Civic Engagement, Shared Governance, and Community Colleges

Abstract

of us who have spent our professional lives in community colleges tend to think of our institutions as occupying a unique place in the American higher education landscape. These colleges are sometimes labeled democracy's colleges, and a strong argument can be made that, at their best, they embody the best values of American pragmatism. Many of our faculty members tend to be pragmatists, unfettered by dogma or tradition and concerned mainly about providing their students with the practical knowledge and material expertise that make for better lives and livelihoods. Much community college teaching is shaped by techniques that AAUP founder John Dewey, a philosopher of education, would recognize, such as active and collaborative learning and clinical and intern ex eriences that are immediately useful in a life or in a career. Coming of age at a time when the country's great external threats were communism and national socialism, belief systems that champion the goals of the state at the expense of those of the individual, the American community college promotes the ascendancy of the individual. Programs are often strongly workplace oriented and supportive of upward socioeconomic mobility. Community college faculties include many adjuncts whose main employment is not with the college, but in a profession, business, or industry to which students aspire. Many of the students are older than traditional-age college students and Carol Lucey is president of Western Nevada Community College. She served formerly as an academic administrator at Alfred State College of Technology of the State University of New York and at Jamestown Community College. She has a Ph.D. in theoretical high-energy physics. This article is based on an address delivered at the