Community College Faculty Competencies

Much has been written about the characteristics of effective college teachers. However, skill sets have not yet been defined with any level of specificity. Also, instructors at community colleges have unique working conditions and challenges that influence how they teach. This paper illustrates the use of three studies conducted to build and validate a framework for defining the competencies of effective community college faculty. The project's culmination was a set of skills used to redesign one university's master's in education (MAEd) program in two-year college teaching. Although participants in all three studies identified subject matter expertise as an important competency, they emphasized several other skill sets as being important for meaningful student learning. Those skills are related to the use of authentic activities and multiple instructional delivery models, multiple ways of assessing student learning, and skills that are necessary outside the classroom in their teaching roles. Participants also emphasized interpersonal and affective components of effective teaching.     

Anatomy of a Community College Faculty Diversity Program

Diversifying the faculty in community colleges, especially with faculty of color, continues to be problematic as we move through the first decade of the 21st Century. National statistics show that overwhelmingly the faculty continues to be Caucasian, even at a time when more and more students are coming from diverse ethnic backgrounds. This seemingly intractable problem is particularly acute in California, where the majority of community college students are students of color, but not the faculty. A faculty diversity program that has been in existence for 17 years has made important progress in changing the situation in southern California. This comprehensive program recruits, trains, and places interns in 10 community colleges in cooperation with a regional university. The results of the program demonstrate that substantial numbers of faculty of color are being prepared by the program and that they are getting hired in community colleges as adjunct and full-time faculty. Community colleges can be and should be proactive in identifying, developing, and hiring faculty of color. They shouldn't wait for other societal institutions to do the job for them. By working cooperatively with other local colleges, community based organizations that involve communities of color, and nearby universities, they have the opportunity to make significant inroads into diversifying their faculty. This program can and should be replicated in other parts of the country as a way to nurture the next generation of community college faculty leaders.     

Technology Usage Among Community College Faculty

Community colleges are increasing their use of part-time faculty who are taking a leading role in utilizing technology for instructional purposes. Part-time faculty are less likely than their full-time counterparts to use technology for instructional purposes and are less likely to teach non-face-to-face classes. For community colleges to be successful in expanding technology-based education, they must promote technology use by all faculty. This quantitative, national study reports factors found to predict faculty use of technology for instructional purposes.     

Effects of Exposure to Part-time Faculty on Community College Transfer

Over the past several decades, one of the most significant changes in the delivery of postsecondary education involves the dramatic increase in the use of contingent or part-time faculty. Although the increased use of part-time faculty within higher education makes sense from an administrative point of view, its use does not come without criticism. With community colleges representing a more convenient, affordable, and flexible educational option for a number of students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, examining how exposure to part-time faculty relates to students’ academic goals represents an important area of inquiry. This study draws from social and human capital frameworks and uses hierarchical generalized linear modeling (HGLM) to examine how exposure to part-time faculty relates to community college students’ likelihood of transferring to a four-year college or university. Findings suggest that students tend to be significantly less likely to transfer as their exposure to part-time faculty increases.     

Hiring and Developing Quality Community College Faculty

There is a likely community college teacher shortage on the horizon. Thus, community colleges not only need to focus on hiring quality instructors who emphasize teaching excellence, but institutions need to invest time and resources developing quality faculty plans to address faculty needs and provide adequate faculty development programs. When Iowa's community college licensure law was repealed in 2003, 15 area community colleges were left with the task of developing their own quality faculty plans. The Quality Faculty Plan design and one-year implementation is assessed.     

Part-Time Faculty and Community College Student Success

With the Completion Agenda taking such political prominence, community colleges are experiencing even more pressure to find ways to promote and improve student success. One way that has been suggested is to limit the reliance on part-time faculty under the premise that the employment status of faculty has a direct influence on student success. The tacit assumption is that full-time faculty are more engaged with their home institution, and this engagement translates into the engagement of the students taught. The present study examined employment status of faculty on the success of students enrolled in four, two-course sequences. Using Pearson chi-square and binary logistic regression analyses, it was concluded that employment status of the faculty has no statistical influence on student success as has been previously claimed. These results suggest that community colleges should not assume that hiring more full-time faculty will improve student success and, instead, should possibly consider utilizing funds otherwise allocated to hiring new full-time faculty on the development and compensation of part-time faculty.     

Developmental Needs of Community College Adjunct Faculty

Abstract

This survey was a result of the efforts of the New Jersey Consortium on the Community College to identify and articulate the faculty/staff development needs of the 17 community colleges of New Jersey.

In depth interviews were conducted with administrators, faculty and students at all the colleges. Follow up questionnaires were completed at each community college. A two day workshop was then conducted to identify and assign priorities to specific needs. The needs were ordered in one of three categories: Fulfilling the Goals of the Community College, Teaching/Learning Needs, and Managerial Needs.

The workshop that dealt with “Ways of Meeting Part-Time Faculty Needs” identified eight essential goal related needs while stressing the need for adjunct faculty to understand the philosophy and function of the community college. Within the teaching/learning category the workshop group amplified the need for adjunct faculty to understand how learning occurs. The primary managerial need identified was for each community college to develop strong teaching/learning support systems. The workshop participants viewed the establishment of a continuous program of adjunct supervision as essential for the support of effective instruction.     

Unionization and Perceived Control Among Community College Faculty

The research reported in this paper examined what role working in a union or nonunion college has in influencing faculty perceptions of control over their work. Using data from the 1993, 1999, and 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty, this study explored the relative importance of variables in influencing perceived control among full-time teaching faculty in unionized and nonunionized community colleges. Union status was not found to be predictive of perceived control.     

Community College Faculty Development Program and Student Achievement

Community college administrators look for strategies to help students. GRASP (Gaining Retention and Achievement for Students Program) is a semester-long faculty development program that coaches community college instructors about simple, effective teaching strategies that promote student academic achievement. GRASP is founded on the belief that academic achievement is based on good teaching, which begins with faculty development. The major assumption for GRASP is that faculty are the single most important factor for student success. GRASP was offered at Doña Ana Community College (DACC). Located in Las Cruces, New Mexico, just 40 miles from the border of Mexico, DACC has a student population that is 70% minority. Results for GRASP indicate that overall student success improved by 7.9%, and that overall student retention improved by 4.0% for students participating in GRASP.     

Exploring Community College Faculty Perceptions of Student Outcomes: Findings of a Pilot Study

This study explored the paradigmatic differences in perceptions of community college faculty employed at select Virginia and West Virginia community colleges collected via a web-based survey. The study is framed within the faculty self-classification along the “hard” and “social/behavior” science paradigm continuum. Given the paradigmatic continuum, faculty perceptions' of student outcomes were examined. Faculty respondents consistently reported the importance of intellectual growth; however, differences in relative importance of outcomes tied to emotional, cultural, and social growth exist. The potential implications of these perceptions on student experiences and outcomes are considered.     

Not Your Child's Playground: Workplace Bullying Among Community College Faculty

Community colleges have provided an entree into higher education for many women. Yet, women faculty perceive the overall climate of community colleges as “chilly.” To deconstruct the interpersonal dynamics that may lead to perceptions of a chilly climate, this study examines the prevalence of workplace bullying among and between community college faulty. The purpose is to understand the nature of harassment, the ways in which women define and respond to it, and the importance of contextual factors in the prevalence. Workplace bullying is a form of interpersonal aggression that has implications for how individuals perceive the organizational climate, job productivity, and job satisfaction. Findings from this study indicate that workplace bullying among faculty includes many subtle practices characterized by informal and formal use of power, faculty workplace bullying is affected by several enabling structures specific to the context, and victims typically respond with avoidance. This study has implications for harassment policies, faculty involvement in institutional governance, and the gendered nature of interpersonal dynamics.     

Faculty perspectives and practice in an Urban Community College

This article explores faculty perspectives and practice at one Urban Community College in the United States. Data were gathered as part of a larger ethnography on the culture which lower class black students produce in an urban institution. My goal here is to describe elements of faculty culture, explore reasons why faculty culture takes the shape and form that it does, and discuss the ways in which this culture may be linked to institutional outcomes. In so doing. I offer a framework through which the structural genesis of faculty-student conflict and the relationship between faculty culture and institutional outcomes may be viewed.     

Balancing Open Access with Academic Standards: Implications for Community College Faculty

Community colleges act as the gateway for students to higher education. Many of these colleges realize this mission through open-door policies where students lacking in basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills can enroll. But, this open-access policy often creates challenges when meeting academic standards. Based on data collected from selected community colleges in the United States, this article examines the balancing of open access with academic standards. The article reviews open-door admission policies, describes methods used to maintain academic standards, and it balances this with open admission and implications for community college faculty.     

美国社区学院兼职教师聘任制度述评

美国社区学院兼职教师的来源非常广泛,包括社会各科专家、大学校长、教授和一些自由职业者。大量聘用这些人员可以为学院节约成本,增强学院的灵活性,使得学院与社会保持紧密联系。但过多使用兼职教师也会给学院带来一些负面影响,比如由于兼职教师年龄结构的不合理性,导致整体师资队伍质量下降,教师科研水平降低,尤其是对课堂教学效果产生的影响最大。通过介绍美国社区学院兼职教师的聘任制度,分析其优势和不足,希冀提出一些对我国高职院校兼职教师的聘任工作的启示。     

从美国社区学院的人力资源提升看中国社区学院的发展趋势

对美国社区学院的发展考察可知：社区学院具有的全面辐射功能、灵活多变的教育方式和富有成效的培训效果,极大地满足了市场对于人力资源的需求.影响中国社区学院发展和完善的关键因素是：尚未建立与市场机制相适应的人力资源培养机制.只有解决社区学院与市场机制有效融合的“瓶颈”,中国未来的社区学院才能发挥建立人力资源大国的全部潜能.     

The Status of Women and Minorities Among Community College Faculty

This article uses data from the 1993 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty to examine the status of women and minorities among faculty employed at public 2-year colleges nationwide. A variety of outcomes are considered including: employment status, salary, rank, and tenure status. The analyses show that human capital, structural, and market characteristics appear to explain the observed differences in the employment experiences of women and men faculty at public 2-year colleges and some, but not all, of the observed racial/ethnic group differences. When compared with the results of other research, this study suggests fundamental differences in the reward structures for faculty at public 2- and 4-year institutions. Implications of the analyses are discussed.