In "After 40 Years, Has the Grand Experiment Failed?" Trum Simmons answers the question he poses in the essay's title by describing a community college teaching career that many "Teaching English in the Two-Year College" (TETYC) readers will find familiar: the diversity of community college students; student success and failure; conflicted…

When Sean Murphy designed the Graduate Student Internship Program at the College of Lake County (CLC), his 2001 TETYC article about the then two-year-old program detailed his programmatic response to the job market. Ten years later, the CLC-DePaul University partnership remains the strongest of the original dozen cross-sector relationships CLC…

Dr. Richard Sagor is the Educational Leadership Program Director and a professor in the Department of Education at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Howard Tinberg is a professor of English at Bristol Community College in Fall River, Massachusetts, where he is also director of the Writing Lab. He is the editor of the journal "Teaching…

In the early 1990s, a small group of dedicated two-year college English faculty, led by Helon Raines, began the fight for the Two-Year College English Association (TYCA), a professional organization that would give two-year college English faculty across the nation a respected identity and voice within the National Council of Teachers of English…

Two-year colleges have long struggled with questions of status and identity. For most of the twentieth century, two-year college faculty were heir to many of the same issues of status and identity that plagued their institutions. Because the majority of two-year colleges were under the control of local secondary-school districts--and faculty and…

This article opens with statements excerpted from reports written by the MLA Committee on Community Colleges. These statements present an accurate description of the work of community college faculty: teaching (face-to-face and online), and a commitment to student learning form the basis of the community college mission. Faculty are recognized…

Although it took longer than anyone anticipated, five years after the Two-Year College English Association (TYCA) was first proposed at the 1992 meeting in Hinds, Mississippi, two-year college English faculty around the nation finally had a professional organization of their own, and, with it, the beginning of a national identity. This article…

Faculty at two-year colleges have found their professional identities shaped by conflicting perceptions. Because the community college culture has traditionally emphasized the role of faculty member as teacher and devalued the role of faculty member as scholar, it is not uncommon for faculty who spend their careers teaching in a two-year college…

In this latest in a series of commentaries from former chairs of the national Two-Year College English Association (TYCA), the author, TYCA chair (2004-2006) and the 2009 winner of the Nell Ann Pickett Service Award, shares her views on becoming involved in local, regional, and national professional activities. Her time in national leadership gave…

Instructional practices in mathematics courses at two-year colleges include lecture as the predominant instructional form in 78% of two-year colleges, with class sizes averaging about 26 students (AACC, 2005). The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) indicates that there is a need for change in the practices of mathematics teachers…

In an earlier report, ("Physics Enrollments in Two-Year Colleges," ED547610), Susan White and Raymond Chu examined physics enrollments--both the number of students and the types of classes taught--at the 1,063 two-year college campuses in the US where they believe physics is offered. This "Focus On" considers the faculty…

According to the author, the Association for Business Communication (ABC), the premiere professional organization for those who teach business communication, has long neglected and marginalized those who teach at two-year colleges, as has the discipline of business communications as a whole. The best method to determine how ABC could better meet…

Presents interviews of faculty from around the country to review and evaluate the teaching of English in two-year colleges during their careers. Considers personal changes and experiences over the last 25 years and looks at the next 25 years. Discusses change and the need for flexibility in the profession. (SC)

As a growing number of international students discover two-year institutions as the possible gateway to U.S. higher education, it is important to have a better understanding of who these students are, what attracts them to two-year colleges, and how they engage with the campus community. To address these questions, the study used the data from the…

This article examines, in a variety of ways, the concept of identity and presents reports and views from regional representatives of the Two-Year College English Association on the issue of identity in the classroom. Reporting from TYCA-Northeast, Marsha Nourse echoes some dismay as she relates chance meetings with students. Elissa Caruth from…