1st Edition
Working With Students in Community Colleges Contemporary Strategies for Bridging Theory, Research, and Practice
Co-published with This timely volume addresses the urgent need for new strategies and better ways to serve community colleges’ present and future students at a time of rapid diversification, not just racially and ethnically, but including such groups as the undocumented, international students, older adult learners and veterans, all of whom come with varied levels of academic and technical skillsThe contributing researchers, higher education faculty, college presidents, and community college administrators provide thorough understanding of student groups who have received scant attention in the higher education literature. They address the often unconscious barriers to access our institutions have erected and describe emerging strategies, frameworks, and pilot projects that can ease students’ transition into college and through the maze of the college experience to completion. They offer advice on organizational culture, on defining institutional outcomes, on aligning shifting demographics with the multiple missions of the community college, on strengthening the collaboration of student and academic affairs to leverage their respective roles and resources, and on engaging with the opportunities afforded by technology.Divided into three parts – understanding today’s community college campuses; supporting today’s community college learners; and specialized populations and communities – this book offers a vision and solutions that should inform the work of faculty, administrators, presidents, and board members.
Acknowledgements Foreword—Susan Salvador Preface Part 1. Understanding Today’s Community College Campuses 1. Junior Grows Up. A Brief History of Community Colleges—Lisa S. Kelsay and Betsy Oudenhoven 2. Community College Economic Climate, Policy Landscape, and the American Graduation Initiative—John L. Jamrogowicz 3. College Readiness and the Open Door Mission—Patricia Munsch, Tania Velazquez, and Corinne Kowpak 4. Technology. The New Core Competency—Susan J. Procter and Julie Uranis Part 2. Welcome to Campus! Supporting Today’s Community College Learners 5. Who Are Our Students?—Patricia Munsch and Lisa S. Kelsay 6. Academic and Student Affairs Collaboration. A Value for Student Success Within the Community College Environment—Cara McFadden and Martha Mazeika 7. Student Orientation at Community Colleges—Jessica Hale 8. Residence Life at Community Colleges. Building New Opportunities for Student Learning—Carin W. Barber and Daniel J. Phelan Part 3. A Closer Look. Specialized Populations and Communities on Two-Year Campuses 9. Older Adult Learning in Community Colleges. A New Wave of Adult Learners—Ramona Meraz Lewis, Eboni M. Zamani-Gallaher, and Christopher Bonapace 10. Two- and Four-Year College Contexts for Student Veterans—Tara Fagan and Shaftone Dunklin 11. Women Community College Student Leaders of Color. An Examination of Student Involvement Theory—Dimpal Jain 12. Looking Across the Research. Social and Cultural Capital’s Interplay with Marginalized Student Communities—Jesse S. Watson and Elizabeth Cox Brand Afterword—Stephanie R. Bulger Additional Resources—Tamara N. Stevenson Editors and Contributors Index
Biography
Lisa S. Kelsay is the Assistant Dean of Liberal Arts/Director of Academic Arts at Moraine Valley Community College (IL). In addition, she is also a part-time instructor in education at Moraine Valley Community College and an adjunct professor in the Graduate School at Kaplan University. She holds a Ph.D. in higher education from Loyola University Chicago (IL), an M.A. in student personnel administration in higher education from Ball State University (IN), and a B.S. in education from the University of Akron (OH). Through the past 15+ years, Dr. Kelsay has worked in both student and academic affairs, private and public, and at two-year and four-year colleges. Her research has been published in The Journal of College Admission. She served as the 2009-2012 Chair of the ACPA Commission for Student Development in the Two-Year College. Eboni M. Zamani-Gallaher is an affiliate of the Office of Community College Leadership and Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Education Policy Organization Leadership (EPOL) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Formerly she served as Professor and Coordinator of the Community College Leadership Program in the Department of Leadership and Counseling at Eastern Michigan University. She held prior appointments at West Virginia University, ACT Inc., and Mathematica Policy Research (MPR), Inc. She holds a B.S. in Psychology and M.S. in General Experimental Psychology from Western Illinois University. She earned a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration with a specialization in Community College Leadership and Evaluation from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Zamani-Gallaher’s teaching, research, and consulting activities largely include psychosocial adjustment and transition of marginalized collegians, transfer, access policies, and women in leadership. Her work includes coauthoring The Case for Affirmative Action on Campus: Concepts of Equity, Considerations for Practice (Sterling, VA: Stylu
"This book sheds light on multiple areas in which America’s community colleges are being shaped by the
multitude of missions (academic, political, social, economic) continually assigned to them. Administrators,
faculty, and professional staff at any institution of higher education as well as city, county, state, and federal
officials who are invested in higher education in their locale would do well to read this book to learn how to
understand, support, and look closer at students in their community."
Reflective Teaching, Wabash Center
“This is a valuable resource that will help readers to understand community colleges and the needs and characteristics of their students as well as help to gauge how agile and responsive these colleges are to demands and changes.
These chapters provide a timely and valuable resource for the array of professionals working to adapt and evolve their practices in an exciting and challenging time for community colleges. The comprehensive treatment of institutional operations and student progress makes this reading an important resource for practitioners, administrators, and faculty. In addition, this book provides insightful strategies and recommendations for strengthening student services and identifying internal and external barriers for change and partnerships.
If you embrace our responsibility to serve the community college student sector effectively, you will turn the pages of this book with the realization that it is a necessary instrument for the community college professional’s toolbox.”
Susan Salvador, Vice President of Student Services
Monroe Community College
“Once in a while, a book forces us to reconsider the fundamentals of our practices and that book is Working with Students in Community Colleges. This volume fills a void in the current literature and is a must read for anyone struggling to understand the current dilemmas in community colleges. It will inform and prepare graduate students in higher education administration, counseling, and student affairs programs. Faculty and graduate students can build on research questions introduced in this volume. This volume is an indispensable tool in the administrator’s toolkit and will be well used as we go boldly into the future.”
Stephanie R. Bulger, District Vice Chancellor of Educational Affairs
Wayne County Community College District
