Today, half of all states authorize at least one community college to offer bachelor's degree programs. In the past five years alone, eight states have authorized community colleges to offer baccalaureate programs. Given the momentum behind this movement, we sought to qualitatively explore higher education leaders' perceptions of the role of…

The college promise -- or "free college" -- movement is rapidly expanding throughout the United States; however, there is much to learn about community colleges' organizational responses to promise programs and corresponding partnerships with nonprofit organizations that are involved in some programs. Using institutional logics to frame…

With nearly half the states having authorized community colleges to award baccalaureate degrees, the community college baccalaureate (CCB) has become an increasingly common feature of the landscape of American higher education. While there has been an expansion of research on the CCB in recent years, the research to date consists mainly of studies…

Institutions of higher education are presented as vital pathways to economic mobility, particularly for working class, first generation, and students of color. Yet the inequitable outcomes produced by post-secondary institutions suggest structures and systems of exclusion and enclosure. In this critical mixed methods case study, we explore the…

Assessment, accountability, and transparency represent a greater focus than ever in higher education. Community colleges are not exempt from these requirements, though they are overlooked in the creation of state and national assessment instruments. Therefore, we designed and distributed the Perceptions of Community College Assessment (PCCA)…

This study analyzes the internal and external forces that led to the creation and revisions of a community college's mission statement over the course of its 53-year history. We used discourse-historical analysis to examine published college mission statements, transcripts of interviews with the founding dean of the college, and the college's…

In this multi-method qualitative study, which included faculty and administrator interviews as well as a systematic analysis of organizational documents, we sought to understand the expectations "placed upon" and "taken up" by community college faculty. Our analysis suggests that the overarching expectation of community college…

Undocumented students continue to face unique barriers in American higher education. Community colleges are being challenged to enhance the ways in which they serve, support, and advocate for undocumented students in order to become undocu-competent. Through qualitative document analysis, this study evaluated Texas community colleges'…

The increasing diversity of the student bodies of community colleges calls for faculty who are motivated and equipped to educate them. This diversity is a product of the common theme community colleges share in their missions that espouses providing access to education for all members of their local communities. The faculty search committee plays…

Over its 100-year plus history the community college has struggled to make clear its mission. As a comprehensive community college its mission has bounced around to focus on liberal arts, developmental, workforce, community, and general education. In today's increasingly competitive society with shifting values and changes in power it is likely…

The intent of this study is to explore the actions and strategies used by the administration at Bergen Community College to serve its institutional mission in increasing student completion. Facing challenges in low completion rate, Bergen Community College began the student completion initiative to develop a strategy that would best serve the…

This article reports on a design-based research project that is situated in a medium-size community college in Maryland. The project focused on exploring why the majority of full-time faculty was ranked as Assistant Professor or below, which did not reflect ranking at similar institutions. Under the leadership of the Provost, a task force analyzed…

This study explored how administrators at community colleges conceptualized change related to resource allocation and managing competing priorities to support targeted programming for Latino men. The study included the perspectives of 39 administrators from seven community colleges across Texas using concepts associated with institutional change…

In the 40th publication year of the "Community College Journal of Research and Practice" ("CCJRP"), the authors present a 39-year retrospective on research on the community college through the lens of the journal. It is not known exactly what the body of community college research wholly consists of. Without access to the…

This article provides a short background on Demos, a public policy organization that works on issues of political and economic inequality. Demos views community colleges as a linchpin in the American higher education system, and it has worked over several years to research ways to increase state support for higher education and direct support…