Innovations
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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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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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
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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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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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
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
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
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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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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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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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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March
2012
The need for students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career pathways is a nationwide issue. Community colleges are addressing this need by developing programs and partnerships that support and encourage students with an interest in STEM fields. In an effort to expose K-12 students to STEM concepts and job options in an engaging, hands-on way, Michigan Technological University scoured the research to find a solution. The result, a traveling road show manned by undergraduate and graduate students, has proven effective in engaging young minds and promoting the notion...
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February
2012
With the Government of Alberta projecting a labour shortfall of 114,000 workers in the province over the next decade, workplace innovation and collaboration are becoming increasingly important, says NorQuest College's President and CEO.
"Alberta's employment landscape is continually changing," says Jodi L. Abbott. "Businesses must adapt to shifting labour demographics and many depend increasingly on immigration to effectively compete."
For solutions, more businesses are looking to NorQuest College. In particular, many businesses are enlisting the services of the College's Centres for...
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February
2012
The Sadlon Centre for Health and Wellness at the Georgian College Barrie Campus is thriving. Now that the doors have opened to students and the public, state-of-the-art laboratories, study areas, and community health clinics are buzzing with activity as Georgian helps prepare Simcoe County's future health-care providers.
The largest expansion in Georgian history, the Sadlon Centre for Health and Wellness spans 172,000 square feet and houses all Health and Wellness programs at the Barrie Campus, along with six community health clinics: Oral Health, Massage Therapy, Georgian College Optical,...
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January
2012
Early in 2010, the College Board issued a report warning that nearly two-thirds of young black male college students fail to successfully traverse the educational pipeline. The report, titled The Educational Crisis Facing Young Men of Color, was a call to action for colleges and universities to close the achievement gap for black males.
Community College of Philadelphia already had a potential solution in the works with its Center for Male Engagement (CME), a federally funded program focused on black male students entering their freshman year. CME opened in September 2009 with a target group...
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January
2012
J.F. Drake State Technical College in Huntsville, Alabama, is a member of the Alabama Community College System and is one of several higher education institutions serving the Madison County area. The enrollment is approximately 1,300 students of very diverse backgrounds. The college focuses on technical programs, offering associate degrees and certificates in the areas of Business, Engineering, Health Sciences, Manufacturing, Salon Management, and Culinary/Hospitality Services.
Renewable Energy Partnership
In the past year, Drake State has been fortunate to involve itself with two new...
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December
2011
We invite community college science faculty to apply for a one-week workshop to learn the C.R.E.A.T.E. teaching strategy: Consider, Read, Elucidate hypotheses, Analyze and interpret data, and Think of the next Experiment. The goal of the C.R.E.A.T.E is to use the real language of scienc--the journal article--as an inroad to understanding "who does science, how, and why?" In a C.R.E.A.T.E course, students are challenged to take charge of their own learning by focusing on intensive analysis of primary literature. The intent is to help students:
experience authentic processes of science, in...
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September
2011
Cañada College in Redwood City, California, is a member of the California Community College System and is one of three colleges in the San Mateo County Community College District. The student body is genuinely multicultural, with Hispanic students as the largest single group. During 2009-2010, the college enrolled 10,451 unique students and 4,982 full-time equivalent students. There has been a real focus in the past several years on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. For Cañada College, we have focused on two main areas around STEM education: 1) accelerating...
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August
2011
The League is pleased to announce that Martha J. Kanter will be the keynote speaker for Innovator Spotlight. This online conference features community college programs and practices that have received the League's Innovation of the Year award, which celebrates the spirit of innovation and experimentation upon which the League was founded. The conference will be held February 15, 2012.
Martha J. Kanter was nominated by President Barack Obama on April 29, 2009, to be the under secretary of education and was confirmed by the Senate on June 19, 2009. Kanter reports to Secretary of Education Arne...
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