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Bringing the Community College Baccalaureate into
Focus
By Sean A. Fanelli
When I'm not wearing my hat as president of Nassau Community
College (NCC), one of my hobbies is photography. My favorite subjects
are landscapes. When photographing a landscape, there are many points
and places upon which to focus, and each has its own beauty and value.
Bringing one point of interest into clear focus is the aim of every
photographer, but in doing so, one must also consider the depth of
field—the clarity of both the foreground and background of the
focal point.
In the landscape of higher education, access is central
to the community college. An essential element of the mission of
community colleges is to provide access to a high-quality higher
education to the residents of the county or region in which the colleges
reside. In areas that also are served by four-year colleges, a community
college can fulfill this mission by limiting itself to being an
entrée point to higher education. The community college student,
upon receiving an associate degree, figuratively moves down the road to
the four-year institution, where he or she pursues a baccalaureate
degree. . . .
Excerpted from the winter 2007 issue of The
Presidency. To subscribe to the magazine, please call (301) 632-6757,
or order online through ACE’s
bookstore.
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