Advancing Community College Research and Practice in the Year 2020

Seven years after Alvin Toffler published his classic book, Future Shock (1970), the Community College Journal of Research and Practice (CCJRP) published its first issue. This was a moment in American history when change was felt in the air as futurists studied, discussed, wrote and debated their insights on the past and present in the context of visions and challenges for the future, including life in the year 2020.

In Future Shock, Toffler (1970) looked to the past to explain the role of change in the world and provided insights regarding our future. Fifty years after its first printing, Toffler’s description of fast pace lives, throw away societies, fractured families, of overstimulated individuals, complex systems, and traditional educational systems still has value today.

Later, during the 1980s, John Naisbitt published Megatrends: Ten Directions Transforming our Lives (1982), another classic futurist book where he predicted the future based on his present analysis of America. While Toffler (1970) described the role technology played in our past and offered future projections, much of Naisbitt’s (1982) focus was about the rapidly changing and sophisticated technology of the era and ever-changing systems. Naisbitt (1999) built on his earlier works with his book, High Tech High Touch: Technology and our Search for Meaning, where he examined the role technology plays while cautioning us detrimental effects to the individual and society.

Although Toffler and Naisbitt did not describe the role community colleges played in an ever-changing society and their role in shaping our future, these seminal futurists both emphasized the importance of flexible and responsive educational systems. Experienced community college practitioners and researchers alike know that community colleges have a storied history of being flexible and responsive by addressing the challenges of change through programs in areas of workforce, transfer, developmental and community education. During this era when futurists were describing the past and present in the context of future challenges, community colleges were embracing these challenges as agents of change and shaping the future in their communities. Since the 1970s, the Community College Journal of Research and Practice has published 516 issues that document programs, research, and practices about these evolving and changing community colleges.

Today, the CCJRP has flourished as a scholarly peer reviewed journal that is published 12 times per year. Two types of manuscripts are considered for publication: Full Length Scholarly and Research articles and Exchange articles. Full Length manuscripts are concise, yet sufficiently detailed, to permit a rigorous double-blind peer review. Exchange articles are shorter papers that present practical and thought-provoking scholarship and research serving as a forum for the advancing of knowledge and understanding in the development of community colleges. Both types go through external double-blind peer review processes prior to publication.

This essay aims to highlight the efforts and achievements of the 2019 volume year, prelude the upcoming issues for 2020, reflect on the journal’s impact and reach, and gratefully acknowledge the volunteer reviewers, editorial board members and other colleagues for the contribution of their expert service and time to the CCJRP.

Underscoring the past – volume 43

The CCJRP’s 43^rd volume, authored by 202 scholars and practitioners, consisted of 57 Full Length Scholarly articles, 31 Exchange articles, one recently published dissertation forum, and one editorial. In 2019, a diverse array of community college topic areas ranging from: Texas’ campus carry law; to web-based stress management interventions; articulation agreements; international students and their campus involvement; lack of mental health services for at-risk students; faculty search committee; promoting transfer among Latino male students; examining distance education course taking and time-to-completion; evaluation of evidence-based veteran programs; impact of early alert on community college student persistence; community college achievement gap; women who helped shape the early community college movement; community college students’ sexual health; academic advising; crowdfunding; role of the chief diversity officer in community college leadership; web accessibility for students with a disability; and, student conduct in Florida’s community colleges.

Using the methodology of Floyd, Felsher, and Ramdin (2016) as a way to capture major themes that emerged from the articles published in Volume 43, clear themes emerged from the 88 Full Length and Exchange articles from 2019. The 2019 papers clustered into the following themes: academic advising, community college curriculum, developmental education, dual enrollment, faculty, finance, health, leadership, policies, students, student affairs, student learning outcomes, student success, teaching and learning, technology, transfer, veterans, workforce development, and mentorship.

I am especially proud of our 2019 double special issue titled: Graduate Students’ Research about Community Colleges (Floyd, Salinas, Barhoum, et al., 2019). The special issue is the first of its kind to create a space for an exchange of empirically-tested research and ideas, through the lens of graduate students. In a committed effort to support emerging scholars, graduate students were given the opportunity to publish their community college research as first authors in a peer reviewed journal. Faculty and mentors coauthored and assisted graduate students, each sharing in the values of the mechanics and benefits of publishing their research. To further the advancement of emerging scholars, two graduate students were invited to participate as guest reviewers for the special issue and were offered guidance and mentorship during the editorial process. I extend my gratitude to the graduate student guest reviewers: María-José Zeledón-Pérez and Ethan Swingle. María-José Zeledón-Pérez and Ethan Swingle were both doctoral candidates during the time this special issue was prepared and recently graduated. Cristobal Salinas Jr. and Sim Barhoum assumed the roles of experienced-scholar mentors, offering their support, expertise, and a clear desire to help emerging authors improve their papers. Cristobal Salinas Jr., Gianna Ramdin and I worked collaboratively to emphasize the peer review and publication processes throughout this rewarding project. To learn more about the special issue and how we emphasized the value of the rigorous process of peer review and supporting graduate students learning, I recommend reading the article titled: Publishing graduate students’ research about community colleges (Floyd, Salinas, & Ramdin, 2019).

This graduate student double special issue included 10 Full Length manuscripts and three shorter Exchange articles that highlighted a variety of community college subject areas. Topics included: the leadership role of the community college president; student behaviors on virtual proctored exams; faculty search process; women of color leading community colleges; experiences of lesbian, gay, and bisexual Students of Color; immigrant community college students’ perceptions of a four-year degree; military-affiliated students and the transfer process; a descriptive profile of HBCCs’ organizational characteristics; web accessibility for students with a disability; student conduct; improving completion rates and student success through the implementation of experiential learning; and, responding to the threatened end of DACA.

Prelude to the 2020 volume

In 2020, the CCJRP readers can anticipate finding quality Full Length manuscripts, succinct Exchange articles, and book reviews concentrating on myriad community college focus areas. The CCJRP readers will find articles on contemporary issues such as: career outcome expectations of community college students interested in science and engineering careers; cross-disciplinary professional development; free tuition programs; first-generation transfer students; paramedical vocational interest and choice for Latino and African American men; revising online assignments; single-parent students; student preferences for receiving a text message from their institution; and, the value of the associate’s degree. Our lineup for the 44^th CCJRP volume includes an impressive array of scholarly and practitioner-based papers from the United States and the international community.

CCJRP’s impact and reach

CCJRP is the only higher education research journal focused on community college issues included in US News and World Report’s 2019 list of Awards and Journals, which is a list that is determined from a survey of Association of American Universities (AAU) and Council of Academic Deans from Research Education Institutions (CADREI) deans. Additionally, the CCJRP is ranked #13 by Google Scholar among higher education journals. Further, the CCJRP is indexed in Scopus and has a 2018 SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) of 0.43 and a CiteScore of 0.53. SJR is a prestige metric and is, therefore, weighted by the subject field, quality, and reputation of the journal. Whereas, the CiteScore provides a three-year citation window of a journal’s impact and takes into consideration all types of documents. In 2018, the SJR positioned the journal in the second quartile of journals within the Education category.

CCJRP is also indexed in Clarivate Analytics’ Emerging Sources Citation Index and can now be cited in the Web of Science™. This has the potential to increase the citations in the future, provide CCJRP even greater visibility, and enhance the journal’s chances of inclusion in the SSCI database in the future. Web of Science™ Core Collection, Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) is a new index that broadens the citation universe and echoes the science and scholarly activity across the globe.

Publisher, reviewers, board, and editorial colleagues

Much gratitude is extended to our editorial and production colleagues at Taylor & Francis Group who have supported the journal during its 2019 production including Ian White, Associate Editorial Director; Jennifer Paul, Managing Editor; Kristen Brida, former Editorial Assistant; Production Staff Members: Jason Jones, Production Manager; Carl Rejalde, Production Editor; and, Zachary Ayres, Peer Review Coordinator; and members of the Marketing staff.

The CCJRP’s peer review processes rely on colleagues who generously give their time and expertise to review manuscripts. This is sometimes viewed as a thankless job since authors never receive information about who provided excellent reviewer feedback. We are grateful to each reviewer for your tireless dedication to the peer review processes that are so important to the success of the Community College Journal of Research and Practice. Thankfully, in 2019, the CCJRP enjoyed a 21% increase in volunteer reviewers from 2018. Thirty-seven volunteer reviewers contributed their professional feedback, sometimes offering multiple reviews on manuscripts after the author’s revisions. Our 2019 reviewers were: Ronald Baker, Patricia Boyer, Deborah Casey, Yu Chen, Marlena Coco, Rebecca Cox, Kayla Elliott, Regina Garza Mitchell, Uttam Gaulee, Michael Hoggatt, Xiaodan Hu, Mohammad Ilyas, Dimitra Jackson-Smith, Stephen Johnson, Maria Luna-Torres, Christine Mokher, Miguel Montañez, Kelly Perez-Vergara, Joshua Pretlow, Barbara Rodriguez, Emily Sacks, Gary Santos Mendoza, Douglas Smith, Robin Spaid, Soko Starobin, Verlindsey Stewart, Jeannette Sullivan, Ethan Swingle, Tenisha Tevis, David Tomanio, Richard Torraco, Ashley Tull, Xueli Wang, David Weerts, Di Xu, Louise Yarnall, and María-Jose Zeledón. Thanks to all these reviewers for their expert service during the 2019 volume year.

The CCJRP Editorial Board which is comprised of a diverse group of 43 United States and international professionals provides valuable insights to our editorial team and the publisher. The board gathers annually for a formal meeting, while also generously sharing their expert contributions throughout the calendar year.

At the end of 2019, two board members, Josh M. Beach and Linda Hagedorn will complete their service to the CCJRP and I offer my profound gratitude for their contributions. I am pleased to announce Andre Diez de Aux and Elvira Abrica have agreed to serve as our two newest board members, beginning with the 2020 volume year. During my trip to Australia, earlier this year, I had the pleasure of meeting with Andre Diez de Aux, TAFE Directors Australia, to discuss potential engagement of our international colleagues. To our 41 Editorial Board members, thank you for giving generously of your expert service and time in 2019.

I am pleased that the following board members will continue through 2020: Marilyn Amey, Derrick Barbee, Sim Barhoum, Susan Bickerstaff, George Boggs, E. Allen Bottorff II, Kimberly Burns, John E. Cech, Brent Cejda, Matthew Connell, Katherine Conway, Gloria Crisp, Mark D’Amico, Paulette Dalpes, Pamela Eddy, Janice N. Friedel, David Goomas, Cliff Harbor, Ghazala Hashmi, Deryl Hatch-Tocaimaza, Susan Holmes, David Horton, Philo Hutcheson, Christos Korgan, Amanda Latz, Joyce Lui, Pat Maslin-Ostrowski, Lyle McKinney, Delores McNair, Dan Morris, Christopher M. Mullin, Khang Duy Nguyen, Terry O’Banion, C. Casey Ozaki, Karen Pain, Dolores Perin, Rosalind Latiner Raby, Cristobal Salinas Jr., Tod Treat, Kristin Wilson, and Yi “Leaf” Zhang.

In addition to our Editorial Board and volunteer reviewers, during 2019 three professional colleagues served as specialized editors and deserve a heartfelt thanks. Beverly Bower has provided excellent contributions as Book Review Editor over the years, and it is with great personal fondness and the deepest respect and gratitude that I announce her retirement as the CCJRP Book Review Editor. We welcome applications and nominations for the new Book Review Editor position. Cynthia Wilson, Exchange Editor, has worked tirelessly to recruit, review and edit succinct manuscripts for the Exchange section. Finally, Cristobal Salinas Jr., the CCJRP Editor of Social Media, has done an excellent job of establishing a social media presence for the CCJRP and assisting published authors with promotion of their papers.

After much consideration of the past decade’s contribution to community college scholarship and looking toward the future and beyond, I am extremely thankful to the CCJRP’s contributing authors, volunteer reviewers, board members, editorial staff colleagues, publishing team, and readers for their continued support.

Concluding thoughts

I am blessed to work with an exceptional editorial team of colleagues at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). During much of 2019, I enjoyed a faculty sabbatical, which included travel, studying, reflection and writing. No doubt, I could not have completed this sabbatical and retained my role as Editor-in-Chief without a superb editorial team at FAU. Gianna Ramdin recently completed her Ph.D. (congratulations!) and was promoted to Associate Editor. I am pleased that our newest team member, Lazaro Camacho, Jr., FAU doctoral candidate, has joined us as our Editorial Assistant. Together, they have worked tirelessly to ensure that submissions moved with integrity through our peer reviewing processes, our copy deadlines were met, authors received timely communications and our production deadlines were met.

Finally, looking back to the 1970s when I was in college and assumed my first community college administrative position, the year 2020 seemed so distant at the time; yet, 2020 is here today. As I prepare for 2020 by reflecting and rereading classic futurists’ books and past CCJRP issues, I am reminded of how we are all challenged with change as we embrace opportunities to make a difference. In 2020, it is an honor, indeed, to begin my ninth year as Editor-in-Chief of this fine scholarly journal that is dedicated to documenting research and practice about community colleges. To all who have contributed to the success of the CCJRP – thank you. To those who want to shape our future and make a difference, I invite you to do just that by your volunteer involvement as an author, reviewer, and reader of the Community College Journal of Research and Practice.