Community Colleges and the Future of the Humanities

In New Hampshire, the public community college and university systems have historically had little to do with each other. In the past decade, and especially the past year, this has begun to change. In this session, we describe our efficient, successful method for developing program pathways and articulations between the University of New Hampshire and the Community College System of New Hampshire. Rather than establishing articulations through legislative fiat, an approach that can leave students prepared to transfer on paper but woefully underprepared in practice, faculty from each institution came together to co-author shared academic standards to great effect, as we are already launching full 2+2, 8-semester program maps in various majors, helping students make as seamless a transition from community college to university as possible. An added benefit of the shared effort is the building of relationships of trust and understanding between faculty that will sustain and deepen our institutional partnerships over time. This work is supported by the Mellon Foundation, which awarded the Community College System of New Hampshire and the University of New Hampshire a grant to establish the New Hampshire Humanities Collaborative. This is the first grant the Foundation has made to a community college system.