Special Issue: Community College Missions in the 21st Century

This volume aims to stimulate community college leaders to reexamine their institution’s functional missions in the context of the community college’s societal missions, to reflect more deeply about these functions, and to gauge their relative importance in the community college and in the greater system of higher education.

Such reflection is also helpful in identifying—and mitigating—ways in which the unreflective pursuit of one mission may undercut the effectiveness of other missions. Finally, a framework for prioritizing missions at an institutional level is of benefit to all who must make decisions about whose needs must be met and with what resources—vital concerns for everyone in higher education today.