In The Know With Acct

Welcome to Season 3 of In The Know with ACCT. This is the first in a month-long series of episodes that deals with safeguarding colleges, in observance of National Campus Safety Month. This episode features an interview with Dr. Brenda Hellyer, Chancellor of San Jacinto College in Houston, who discusses the impact of 2017's hurricane Harvey on the San Jacinto College community.  Click for more information on the roles of community college board members in dealing with natural disasters.

Congress is poised to pass a new federal budget. It's expected the budget will include large increases which means increases for higher education spending. Listen to learn more about the budget and appropriations process and which community college programs are likely to receive more federal funding.

In this episode, ACCT Educational Events Director Christina Simons tells you what you need to know about the upcoming 50th Annual ACCT Leadership Congress. The event will feature over 100 peer-to-peer educational sessions, provocative keynote addresses and much more. Register before the August 9 discount period ends. Contact Christina at csimons@acct.org.

Your representatives in Congress are coming home for the summer. Learn how to organize summer advocacy visits and tools to build relationships with your elective officials.

Learn more about the U.S. Department of Education’s experimental site initiatives on Federal Work Study and Second Chance Pell and how your institution may participate.

What is the difference between the budget process and appropriations? In this episode of Need to Know, Allison Beer and Jennifer Stiddard explain the current federal higher education appropriations process and proposals for funding increases. For more information, visit acct.org and now.acct.org. 

In this episode, Jacob Bray closes season 2 with information about the summer schedule, and the 2019 Congress and GLI's.  Stayed tuned for Need To Know episodes from Allison Beer and Jennifer Stiddard over the summer.  We'll be back with regularly scheduled episodes in September. Thank you all for your continued support, and remember to contact us with ideas for future episodes. Sincerely, The ACCT Podcast Team  

This episode of In The Know is about the value of humanities in a community college education. Director of Strategic Communications David Conner and Associate Writer Jacob Bray interview Julia Nguyen, Senior Program Officer at the National Endowment for the Humanities. Julia oversees the Humanities Initiatives at Community Colleges Grants. For more information about the grant, which Julia encourages all community colleges to apply for, visit https://www.neh.gov/grants/education/humanities-initiatives-community-colleges.

In this episode of Need to Know, Allison Beer and Jennifer Stiddard discuss child care for community college students and resources for colleges to offer programs. Listen to learn about this year's application for the federal Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) grant program.

On today’s episode of In The Know, ACCT Assessment Specialist Semhar Abed, Director of Educational Services Colleen Allen, and Director of Communications David Conner interview Doctor DeRionne Pollard, President of Montgomery College in Maryland. Community colleges tend to be exceptionally diverse places. This diversity has tremendous value, but it also means that trustees and presidents need to be aware of the wide variety of challenges that students and prospective students face. This conversation focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion. ACCT's Equity Action Agenda was developed to guide community college boards and presidents in creating a more diverse, inclusive and equitable institutional culture. It can be downloaded here. Read more about the Equity Action Agenda in our Trustee Quarterly interview with former ACCT Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee member and former Montgomery College Trustee Ben Wu.

This episode of In The Know covers students’ roles in advocacy. This episode is the second half of a presentation recorded at the Community College National Legislative Summit, the annual event at which community college leaders gather in Washington, D.C. to meet with their federal legislators to advocate on behalf of their institutions and students.   Rosie O’Neill, an ACCT Board Member and Northern Virginia Community College Trustee, moderated the session, and Rich Williams, Officer for the Project on Student Borrower Success at the Pew Charitable Trust and Stephen Parker, Director of Policy and Advocacy for Education and Workforce Issues at the National Governors Association, also spoke, along with a number of students.  For more information about the National Legislative Summit, visit NLS.acct.org.

In this episode, Allison Beer and Jennifer Stiddard discuss important updates to federal and state financial aid. They discuss the impact of recently re-introduced federal bills to expand Pell Grant eligibility for short-term programs and for incarcerated students, and findings from new research about state funding for higher education.

This episode of In The Know covers the students’ role in advocacy. This episode was recorded at our National Legislative Summit before the students you will hear today went to Capitol Hill to advocate for themselves and their institutions.  Rosie O’Neill, an ACCT Board Member and Northern Virginia Community College Trustee, moderated the session, and Rich Williams, Officer for the Project on Student Borrower Success at the Pew Charitable Trust and Stephen Parker, Director of Policy and Advocacy for Education and Workforce Issues at the National Governors Association, also spoke, along with a number of students.  This is part one of a two part episode. 

During March, the White House released a set of policy proposals for higher education. In this episode, ACCT Senior Policy Analyst Allison Beer and Director of Government Relations Jennifer Stiddard discuss the White House’s higher education budget; recommendations for the Higher Education Act; and Executive Order on free speech, transparency, and accountability. Listen to learn about the White House’s priorities and the potential impact for community colleges.

This episode of In The Know features ACCT Director of GISS and Special Projects Norma Goldstein talking with Karla Leach, President of Western Wyoming Community College and members of her board, about presidential transitions. They discuss how the institution and board are planning for President Leach to retire, and how a new president will be welcomed.         

In this episode of In The Know, ACCT director of GISS and Special Projects Norma Goldstein talks with Julia Kennedy, who works in the funding agency for New Zealand’s Tertiary Education Commission—in this case, "tertiary education" is synonymous with post-secondary education in the United States. New Zealand may seem like world away, you’ll find that there are a lot of similarities between U.S. and Kiwi systems, and a lot to learn. If you have any questions about this conversation, podcast ideas, or questions for our team, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. If we can, we’ll answer your questions on air!

This episode is part two of a two part series about the College Promise. This panel, featuring Martha Kanter, Director of the College Promise Campaign, Zakiya Smith Ellis, Secretary of Higher Education of New Jersey, Bernie Rhinerson, San Diego Community College District Trustee, and F. King Alexander, President of the Louisiana State University, was part of a series of In The Know forums recorded at our annual congress last October. 

This episode is part one of a two part series about the College Promise. This panel, featuring Martha Kanter, Director of the College Promise Campaign, Zakiya Smith Ellis, Secretary of Higher Education for the State of New Jersey, Bernie Rhinerson, San Diego Community College District Trustee, and F. King Alexander, President of the Louisiana State University, was part of a series of In The Know forums recorded at our annual congress last October. Part two will be available next week. 

This episode features ACCT Senior Policy Analyst Allison Beer, Harper College President Ken Ender, and San Jacinto College Chancellor Brenda Hellyer discussing different apprenticeship program models profiled in our new report, called "Apprenticeships: An Emerging Community College Strategy for Workforce Development." This project is supported by Strada Education Network. ACCT is solely responsible for its content; the views expressed in the report and in this podcast do not necessarily reflect those of Strada Education Network or its affiliates. 

In this episode of In The Know, ACCT Senior Policy Analyst Allison Beer talks with Louisiana Community and Technical College System President Dr. Monty Sullivan about the underrepresentation of rural males in higher education.  This conversation is in connection with an issue brief ACCT recently released on rural males in higher education.