Booklet Highlights Student Development Programs at Community Colleges

First place went to Kaskaskia College in Illinois for its Core Values 101: Students Teaching Students program, which trains student leaders in values exploration and ethical decision making. Those students then provide programs to other students and members of the campus community. Interactive presentations include scenarios that depict "right vs. right" dilemmas, small group discussions, and hand-outs.

The students have presented their programs to a variety of campus, high school, and civic groups, as well as at the national Community College Institute on Leader-ship and Core Values. In 2002, the Illinois Community College Board recognized the program with the Award for Excellence in Leadership and Core Values. The students make copies of handouts and scripts readily available and, when possible, help other colleges develop their own programs.

For more information, contact Sharon Conners, director of admissions, or Dan Herbst, dean of enrollment services, Kaskaskia College, 27210 College Road, Centralia, IL 62801; by phone at 618/545-3066; or by email at sconners@kaskaskia.edu or dherbst@kaskaskia.edu.

The National Conference on Race and Ethnicity program at Pima Community College in Arizona received the second-place nod. Through NCORE, Pima Community College sponsors diversity conferences; fosters cooperation between college staff, faculty, students, and community members; and encourages students to compete for opportunities to represent the college at the national conference. The program is built on three tenets from leaders in student development:

• “The learning college places learning first and provides educational experiences for learners any way, anyplace, anytime,” says Terry O’Banion in A Learning College for the 21st Century.
• “Participating in service during the undergraduate years substantially enhances the student’s academic development, life skill development, and sense of civic responsibility,” Alexander Astin and Linda Sax say in the Journal of College Student Development.
• “Our diversity is a unique advantage in the global economy to meet that need, we must have diverse workers, with the college education,” say Anthony Carnevale and Richard Fry in Crossing the Great Divide: Can We Achieve Equity When Generation Y Goes to College?

For more information, contact Mary E. Retterer, Ph.D., president, Pima Community College East Campus, 8181 E. Irvington Road, Tucson, AZ 85709-4000; by phone at 520/206-7619; or by email at mary.retterer@pima.edu.

Third place honors went to the LearnerNet Project at Daytona Beach Community College in Florida. Funded by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, the project aims to:

• Develop and implement comprehensive Web-based student services
• Provide greater and improved access to student services via optional and alternative delivery systems
• Enable distance education students to access student services without coming to campus

Since its inception, distance education enrollment, online application, online orientation, and Web registration have shown steady increases. The project employed a great deal of research prior to implementation, as well as ongoing evaluation.

For more information, contact Krissy Leonard, coordinator of advising and orientation, and FIPSE LearnerNet project director at Daytona Beach Community College, Daytona Beach, Florida, by phone at 386/947-5490 or by email at leonark@dbcc.edu