Community College Leadership
The podcast interviews below—part of Diverse: Issues in Higher Education’s "In The Margins" series—are with higher education leaders and focus on themes that are essential for community college student success: the importance of setting high expectations, the necessity of race-centered equity initiatives, and the power of strong community ties.
Dr. Eboni Zamani-Gallaher
Former Director of the Office for Community College Research and Leadership
“Community colleges have long been at the margins of the larger discourse, seeking to do the most with the least for those in society that are often most marginalized.”
Dr. Phillip W. Neal
President and CEO, Southcentral Kentucky Community & Technical College
“When you believe in people and you set high expectations, they will rise to the occasion. And every student has some different challenges or strengths in life, and we've got to be there to help them along, but if you don't set the bar high for people, achievable but high, they don't think you believe in them.”
Dr. Robert Garza
President, Palo Alto College
“As a community college, you have to be nimble and really swim through the river, I guess you could say, and every now and then, you're gonna get hit by a wave and just be able to pivot.”
Dr. Pam Eddinger
President, Bunker Hill Community College
“What else do we have to do for student engagement in order to level the playing field, to restore the privilege of our students of color, of our immigrant students, of the students outside the system in order to pull them into the system and give them what they need to succeed in the world.”