Community College Research
The Impact of State Policy on Community College STEM Programs
At the 55th Annual Conference of the Council for the Study of Community College in San Francisco, Pamela Eddy, Professor of higher education and Tiffany Pugh, Policy Planning Specialist at the Virginia Community College System, presented a research paper. The title of their presentation was The Impact of State Policy on Community College STEM Programs. Their study investigated the implementation of Virginia's 2011 Higher Education Policy Act on the infusion of STEM programming at the 23 community colleges in the state. Eddy and Pugh concluded that the community colleges had already been in the process of emphasizing and expanding STEM programming throughout the state, but that the 2011 Act helped support these activities. Currently, they are researching how the policy enactment is progressing now that more time has passed for implementation.
In addition to this research presentation, Dr. Eddy presented a roundtable session for graduate students, along with Dr. Linda Hagedorn, titled Contemporary Trends and Emerging Research on Community Colleges. The session was set up to allow senior scholars an opportunity to meet emerging professionals for networking and research advice. Dr. Eddy also served as a panelist for the pre-conference on international topics. The focus for this session was Internationalizing Graduate Programming in Community College Leadership. The presentation covered ways to internationalize the curriculum, recruitment of international students in graduate programs, and graduate study abroad programming. Dr. Eddy also presented with Dr. Marilyn Amey (Michigan State University) and Dr. Regina Garza Mitchell (Texas State Technical College-Harlingen) on Interrogating Leadership: Strategies, Practices, and Trends.
Finally, Dr. Eddy was a panelist on an invited presidential plenary session regarding CSCC's focused response to the American Association of Community Colleges Reclaiming the American Dream—Community Colleges and the Nation's Future: A Report from the 21st Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges. The brief by Dr. Eddy and her colleague Dr. Marilyn Amey addressed the role of partnerships and collaborations at community colleges. Eddy is the author of a 2010 ASHE Report: Partnerships and Collaborations in Higher Education.
