The urban community college: An overview

Urban community colleges have been studied primarily from a case study perspective, often highlighted by doctoral students conducting research at their institutions. Little of this scholarship, however, has been translated into the base of literature, as less than 5% of the citations in the largest search engines are focused on urban community colleges. The article begins by exploring what “urban” means, primarily using the complex and evolving definition from the US Census Bureau. Then it explores this case study research on urban community colleges' mission, organization, students, and faculty. The article concludes with a strong recommendation for identifying and making available rigorous data to guide a more systematic approach to studying urban community colleges.