By Shannon Venezia. Despite its name, Washington State Community College is located not in Washington State but in the historic town of Marietta, Ohio. The closest small city is Parkersburg, W.Va. The closest large city is Columbus, Ohio, more than two hours to the northwest. Our beautiful five-building campus sits on 150 acres. Our enrollment is roughly 1,700, and we serve a unique population: rural students. More...

By Sarah Pingel. Can an institution’s commitments to access and diversity be quantified? And how are those commitments expressed in financial-aid policies?
Those are the difficult questions that the access and diversity committee of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators has been considering this past year. More...

By John Warner. This past semester I had one of my most, let’s call it interesting, challenges of my teaching career. My first year writing course was paired with a second semester Biology course as part of a Learning Community, which is part of College of Charleston’s First Year Experience, a program like those on many other campuses designed to put a small cohort of students in a seminar format in order to provide an engaging academic experience, as well as a peer support system for outside the classroom. It's a great program, and I'm a huge believer in its mission. Read more...