In late 2025, staff at the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) reached out to directors of community college leadership doctoral programs at colleges and universities across the country with a request: Send us the best research from a recent class of doctoral graduates.
The goal is to give readers a glimpse into the research that rising community college leaders have conducted to better understand and advance the sector.
Download the publication here (PDF) to read the doctoral graduates’ abstracts. Links to their full dissertations are provided below.
Full Dissertations
Policies and Best Practices in Addressing Digital Equity Gaps: A Multisite Case Study of Leaders Within a Community College System
by Vicki Bowman Calfa, Ed.D.
Structural Empowerment and Employee-Driven Innovation in a Community College: Faculty and Professional Staff Perspectives on Organizational Conditions for Innovation
by Samantha Brooke Croft, Ph.D.
Black Community College Students with Nonapparent Disabilities: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study Exploring Self-Advocacy
by Vanessa Hall Powell, Ed.D.
Exploring Faculty Engagement and Transfer Student Capital in AAS Degree Pathways
by Erica Harper, Ph.D.
Assessment as Sensemaking: Community College Faculty Chair Perspectives
by Andrew Neuendorf, Ed.D.
Responding to California Community College Enrollment Decline: A Grounded Theory Model to Add a Chief Enrollment Management Officer
by Daniel James Predoehl, Ed.D.
“A Lift-Up, Not a Handout”: Exploring the Impact of Resource Scarcity and Emergency Microgrants on Community College Students
by Heather Weinstein, Ed.D.
The Silent Heroes: Exploring the Perspectives and Experiences of Military Spouses Within the Community College Transfer Process
by Jennifer Wisely, Ed.D.