Community Colleges

With backing from the nation’s leading foundations, seven community and technical colleges have announced that they will pilot an initiative testing innovative approaches to increase the number of students who earn postsecondary credentials.

To transform the design of the community college to pave the way for the Completion Agenda, two very important tasks for leaders to address in the early stages of planning include the need to (1) rally faculty and staff, and (2) secure resources to support this agenda, which has become the overarching mission of the contemporary community college.

Gateway Community & Technical College (Ky.) is investing an ambitious $81.5 million into a new urban campus in the hopes it will become the foundation for urban economic development in Covington. The new campus itself will be nestled in roughly a six-block area in Covington's Central Business District. Gateway buildings and partnerships are expected to spread throughout northern Kentucky's largest city, filling up long-vacant storefronts and bringing new foot traffic for existing businesses - and, hopefully, new ones.

The Heartland Community College Foundation (Ill.) recognized its 2012-2013 scholarship recipients at its recent annual Celebration of Excellence scholarship reception; 117 scholarships were awarded to 108 students. Categories, among others, include a Trustee Scholarship, a Presidential Scholarship and one for Rising Scholars.

Solano Community College (Calif.) leaders have signed a two-year, $106,000 contract with a consultant to recruit international students from Asia in hopes of bringing in additional revenues to the cash-strapped school even as many local and in-state students struggle to get the classes they need. In a unanimous vote, the SCC board of trustees in September approved an agreement with Naoki Hirota to recruit students primarily from China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam to the Fairfield-based college.

Elgin Community College (Ill.) has embarked on a new marketing campaign to encourage prospective college students to take the community college route over the more expensive four-year university track. In a 50-second commercial that is now playing before trailers at movie theaters from St. Charles to South Barrington, Elgin Community College pitches the value of a community college education.

Brice W. Harris, who took charge of the beleaguered California colleges Nov. 6, isn't rushing in with a plan, saying, 'There's a real risk in charting a specific vision too soon.' In assuming the reins of California's community colleges system, Brice W. Harris takes over at a pivotal time of long-range budget uncertainty, fluctuating goals and ever-intensifying pressure to educate a sizable portion of the state's workforce.