Innovations
February
2008
Storytelling is the oldest form for communicating events, beliefs, traditions, values, and goals that people have. It is an interactive art form that relies on the relationship between the teller, the listener, and the story. Storytelling brings people together in community. The story of storytelling at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix, Arizona, begins in the fall of 1994 when two faculty members, Lorraine Calbow and Liz Warren, attended a statewide Tellers of Tales conference where they experienced the magic of this ancient art form.
On returning to campus, Calbow was amazed when...
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January
2008
Middle school kids are called "tweens" for good reason: They're too old for daycare but too young to be left home alone after school.
Norwalk Community College (NCC) in Norwalk, Connecticut, cares about community youth. When the college learned that local children were at risk because their after-school program lacked adequate space, it offered to host a program on campus and provide student volunteers to serve as tutors and mentors. The volunteers are part of a recently launched service learning program that gives students the opportunity to earn college credits while giving back to the...
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2008
The League's College and Careers Transition Initiative (CCTI) engaged high schools, community colleges, and businesses in a process to improve career and technical education systems, programs, strategies, and outcomes. This monograph reports on examples of these systems changes that resulted from CCTI participation: expanded use of career pathways; improved academic instruction; improved CTE instruction; measures to improve college readiness; high school-college partnerships and articulation; education-business partnerships; advising and student success initiatives; and data-driven decision ...
December
2007
The mesalands of northeastern New Mexico are well known for the abundant fossil deposits from Triassic times--the dawn of the dinosaurs--as well as fossil remains of other ages and diverse paleontological treasures found and yet to be discovered. Museums around the world have excavated, exhibited, and studied specimens found here.
Recognizing that an opportunity was, literally, under their feet, in 1996, the new administrators at Mesalands Community College began to develop programs in paleontology and geology to preserve, study, and promote the region's rich heritage as one of the premier...
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November
2007
Although the word "community" may not be part of Delta's name, it is certainly evident in the college's vision statement, "Delta College is our community's first choice to learn, work, and grow." The main campus is a 640-acre complex located in a rural area affectionately called "the Cornfield." Because it is somewhat hidden from view, Delta College has repeatedly sought ways to increase its presence in the three counties it serves (Bay, Midland, and Saginaw). In addition to college public radio and television stations, the Delta College Planetarium and Learning Center has become a primary...
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September
2007
In an effort to promote access to higher education to diverse, underserved youth in Clark County, Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, adopted the College Is Possible (CIP) program in 2004. The American Council on Education (ACE) developed this youth development program to serve as a bridge between colleges and universities and their local K-12 and nonprofit youth communities. The Center for the Advancement of Race and Ethnic Equity (CAREE), a division of ACE, provides national resources and training opportunities for college presidents and liaisons. Clark College is one of 47...
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August
2007
In 2001 a "futures issues group" consisting of faculty and staff was charged with investigating the feasibility of implementing service learning at Prince George's Community College. The committee developed a comprehensive plan that established the foundation for the service learning program and Horizons grant.
Intended Outcomes
Develop partnerships with public schools
Provide faculty development and training
Establish a service learning office
Accomplishments
Accounting students provided help to low-income residents through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA).
Health and...
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July
2007
Community College of Philadelphia has organized and hosted several unique community-centered events in an effort help stop the violence that has claimed the lives of more than 200 people in the city this year.
One of the events featured inmates serving life sentences at Graterford prison. More than 1,500 people from across the city came to Community College of Philadelphia's gym in Center City Philadelphia on January 15, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, to hear the inmates serving life terms at Graterford Prison deliver a powerful, heartfelt message, live and via satellite, to at-risk young men....
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June
2007
Finding ways to provide excellent instructional programs and bring new people to college campuses is challenging. When Bellingham Technical College made plans to expand its welding program to address critical skilled labor shortages, the greatest need was finding additional ways to draw students. Recruiting for the industrial welding program has been a challenge, especially since high schools keep discontinuing these programs because of their high cost. Making matters worse is the public's lack of understanding about what welders do and what career opportunities are available in this field,...
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April
2007
Our rural county is defined by poverty. Fifty years ago Del Norte County, California, was awash in timber money and fishing money, but the big timber is gone and the coastal waters are fished out. One sad consequence of jobs that require little education is that machines can replace the people who used to do the hard work, and that has happened here. We have found ourselves with an unfortunate confluence involving a community that has traditionally put a low premium on education, industries that have outgrown their labor force, and a region that is so stunningly beautiful that people would...
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March
2007
Most community colleges attract their students locally. But Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, Florida, has one program so unique and prestigious, it draws 50 percent of its students from out of state. In fact, students have come from as far away as Switzerland and Japan. This program has a 12- to 18-month waiting list and requires 1,800 hours of physical labor. Students will get nipped and scratched, dig ditches, trim trails, and sweat through a five-month, 90-degrees-plus Florida summer. And they won't care, because they'll be doing what they love.
Santa Fe's Zoo Animal Technology...
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February
2007
Pizza and cake are normal daily fare in the Foster Corporation's lunchroom. The pizza may be edible, but the cake is part of a work of art, Let Them Eat Cake, by 2006 Quinebaug Valley Community College graduate Jennifer Kuszaj of Danielson, Connecticut. Foster Corporation is a full-service material solutions company serving medical device, pharmaceutical delivery, and biotechnology companies with extremely precise polymer technologies.
Kuszaj was one of the art students at QVCC who was selected to display art work by the Dayville, Connecticut, manufacturer over a six-month period beginning in...
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January
2007
On a Mission
Where can inexperienced and aspiring authors explore the business of publishing, chat with editors of small presses, learn the grassroots steps of publication, and obtain advice from successful authors? For several years in the Texas Gulf Coast region, that place was the Texas Writers and Publishers Festival, presented annually at the Walden Yacht Club by the Montgomery County Literary Arts Council. Founded in 1995 by community leaders and citizens enthusiastic about the written word, the council presented the conference along with a yearly reading series and worked hard to, as...
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