PAC President Speaks to Hechinger Fellows

Dr. Ana M. “Cha” Guzmán, Palo Alto College president, highlighted a nationwide panel of community college administrators that provided analysis and insight to members of the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media’s Fellowship Program, in New York City Oct. 1.

Championing increased coverage of community colleges by media outlets throughout the country, Dr. Guzmán urged the six Hechinger Institute Fellows and nine associates to pursue stories and file reports on the critical role community colleges perform in providing access and opportunities to a wide range of students seeking to achieve their goals in higher education.

Joining Dr. Guzmán on the panel were Dr. Richard Carpenter, Chancellor of the North Harris Montgomery Community College District (Houston); Dr. William Law Jr., President of Tallahassee Community College (Fla.); and Dr. Regina S. Peruggi, President of Kingsborough Community College, a College of The City University of New York.

According to a Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media press release, the six Fellows and their projects are:

o Gloria Padilla, San Antonio Express-News: Minorities in Texas community colleges.
o Greg Bolt, (Eugene, Ore.) Register-Guard: Nursing, health and technical training at community colleges.
o Rita Giordano, Philadelphia Inquirer: Following students enrolled in the Gateway program at Community College of Philadelphia.
o Mary Beth Marklein, USA Today: National analysis of community colleges, with state-by-state comparisons.
o Nancy Rodriguez, (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal: Problems with transferring from community colleges to four-year college.
o Wick Sloane, Inside Higher Ed and “Here and Now," WBUR-FM in Boston: Community college funding issues.

The nine associate fellows are: Ana Alaya, (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger; Mark Harper, Daytona Beach (Fla.) News-Journal; Diane Knich, (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier; Matthew Krupnick, Contra Costa (Calif.) Times; Chad Livengood, Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot; Matthew Miller, Lansing (Mich.) State Journal; Janet Okoben, Cleveland Plain Dealer; Marsha Sills, (Lafayette, La.) Daily Advertiser; and Susan Simpson, The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman.

The Fellowship is designed to give journalists the support and encouragement needed to report in-depth on issues related to community colleges. For the next four months the 15 journalists will meet with experts, discuss their projects with other journalists, conduct research and visit local colleges. In February 2008, the journalists will return to New York City to discuss their projects with each other and talk about what they have learned.