The Need to Equip, Prepare Community College Faculty Has Never Been Greater

By Evelyn N. Waiwaiole and Coral M. Noonan-Terry

Welcome to the NISOD column. In our partnership with Diverse, the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD), a consortium of more than 700 community colleges worldwide, is pleased to write a monthly column focused on community college issues. NISOD is the service vehicle and outreach arm of the Community College Leadership Program (CCLP) at The University of Texas at Austin.

As we look over NISOD’s 30-year history, we see that much has changed in community colleges, and the need to equip and prepare faculty has never been greater. What has remained constant, since the development of the first community college in 1901, is its promise of an “open door.” Community colleges were founded on the tenet that all people with a high school diploma or the equivalent should have access to higher education.

There are almost 1,200 community colleges in the United States — from small, rural colleges in remote areas to multicampus districts in large urban settings — serving tens of thousands of students. Community colleges now enroll more than half of all undergraduate students in higher education, and community college enrollments continue to rise. Of all of the nation’s undergraduate students, 47 percent of Black and Asian students, 55 percent of Hispanic students, and 57 percent of American Indian students are enrolled in community colleges. Besides their race or ethnicity, community college students are rich in other types of diversity as well. Forty-seven percent receive financial aid; 50 percent of parttime students work full time; 29 percent are the first person in his or her family to attend college, and 59 percent are women. Community colleges educate more students in remedial courses than any other type of postsecondary institution; 42 percent of students at public two-year colleges enrolled in at least one remedial reading, writing or mathematics course compared to 12 percent to 24 percent at other institutions.