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<p> This purpose of this research was, to identify the components of first-year first semester college success courses specifically designed to foster student success in single campus Illinois community colleges. The study provides a historical background of community colleges as it develops a context for the need for college success courses. A qualitative case study approach was used. The research conceptual framework encompassed Alexander Astin&rsquo;s Theory of Student Involvement (IEO), Stufflebeam&rsquo;s Theory of Course and Program Evaluation (CIPP), and The Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE) seven key principles for student success to analyze the findings. </p><p> To generate qualitative data twenty one community colleges responded to the on-line survey. Based on maximum variation from those responses, six institutions&rsquo; administrators agreed to a face-to-face semi structured interview. Eleven interview questions were matched to the four research questions, which helped in providing a comprehensive and concise overview of the research findings. As a consequent of the survey and face-to-face interview sessions findings and analysis; four emerging themes surfaced.</p><p> This study concludes, based on findings; identifying components of first-year first semester success courses can foster students&rsquo; college success. The findings indicated strong support systems such as, early, before the start of the semester, orientations, introductions, and remediation, as well as, providing support services beyond the first year and as often as need throughout the college experience is perhaps the key to persistence and ultimately college completion. Implications and recommendations are presented for now and future best practices. Lastly, there is an introduction to the Roland Success Course Analysis Model.</p>

<p> This study evaluated the impact of predictor variables on certificate, associate, or bachelor's degree completion for first-time community college students pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees.</p><p> Using binary logistic regression, this study applied Crisp and Nora's theoretical model of persistence and transfer to first-time community college STEM students. The study used binary logistic regression to assess whether demographic variables, pre-collegiate variables, environmental pull factors, and academic experiences significantly predicted whether first-time STEM students completed a certificate, associate, or bachelor's degree within six-years of entering a community college. Four out of the 19 variables under this study, significantly predicted certificate, associate, or bachelor's degree completion for first-time community college STEM students.</p><p> The findings from this study indicated that gender, ethnicity, enrollment into high school calculus, and STEM GPA during college significantly predicted certificate, associate, or bachelor's degree completion for first-time community college STEM students. Further, the findings suggest that female STEM students were more likely than males to complete a certificate or degree; Hispanic students were as likely to complete a degree as White students, but their enrollment numbers in STEM fields of study were much lower. Conversely, Black/African American students were less likely to complete a certificate or degree than their White counterparts. Additionally, students with higher STEM GPAs and students who completed calculus during high school were more likely to complete a certificate, associate, or bachelor's degree. Finally, enrollment in basic skills courses was not statistically significant in predicting certificate or degree completion.</p><p> The findings associated with the present study indicate academic differences between the general community college student population and the community college STEM student population. As a result, the findings of this study have implications for policy and practice in STEM programs throughout community colleges nationwide.</p>

<p> This applied mixed method research study was undertaken to identify the college choice factors influential in the college choice decision-making processes of high school seniors, and retrospectively, college freshmen, in one rural NC public school system. Current high school seniors were surveyed; Randolph Community College freshmen, who were graduates of the same high school system, were interviewed. Quantitative data analysis was performed using chi square testing. Standard protocol for qualitative data collection and analysis was observed. </p><p> The most important finding of the study was the need for the college to understand the decision processes of millennials in college choice, while applying that generational information to the marketing and outreach strategies to which millennials resonate. In addition to targeted marketing to millennial high school seniors, results indicated program of study expansion was needed to increase the college&rsquo;s market penetration of high school graduates. Findings will be used to increase the market penetration of the local community college with its service area&rsquo;s high school graduates.</p>

During the 2001-02 academic year, I investigated the impact of information technology on community college faculty at a large, multi-campus community college district in the southwest. My purpose of this study was to determine how technological innovation on their campuses was affecting the working conditions of faculty since these conditions ultimately affect the ability of faculty to provide effective instruction for their students. Using a grounded theory and phenomenological approach, I analyzed data collected through interviewing faculty in three community colleges, examining email communication and online documents from four colleges and the college district, and attending two technology conferences for employees in the college district. While a number of studies have been conducted in recent years on technology's impact on labor, few of these studies have addressed the impact of technology in higher education, with fewer still examining the effects of technology on community college personnel, despite the rapid proliferation of technology on community college campuses. Therefore, drawing on research conducted in business and industry as well as in higher education settings, I sought to ascertain whether technological innovations enskill or deskill faculty (Vallas, 1993), or promote managerial extension of power (Rhoades, 1998), whether each college or the college district rewards or penalizes faculty for their eagerness or reluctance to adopt new technologies (Rogers, 1983), and whether the technologies purchased by community colleges impact faculty working conditions by altering the environments in which the technologies are used (Winner, 1986). The most salient findings of this study included the offsetting advantages and disadvantages to technology usage which result in detriments and benefits to the work of faculty increasing simultaneously, and the impact on the work environment of the technologies themselves due to their intrinsic characteristics. The conclusions are both striking and powerful enough to warrant further investigation into the ramifications of technology proliferation within the community college sector in order to determine whether the anticipated benefits of technological innovation to community college education do, in fact, outweigh the problems connected to technology.

The purpose of this dissertation was to develop a theory-based approach to guide institutional level analyses of student dropout. In constructing this approach, models of student departure were expanded to include a framework for guiding the identification of the student-learning environment mismatches inhibiting student learning and success. This approach was applied to a community college in Southern California, Riverside Community College, with a large and diverse student population. To account for observed variation in degree attainment and transfer rates by age and ethnicity, student-types were developed based on the habitus and capital students possessed at the time of college entry. In the present work, measurement of student-types was based largely on students' initial approach to college attendance, which was viewed as a reflection of the underlying differences in students' habitus and available capital. Five student types were identified: traditional, developing, student-worker, life-job changer, and life-job explorers. These student-types were found to account for age variation in success and much of the variation in success associated with ethnicity. The behavior of transfer students who did not earn an Associate's degree or certificate was not adequately captured with the typology. When "success" was restricted to degree or certificate attainment at RCC, the typology adequately accounted for ethnic variation in success. A common departure model was not able to provide a plausible description of students across ethnic or student-type subpopulations. Relations among students' goals and commitments, institutional integration, and academic integration were found to differ by ethnicity and student-type. Therefore, the impacts of institutional integration, academic integration, and students' goals and institutional commitments on long-term persistence were modelled within student-types. For student-workers and life-job explorers, students' goals and institutional commitments were found to have statistically significant impacts on long-term persistence. The persistence of other student-types was not significantly impacted by institutional factors.

This study examines shared governance in public, unionized community colleges and creates an inventory of faculty participation in governance as prescribed by collective bargaining agreements. Two hundred thirty-eight contracts representing faculty across 22 states were reviewed in order to identify in what areas faculty participate in institutional governance as well as for regional differences in patterns of governance across the United States. The results are intended to increase the understanding of shared governance in the community college. Grounded in organizational theory, the research adopts a theoretical framework which conceptualizes the internal governance of community colleges as primarily a political processes working within the framework of a professional bureaucracy. The findings suggest that faculty (both full-time and adjunct) are contractually obligated to participate in governance in a number of areas, and that there are regional differences between faculty participation as outlined by the language of the bargaining agreements. The study suggests the need for further research into the process and outcomes of collective bargaining in community colleges.

Restructuring student services from a silo model to a one-stop model requires a paradigm shift in philosophy by training specialists to be generalists. These generalists must have a greater breadth of knowledge to provide a wider range of services. Although they are not required to have complete knowledge of the department and college, generalists are required to know enough to provide general services, as well as make referrals. However, the perceptions on the effectiveness of the model may differ when viewed through the perspective of administrators versus the perspective of staff. Because of this, the cultural and interpersonal implications of departmental integration can be a challenge.

The purpose of this study was to assess customer satisfaction of campus information technology (IT) departments in a community college setting using TQM principles. The study used both quantitative and qualitative research methods. A survey with Likert-scale questions and open-ended questions was utilized to obtain data from 104 full-time faculty and full-time staff employed by a multi-campus community college. Fifty-eight surveys were returned by respondents for a response rate of 56%. Those surveys provided the data for the five research questions of the study. Findings of the study led to several conclusions regarding customers' satisfaction with their campus IT department. The findings revealed that there were no statistically significant differences between faculty and staff in their customer satisfaction in various service dimensions (e.g., responsiveness, access, and reliability) as well as their overall customer satisfaction. The IT services customers cited as most satisfying were the maintenance services. Customers also reported staffing as an issue needing improvement. In particular, they cited their IT department as understaffed. Comments expressed by customers reported their satisfaction with the personal attributes or characteristics of the IT staff. Implications to campus IT decision makers and IT departments included: (1) a review of IT staffing to determine if departments are adequately staffed, (2) the adoption of TQM strategies and policies to improve IT services, (3) an increase in software and hardware training to faculty and staff, and (4) the ongoing evaluation of IT customers to determine their customer satisfaction. Recommendations for future research included studies to determine: (1) customer satisfaction and the degree of TQM principles utilized by IT leaders, (2) customer satisfaction of various service dimensions using only qualitative research, (3) the success of IT departments which have implemented TQM principles, (4) appropriate staffing levels for IT departments, and (5) appropriate assessment techniques to measure customer satisfaction in the various services provided by an IT department.

The purpose of this study was to determine why and how a large multi-campus community college created a campus to specifically meet non-traditional needs of students. The structures at this campus were different because its students did not have same needs for traditional education as students attending traditional campuses. The study of the context of this non-traditional campus can assist other institutions considering the development of such an entity. Case study and qualitative research methods were used to reveal the assumptions, beliefs, and factors that led to the development of the campus, the processes used, and the perceptions that it served non-traditional needs effectively. Document analysis, observations, and interviews were used to describe the structures in place and the perceptions of its degree of success in accomplishing its goal. The findings of the study revealed that the need for non-traditional education existed. Different structures and a separate campus facilitated and enhanced the creativity and freedom necessary to develop alternative programs and methods to deliver education for students, businesses, and other partners.