Graduate and Continuing Education for Community College Leaders: What It Means Today New Directions for Community Colleges, Number 95 - J-B CC Single Issue Community Colleges

Graduate study of the community college constitutes a small butwell-established academic specialty. Its rise in the three decadesfollowing World War II paralleled the rapid establishment ofcommunity colleges during those years, testifying to the modernuniversity's atake in graduate education for the ever expanding andever more specialized professions. In he past two decades, theurgent need to fill administrative slots at a growing number ofcommunty colleges has subsided, bringing to the fore fundamentalquestions about the intellectual purpose and academic integrity ofgraduate preparation programs for community college leaders.Program establishment and growth are no longer their ownjustification, and commentators have called for a reexamination ofgraduate curricula focusing on cummunity college education. Thisissue initiates the reexamination process, and the chapters providecritical perspectives on the current status of community collegeeducation as an academic specialty. The vitality and utility ofthis academic specialty will depend on a continued dialogue anddebate about intellectual purpose and professorial roles. This isthe 95th issue in the journal series New Directions forCommunity Colleges.