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Exploring the State of the Humanities in Community Colleges

By Susan Bickerstaff, Thomas Brock, Adnan Moussa & Florence Xiaotao Ran

Drawing on research literature and a set of informal interviews with humanities faculty and leaders of relevant initiatives, this paper first discusses what is known about humanities coursework in community colleges. It then outlines three key challenges facing humanities education in this higher education sector:

  1. an oversimplified identification of community colleges as providers primarily of vocational education,
  2. limited professional supports for community college humanities faculty, and
  3. weak humanities transfer pathways between community colleges and destination four-year colleges.

The paper goes on to describe current efforts that attempt to address these challenges and concludes with a call for future research intended to enhance our understanding of the humanities in community colleges and the ways humanities education in community colleges might be strengthened and improved.

  • How Humanities/Liberal Arts Coursework Influences Degree Completion

Download Links

Download CCRC Working Paper No. 119
May 2020

Related Publications

October 2023

A Foundation and a Fire: Strengthening Humanities Education in Community Colleges

March 2023

Smoothing Pathways to Transfer in the Humanities: A Report on the Strengthening Michigan Humanities Project

June 2019

Humanities and Liberal Arts Education at Community College: How It Affects Transfer and Four-Year College Outcomes

Additional Resources

For more policy briefs and fact sheets, visit CCRC’s Policy Resources page.

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