Innovations Library

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Community Colleges and Workforce Investment: A Necessary Partnership
Senator Tom Harkin November 2003
Volume: 16 Issue: 11
Count all 422
In a recent report published by the Aspen Institute titled "Grow Faster Together. Or Grow Slowly Apart. How Will America Work in the 21st Century?" the United States is given a dramatic wake-up call about a major crisis of the American workforce. This crisis arises from a worker gap, a skills gap, and a wage gap that, if not properly addressed, will threaten U.S. competitiveness and indeed our very way of life.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Bridging Generations: A "€œCommunity"€ College Imperative
Jeffrey A. Cantor October 2003
Volume: 16 Issue: 10
Count all 422
The American public's average age has been increasing steadily over the past few decades. Our citizens' productive years have also increased as a result of advances in health sciences and in the nature of the workplace. Today, we find that the mature worker (i.e., 60 or older) is a tremendous resource to the typical workplace, in technical skills and information, as well as a role model to the younger worker. In addition to serving directly in the workforce, many mature citizens want to stay active after retirement and to contribute to their community in meaningful ways.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
A Learning-Centered Ph. D. for Community College Leaders
Terry O'Banion, Jonathan Kaplan September 2003
Volume: 16 Issue: 9
Count all 422
Two major waves of historic proportion are engulfing community colleges, and the future of the community college will be determined, in great part, by the action or inaction leaders take to address this situation. On the one hand, in the words of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), there is a leadership crisis, a challenge that needs immediate attention. On the other hand, there is an emerging commitment to learning-centered education, an approach that has captured the attention of hundreds of community colleges across the United States and Canada.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
The Learning College and Institutional Survival
Robert A. Gordon August 2003
Volume: 16 Issue: 8
Count all 433
Environment ScanIn 1965, the Government of Ontario passed legislation to create the colleges of Applied Arts and Technology as a natural response to meeting escalating human resource requirements for the post-World-War-II period. The mandate called for the provision of a steady flow of graduates to feed the midlevel infrastructure of the emerging post-industrial, computerized economy – essentially, to increase skill levels beyond those possessed by graduates of high schools.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Homeland Security and the Community College: A Vibrant Present and Vital Future
R. Thomas Flynn, Mark David Milliron, Gerardo E. de los Santos, Cindy L. Miles July 2003
Volume: 16 Issue: 7
Count all 421
September 11 brought the issue of Homeland Security painfully to the forefront. The images of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the rural field in Pennsylvania made us pause and ask hard questions about how ready we are as a nation to prevent and respond to major Homeland Security threats. Moreover, the images of the firefighters, EMTs, police officers, and the host of other first responders brought into clear relief the heroic sacrifice that millions of Americans make each day in service to our national community.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Weathering the Storm: Positive Reactions to Negative Budgets
Tony Zeiss, Becky Paneitz June 2003
Volume: 16 Issue: 6
Count all 431
Economic downturns have decreased budgets within community colleges to unprecedented levels. Not only are public revenues down significantly, but enrollments are up, and competition from the private sector is increasing. Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) has 70,000 students, six campuses, and not enough public money to support them properly. In reviewing the revenue stream, the administration at CPCC knew that something had to change. In order to survive, the college became more market sensitive, more efficient, more customer focused, and more entrepreneurial.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
E-Knowledge Comes to Campus
Donald Norris, Jon Mason, Paul Lefrere May 2003
Volume: 16 Issue: 5
Count all 392
Web-enabled infrastructures and practices are creating turbulent disruptions for virtually every institution and enterprise. Strategic responses to these disruptions are progressively leading to new best practices, business models, and strategies in a variety of domains. The acquisition, assimilation, and sharing of knowledge is one such domain that is truly experiencing a revolution.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Self-Advocacy in an Uncertain Age
Kweisi Mfume April 2003
Volume: 16 Issue: 4
Count all 433
On March 19, NAACP President and CEO Kweisi Mfume gave a keynote address to delegates at the Innovations 2003 conference in Phoenix. The following extended Leadership Abstracts article is a complete text of his remarks.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Organizational Readiness: Middle Age and the Middle Way
Cindy Miles March 2003
Volume: 16 Issue: 3
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A classic view of organizational readiness suggests environmental scanning, strategic planning, and staff development as tonics against the current contagion of change. The unprecedented convergence of issues confronting today's colleges, however, presents a nonlinear world of change that calls for nontraditional approaches.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Technology in Tough Times
John O'Brien February 2003
Volume: 16 Issue: 2
Count all 422
You would think things couldn't get any worse--and then they just do. The weak economy and a host of other factors have left most colleges facing certain cuts. The National Association of State Budget Officers observes that 37 states reduced their Fiscal Year 2003 budgets by $12.6 billion, more states and more money cut than in any given prior year.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Integrating Instructional Technology Across the Campus
Catherine Ayers, Bill Doherty January 2003
Volume: 16 Issue: 1
Count all 427
Over the last decade, community colleges have spent millions of dollars implementing information technology in the campus environment. Much of this money has focused on improving the computing infrastructure of the campus to better support all aspects of the campus operation. However, a large portion of the expenditure has supported the introduction and use of new technology in the classroom. In part, this has been done because the students who are being served by the colleges demand such technology and their future employers demand technology-literate employees.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Students' Perspectives on Juggling Work, Family, and College
Lisa Matus-Grossman, Susan Gooden December 2002
Volume: 15 Issue: 12
Count all 424
An important public policy challenge of the 21st century is how to increase opportunities for career mobility and wage progression among low-wage workers. Community colleges have the potential to play an important role in addressing this challenge, since receiving an associate's degree or vocational certificate is related to higher earnings.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
A View from the Outside In: Community Colleges as Entrepreneurial Community Learning Centers
Zane Tarence November 2002
Volume: 15 Issue: 11
Count all 420
Community colleges are seeking ways to increase revenue and become less dependent on traditional state revenue sources. Increasingly, college presidents and trustees are finding empty pockets and depleted state coffers, despite the effort and hours spent lobbying legislatures for funding to support three- to five-year strategic plans. With no clear path to funding, essential academic facilities, staffing, technology, and other strategic projects are being put on hold. This reduction in resources occurs at the exact time when community college enrollments are increasing at a dramatic rate.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Leadership by Culture Management
Christine McPhail October 2002
Volume: 15 Issue: 10
Count all 422
In times past, good academic preparation, basic people skills, and a fair amount of good luck enabled leaders to be effective at their institutions. In today's challenging times, however, leaders also need the ability to understand and manage the culture of the institution. This culture consists of the myths, rituals, stories, rites, and language through which human meanings and values are transmitted from one generation of an organization to another.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Leading the Way to Connect Community to the College
Charles J. Carlsen September 2002
Volume: 15 Issue: 9
Count all 425
Recent reading on a futurist listserve on the Web reveals, "[E]mployers are increasingly frustrated by workers' deficiencies in fundamental reading, writing, and math skills. The labor shortage is complicated by the difficulty in finding people who are qualified to work--or at least trainable. Insufficient basic education makes training considerably more challenging." Lifelong learning is no longer a choice for people in the 21st century. It's a necessity.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations

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