About the Center
The Center for the Study of Community Colleges was established in 1974 by The American Community College authors Arthur Cohen and Florence Brawer along with John Lombardi, former superintendent of the Los Angeles Community College District, in order to conduct original research pertaining to community college policy and practice.
Directors
Since 2006, the Center has been led by a national board of community college scholars,
including four permanent and two ex officio directors.
Richard L. Wagoner
President
Dr. Wagoner is associate professor of higher education at Idaho State University. His research focuses on community college policy and practice, organizational change in higher education, and faculty issues. He holds a B. A. in English from the University of Utah, a M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction from Westminster College,
and a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Arizona.
Dr. Wagoner is co-author of
Community College Faculty:
At Work in the New Economy
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2006 and 2011), written with John S. Levin
and Susan T. Kater.
Carrie B. Kisker
Secretary & Treasurer
Dr. Kisker is president of Kisker Education Consulting in Los Angeles, California. She holds a B.A. in psychology and education from Dartmouth College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in higher education from the
University of California, Los Angeles.
Dr. Kisker is author of The American Community College (Jossey-Bass, 7th ed., 2023), with Arthur M. Cohen and
Florence B. Brawer, Creating
Entrepreneurial Community Colleges,
A Design Thinking Approach (Harvard Education Press, 2021), and the forthcoming third edition of The Shaping of American Higher Education: Emergence and Growth
of the Contemporary System
(Jossey-Bass, 2024) with Arthur M. Cohen.
James C. Palmer
Board Member
Dr. Palmer is professor emeritus of higher education at Illinois State University and former director the Grapevine project, which tracks state tax appropriations for higher education. He holds a B.A. in English and German from Pacific University and an M.L.S. in library science and Ph.D. in higher education from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Dr. Palmer is author of numerous publications, including Financing Community Colleges: Where We Are, Where We're Going (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015) with Richard M. Romano.
Susan T. Kater
Board Member
Dr. Kater is associate professor of higher education at Idaho State University. For 30 years, she worked in a variety of community college administrative roles, including as special assistant to the chancellor of the Maricopa Community Colleges and associate vice chancellor of institutional research. Her research focuses on faculty work and shared governance. She holds a B.S. in education from Baylor University,
an M.S. in exercise physiology, and a
Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Arizona.
Dr. Kater is co-editor of Understanding Community Colleges (Routledge, 2013 and 2018), with John S. Levin, and co-author of
Community College Faculty:
At Work in the New Economy
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2006 and 2011), with
John S. Levin and Richard L. Wagoner.
J. Luke Wood
Board Member, Ex Officio
Dr. J. Luke Wood is president of Sacramento State University. He previously spent more than 20 years at San Diego State University, where he was vice president of student affairs and campus diversity, chief diversity officer, and a distinguished professor of education. Dr. Wood holds a B.A. and M.A. from Sacramento State University, as well as an M.A. and Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy from Arizona State University.
Dr. Wood is author of 16 books and more than 180 publications. His research focuses on racial inequality in education, particularly community colleges. In 2012 Dr. Wood co-founded the Community College Equity Assessment Lab (CCEAL), a research and practice center aimed at reducing equity gaps between students of color and their peers. As president of the Council for the Study of Community Colleges, Dr. Wood serves in an ex officio capacity.
Gloria Crisp
Board Member, Ex Officio
Dr. Gloria Crisp is professor of adult and higher education at Oregon State University. Her scholarship seeks to identify practices and policies that can reduce inequities in transfer and college outcomes for students who attend community colleges and broadly accessible bachelor's granting institutions. Dr. Crisp holds a B.B.A. in marketing and an M.A. in psychology from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, as well as an Ed.D. in higher education from the University of Houston.
Dr. Crisp is co-editor of Unlocking Opportunity through Broadly Accessible Institutions (Routledge, 2022) with Kevin R. McClure and Cecilia M. Orphan.
As past president of the Council for the Study of Community Colleges, Dr. Crisp serves in an ex officio capacity.