Innovations
December
2012
Over the past decade, numerous states have ramped up efforts to improve high school graduation rates and college going rates, particularly for students deemed more likely to fail in these pursuits. As economic opportunities have dwindled and recession has gripped the country, these efforts have taken on increased significance due to a reinvigorated belief that a high school diploma and at least some college credit, if not a college certificate or degree, are critical to an individual's ability to find gainful employment.
In Eugene, Oregon, a partnership between the Eugene School District 4J...
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November
2012
When the doors opened to the Phoenix College Hannelly One-Stop Enrollment Center on January 3, 2012, a new era of student services at the flagship institution of the Maricopa Community Colleges was launched.
With 74 employees on hand to help staff the center, enrolling students were the first to experience the school's new strategies and processes for handling all aspects of enrollment services. Whether their issues involved Admissions & Records, Financial Aid, Advisement, the Cashier's Office, Recruitment & Retention, or Veterans Services, they were able to get their enrollment needs...
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November
2012
Many students can reflect back on college as a time of personal and educational growth, but through the Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI) of Central Ohio Technical College (COTC), this opportunity for growth goes beyond the traditional college years.
Launched in July 2004 and recently relocated to the COTC Pataskala campus, the LLI falls under the Workforce Development Innovation Center and provides noncredit educational opportunities for mature learners in Central Ohio. Members broaden and extend their knowledge, share their life experiences, become more attuned to community resources, and...
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October
2012
Exit 7 off Interstate 24 in Paducah is significant to West Kentucky Community and Technical College (WKCTC) for more than being the path taken from the highway to get to the campus; it's also the clever name of the college's new literary journal that launched its inaugural issue last spring.
Exit 7: A Journal of Literature and Art is an annual collection of poetry, short stories, creative nonfiction, and artwork that features established and emerging writers and artists from around the country. "It's important for our students to have access to quality, professional work to read and edit,"...
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October
2012
Cerner Corporation, a global health information company with headquarters in North Kansas City, has roughly 10,000 employees and licenses health information solutions to more than 9,000 facilities worldwide. Now in its fourth decade, the company has an annual revenue of $1.9 billion—and there is no slow-down in sight. To meet the workforce needs of current and future growth in the constantly transforming industry of digital medical records, Cerner needs a constant pipeline of sharp, skilled prospective employees. That's where the company's partnership with Metropolitan Community College-...
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October
2012
In southern California, no resource is more precious than water. After years of drought and water sources from northern California drying up, saving every possible drop of water has become increasingly important.
Cuyamaca College's water/wastewater technology program is addressing this vital issue and providing job training for what is sure to be a growing field as more residents and businesses look for ways to save water while irrigating their landscaping.
The college, located in eastern San Diego County and serving about 9,000 students, has received a $535,000 grant from the state...
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September
2012
The Walmart Brighter Futures Project features a cooperative effort between the Walmart Foundation and a select group of the nation's community colleges led by the League for Innovation in the Community College. The League received a $3.5 million grant from the Walmart Foundation in March 2009 to implement a project involving community colleges across the country for two purposes: to help dislocated workers acquire 21st century job skills and obtain jobs that require those skills; and to increase academic progression, retention, and completion rates for dislocated workers.
Eight community...
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September
2012
Lone Star College (LSC)-University Park's investment in students and innovation recently paid big dividends as its students and advisor won the 2012 National Education Startup Challenge with their entry known as the Educational Positioning System (EPS). This breakthrough innovation provides students with the ability to develop a career pathway by placing their educational information in their hands, assisting them in assessing their skill capabilities and then guiding them through the educational requirements to obtain future employment. The National Education Startup Challenge is part of the...
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August
2012
The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) and Howard Community College (HCC) of Maryland have teamed up to create Global Distinction, a new academic enrichment program for students. Global Distinction recognizes students who have pursued a globally intensive curriculum through identified general education courses, world languages, and international experiences. The mission of Global Distinction is to provide a framework to ensure that students become global citizens prepared for both academic and professional endeavors in the interconnected and interdependent world of the 21st century...
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August
2012
Housatonic Community College (HCC), in Bridgeport, CT, has unveiled a two-certificate Advanced Manufacturing Program at the college's new regional advanced manufacturing center. The program, which is currently accepting applications for the fall 2012 semester, will prepare students for advanced manufacturing positions that include machine operator, Computer Numeric Control (CNC) operator, CNC programmer, assembler, and quality control inspector, positions that can pay in the $15-20 range.
Demand for employees with these skills has been spurred by a resurgence of manufacturing in this one-time...
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July
2012
Law enforcement officers and first responders from throughout the region are using the training opportunities at the Rural Justice Training Center (RJTC) at Central Wyoming College (CWC).
The RJTC offers a wide assortment of programs and is able to customize the training needs for individual departments at an affordable price. "Rural law enforcement agencies face the difficult challenge of providing cost-effective and realistic training because of limited budgets," said RJTC Director Eric Heiser. With its central location in Riverton, WY, officers may travel without significantly burdening...
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July
2012
The state-of-the-art Transportation Technology Center at Forsyth Technical Community College (Forsyth Tech) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, hit the ground running not a minute too soon. For the past five years, enrollment has been increasing in all the college's transportation programs: Automotive Systems Technology, Collision Repair and Refinishing Technology, Heavy Equipment and Transport Technology, the Richard Childress Race Car Technology program, and Recreational Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Technology. Shop space, computer lab space, and classrooms at the main campus were heavily...
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July
2012
Forged from elements of the university and the high school, the community college has become one of the most successful institutional innovations of all time. As it has evolved over the past 100 plus years, the community college has become a crucible of innovation, an innovation spawning innovations.
Designed originally as a single-purpose institution to provide the first two years of a collegiate education--a junior college to Harper's senior college--the community college responded to social and economic needs and became a multipurpose institution. By the 1960s, it had become a...
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June
2012
As is the case at other community colleges around the United States, successful course completion, particularly in select gatekeeper courses and all developmental studies classes, has historically been an issue at Orangeburg Calhoun Technical College (OCtech). However, over the course of the past three academic years, the college has had proven success with course completion in both developmental studies and credit-bearing gatekeeper courses through the use of supplemental instruction.
In conjunction with its involvement in the Achieving the Dream initiative, the college held a series of...
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June
2012
The League's Innovation of the Year award was initiated to recognize innovations that reflect extraordinary achievement and the spirit of innovation and experimentation in the community college on which the League was founded. The competition provides an opportunity for member colleges to showcase their innovative programs, practices, policies, partnerships, and resources, and to celebrate the dedicated educators who are responsible for such exceptional work.
Award winners are determined through a nomination and selection process at individual member colleges. Selection is based on the League...
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June
2012
Portage College (Portage) is a comprehensive community institution serving oil sands rich north eastern Alberta. Portage was gifted in 1968 when Cree and Métis peoples undertook a 28-day sit-in demanding learning opportunities. Today, Portage has grown to operate 10 campus locations serving seven First Nations (Indian) Reservations and four Métis Settlements. Portage's learning area includes some 45 distinct ethnic communities representing 85,000 people. Ethnic diversity is a wealth celebrated in the northern communities served by the college.
The Lac La Biche Campus is situated in the...
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May
2012
Too many times over a 20-year teaching career I have encountered students who tell me their plans of becoming doctors, lawyers, or engineers, but without a full understanding of the preparation required to join a profession. Many high school and college students don't seem to get it: that pursuing some--perhaps even most--careers takes a lot of postsecondary work requiring a great deal of dedication. To address this challenge, I have started a success project based on the following assumption: The more information students can acquire related to careers and college degrees, the more likely...
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May
2012
Since September 2010, Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC), located in Charlotte, North Carolina, has cross-trained people with a proven health care or information technology background to provide electronic health record solutions to health care providers through a workforce grant from the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology. With five cohorts of students already begun, CPCC admitted 507 students into four workforce training roles: (1) Clinician/Practitioner Consultant; (2) Implementation Manager; (3) Implementation Support Specialist; and (4)...
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April
2012
Lone Star College-Tomball is one of six colleges within the Lone Star College System (LSCS) in the Houston, Texas, area. Our college and our system have recognized that an increased emphasis on international education provides many positive benefits for students, faculty, and communities. Lone Star College-Tomball sponsors a number of initiatives promoting international education, including a commitment to participating in the National Model United Nations (NMUN) conference held each spring at the United Nations in New York. This conference, the largest and most prestigious of the collegiate...
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April
2012
Educational institutions feel the imperative to improve retention and graduation rates, and political and corporate interests have amplified the focus on institutional success. The general consensus among policy-makers holds that an indicator of institutional effectiveness is student learning (Erisman, 2009). Fifty-five percent of the nation's 25- to 35-year olds will be degree holders by the year 2025. It is an ambitious challenge and a necessary aspiration to elevate America's status as a world leader in educational attainment among its citizenry. And it is a compelling goal as the global...
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