July 22, 2026
Congratulations to Metropolitan Community College in Nebraska, which has had four Workforce Pell programs approved by the governor only one week into the launch: pharmacy tech, phlebotomy, CompTIA, and commercial driver’s license. To add your college’s progress on Workforce Pell, please take 1 minute to respond to three brief questions here. We hope to gather some best practices in Workforce Pell and share them with all members
Leadership formation is one of the concepts that emerged from last year’s Leadership Design Lab and informed this year’s reimagined President’s Academy Summer Institute (PASI) held in Asheville, North Carolina. I’m grateful to long-time college president Randy VanWagoner of Mohawk Valley Community College for his insightful reflections on what was new about this experience. I’m also grateful for the hospitality of A-B Tech, which hosted us for tours of their Advanced Manufacturing Center and the Culinary Arts Program.
A Workforce Pell webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, July 29, and will feature representatives from the National Council for Workforce Education, the Louisiana Community and Technical College System and New America, along with AACC staff.
For colleges supporting the journey of student parents, a new report by the Urban Institute captures what single mothers report they need most. I will be joining an event with the Jeramiah Program today to discuss the report, adding the perspective of higher education and economic mobility to the landscape of single parenthood. For colleges concerned about enrollment and success rates of male students, an additional report on trends surrounding males is out from Public Agenda.
Finally, a new report from the Community College Research Center and the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program examines lessons from 10 community colleges participating in their Unlocking Opportunity network. Report highlights are available here.
As AI’s implications for the labor market, student preparation, and civic engagement continue to unfold, the most nuanced approach to this dynamic may not be displacement, but integration. Yesterday’s Viewpoint in AACC’s Community College Daily struck just the right balance. As we are inundated with forecasting about AI’s impact, I encourage us all to take a step back and think about AI proficiency as a skill set. Humans are still the drivers, but with an increasingly powerful tool at our disposal. Thank you to Dr. Muddassir Siddiqi, president of College of DuPage, for capturing this concept eloquently.