Free Highlights

THE DRIVE TO COMPLETE

States that need workers with more education are trying to get adults to finish the two-year or four-year degree programs they abandoned long ago. Educators and state officials met in Lexington, Ky., this month (above) to kick off the state's Adult Learner Initiative. (Photograph by Charles Bertram)

Selected Articles (For Chronicle Subscribers)

ROOM AT THE TOP: While women represent a growing share of senior campus administrators, members of racial minorities make up a much smaller proportion. Community colleges, a study found, are good places to tap Hispanic leadership candidates.

AID ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK: Under President Bush's 2009 budget, a $69 increase in the maximum Pell Grant would be paid for by cutting other programs, including Perkins Loans.

THE ROLE OF POLITICS: Because of their stand on a controversial immigration measure, appointees to the board that oversees California's community colleges were not confirmed.

GAY MARRIAGES COUNT: A New York appellate court has ruled that Monroe Community College should not have denied health benefits to a lesbian employee's partner.

THE SOUNDS OF SEATTLE: A community college starts an online project to preserve the history of local radio.

THE POLITICAL IS PERSONAL: Adult students at LaGuardia Community College and other campuses of the City University of New York say life experience has shaped their electoral choices this year.

Community-College Supplement

DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS: Two competing visions of education help explain the tension between jobs and ideas that all community colleges grapple with, M. Garrett Bauman writes.

NEW MATH: Some colleges are trying new ways to move students more quickly and smoothly through remedial math.

CAMPUS TREASURE: Instructors at City College of San Francisco make the college's Diego Rivera mural an everyday part of the curriculum.

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK: In rural areas, arts programs at colleges provide a rich diet for culture-starved residents.

12 TEACHING TIPS: Community-college instructors offer ideas for the classroom.

GOOD CITIZENSHIP: Most community-college leaders give little thought to the role their colleges play in their communities, George B. Vaughan says.

NONTRADITIONAL LEARNERS: Colleges are not keeping up with changes in the way adults pursue their education, says Charlene R. Nunley.

SCARCE INFORMATION: Students need to know much more about how to transfer to four-year institutions, Stephen J. Handel writes.

BOILING POINT: Bob Blaisdell reflects on the day he lost it in front of his students.

A SPECIAL ROLE: Rural community colleges are meeting the needs of a changing and increasingly diverse population, Stephen G. Katsinas says.

INFLUENCE OVERSEAS: Community colleges can play an important role in fostering world peace, writes David J. Smith.

CLASSROOM OBSESSIONS: Charlotte Laws says that too many instructors emphasize grades and attendance, to the detriment of creativity and responsibility.

CHALLENGES OF POVERTY: Kathleen Sheerin DeVore says it is her job to help students complete their assignments amid the chaos of their lives.

ATTENTION BILLIONAIRES: Big donors should consider giving to community colleges if they really want to help the nation's students, writes Catherine Stukel.