Graduation date: 2006
The community college, now over 100 years old, began with the singular mission of preparing students for transfer to the university. Throughout the 20th century, the community college has expanded its missions to serve increasingly complex and comprehensive community needs. Through a textual analysis of community engagement within seven seminal texts on the community college written at different times during the past century, the study reexamined the evolution of community college mission. The result was an increased appreciation of the community college as a unique social institution that contributed to the development of democracy in America through a history of community engagement, commitment to access, and multiple missions.