"We Don't Need a Four-Year College Person to Come Here and Tell Us What to Do": Community College Faculty, Transfer Articulation, and Curriculum-Making in a Unified System

• In Event: The Experiences of Community College Faculty

Abstract

We present an exploratory study of how community college faculty engage in academic planning in the wake of curricular policy reform. Between 2011 and 2017, the City University of New York system, which is composed of two and four-year institutions, attempted to implement system wide articulation agreements to ease student transfer. In the wake of that process, community college faculty identify new constraints on academic planning. Faculty observe that new curricular offerings have to match four year offering to ensure seamless transfer. This limits the potential for innovation and prevents faculty from developing courses or programs that address local organizational needs. Academic planning is reoriented towards system level concerns and away from college or departmental initiatives.

Authors

• Michael Brown, Iowa State University

• Stephanie Sowl, Iowa State University