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MISSION |
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To provide within NASPA professional programs, activities, services and initiatives to further the growth of professionals working in community colleges at each level - entry, middle management, and senior student affairs professionals. |
"Community Colleges are America at its best"
Cohen, A. & Brawer, F, The American Community College (3rd ed), San-Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 1996
The Community Colleges Division of NASPA was created to support the unique needs of the growing population of community college member professionals and schools in the association. \With more than 11 million students and 6.6 million in credit courses, community colleges educate approximately 46 percent of all U. S. undergraduates (AACC Fast Facts at www.aacc.nche.edu).
Distinctive for its open-door admissions policies, workforce training, and quick responses to changing needs in society, the community college has secured its place in the history of higher education in America. Community colleges continue to be the primary door to accessibility and educational opportunity while insuring diversity in postsecondary education. Community colleges must continue to embrace an agenda that addresses the impact of teaching and learning, along with ways to measure outcomes, if they are to retain their important place in higher education. Community colleges have always been considered non-traditional because they make little attempt to change the values of their students, as was the goal of many of the early residential colleges. Community colleges follow few traditions, take students where they are, and teach them to respond quickly to the changes in their environment.
Community colleges may want to adapt traditional learning experiences to address the needs of today's students with more transformative approaches, such as service learning, learning communities, and internships. Learning Reconsidered suggests that to support today's learning outcomes, the focus of dedication must shift from information transfer to identity development. Each institution should define the goals of a college education and establish the specific learning outcomes for each of it's degrees. Defining learning in terms that include identity and development of the whole student further validates the mission of student affairs.