commentary

Early college can help drive student success

Higher education is at a precipice. The last several years have been marked by enrollment declines, the result of a demographic shift. The arrival of the pandemic last year, however, has brought with it a…



Discussions for change: Moving forward in fighting injustice

Editor’s note: This article is part of a monthly series provided by the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations, an affiliated council of the American Association of Community Colleges. Active engagement in conversations around social…


Washington Watch: JOBS Act gets the job done

Businesses need employees with the right skills. Meeting this goal is a constant challenge. Pre-Covid-19, 7 million job openings went unfilled, attributable in large part to a skills gap. The economy recovering from the pandemic…


Managing your calendar for better health

When we closed our campuses last March and switched to remote working, we entered a strange and dark land. Many college administrators were already working 70- to 80-hour weeks and attending more meetings than was…


Advising community college students during a pandemic

The year 2020 was not one that higher education professionals will soon forget. Institutions quickly shifted their practices to provide students an education experience in ways never seen before. Advising professionals learned new technology, discovered…


Serving ESL students in an urban community college

English as second language (ESL) students are an ever-increasing portion of the adult education population of community colleges nationwide. Guilford Technical Community College in North Carolina is among them. At its Greensboro campus, the percentage…



Washington Watch: Uneven progress for women

March is Women’s History Month, which is an opportune time to highlight some of women’s advancements — and challenges — in postsecondary education, especially at community colleges. Women in higher education have made progress on…