From soil to cyber
What if a single campus building could prepare students to both grow North Carolina’s food supply and protect it from cyberattacks? At Blue Ridge Community College, we believe that well-designed facilities do more than house…
Commentary
A strategic plan rooted in real voices
When Carroll Community College in Maryland launched development of its next four-year strategic plan, the leadership team wasn’t thinking about just KPIs and goal statements. They were thinking about trust. Visibility. Inclusivity. And what it…
Washington Watch: ED’s new student aid verifications to fight fraud
The U.S. Education Department (ED) on Friday announced a new effort to weed out fraudulent student aid applications. This is an issue that primarily only affects community colleges because of their low tuitions and open…
Washington Watch: Some community college TRIO grants canceled
Several community colleges late last week received notices from the U.S. Education Department (ED) canceling their TRIO Upward Bound continuation grants. While the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) is still working with its membership…
Gutting NSF will undermine community college pathways to work
Just a few days after delivering his 100-day address at Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan, President Donald Trump released a budget proposal that would slash funding for the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) by…
Washington Watch: More deep cuts revealed in Trump budget request
The Trump administration late Friday released additional information that fleshes out its fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget proposal to Congress. The new materials fill in some additional details for higher education and workforce programs that…
Students take the lead on Pell advocacy
At Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), our mission is to recognize academic excellence and provide students with opportunities to grow—and to lead. And when it comes to leadership, advocacy is where we believe it must begin….
Washington Watch: Contact your senators to protect Pell
The U.S. Senate is accelerating action on its version of the House’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” It is increasingly possible that the Senate bill, and therefore also the final reconciliation bill, will include devastating…
Washington Watch: Preserving Pell, front and center
The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) has written to the Senate Labor, Health, Education and Pension (HELP) Committee, outlining its position on the higher education provision in the House-passed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”…
A journey of learning
What I wish I’d known in preparation for a college presidency is to have realized in my early years how much I would learn and how that journey of learning would enrich my life and…