Public community colleges in the United States enroll approximately 6 million students, about 45 percent of all undergraduates. These students are taught by nearly four hundred thousand full- and part-time faculty members, about whom little is known. The community college professoriate is truly overlooked in the research on postsecondary faculty. When community college faculty are studied, they are often examined through lenses more appropriate for four-year faculty. This volume provides a broad overview of community college faculty: who they are, what they do, and what factors affect their career and work. The authors also analyze community college teaching as a profession in an effort to take a fresh look at community college faculty and their work. The goal is to make all readers come to view community college faculty members as colleague making a distinct contribution to their students and to faculty work. Such an understanding is critical in the current policy environment that values postsecondary education for everyone and sees the community college as a major venue for providing that education. This is the 6th issue of the 32nd volume of the Jossey-Bass series ASHE Higher Education. Each monograph in the series is the definitive analysis of a tough higher education problem, based on thorough research of pertinent literature and institutional experiences. Topics are identified by a national survey. Noted practitioners and scholars are then commissioned to write the reports, with experts providing critical reviews of each manuscript before publication.

While teaching occupies the primary role of faculty members in community colleges, the question remains: To what extent are community college faculty members engaged in research and scholarship? This issue focuses on: the types of research and scholarship performed by community college faculty, the forces that foster or impede the engagement of community college faculty members in research and scholarship, specific examples of community college faculty scholarship that demonstrate the value of this work to the institution and to larger society, and policies and practices at the institutional, local, and state level that support engagement in research and scholarship. This is the 171st volume of this Jossey-Bass quarterly report series. Essential to the professional libraries of presidents, vice presidents, deans, and other leaders in today's open-door institutions, New Directions for Community Colleges provides expert guidance in meeting the challenges of their distinctive and expanding educational mission.

This issue offers multiple perspectives on the ways community college faculty fulfill their complex roles. The first chapters draw on data from national surveys to provide a broad overview of the contemporary community college professoriate. Chapter authors also focus on community college faculty's central responsibility: teaching. The volume next examines the practices and attitudes of particular groups of instructors, including part-timers, female faculty, and faculty of color. The concluding chapters explore faculty professional development, the formation of community within the community colleges, and the development of the professoriate as a profession. This is the 118th issue of the Jossey-Bass series New Directions for Community Colleges.

John S. Levin, Susan T. Kater, and Richard L. Wagoner collectively argue that as community colleges organize themselves to respond to economic needs and employer demands, and as they rely more heavily upon workplace efficiencies such as part-time labor, they turn themselves into businesses or corporations and threaten their social and educational mission.

Dealing with issues relating to creating and maintaining a diverse faculty at the community college level, this collection of articles focuses on African-American and Hispanic faculty and presents both theoretical and practical considerations for administrators and scholars. The following articles are included: (1) "The Status of Faculty in Community Colleges: What Do We Know?" by Deborah J. Carter; (2) "African American Faculty in Community Colleges: Why They Aren't There," by William B. Harvey; (3) "California Community College Faculty from Historically Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Groups," by Dorothy M. Knoell; (4) "Achieving Diversity among Community College Faculty," by Freddie W. Nicholas, Sr., and Arnold R. Oliver; (5) "Effective Strategies for Enhancing Minority Faculty Recruitment and Retention," by Ronald D. Opp and Albert B. Smith; (6) "Bridging the Gap: Recruitment and Retention of Minority Faculty Members," by Jerry Sue Owens, Frank W. Reis, and Kathryn M. Hall; (7) "Recruitment and Retention of Minority Faculty," by Piedad F. Robertson and Ted Frier; (8) "Minority Faculty Recruitment and Retention Strategies: The Maricopa Experience," by Alfredo G. de los Santos, Jr.; (9) "Critical Perspectives on Community College Education," by James Valadez; and (10) "Sources and Information: Recruiting and Maintaining Minority Faculty," by Frankie S. Laanan. (MAB)