In The Know With Acct

Since 2015, over 25 community colleges throughout the United States have been offering college programs in prisons funded by the Department of Education’s Second Chance Pell Grant experiment. Part of ACCT’s congressional advocacy has been to support a repeal of the ban on using federal financial aid in prisons. This episode, recorded live during the 50th Annual ACCT Leadership Congress, explains how trustees can help to bring their colleges' educational resources to area prisons. The episode features colleges that have been offering college in prison programs and campus reentry services. You will also hear from two students whose participation in college in prison transformed their lives. Panelists include: Moderator: Brian Walsh, Senior Program Associate, Vera Institute of Justice, NY Norma Cumpian, Student, Chaffey Community College, CA Steve Grabowski, Trustee, Metropolitan Community College, NE Robert Ryan, Trustee, Tacoma Community College, WA Genaro Sanchez, Student, Skagit Valley College, WA A

The leadership at Amarillo Colleges in Texas wants nothing more than for its students to succeed. And they knew that in order to empower every student to make the most of their potential, they need to understand every student. But how? The college has operated in its community for 90 years, and the makeup of the community and the needs of students have changed dramatically over time. In this episode, Amarillo Colleges Regent Jay Barrett and President Russell Lowery-Hart profile the college's most significant student, Maria, and explain how getting to know her has transformed the institution.  Maria is a “the typical student at Amarillo College. She’s...female. She’s first-generation; 71 percent of our students are first generation. She goes to school part time; 60 percent of our students go to class 12 (credit) hours a year. She’s working two part-time jobs. She’s the mother of at least 1.2 kids, and she’s 28 years old," according to Lowery-Hart. She is highly intelligent and tenacious—but she won't reach h

The leadership at Amarillo Colleges in Texas wants nothing more than for its students to succeed. And they knew that in order to empower every student to make the most of their potential, they need to understand every student. But how? The college has operated in its community for 90 years, and the makeup of the community and the needs of students have changed dramatically over time. In this episode, Amarillo Colleges Regent Jay Barrett and President Russell Lowery-Hart profile the college's most significant student, Maria, and explain how getting to know her has transformed the institution.  Maria is a “the typical student at Amarillo College. She’s...female. She’s first-generation; 71 percent of our students are first generation. She goes to school part time; 60 percent of our students go to class 12 (credit) hours a year. She’s working two part-time jobs. She’s the mother of at least 1.2 kids, and she’s 28 years old," according to Lowery-Hart. She is highly intelligent and tenacious—but she won't reach h

On this episode In The Know, ACCT Director of Strategic Communications David Conner and Educational Events Director Christina Simons talked with Dr. Kim Dale, the incoming president at Western Wyoming Community College, and Dr. Karla Leech, the outgoing president. They discuss how they have worked together to avail Dale of Leech's extensive experience and her relationships throughout Wyoming, while handing the college reins to Dale so that she can run the college in her own way. Their mutual respect is evident throughout the conversation, and it sets an example for an ideal presidential transition. This episode was recorded in August 2019 during the Governance Leadership Institute (GLI) for New Trustees. Check out our events page for more information about the GLI and other events.

On today’s episode, ACCT Associate Writer Jacob Bray spoke with Director of Government Relations Jennifer Stiddard about what's at stake for community colleges in the coming year. In addition to an overview of the 2020 Community College National Legislative Summit, Jennifer discusses the legislative priorities that all community college leaders and advocates should be aware of during the next legislative session. A lot is changing next year with a presidential election, along with house and senate elections. It will be important to make sure your voice is heard in the higher education conversation. To register for the National Legislative Summit visit NLS.ACCT.org. For more information, you can email Jennifer at jstiddard@acct.org.

For this episode of In The Know, we pulled together a panel of trustees and faculty from across the country to discuss the advantages of open educational resources, commonly referred to as O.E.R. Each of the three institutions represented, Pima Community College, Harper College, and South Florida State College, are at different stages in their adoption of OER, and everyone had valuable knowledge and experience to share. Towards the end of the episode, our panelists shared a few resources they thought would be helpful. They are linked below.  Rice University OpenStax OER Commons Consortium for Community Colleges for OER

The United States has a unique, ever-changing culture made up of people who migrate from throughout the rest of the world. Committed to open educational access, diversity and inclusiveness, community colleges have a special and vital role in guaranteeing a high-quality education to everyone in the country. Paying attention to demographic changes today and knowing what to expect tomorrow are imperatives for community college leaders. In this episode of In the Know with ACCT, Pew Research Center Director of Global Migration and Demography Mark Hugo Lopez addresses the changing demographics of people within the United States. Topics discussed include: What are diversity, equity and inclusion from a research perspective? How are these principles embraced today compared with how they were seen decades ago? How does the American perception of diversity, equity and inclusion compare with that of other parts of the world? How does the political partisanship seen in the media compare with research-based understa

Trustees are busy people who volunteer their time to govern community colleges through board and committee meetings. Are retreats really worthwhile? If they're done right, one trustee says, they can be indispensable.  In this episode of In The Know, ACCT Board Member and Northern Virginia Community College Trustee Rosie O'Neil speak with ACCT Director of Strategic Communications David Conner and Director of Retreat and Evaluation Services Colleen Allen about how retreats at her college and at ACCT have enabled her to grow as a trustee and have enabled the board to set clear strategic visions, monitor those visions and follow them through to completion.  For more information about ACCT's board services, visit our website. 

On this episode of In The Know we interviewed Jeff Advokat, Trustee at the County College of Morris in New Jersey. Jeff was in town for the most recent Governance Leadership Institute, so we talked with him about community college board ethics. He’s been an attorney for nearly four decades and had a lot of good advice regarding ethical dilemmas trustees might encounter. If you like this episode, check out the other episode we recorded with Jeff about what new trustees should know before getting started. It’s titled “Attention New Trustees, This Episode is for you.” Remember to subscribe so you’re notified when we release new episodes. Thanks for listening, we’ll see you next week.

This episode featuring Michelle Weise was recorded at the 50th Annual ACCT Leadership Congress in October. Michelle is Strada Education Network's Senior Vice President of Workforce Strategies and serves as Chief Innovation Officer for the Strada Institute Future of Work, which is dedicated to advancing understanding of the future of work to build the learning ecosystem of the future.  Michelle's research focuses on the future of the workforce and how to connect student learners more directly to meaningful employment pathways through their working lives.  For more information on what Michelle spoke about, check out the book she co-authored with Clayton Christensen titled Hire Education: Mastery, Modularization, and the Workforce Revolution.

Rosaelena "Rosie" O'Neil is a trustee at Northern Virginia Community College and a member of the ACCT Board of Directors, with over 20 years of experience in education advocacy and leadership development. In this episode, Rosie talks to ACCT about what she wishes she had known when she became a new trustee. In addition to her trusteeship, Rosie serves as deputy director and program counselor in the Landegger Program in International Business Diplomacy in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

How familiar are most new community college trustees with their roles and responsibilities? Not very, according to Jeffrey M. Advokat, Esq., a long-serving trustee from County College of Morris in New Jersey. That's OK—and actually, according to Advokat, new trustees' relative naivety can be a great asset to any board. In this must-listen episode for new community college trustees, Advokat discusses "tips of the trade" for new trustees with ACCT's Jacob Bray and David Conner.  Questions addressed in this episode include: What does a new trustee need to know? When should a new trustee speak up, and when might it be better to listen? How can mentoring relationships help a new trustee to gain a greater understanding of the college and its board? How can a new trustee's relative lack of knowledge be an asset to a board? What should a new trustee understand about the role of the chair versus other board members' roles? What should a new trustee understand about issues such as communications, ethics and how

In this episode, CampusWorks CEO and Board Chair Liz Murphy discusses what community college boards need to know about strategic planning. Liz Murphy joined CampusWorks in 2011, bringing with her 22 years of experience at Datatel (now Ellucian), where she most recently served as the chief client officer. Liz is the immediate past president of the Alliance for Innovation & Transformation (AFIT) and a board member of both Community College Business Officers (CCBO) and Quality Matters.  CampusWorks partners with institutions of all shapes and sizes—from single campus colleges and universities with small enrollments to multi-school systems—to improve operations, reduce costs, and position students for success. The ACCT Corporate Council member company provides a structured approach to make meaningful change minimizing disruptions to your operations. Whether reimagining and redesigning broken business processes, bridging a leadership gap, or providing IT transformation services so your staff can focus on init

In this episode, ACCT's Allison Beer and Jacob Bray discuss ACCT's new report, The College-Work Balancing Act. Nearly 70% of community college students work while enrolled. Listen to learn how this complicates their students' lives and ways colleges can help. Read the report at ACCT.org.

Ayman Mendoza is a recent graduate of the University of California, Irvine, who transferred to the university from a community college. He completed a summer internship in Washington, D.C., and while he was here, he told us that "choosing community college was the best academic decision I ever made."  In this podcast, the "public Ivy" grad explains why he feels it's time to stop stigmatizing community colleges and their students, and to recognize the value and high quality of community college educations.   

To round out our National Campus Safety Awareness Month series, United Educators Risk Management Consultant Justin Kollinger spoke with us about what community college trustees need to do to safeguard their campuses against potential liabilities and safety concerns, including: Preventing and addressing harassment and abuse on campus; How to avoid the common campus culture of believing that some individuals are beyond reproach; Commonly overlooked threats to public safety and well being on campuses, such as poorly maintained infrastructure; And much more.  This is the second part of a two-part episode.   Additional Resources from United Educators  Safeguarding Our Communities from Sexual Predators: What College Presidents and Trustees Should Ask – Sexual abuse prevention starts at the top by setting a culture of inquiry and protection for reporters. This document can help trustees and their presidents question whether the institution is adequately protecting minors on campus. Reputational Risk Toolk

"There's a really big difference between having two victims and having 20 victims. And when I talk about reducing the impact, it's about having reporting mechanisms in place." To round out our National Campus Safety Awareness Month series, United Educators Risk Management Consultant Justin Kollinger spoke with us about what community college trustees need to do to safeguard their campuses against potential liabilities and safety concerns, including: Preventing and addressing harassment and abuse on campus; How to avoid the common campus culture of believing that some individuals are beyond reproach; Commonly overlooked threats to public safety and well being on campuses, such as poorly maintained infrastructure; And much more. This is part one of a special two-part episode.  Additional Resources from United Educators   Safeguarding Our Communities from Sexual Predators: What College Presidents and Trustees Should Ask – Sexual abuse prevention starts at the top by setting a culture of inquiry and pro

This is the second half of our discussion with National Center for Campus Public Safety Director Kim Richmond. Richmond discusses what trustees and other community college leaders need to know about issues ranging from sexual assault to firearms on campus, the Clery Act, Title IX, emergency management and other issues. Richmond walks us through these concerns, explains how to prioritize public safety concerns, how to prepare for on-campus crises, and she directs listeners to additional free resources, including webinars and publications.  The National Center for Campus Public Safety was created by Congress and funded through the United States Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance to serve as a national clearinghouse for campus safety and security-related best practices and other resources on issues that include: Active shooters Active thread Alcohol and substance abuse Behavioral threat assessment Bicycle and pedestrian safety Binge drinking Bullying and cyberbullying Campus carry Campu

In this episode, National Center for Campus Public Safety Director Kim Richmond discusses what trustees and other community college leaders need to know about issues ranging from sexual assault to firearms on campus, the Clery Act, Title IX, emergency management and other issues. Richmond walks us through these concerns, explains how to prioritize public safety concerns, how to prepare for on-campus crises, and she directs listeners to additional free resources, including webinars and publications.  The National Center for Campus Public Safety was created by Congress and funded through the United States Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance to serve as a national clearinghouse for campus safety and security-related best practices and other resources on issues that include: Active shooters Active thread Alcohol and substance abuse Behavioral threat assessment Bicycle and pedestrian safety Binge drinking Bullying and cyberbullying Campus carry Campus violence Clery Act Community policin

For this episode, we interviewed Doug Houston, the Chancellor of the Yuba Community College District in California. We talked to Doug about how last year’s wildfires impacted community colleges in his area. This episode is part of a series we curated for September, National Campus Safety Awareness Month.