The Professional Identity of Community College Faculty

Abstract

In this final chapter we reflect, within the context of what we call nouveau college, on the professional role and status of community college faculty. Community college faculty are educators as well as corporate workers employed within an organization that encompasses cultural, economic, educational, and social missions. Community colleges have not only multiple missions1 but also various purposes and functions.2 These multiple missions have been cast within neo-liberal practices including economic competition which have corporatized faculty work and left professionals questioning, as does a part-time faculty member at Suburban Valley Community College in California: “How do we move back and reconstruct the profession? Economically and structurally we can’t just jump back. It’s got to be a process.” Or perhaps, for many community college faculty, the question is not whether or how to move back and reconstruct, but rather how to move forward and create their professional role in the New Economy.