Community College Leaders Gather and Share Advice for DEI Efforts

This weekend in New York City, thousands of community college representatives from across the nation gathered with the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), their first in-person convention since the pandemic.

Community college leaders gather to hear Dr. Michael Baston, Dr. Lawrence Rouse, and Dr. Willie Smith on Monday at the New York City Midtown Hilton.On Monday, two Black community college CEOs shared how they purposefully lead their institutions to create opportunity for those with less, and the president of Lone Star Community College, Kingwood (LSC-K), shared how her institution has completely changed its marketing to recruit, enroll, and retain Latinx students.

“As community college presidents, we have an awesome task, and I’m delighted to have that responsibility,” said Dr. Lawrence Rouse, president and CEO of Pitt Community College in Winterville, NC. “[The pandemic] was the greatest disruptor, in our lives but also in higher education for community colleges. We had to take a step back and look at how we reinvent what we do.”

Since the pandemic, Rouse said that Pitt discovered over 39,000 people in his community who had started a post-secondary credential at an institution but had not completed. Rouse and his colleagues are working to bring those individuals into their fold.

“[Those students] have a lot of things going on with them, food insecurity, childcare, sometimes a fear of coming back to a college environment if you weren’t successful before,” said Rouse.

Dr. Lawrence Rouse - President and CEO, Pitt Community College.Pitt converted a tiny house into what Rouse called a “mobile enrollment vehicle,” which is towed around the community to spread the word about Pitt.

“We go to churches, we go everywhere,” said Rouse. “We also have four mobile classrooms to do class on site in the community and give them a taste of, ‘You can do this.’”