of Blame to Go Around (Links to an external site.).” Inside Higher Ed.

Gray, E. (June 25, 2015).  “University Survey Highlights Role of ‘Verbal  (Links to an external site.)Coersion’ in Sexual Assault (Links to an external site.).” Time.

Gray, E. (August 24, 2015). “Colleges Find New Ways to Tackle Sexual Assault as Students Return (Links to an external site.).” Time

Jackson, A. & Gould, S., 2017). “ 10 States Allow Guns on College Campuses and 16 More are Considering it. (Links to an external site.)” Business Insider (April 27, 2017).

Kingkade, T. (June 5, 2015).  “Guns on Campus Bill Passes in Texas (Links to an external site.).”  Huffington Post.

National Conference of State Legislatures (2/23/2015).  “Guns on Campus: Overview (Links to an external site.).”

Redden, E. (August 2, 2021). “Countering Campus Carry.” (Links to an external site.) Inside Higher Ed.

Warth, G. et al. (April 7, 2016).  “‘Terrorism’ fliers spark SDSU protest (Links to an external site.).” San Diego Union-Tribune.

Review the information provided on the West Coast Consulting website (Links to an external site.).

Recorded Interviews

Please view the recorded interviews with Dr. Maria Harper-Marinick (Links to an external site.) and Mr. Tom Plotts. (Links to an external site.)

Optional Recording (not required):  Interview with Dr. Yolanda Watson Spiva. (Available after August 6)