35° 24' 15.4908" N, 77° 56' 51.8676" W

 

 

 

  Institutional Background

• Established in 1957
• This is during the 1950s and 1960s which saw expansion of community colleges such that most of the United States population would reside within 25 miles of a community college and an increase in local high school graduates enrolling in community colleges (Cohen, Brawer, & Kisker, 2014).

• Originally named Goldsboro Industrial Education Center; Renamed Goldsboro Technical Institute in 1964; then renamed Wayne Community College in 1967

• This is in-line with the typical community college focus of occupational education and follows the naming convention of original community colleges which are later renamed to reflect community college (Cohen, Brawer, & Kisker, 2014).

• Institutional extensions were established between 1963 and 1965 in Morehead City, Kenansville, and Clinton; these later became Carteret, James Sprunt, and Sampson community colleges
• Cohen, Brawer, and Kisker (2014) pointed out that "During the 1950s and 1960s, whenever a community college was established in a locale where there had been no publicly supported college, the proportion of high school graduates in that area who began college immediately increased, sometimes as much as 50 percent" (p. 17-18).

• Began with 47 students enrolled in four programs; now over 15,000 students enrolled in curriculum and non-curriculum
• This corresponds with Cohen, Brawer, and Kisker's (2014) noting community college rising enrollment, expansion of buildings, and expansion of program offerings during the past five decades.

• Mission:  "To meet the educational, training, and cultural needs of the communities it serves" (NC Community Colleges, 2016)
• This is broad and comprehensive as the institution takes on responsibility for many aspects of one's life (Cohen, Brawer, & Kisker, 2014).

• Website states Wayne Community College is "preparing students for promising careers" (Wayne Community College website, 2016)
• Use of the word promising speaks to credibility, professionalism, and possibly illusion (Cohen, Brawer, & Kisker, 2014).

• Website states Wayne Community College "also takes pride in its Associate in Arts and Associate in Science college transfer programs and its graduates who have a high success rate at four-year institutions" (Wayne community College website, 2016)
• This speaks to dualism:  Is the mission workforce development or college transfer? (Dougherty & Townsend, 2006).

• Wayne Community College demographics, Fall 2013 (nces.ed.gov):

• This is in-line with data of all community college students in which most are attending Part-time and most are Female.  From 2010 data of all community college students:  59% Part-time; 41% Full-time; 57% Female; 43% Male (Cohen, Brawer, & Kisker, 2014).

• This mirrors the race/ethnicity of the population of Wayne County, the county in which Wayne Community College is located.  In 2014, the population of Wayne County was:  63.6% White, 31.9% Black, 11.1 % Hispanic, 1.4% Asian, 0.8% American Indian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian, and 2.2% two or more races (US Census Bureau, 2016).
• It makes sense that most students (61%) are age 24 and under at Wayne Community College, as nearly 70% of students enter postsecondary institutions of some kind within a year of leaving high school (Cohen, Brawer, & Kisker, 2014).
• Additionally, it makes sense that most students (99%) are In-state residents, as those are the people a community college is typically serving; community colleges were strategically built to be within the reasonable commuting distance of 25 miles for 90-95% of a state's population (Cohen, Brawer, & Kisker, 2014).

• Enrollment declined from Fall 2014-15 to Fall 2015-16 (NC Community Colleges, 2016)
• This is expected to be due to economic improvement in which more people are going to work and fewer people are going back to school.

References

Cohen, A. M., Brawer, F. B., & Kisker, C. B.  (2014).  The American community college.  San Francisco, CA:  Jossey-Bass.

Dougherty, K. J., & Townsend, B. K.  (2006).  Community college missions:  A theoretical and historical perspective.  New Directions for Community Colleges, 136, 5-13. 

National Center for Education Statistics.  (2016).  CollegeNavigator:  Wayne Community College [data file].  Retrieved from:  http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=wayne+commnuity+college&s=all&id=199892

North Carolina Community Colleges.  (2016).  Statistical reports:  Curriculum student enrollment [data file].  Retrieved from:  http://www.nccommunitycolleges.edu/analytics/statistical-reports

United States Census Bureau.  (2016).  QuickFacts:  Wayne County, North Carolina [data file].  Retrieved from:  http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/POP010210/37191

Wayne Community College.  (2016).  [website].  Retrieved from:  http://www.waynecc.edu/