UNT co-sponsors 100-year commemoration of community colleges

Career changes and financial considerations often require people to return to college to train for another job or update their skills. Community colleges help address those needs.

But projections show that within the next five years one-third to one-half of all community college educators will leave or retire from their jobs.

"A Century of Community Colleges in America: Challenges Past, Present and Future" was the theme for a national community college education conference last month in Las Colinas that commemorated 100 years of community college education in the United States.

UNT's Bill J. Priest Center for Community College Education was one of several sponsors of the event.

George Boggs, the new president of the American Association of Community Colleges, delivered the keynote address, "Current Challenges to Community College Core Values." The conference covered leadership development and transfer and teacher education.

Conference attendee Pat Moeck, a UNT education major, is working to give back to the community college system. After high school, she attended a four-year college, but her grades were not satisfactory. She then attended a community college,went on to earn a bachelor's degree and eventually taught in public schools. Community colleges again played an educational role for Moeck when she decided to update her skills in medical terminology while working in a doctor's office. She later received her master of business administration degree.

Currently, Moeck serves as medical assistant program director at El Centro and Mountain View community colleges in Dallas. She is also pursuing a doctoral degree focusing on community college education at UNT's College of Education.

"I was born to have this degree," says Moeck. "It will make me a stronger advocate and a better role model for my students. When I watch my students walk across the stage at graduation, I know that they have become powerful, capable individuals who will make a positive contribution to society."

BY CATHERINE CASHIO ccashio@unt.edu

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