In the Know with ACCT

The leadership at Amarillo Colleges in Texas wants nothing more than for its students to succeed. And they knew that in order to empower every student to make the most of their potential, they need to understand every student. But how? The college has operated in its community for 90 years, and the makeup of the community and the needs of students have changed dramatically over time. In this episo...

On this episode In The Know, ACCT Director of Strategic Communications David Conner and Educational Events Director Christina Simons talked with Dr. Kim Dale, the incoming president at Western Wyoming Community College, and Dr. Karla Leech, the outgoing president. They discuss how they have worked together to avail Dale of Leech's extensive experience and her relationships throughout Wyoming, whil...

On today’s episode, ACCT Associate Writer Jacob Bray spoke with Director of Government Relations Jennifer Stiddard about what's at stake for community colleges in the coming year. In addition to an overview of the 2020 Community College National Legislative Summit, Jennifer discusses the legislative priorities that all community college leaders and advocates should be aware of during the next legi...

For this episode of In The Know, we pulled together a panel of trustees and faculty from across the country to discuss the advantages of open educational resources, commonly referred to as O.E.R. Each of the three institutions represented, Pima Community College, Harper College, and South Florida State College, are at different stages in their adoption of OER, and everyone had valuable knowledge a...

The United States has a unique, ever-changing culture made up of people who migrate from throughout the rest of the world. Committed to open educational access, diversity and inclusiveness, community colleges have a special and vital role in guaranteeing a high-quality education to everyone in the country. Paying attention to demographic changes today and knowing what to expect tomorrow are impera...

Trustees are busy people who volunteer their time to govern community colleges through board and committee meetings. Are retreats really worthwhile? If they're done right, one trustee says, they can be indispensable.  In this episode of In The Know, ACCT Board Member and Northern Virginia Community College Trustee Rosie O'Neil speak with ACCT Director of Strategic Communications David Conner and D...

On this episode of In The Know we interviewed Jeff Advokat, Trustee at the County College of Morris in New Jersey. Jeff was in town for the most recent Governance Leadership Institute , so we talked with him about community college board ethics. He’s been an attorney for nearly four decades and had a lot of good advice regarding ethical dilemmas trustees might encounter. If you like this episode,...

This episode featuring Michelle Weise was recorded at the 50th Annual ACCT Leadership Congress in October. Michelle is Strada Education Network's Senior Vice President of Workforce Strategies and serves as Chief Innovation Officer for the Strada Institute Future of Work, which is dedicated to advancing understanding of the future of work to build the learning ecosystem of the future.  Michelle's r...

Rosaelena "Rosie" O'Neil is a trustee at Northern Virginia Community College and a member of the ACCT Board of Directors, with over 20 years of experience in education advocacy and leadership development. In this episode, Rosie talks to ACCT about what she wishes she had known when she became a new trustee. In addition to her trusteeship, Rosie serves as deputy director and program counselor in th...

How familiar are most new community college trustees with their roles and responsibilities? Not very, according to Jeffrey M. Advokat, Esq., a long-serving trustee from County College of Morris in New Jersey. That's OK—and actually, according to Advokat, new trustees' relative naivety can be a great asset to any board. In this must-listen episode for new community college trustees, Advokat discuss...

In this episode, CampusWorks CEO and Board Chair Liz Murphy discusses what community college boards need to know about strategic planning. Liz Murphy joined CampusWorks in 2011, bringing with her 22 years of experience at Datatel (now Ellucian), where she most recently served as the chief client officer. Liz is the immediate past president of the Alliance for Innovation & Transformation (AFIT) and...

In this episode, ACCT's Allison Beer and Jacob Bray discuss ACCT's new report, The College-Work Balancing Act. Nearly 70% of community college students work while enrolled. Listen to learn how this complicates their students' lives and ways colleges can help. Read the report at ACCT.org.

Ayman Mendoza is a recent graduate of the University of California, Irvine, who transferred to the university from a community college. He completed a summer internship in Washington, D.C., and while he was here, he told us that  "choosing community college was the best academic decision I ever made."   In this podcast, the "public Ivy" grad explains why he feels it's time to stop stigmatizing com...

To round out our National Campus Safety Awareness Month series, United Educators Risk Management Consultant Justin Kollinger spoke with us about what community college trustees need to do to safeguard their campuses against potential liabilities and safety concerns, including: Preventing and addressing harassment and abuse on campus; How to avoid the common campus culture of believing that some in...

"There's a really big difference between having two victims and having 20 victims. And when I talk about reducing the impact, it's about having reporting mechanisms in place." To round out our National Campus Safety Awareness Month series, United Educators Risk Management Consultant Justin Kollinger spoke with us about what community college trustees need to do to safeguard their campuses against...

This is the second half of our discussion with National Center for Campus Public Safety Director Kim Richmond. Richmond discusses what trustees and other community college leaders need to know about issues ranging from sexual assault to firearms on campus, the Clery Act, Title IX, emergency management and other issues. Richmond walks us through these concerns, explains how to prioritize public saf...

In this episode, National Center for Campus Public Safety Director Kim Richmond discusses what trustees and other community college leaders need to know about issues ranging from sexual assault to firearms on campus, the Clery Act, Title IX, emergency management and other issues. Richmond walks us through these concerns, explains how to prioritize public safety concerns, how to prepare for on-camp...

For this episode, we interviewed Doug Houston, the Chancellor of the Yuba Community College District in California. We talked to Doug about how last year’s wildfires impacted community colleges in his area. This episode is part of a series we curated for September, National Campus Safety Awareness Month.

Welcome to Season 3 of In The Know with ACCT. This is the first in a month-long series of episodes that deals with safeguarding colleges, in observance of National Campus Safety Month. This episode features an interview with Dr. Brenda Hellyer, Chancellor of San Jacinto College in Houston, who discusses the impact of 2017's hurricane Harvey on the San Jacinto College community.  Click for more inf...

Congress is poised to pass a new federal budget. It's expected the budget will include large increases which means increases for higher education spending. Listen to learn more about the budget and appropriations process and which community college programs are likely to receive more federal funding.

In this episode, ACCT Educational Events Director Christina Simons tells you what you need to know about the upcoming 50th Annual ACCT Leadership Congress . The event will feature over 100 peer-to-peer educational sessions, provocative keynote addresses and much more. Register before the August 9 discount period ends. Contact Christina at csimons@acct.org .

Your representatives in Congress are coming home for the summer. Learn how to organize summer advocacy visits and tools to build relationships with your elective officials.

Learn more about the U.S. Department of Education’s experimental site initiatives on Federal Work Study and Second Chance Pell and how your institution may participate.

What is the difference between the budget process and appropriations? In this episode of Need to Know, Allison Beer and Jennifer Stiddard explain the current federal higher education appropriations process and proposals for funding increases. For more information, visit acct.org and now.acct.org . 

In this episode, Jacob Bray closes season 2 with information about the summer schedule, and the 2019 Congress and GLI's.  Stayed tuned for Need To Know episodes from Allison Beer and Jennifer Stiddard over the summer.  We'll be back with regularly scheduled episodes in September. Thank you all for your continued support, and remember to contact us with ideas for future episodes. Sincerely, The ACC...