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Posts by Julie White


April 13, 2012, 01:03 PM ET

'Doors Closing'

By Julie White

You know that announcement on mass transit as the train is about to take off? "Doors closing," a pleasant voice warns. I am always struck by the irrational fear that if I don't move, and quickly, I'm going to get caught in those doors. But there's nothing pleasant about Gary Rhoades's warning in the new report, Closing the Door, Increasing the Gap: Who’s Not Going to (Community) College? (available as a PDF). As the community-college sector becomes increasingly constrained in achieving its access mission, who is responsible for keeping the door open for underserved students?, he wonders. Rhoades, who directs the Center for the Future of Higher Education, which published the report, calls for faculty, students, community groups, and unions to work together, along with policymakers and college administrators, to advocate on behalf of community colleges. It's a great idea, yet I have to... Read More
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March 8, 2011, 09:00 AM ET

Community College Changed My Life

By Julie White

But not in the way you might think. I did not attend a community college as a student. In fact, community colleges were largely invisible to me for most of my academic life. Which is a bit unusual, since I am a first-generation college student. And also surprising, since I have been a student-affairs professional for 20 years. I grew up in a state with no community-college system, so there's one explanation. But how to explain my total ignorance of them as a higher-education professional? I spent 15 years at four-year institutions. I read all the big names in student-development theory. I attended professional conferences. Yet community-college students were absent from those venues -- an odd omission given that almost half of U.S. undergraduates are enrolled at community colleges. Six years ago, when I began a job search, I nearly passed by the position I now hold, in both ignorance a...

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