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The AACC or American Association of Community Colleges has chosen three experts on community colleges who are nationally renowned along with their students to head efforts that are geared towards helping institutions redefine their goals.

The Future of Community Colleges’ 21st Century Commission will be headed by Dr. Kay McClenney, Augustine Gallego and Dr. Jerry Sue Thornton. Many challenging issues hitherto faced by one of the growing sectors in higher education will be examined by this initiative over a span on twelve months.

The 30 member group formed by thought leaders from education, philanthropy, policy making and business will be co-chaired by the veteran educators for this initiative which is funded by the Kresge Foundation and by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and will be supported by ETS and ACT.

Based on the Walter G. Bumphus, the AACC President’s signature undertaking namely the “listening tour”, the commission will build the structure of operations. All trustees, chancellors, presidents, staff and faculty from community colleges have been engaged by Bumphus and other senior staff from across the country to discuss various issues such as achievement gaps, funding, need for remediation among burgeoning students, accountability metrics and the complex mission of the colleges.

Listening tour has been completed in many states including Florida, Michigan, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina, DC/Virginia/Maryland and New York. Over the next three months, the group will conduct listening tours in states such as California, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, Mississippi and Oregon.

The 21st Century Commission’s work foundation will be a report that will be captured through the listening tour dialogue findings. All opportunities and barriers faced by community colleges will be analyzed by the members of the committee in virtual and real time discussions.

This effort is in keeping with the effort of our President to produce at least five million graduates in the next decade. Over the next decade, it will be easier for community college leaders to navigate in a strategic manner using the commission’s final work report with specific recommendations.
This report will be presented in Florida in the month of April at the AACC annual convention.

According to President Bumphus, our nation, particularly the local communities benefit to a great extent by the community colleges that provide easier access to post secondary education apart from being the primary provider of training.

He went on to say that our outlook must be progressive and purposeful if more students are required to be served by institutions in a complex ways. In order to facilitate this, a future roadmap will be provided by the 21st Century Commission. He also said that co-chairs selected for this are well suited for this job.

As we know, the American Association of Community Colleges represents at least 1200 community, technical and junior colleges across the nation. This national association enrolls at least twelve million students yearly. In the higher education sector, the fastest and largest growing sector is the community colleges. Fifty percent of the undergraduates in America are served by this sector.