In this age of accountability and limited funding, community colleges are achieving more with less. Efficiency and effectiveness are keys to innovation. NorthWest Arkansas Community College's Nonacademic Assessment and Improvement Program (NAIP) collects data to study strengths and weaknesses. These efforts culminate in a measurable improvement…

Portal: Your Door to World Languages and Cultures was a series of public cultural events, in a variety of formats, created through a new partnership between the credit and continuing education (noncredit) foreign language programs at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC). Portal was designed to cultivate interest in foreign languages…

Documenting student outcomes is a priority for higher education institutions. Federally-mandated graduation rates are often used as the sole measure of student success. However, this measure fails to document outcomes for students with multiple educational objectives and career paths. Driven by this challenge, the City Colleges of Chicago…

West Virginia University at Parkersburg uses a two-way emergency system as a baseline for emergency communications. The college has found that such a system, a key component of its safety and crisis management plan, can be integrated with other communication initiatives to provide focused security on the campus.

Maui's unique geographic location, culture, economy, and ecology provide a year-round sustainable living laboratory for the development of sustainable solutions to local and global challenges. Maui Community College's mission, goals, and actions are guided by the Native Hawaiian reverence for the ahupuaa, the traditional land management practice…

Step UP addresses retention of high-risk students through tapping into Howard Community College's finest qualities. The program encourages employees from all constituencies to engage and connect with students in a unique and personal way by implementing life coaching skills.

No other Florida community college has successfully developed and launched nine baccalaureate degree programs at one time. Indian River State College accomplished this goal--and gained Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) Level II accreditation--in 12 months by establishing a college-wide Baccalaureate Transition Team within a…

The New Jersey Coastal Communiversity, led by Brookdale Community College, is a partnership of colleges and universities that provides local access to postassociate degree education. In operation for six years, the partnership exemplifies the strength of a collaborative model of higher education institutions to address statewide needs. Alan…

The Partnership on Work Enrichment and Readiness (POWER's) unique and innovative curriculum recruits and sustains nontraditional students interested in preparing for employment or continued studies in an institution of higher education. The program specifically targets persons in mental health recovery. Students attend college during a regular…

Bergen Community College (BCC) created an institutional focus that allows faculty, staff, students, and administrators to join forces in understanding the suburban sense of place that defines the communities it serves. Bridging the various college departments enables BCC to connect local issues to regional, national, and international matters…

The Centers of Excellence (COE) provide regional workforce data on high growth, high demand industries and occupations for use by community colleges in program planning and resource enhancement. This article discusses the environmental scanning research methodology and its application to data-driven decision making in community college program…

The Indiana Center for the Life Sciences, an award-winning partnership between education, government, and the private sector, houses state-of-the-art science labs, classrooms, and industry training space for community college students and local employers. This innovative partnership prepares both the current and future workforce for careers in the…

Community colleges lose millions of dollars in potential revenue due to lackluster retention and graduation rates. It is time for change! Bergen Community College (BCC) has made a unique commitment to concentrate solely on this issue. Learn how the establishment of the Department of Retention Services, with its cutting edge initiatives, is…

This article will focus on the foundations and significance of webcasting as a learning and communication modality, as well as describe the way that it has been used to capture and disseminate emergent knowledge within the community college.

Through innovative teaching and technology, industry and educational institution partnerships, Cloud County Community College is preparing a qualified workforce for the emerging wind industry estimated to create 80,000 jobs by 2020. The curriculum blends on-campus, on-line and distance learning, land-lab, and field training opportunities for…