Way back in 2008, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) published an interesting book called The Creative Community College: Leading Change Through Innovation. Edited by John E. Roueche, M. Melissa Richardson, Phillip W. Neal and Suanne D. Roueche, the book contains profiles of fourteen community colleges that had grown, changed and made significant improvements.…
Category: Deanspeak
Posts about the wide realm of higher education from a deanly perspective
Does Reading a Good Book Make You Better? Learning From Librarians
James LaRue, librarian and head of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, gave a short talk at Dominican University recently (the 22nd Annual McCcusker Memorial Lecture). I attended – and as a non-librarian, I was informed and encouraged by the important work that public libraries are doing to secure and strengthen public space…
Numbers Can’t Tell The Whole Story
We’ve all seen a lot about student debt of late: the massive numbers, and the challenges that students and their families face. It’s on television, the web, traditional media and in our collective zeitgeist. Student debt is everywhere – and it is poorly understood. A recent book does a fantastic job shining a light on…
The Great Mistake?
Sometimes things don’t work out because they are difficult or complicated. Sometimes they fail because of error or mistakes. And sometimes they don’t succeed because there isn’t interest or support. Christopher Newfield is a professor of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a leading scholar of universities. He oversees a really interesting…
Janesville: Tragedy of a Different Sort
Classic tragedy follows a set structure: a hero advances and is then brought to ruin through a tragic flaw. For those of us in the audience, we witness, we engage, and we learn. But when it comes to an economic tragedy, with its heartache, sorrow, and all manner of challenges and conflict, the rules of…
The Limits of Re-imagining the University
Robert J. Sternberg is a well-known, much-honored and well-publicized psychology professor who over a long career has held a host of important administrative positions: president, provost, dean, and director. He served as president of the American Psychology Association, the Eastern Psychology Association, the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and the International Association…
Alumnihood and Community Colleges
My community college and our larger system recently embarked on an effort to strengthen relationships with alumni. It is an exciting endeavor. It is also very interesting effort, especially when we think about alumni organizations in comparison to what four-year institutions usually do. Alumni professionals report that graduates usually join alumni organizations for networking, for…