Academic
Exchange Quarterly
Fall 2004: Volume 8, Issue 3
Creating Resources for Community
College Staff
Pamela L. Eddy,
Rebecca
Chakraborty,
Jeffrey Hancks,
James Lorenson,
Tamara Smythe,
Shannon Vautrin Browne,
Eddy, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in higher
education administration at
Abstract
High turnover rates in both faculty and leaders at community colleges
mean an influx of new personnel who often require training to acclimate to
working in a two-year college. Reported here are the outcomes of a graduate
class project to create a professional development tool to help orient new
community college employees. The product
was the creation of a website reviewing pertinent information regarding
community colleges.
Introduction
Shifts in demographics and retirements have resulted in community
colleges witnessing high turnovers in the ranks of both the college presidency
and in faculty. In 2001, 21% of all community college presidents were new
(Corrigan, 2002), whereas in 1993, 33% of all community college faculty were
new (Finkelstein, Seal, & Schuster, 1998). The graying of the professorate and college leaders lays the foundation
for continued hiring of new employees in the community college sector. Weisman and Vaughan (2001) noted that 79% of
sitting community college presidents indicated they anticipated retiring in the
next 10 years. Similar predictions are made for the academic side of the
institution (Finkelstein, Seal, & Schuster, 1998). While some of these new
hires may have experiences within the community college context, others are
coming to their positions from outside of higher education (Corrigan, 2002;
Finkelstein, Seal, & Schuster, 1998). Given this outsider status, it is
important to consider how these new employees come to understand their new work
contexts within community colleges. Researchers (Gibson-Harman, Rodriguez,
&
Faculty development practices at two-year institutions have included a
number of forms (Grant & Keim, 2002), but in general “lack goals—especially
goals that are tied to the institutional mission” (Murray, 2002, p. 91). Murray further argued, “effective faculty
development programs have administrative support, are formalized, structured,
and goal-directed, make a connection between faculty development and the reward
structure, have faculty ownership, and are valued by administrators” (p.
96). Watts and Hammons (2002) challenge
that “those newly hired into a community college over the next decade need to
be well trained….and also need to be acclimated to the community college
itself” (p. 6).
The information presented in this paper outlines a project created to
begin to address the need to provide an understanding of the community college
context for new hires. The origins of this project are rooted in a request by a
community college president (personal communications D. Burns, January 6,
2004), and supported by the literature, that was fulfilled by students in a
graduate course in the Administration of Community Colleges at Central Michigan
University. The goal was to create a new employee program that provided a sense
of what it means to work at a community college, complete with issues facing
community colleges, information on community college students, and a sense of
historical location of these institutions within the larger higher education
environment.
Project Design
The final project emanated from a group class assignment to create
resources to aid in acclimating new community college employees to working in a
two-year college. The seven students in the graduate seminar included both
master’s and doctoral candidates. Some of the students worked at community
colleges, whereas others attended a two-year college in their past or had an
interest in discovering more about these types of institutions. The assignment
of this group project was a first time learning project designed to bring
stronger links between classroom learning and community college realities. Students
met for the seminar on three consecutive weekends. The collaborative effort of
designing aids for professional development was augmented by individual student
research on distinct topics of interest to community college faculty and staff.
In designing the final project the graduate students initially
brainstormed areas to cover. The first idea session occurred over the first
weekend of the course. On the first
evening of class students considered what content was pertinent for new hires
at two-year colleges and how best to deliver it. Students used their own
experiences as new employees to consider what would be helpful to know and
areas on which to have information. The course text and supplemental readings
served as a source of information as well. Topics ranged from knowing more
about community college students to understanding the links between these
colleges and the community to obtaining information on state-by-state
differences in two-year college policy and finance. They conceptualized links to
individual state sites that would provide connections to all the community
colleges and associated resources. During the second weekend class meeting the
students refined the original list to make the task of getting the first
attempt at the project completed in a reasonable time during the short
semester.
The professor of the course served as a facilitator to help students
focus on topics of most interest to a community college audience. Criteria used to set boundaries on the list
of topics included a focus on more general information of interest. The thought was that subsequent classes could
work on revisions and expansion of topics. The final six areas of focus
included: providing a history of community colleges; a review of the
organizational structure of community colleges and community college
leadership; a discussion on issues pertaining to the academic side of the
institution; a portrait of community college students; a discussion regarding
the community outreach function of two-year schools; and finally a listing of
pertinent resources that new staff could access for more information—including
national community college associations. Students used course materials, in
particular Cohen and Brawer’s (2003), The American
Community College, and articles from community college journals (e.g., The
Community College Review, and The Community College Journal of Research
to Practice), to gather information to include.
In determining the best form of presentation for the information
students considered a number of different venues, including CDs, a website,
posters, and brochures, to name a few.
Ultimately, it was decided by group consensus to develop a website
containing the compiled information, allowing for easy updates and more access
to information via links. This media form was deemed easier to update, lower
cost, and more accessible to users. Students compiled information on each of
the topics for the website during the remainder of the course. The CMU College
of Education’s Webmaster would be responsible for technical assistance in
turning the student ideas into reality.
History
Community colleges are a unique American phenomenon. Brick (1994) identified four basic social and economic forces leading to the development of these two year colleges: “(1) equality of opportunity, (2) use of education to achieve social mobility, (3) technological progress, and (4) acceptance of the concept that education is the producer of social capital” (p. 44). Indeed, community colleges are commonly referred to today as the “people’s college” (Vaughan, 1997, p. 23). Early community colleges, originally called junior colleges, were small institutions, concentrating exclusively on providing general liberal arts programs (“The Changing Role,” 2002). By 1930, there were 450 community colleges spread throughout forty-five states (Brick, 1994). Local officials were instrumental in establishing these early two-year colleges, which focused on local community conditions and interests (Cohen & Brawer, 2003).
A confluence of factors in the mid-20th century aided in forming the
framework of community colleges as we know them today. President Harry Truman’s Commission on Higher
Education (President’s Commission on Higher Education, 1947) suggested that
students obtain formal education up to grade 14. Coming on the heels of the Servicemen’s
Readjustment Act in 1944 (commonly referred to as the GI Bill, which sought to
break down the financial barrier for college enrollment for servicemen), the
Truman Commission members thought community colleges could provide
opportunities for higher education previously unobtainable for large portions
of the population. The Commission report
sought to establish a network of publicly supported two-year institutions,
newly named community colleges (
The 1960s were a period of explosive growth at community colleges as
baby boomers reached college age and financial aid became more available for
higher education (McPherson &
Schapiro, 1998). At one point in the
late 60s, one new community college opened each week somewhere in the
Current articles on community colleges (Evelyn, 2004; Vaughan, 2004)
address several contemporary issues facing two-year colleges and posit that
these institutions are at a crossroads.
Pressures from increasing student enrollments, particularly with
minority students, come at a time when budgets are being slashed
nationwide.
Organizational
Structure and Leadership
Organizationally, community colleges have operated as bureaucracies
(Birnbaum, 1988; Levin, 1998). Bureaucratic organizations rely on leadership
hierarchy in their functioning. The more
formal reporting structures of community colleges is not surprising given their
structural roots in K-12 schools. Indeed,
many of the first community college leaders and faculty came from
pre-collegiate institutions (Cohen & Brawer, 2003). As institutions have
become more focused on outcomes, community colleges have increasingly applied
quality concepts such as Total Quality Management and the ideals espoused by
the authors W. Edward Deming and Malcolm Baldridge (Academic Quality
Improvement Program, n.d.).
Accreditation requirements increasingly call for broader internal information
sharing and collaborative management systems (Higher Learning Commission [HLC],
2003). An alternative accreditation system, called the Academic Quality
Improvement Program (AQIP), is based on institutional quality and measurement
of outcomes (HLC, 2003).
Community colleges range in size and governance structures. “Most
public colleges in the nation are organized within single districts” (Cohen
& Brawer, 2003, p. 107), with policy formation resting with a locally
elected or appointed board of trustees. Some states have coordinating boards for
all public community colleges, whereas others allow community colleges to
operate more autonomously. For instance, community colleges in
The
development of a clear, understandable, and outcomes oriented mission statement
stating why a particular community college exists sets the tone for
institutional leadership and decision-making; the mission statement steers the
actions of the loosely-coupled organization, and those of its constituent
bureaucratic subunits, toward common outcomes (Calder, 2002). Currently, the
Carnegie Foundation offers only one classification scheme that puts all
community colleges in one category. Given the range in sizes of community
colleges, locations, and mission foci, strong arguments are being made to
develop a more refined mechanism of classification for two-year colleges
(Katsinas, 2003; McCormick & Cox, 2003).
Organizationally, community college faculty are the most unionized of
all in institutions of higher education (Cohen & Brawer, 2003). Collective bargaining served to draw sharp
distinctions between the faculty ranks and administration, allowing less
autocratic control by leadership and more of a faculty voice in
decision-making. Shared governance
implies shared decision making in all matters relating to community college governance.
However, often shared governance participants have concerns over the
applicability of shared decision-making to functions such as layoffs,
disciplinary matters, and workload assignments (Trites & Weeger, 2003).
Unlike the State of California which legislatively mandates the use of shared
governance in community colleges as a way to provide for joint decision-making
(Cohen & Brawer, 2003), many community colleges have moved to what can more
accurately be termed a shared leadership system, wherein staff become involved
in planning for the future, determining how to become better educators, and
determining how to better serve students and the college’s community (Trites
& Weeger, 2003).
Leadership in
community colleges has transitioned over time. Twombly (1995) identified four
eras of community college leaders, including the period from 1900-1930s in
which the “great man” theory was dominated; the 1940s-1950s in which leaders
sought to become independent from secondary schools and forge an identity of
their own; 1960s-1970s in which the present day version of the community
college was born with strong, dominate leadership necessary during these
pioneering days; and the 1980s-2000 where attention to resource issues was more
necessary, with models from business used to create leaders emphasizing
efficiency and strategic planning (Rowley & Sherman, 2001). The projected turnover in college leadership
in the new 21st century poises community colleges for yet another
era of leadership—one rooted in transformation and change.
Traditionally, White
males led institutions of higher education, including community colleges. In 1991 89% of community college
presidents were males and 11% were minorities; a decade later this percentage
has shifted to now include 28% women presidents and 14% presidents of color
(Weisman & Vaughan, 2001). Community colleges employ the highest percentage
of women and individuals of color in the presidency (Glazer-Raymo, 1999).
Given the projections of turnover in the community college presidency (Weisman & Vaughan, 2001), the American Association of Community College is focusing attention on how best to prepare future leaders in its Leading Forward initiative (Ottenritter, 2004). Recent research investigates how community college leaders learn (Amey, 2004), calling on these leaders to be cognitively complex thinkers who understand how to learn during times of changes; challenging leaders to move beyond traditional hierarchies to more collaborative teams (Bensimon & Neumann, 1993).
Faculty
Faculty working at community colleges look markedly different than at
four-year institution. In four-year
institutions research productivity provides professional currency and job
status, whereas at two-year colleges faculty do little research, instead
focusing on higher teaching loads and more hours of direct contact with
students. Working with community college
students who posses less directness in their studies and who often require
remedial assistance lends to a challenging work environment. Given the community college’s roots in the
K-12 system, many of the norms for teaching faculty are common, including
“mandated hours for faculty, assigned teaching schedules, textbooks selected by
committees, and obligatory attendance at college events” (Cohen & Brawer,
2003, p. 75).
Another distinction of community college faculty are the high
percentages of part-time teaching staff.
Even in the early years of their existence large numbers of the faculty
were part-time, often coming from the local high schools. Part-time faculty
percentages have grown from 48% of the total faculty in 1953 to 62% of the
total faculty in 1998 (Cohen & Brawer, 2003). In 1998, women comprised 49.9% of full time
faculty and 48.2% of part time faculty.
Comparably, women make up only 29.9% of full time faculty and 36.3% of
part-time faculty at public research institutions (
Increases in part-time faculty at community colleges resulted in the
decrease in percentage of faculty holding tenure. In 1980 75.2% of faculty at public two-year
colleges held tenure; by 2000 this percentage decreased to 69.8% (
Preparation for community college faculty positions is not always
purposeful. Fugate and Amey (2000) found
the community college faculty in their study did not foresee an academic career
as they entered higher education, rather came to teaching in conjunction with
another career. Given this lack of
intentionality in joining the faculty ranks, faculty development during early
career stages becomes more critical. As more faculty near retirement age, community
college administrators must begin to think how to replace and train new
teaching staff—again highlighting the importance of providing information on
community colleges to the newest employees.
Students
Approximately 5.5 million
individuals call themselves community college students (
In 1997, 44% of all students
starting at a post-secondary institution after high school did so at a
community college (
The definition of what defines a typical two-year college
student has shifted over time. A
traditional definition would show a community college student as 18-19 years of
age and enrolling full time in a post-secondary higher education institution. Now community college students’ average age
is 29 years old, with most enrolled on a part-time basis (Cohen & Brawer,
2003). More recently a “third wave” of
students is hitting states such as
Community college students represent a diverse population.
In 1997, Community Colleges, which enrolled 38% of total higher education
students, were enrolling 46% of the ethnic minority students (Cohen &
Brawer, 2003). Clearly, minority students are finding their way into higher
education more often through the doors of community colleges. The patterns of minority enrollment change
based on geography. For instance, more
minority students are enrolled in states with larger minority populations in
states such as
According to Cohen and Brawer
(2003), retrospective studies indicate than 30-60% of people obtaining
baccalaureate degrees have some community college courses on their record. Estimates for transfer range from
20% to 30% depending on the data set used for analysis, the time frame of
reference, and the definitions of the transfer variable (Grubb, 1991). Some authors argue that that students who
begin at community colleges are less likely to complete a baccalaureate degree
than those who begin at four-year colleges (Christie & Hutcheson, 2003;
Clark, 1994; Grubb, 1991).
Community Outreach
As the name community college
implies, the role of the local community contributes an integral part in
creating the essence of identity for two-year colleges. The inception of the
land-grant movement in the late 1800s (Rudolf, 1990) and the corresponding
increased demands for education to meet the needs of business and industry, set
the stage for links between colleges and the surrounding community. “Growing numbers of adults sought learning of
all kinds. Education was conceived as a continuing process in which the junior
college was seen to be especially qualified to render services” (Brick, 1994,
p. 51).
As previously noted, initially,
colleges providing the first two-years of post-secondary education were
commonly called junior colleges. The shift to the current naming of community
colleges is attributed to report of the President’s Commission on Higher
Education (1947). In part, the report
stated:
Whatever form the community college takes its purpose is educational service to the entire community, and this purpose requires of it a variety of functions and programs. It will provide college education for the youth of the community certainly, so as to remove geographic and economic barriers to educational opportunities and discover and develop individual talents at low cost and easy assess. But, in addition, the community college will serve as an active center of adult education. It will attempt to meet the total post high school needs of its community! (pp. 67-68).
Historically, community colleges
fulfilled an integral niche within the communities they serve. Harlacher and
Gallattscheck (1978) argued, a community college should be a "vital
participant in the total renewal process of the community...dedicated
to the continual growth and development of its citizens” (p. 7). The culture of
community colleges being embedded in the communities they serve and quickly
reacting to community needs, results in uniquely tailored outreach programs
dependant upon the community needs.
The 1988 report of the Commission
on the Future of Community Colleges marked a shift in the traditional views of
community services as merely reacting to community needs. Instead, “the Commission called for the
community college to form partnerships with other community organizations based
upon shared values and common goals” (Vaughan, 1997, p. 34). Thus, the community college was now to take a
leadership role, and act as a catalyst, in long-range planning for community
development. The Academy for Community College Leadership Advancement,
Innovation, and Modeling (ACCLAIM) program was developed to help meet the
leadership challenge of community colleges during the shift to a more
integrated community-based programming and development (Boone, 1997). The ACCLAIM program posits a series of 15
tasks for community college leaders and staff to follow to lead to success
community-based programming (Boone, 1997).
Successful examples of community colleges following the ACCLAIM model
are presented in Community-based Programming in Action: The Experiences of Five Community Colleges
(1998).
New conceptions of the catalyst role community colleges hold in their community regarding programming and development expand traditional definitions of community service. In light of current economic conditions, declining governmental support of community colleges, and shifts in demographics, community colleges are pulled as they attempt to meet their multi-faceted missions. How individual colleges help bolster local economic development and provide needed community service support provides a crucial point for their communities.
Conclusion
The coverage of the background material presented here to aid
professional development of new community college personnel is critical in
enabling these professionals in acclimating to their new jobs. Indeed, as Amey
(2004) noted, developing cognitively complex learners is an imperative for the
future in which one must continue learning as they lead. Given the large amount
of transition in two-year college faculty and leadership, it is important to
discover ways in which these newest employees can achieve an understanding of
their new environment. The project outlined here begins to highlight for these
new employees the context in which they are working and gives them bearings to
aid their understanding regarding the community college environment and enhance
their learning.
In creating the resources to include on the website, students had an
opportunity to consider what they felt was most important in what they learned
about community colleges during the course.
Students who are current community college employees had an opportunity
to reflect on how the course readings and discussions intersected with their
lived experiences, and importantly, discovered more about areas outside of
their own work sector. One of the most positive outcomes was the testing, and
ultimate discarding, of assumptions students held about community colleges,
students, and their faculty. The largest difficulty encountered in the creation
of the website was the limits of time inherent in a weekend course offering. Having the same project developed over an
entire semester of weekly class meetings would provide for more feedback and
the ability to tap into a greater pool of references and resources.
The test website resulting from this project becomes available in the
October, 2004. Access can be obtained
via the Educational Administration and Community Leadership departmental
website at
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