13 Ideas That Are Transforming the Community College World

America’s community colleges are experiencing the most creative and substantive period of transformation in their 118-year history. There has never been so much research, so much support from foundations, and so much commitment from national leaders to reimagine community colleges for today and for the future.13 Ideas that Are Transforming the Community College World, edited by Terry U. O’Banion, is the seminal work that captures the major ideas faced by community college leaders in this period of transformation. The book includes 23 authors representing 12 national organizations, perhaps the most significant and substantive list of individuals ever to participate in an edited book on the community college. Each author is a nationally-recognized authority on his or her chapter, and all have played major roles as leaders of national organizations. 

I have known my good friend and colleague, Terry O'Banion, for over five decades and have watched him become one of the most provocative and prolific community college leaders in the nation. He has opened up new vistas by studying and writing about rogue trustees, community college curmudgeons, merging career and technical education with the liberal arts, leaders who disturb the universe, and the learning college for which I wrote the Preface for his seminal work A Learning College for the 21st Century. With his considerable skills for networking he has now assembled 23 national leaders representing 12 national organizations to present 13 ideas that are transforming the community college world. This book, his 16th, is destined to become a basic primer for trustees, administrators, and faculty who are responsible for addressing these ideas and for foundation officers, policy makers, and legislators who champion these ideas. It will surely become the required text for graduate students in the nation’s community college leadership programs., Thirteen Ideas is a Who’s Who of thought leaders and experts with deep experience and insight into the Community College space.  Every topic represents a critical flashpoint for colleges, students, communities, and our nation as a whole.   Thirteen Ideas is a must-read for anyone who cares about communities, is interested in the transformative power of the sector, and the economic well-being and future prosperity of the United States.  I hope policymakers at all levels avail themselves of the opportunity to read Thirteen Ideas and are inspired to make the change that sustains and empowers community colleges to continue their incredible work and impact during the second century of the movement., Community college leaders today require broader and deeper understanding of the challenging issues facing the nation’s community colleges. A new book by some of the most noted authors of our generation, Thirteen Ideas that Transformed the Community College World, provides a handy and substantive review of these key issues for those of us who are daily engaged in trying to understand them. This is a very timely book for leaders who want to stay on the cutting edge., In Thirteen Ideas that Transformed the Community College World, Terry O’Banion has assembled a stellar group of national community college experts and leaders to bring together in one volume, analyses of many of the most important trends and developments in the growing national movement to improve outcomes for community college students. Each insightful chapter explores in depth specific topics such as developmental education, building bridges between high school and college, the community college promise programs, guided pathways, and many more.  This will be an invaluable resource for graduate students, faculty, administrators, policy makers, and anyone interested in community colleges.

Terry O’Banion has worked in the community college field for 55 years as one of the leading spokespersons on leadership, innovation, learning, and student success. President of the League for Innovation for 23 years, O’Banion has written 16 books and over 200 articles, consulted in over 1,000 community colleges, and has been recognized by five national awards established in his name.