Abstract
This volume, edited by Lisa S. Kelsay and Eboni M. Zamani-Gallaher, centers around concrete approaches and strategies to serve the ever-evolving student body enrolled at community colleges. Engaging insights and perspectives from a wide range of experts, including scholars who write about 2-year colleges as well as practitioners and leaders who have served at these institutions, this book offers a thorough discussion of how to work with diverse students as they transition into and through community colleges.
The book consists of three parts: “Understanding Today’s Community College Campuses,” “Supporting Today’s Community College Learners,” and “Specialized Populations and Communities on Two-Year Campuses.” Part One delineates various historical, policy, and learning contexts within which the contemporary community college is situated. The enduring and historically rooted open-door policy, as complementarily described by Kelsay and Oudenhoven in Chapter 1 and Munsch, Velazquez, and Kowpak in Chapter 3, is inevitably coupled with persistent challenges. Most notable is the lack of college readiness, especially among the disproportionately large number of traditionally underserved students enrolled at community colleges. Adding to the rising number of at-risk students is the unfavorable economic climate and policy landscape for community colleges, described by Jamrogowicz in Chapter 2. In Chapter 4, Procter and Uranis argue the importance of technological literacy—another evolving aspect of the contemporary learning environment—and how inequitable access to technology can be a potential barrier for disadvantaged students. Together, these chapters paint a realistic snapshot of the environment facing today’s community colleges. Despite the potential challenges presented by this increasing complexity, the chapters in Part One all highlight the role and responsibility of student affairs professionals in serving students to stay true to the open access mission.
Part Two concerns key elements of supporting students, starting with a rich account (Chapter 5 by Munsch and Kelsay) of some “new” faces in today’s community college student body, including undocumented students, international students, and displaced workers. Munsch and Kelsay articulate both the needs and barriers these students face and offer suggestions for helping them transition and succeed. In the collective pursuit of better serving this increasingly diverse student body, McFadden and Mazeika, in Chapter 6, illuminate the value and ways of bridging academic and student affairs to support learners. This section then engages a more specific focus on student orientation. In Chapter 7, Hale describes both the benefit of orientation for student development and the evolving formats and structures of orientation programs at community colleges. Part Two concludes with yet another emergent aspect of today’s community college, residence life. In Chapter 8, Barber and Phelan build upon the narrative provided by the findings reported in The Heart of Student Success, published by the Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE, 2010), and further illustrate ways to improve residential programs that foster student learning.
Part Three delves further into specific student populations and communities that warrant better understanding among those working with today’s community college students. In Chapter 9, Lewis, Zamani-Gallaher, and Bonapace elaborate on the needs and potential barriers facing older adults and discuss exemplary practices that illustrate how to serve these students. Chapter 10 by Fagan and Dunklin addresses the rising veteran student population by illuminating a number of unique and alarming challenges veterans may face, such as mental health problems, substance abuse, and homelessness, along with potential best practices to address these students’ needs. Chapter 11 by Jain examines the experiences of community college female student leaders of color during the transfer process. Through interviews and participant observation, the study reveals that female student leaders of color do not enjoy much transfer success despite their high level of involvement. Alarmingly, this is largely due to the gendered and racialized way in which these students experience involvement.
To conclude, Chapter 12 by Watson and Cox Brand offers a thoughtful discussion of the concepts of social and cultural capital and how inequitable access to these forms of capital can shape the campus climate for diversity. Based on an expanded definition of the marginalized student population that includes veterans; immigrants; student athletes; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students; and so on, the chapter culminates with concrete recommendations for introducing capital to assist all students.
As an edited book, Working With Students in Community Colleges excels at staying true to its focus on students and on the concrete practices student affairs professionals can adopt to better serve students. Through its various chapters, the book achieves a comprehensive coverage of the many forms of diversity represented by today’s community college student body. More notably, the book engages the readers in a both philosophical and practice-driven discussion on how to honor the open access mission in the face of an evolving definition of marginalization. With a thoughtful analysis of both traditionally and newly underserved students in higher education who arrive at the doors of community colleges, the book directs our attention to the new realities of community college students and their associated learning needs.
Building upon this analysis, the chapters each offer actionable approaches and strategies that help better support students. Although the book’s central theme of understanding and serving community college students remains present and firmly grounds the discussion, several chapters on emerging subpopulations of students could use more descriptive empirical data to further substantiate the important arguments being made. For example, trend data and empirical evidence might help make the many compelling arguments for the needs of students and the strategies of working with them even more convincing. This limitation aside, one of the book’s greatest strengths is the vast body of practical knowledge possessed by the contributing authors. Their collective insights are grounded within their firm grasp of the community college context and evolving landscape, affording credibility to the recommendations offered to inform the work of community college leaders, faculty, and student affairs professionals.
Working With Students in Community Colleges is an accessible, thought-provoking read on the realities of students at today’s community colleges. Over the past several years, community colleges have come under a remarkable spotlight from the media and policy world. Given the attention on community colleges, important and relevant policy discussion and debates abound. Often absent from this discourse, however, is well-informed consideration of the increasingly diverse body of students, challenges they face, and strategies to better support them. Within this context, Working With Students in Community Colleges is a timely and important book filling a critical void in the current debate around community colleges by placing students and their many forms of diversity at the forefront. In this sense, the book also serves as a key reminder of what the collective work of community college researchers and practitioners is all about.