- AACC’s new executive leadership structure
- MATCH Act gets bipartisan support
- Survey: AI use in education outpaces training
AACC’s new executive leadership structure
The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) has redesigned its executive leadership structure to better align with the needs of its member institutions and its Strategic Compass 2035, the association’s framework for positioning AACC as a stronger catalyst, convener and community-builder for community colleges.
In a message this month to its membership, AACC President and CEO DeRionne Pollard noted the purpose for the changes.
“Organizations cannot ask others to embrace transformation while remaining comfortable in themselves. The courage, adaptability and imagination we celebrate in community colleges must also characterize the association that serves them,” she said. “This restructuring is not about organizational charts. It is about increasing our capacity, becoming more responsive, and creating greater clarity and accountability.”
The new strategic portfolios, leaders and duties are:
- Chief Strategy & Impact Officer: Meghan Gibbons will oversee strategy, theory of change, strategic communications and public relations, and enterprise priorities.
- Chief of Staff & Strategic Operations: Tammy Reichelt will strengthen organizational execution, governance and internal coordination .
- Membership Impact & Network Engagement: Martha Parham will focus on the member experience and also expand AACC’s professional learning opportunities, regional engagement and field intelligence.
- Learning Ecosystems, Workforce Strategies, & Intelligence: Angel Royal will lead AACC’s efforts in teaching, learning, student success, workforce strategies, institutional transformation, research and data intelligence.
- Public Purpose & National Advocacy: David Baime will continue to lead the renamed government relations department.
- Chief Financial Officer Ramsay Johnson will continue to oversee the association’s financial, operational and technological systems.
AACC is also establishing a new executive-level position, Partnerships, Ventures & Innovation, to position the association as a national ecosystem orchestrator, building partnerships and ventures that extend impact, generate revenue and drive innovation.
MATCH Act gets bipartisan support
The House Education and Workforce Committee on Tuesday passed a series of 10 bills mostly along party lines. One exception was the Modernizing Access to Talents, Credentials, and Hiring (MATCH) Act, which drew unanimous support at the markup. The legislation aims to help states develop talent marketplaces using learning and employment records to better connect workers with education and employment opportunities.
Before voting on the measure, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Virginia), the committee’s ranking member, encouraged Democrats to support H.R. 8183. He noted Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah), who introduced the bill, and Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Georgia), have negotiated on the measure, including converting the proposed grant program into a five-year pilot program, standardizing terminology and providing more transparency so workers know what’s in their employment record and how it’s used.
“By helping workers better demonstrate their skills and credentials, this legislation has the potential to expand access to quality jobs and strengthen our workforce system,” Scott said.
Survey: AI use in education outpaces training
New research from Instructure finds that AI is already widely used in K-12 and higher education among students and educators, but institutional training on AI has not kept up.
Ninety percent of higher education students and 61% of higher education educators report using AI in class at least occasionally, but 41% of college educators noted they’ve received no formal AI training, with 11% of higher ed educators saying they received comprehensive training. That’s according to findings of a survey of 1,125 educators, higher education students and K-12 parents.
The report observed the support educators requested was practical: hands-on training and tutorials, clear institutional guidance and policies, and ongoing professional development.
All surveyed groups also expressed concern that AI can sound confident even when it is wrong, including 69% of parents, 65% of higher education students, 65% of higher education educators and 60% of K-12 educators. They expressed concerns about overreliance on AI, loss of critical thinking and deep learning, and academic integrity and plagiarism.
“AI use is already part of how students learn and educators work. The challenge now is making sure people have the training, judgment and clear expectations to use it well,” Melissa Loble, chief learning officer at Instructure, said in a release. “That requires practical support for educators and thoughtful boundaries that keep critical thinking, human judgment and meaningful learning at the center.”
