Made for Our Times: Mobility, Vibrancy, and the Next 123 Years of the Community College Movement

A dark blue gradient graphic with a white border and the ED cap logo in the bottom right corner. White, bold text reads; "Made for our times: Mobility, vibrancy, and the next 123 years of the community college movement"

By Pam Eddinger, President, Bunker Hill Community College

During my 11 years at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, Massachusetts, I have received many visits from global educators curious about the uniquely American phenomenon of the Community College. In our exchanges, we inevitably observe that we are a place that prepares individuals for the future of work, particularly those from communities traditionally marginalized by the higher education system. In the almost 123 years since our movement’s founding in Joliet, Illinois, community colleges have bridged the demand for educated workers as society advanced, from the agrarian to the industrial age and into the information age of today. We are ever-evolving, ever-adapting, and always made for our times.

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Community Colleges: Building Pathways to the Future

A purple gradient graphic with the ED logo in the bottom right corner. Bold white text reads, "Community Colleges: Building Pathways to the Future."

BY: Amy Loyd, ED.L.D., Assistant Secretary, OCTAE

The American postsecondary education system has seen many transformations, but none so democratic and revolutionary as the founding of the first community college in Joliet, Illinois in 1901. Then-president of the University of Chicago William Harper Rainey, and several other influential university presidents, were convinced that for America to grow and prosper, an accessible pathway was needed to open postsecondary education to all. As a result, community colleges were born.

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