Link to Medium

After joining a team of wonderful researchers and scholar-practitioners in the Postsecondary Career and Technical Education (CTE) Research Fellowship at North Carolina State University, sponsored by the ECMC Foundation, each fellow was asked to provide a list of preferred mentors to help guide us through the fellowship program. There were so many scholars that I wanted to list—I honestly didn’t know where to start. After some follow-up questions about the mentoring program and its expectations, it was made clear that our fellowship PIs and coordinators would do everything possible to secure our top choice(s) of a mentor. I was excited. Not only was this fellowship providing a solid opportunity to create and share research about bridging critical gaps in the area of postsecondary CTE, but we were also given the opportunity to receive guidance from one of the great researchers in our areas of interest. As an aspiring researcher in postsecondary education, I jumped at the opportunity to aim high with my mentor selection.

I remember reading the email from NC State that I had been matched with John Fink, Senior Research Associate at the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University. I was so grateful for this mentor match. As someone who believes strongly in community college student success and eliminating significant barriers to transfer and baccalaureate completion, John Fink and I shared very similar research interests. I remember citing John many times throughout my graduate work at UNC Charlotte, and to think that now I would be able to learn from him one-on-one was a real treat.
We had our first virtual meeting shortly after the inaugural fellowship institute that was held in Toronto prior to AERA’s 2019 conference. John was so easy to talk with, and he made me feel like I’d known him for years. We shared information about ourselves, our families and children, and professional and scholarly aspirations. It was a mutual feeling that we were both very excited about this year-long partnership, and this mentoring aspect made me feel even more fortunate to be able to participate in this fellowship program. We reviewed the mentoring handbook provided by the program, and I shared my project goals with him.

It didn’t take long for the two of us to go down a rabbit hole of research possibilities for bridging the gaps in CTE associate degree transfer, which is the topic of my project for this fellowship, and my dissertation topic. John was very helpful as I worked to refine and reframe my dissertation research questions to align more closely with the purpose of the project. One of the things that strongly resonated with me during one of our conversations was John’s advice to keep things clear, meaningful, and practical for the purpose of reaching a wider audience of community college leaders, practitioners, and scholars. We had a conversation about statistical methods, and that, while complex and advanced statistical methods were extremely important in the field, one should never lose the ability to explain and organize data analyses and results in a simple and practical way.

As any graduate student knows, sometimes finding the right sources can be challenging. Even in an underexplored area like CTE associate degree transfer, specifically focusing on the transfer of Associate in Applied Science degrees, I was still unsure if I had fully covered the depth of certain areas in the literature. John was eager to help, and gave me a number of significant and useful sources to add to my project. He also had me turn to our neighbor to the North, as the Canadian associate degree is an applied degree only, and there is a wealth of research in Canada on how to seamlessly transfer these applied associate degrees. John also provided some very solid reviews of literature on associate degree transfer. I was able to compare these with my own literature review to ensure major contributions to the knowledge base were covered.

During another virtual meeting, John and I had a robust discussion on an area that gives many graduate students (I’m certainly one of them) a tall order of anxiety—sources of data. How am I going to get the data I need for my research questions and associated variables? How complicated will the process be, particularly when I’m requesting sensitive student information? These questions were just the tip of the iceberg. John and I discussed that, while many graduate programs trained students for data analyses and the reporting of results, one area that leaves many students wanting is how to go about obtaining these data from local, state, or federal sources, and how to identify the path of least resistance to these data while upholding all protections for research involving human subjects. My point is that John was able to provide expert guidance in this area, and he really helped relieve some of my anxiety moving forward in this process. As a researcher for CCRC who constantly seeks out and manages large datasets, John’s advice was so helpful. John suggested that I develop a data request protocol that I could send to various potential data sources, and he gave sage advice on having “backup plans” and various sources for acquiring data.

The mentoring program has been a crucial component to my progress in this fellowship. I can’t stress the point enough that having one-on-one, sound, practical advice from a skilled researcher in my area of interest has sharpened my focus, skills, and ambitions as a future scholar in the area of postsecondary CTE. This mentor partnership has challenged me to “keep it real,” and has reminded me to never lose sight of the true purpose of postsecondary research: To provide accessible and useful research findings that can be used by the maximum number of audiences to bridge critical gaps in postsecondary CTE.

Adam Atwell is a 2019 CTE Research Fellow and doctoral candidate at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte pursuing the Ed.D. in Educational Leadership (Higher Education) and a Certificate in Quantitative Analyses. Adam is a full-time faculty member in Criminal Justice Technology at Mitchell Community College in Statesville, NC. More about Adam: read his bio and research brief.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR #DHL2020!
The College of Education’s Belk Center for Community College Leadership & Research at NC State University honors the legacy of Dallas Herring, a pillar of the North Carolina Community College system by hosting the annual Dallas Herring Lecture. This year, we invite you to join us virtually for the 2020 Dallas Herring Lecture on Tuesday, November 10th at 1pm given by Dr. Pam Eddinger.

Like lightning across the higher education landscape, the COVID pandemic illuminates the fragile conditions of community colleges and their students across the nation. Urban or rural, large or small, each institution is suddenly faced with the consequences from years of systematic defunding of public higher education. In communities of poverty and communities of color, where community colleges represent the best hope for social and economic mobility, the pandemic is a simultaneous moment of reckoning and hope. Dr. Eddinger’s lecture, titled Insights from the Pandemic: The Reckoning and the Hope at Our Nation’s Community Colleges, explores the possibilities.

For more information and to register, visit the Belk Center’s Dallas Herring Lecture webpage.

The CTE Research and Professional Development Conference is the foremost, peer-reviewed conference for CTE researchers and academic professionals. This conference is coordinated by the Association for Career and Technical Education Research (ACTER) with co-sponsors: Omicron Tau Theta (OTT), The Academy for Career and Technical Teacher Education (The Academy), and The University Council for Workforce and Human Resource Education (University Council). For full schedule of presentations and to register for the online conference, visit the ACTER Conference webpage.

The Postsecondary CTE Research project will host a virtual information session September 19, 2020 at 7pm – 8pm (ET).  Visit Apply Now to register for the session.

Faculty and staff from the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research will present the inaugural CSCC Virtual Webinar, Creating Infrastructures for Developing Community College Leaders, Researchers, and Collaborations.

This session will highlight efforts at North Carolina State University to develop community college executive leaders and postsecondary career and technical education researchers. The session will highlight the work of the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research in three areas including the (1) education doctorate, (2) actionable research, and (3) partnerships. The session will also provide an overview of the ECMC Foundation Postsecondary CTE Research Fellows program designed to generate a pipeline of postsecondary CTE researchers including research training and mentoring that currently supports 18 fellows conducting research to improve postsecondary CTE. This session will highlight how to apply for the 2021 ECMC Foundation Postsecondary CTE Fellows program.

Presenters: Audrey Jaeger, James Bartlett, Carrol Warren, Michelle Bartlett, Jemilia Davis, and Andrea DeSantis
Time
Sep 9, 2020 11:00 AM in Central Time (US and Canada)

Visit the CSCC webinar series webpage to register for the session.

The Postsecondary CTE Research project will host a virtual information session August 31st, 2020 at 7pm – 8pm (ET).  Visit Apply Now to register for the session.

The Postsecondary CTE Research project will host a virtual information session July 20th, 2020 at 7pm – 8pm (ET).  Please check back for the link.

The Postsecondary CTE Research project will host a virtual information session June 15th, 2020 at 7pm – 8pm (ET).  Please check back for the link.

The Postsecondary CTE Research project will host a virtual information session May 11th, 2020 at 7pm – 8pm (ET).  Please check back for the link.

2020 Postsecondary CTE Research Fellows training institute.

Presentations at AERA CTE SIG, AERA Workplace Learning Business Meeting, and AERA CTE SIG business meeting.

The Postsecondary CTE Research Fellows project team members will host a session for potential applicants for the 2021 Fellows. The session will provide more details about the project and helpful hints to those applying to become CTE Research Fellows. Details will be available closer to the conference.

This session will present findings from selected 2019 Postsecondary CTE Research Fellows and provides an overview of the program.

Session on EMCMF Postsecondary Fellows Program.

Session on EMCMF Postsecondary Fellows Program.

Session on EMCMF Leadership Collaborative.

Sessions & poster session sponsor.

Session on ECMCF Fellows Program.

The Bridging the Gaps in Postsecondary CTE Research project will co-host the Council for the Study of Community Colleges Reception at Association for the Study of Higher Education conference.  Please come to learn more about the project and becoming a CTE Research Fellow.

Online Recruitment session- potenial particpants can request a Zoom link and RSVP by sending and email to CTEFellows@gmail.com.

Online Recruitment session- potenial particpants can request a Zoom link and RSVP by sending and email to CTEFellows@gmail.com.

Online Recruitment session- potenial particpants can request a Zoom link and RSVP by sending and email to CTEFellows@gmail.com.

ECMC Foundation is hosting a convening for CTE Fellows and Partners.

The Postsecondary CTE Research project will host a virtual information session at September 4th, 2019 at 6pm – 7pm (EST).  Please check back for the link.

The Postsecondary CTE Research project will host a virtual information session at August 28th, 2019 at 12pm – 1pm (EST).

The Bridging the Gaps in Postsecondary CTE Research project will host a virtual information session at August 28th, 2019 at 6pm – 7pm (EST).  Please check back for the link.

The Bridging the Gaps in Postsecondary CTE Research project will co-host the Council for the Study of Community Colleges Reception at Association for the Study of Higher Education conference on Friday, November 16, 8:00 to 10:00pm. The reception will be in the Tampa Marriott Waterside, Third, Meeting Room 12. Please come to learn more about the project and becoming a CTE Research Fellow.

The Bridging the Gaps in Postsecondary CTE Research project team members will be presenting at the ACTER conference and available for individual meetings to provide more details about the project and becoming a CTE Research Fellow.

The Bridging the Gaps in Postsecondary CTE Research project team members will be presenting at the ACTE Vision conference and available for individual meetings to provide more details about the project and becoming a CTE Research Fellow.

The Bridging the Gaps in Postsecondary CTE Research project team members will host an information session for potential applicants online.  The session will provide more details about the project and helpful hints to those applying to become CTE Research Fellows.

The Bridging the Gaps in Postsecondary CTE Research project team members will host a session for potential applicants for the 2020 Fellows.  The session will provide more details about the project and helpful hints to those applying to become CTE Research Fellows.  Details will be available closer to the conference.

The Bridging the Gaps in Postsecondary CTE Research project team will present on findings from the project.

This is the first research training institute for the 2019 Fellows.  The Bridging the Gaps in Postsecondary CTE Research.  The session will provide training for CTE Research Fellows.  Details will be available closer to session. (by invitation online)

The Bridging the Gaps in Postsecondary CTE Research project will provide an overview of initial findings from the project.

The Bridging the Gaps in Postsecondary CTE Research project provide information on this project at the CTE SIG meeting.  Please come to learn more about the project and becoming a CTE Research Fellow in 2020.

Bridging the Gaps program will be co-sponsoring the Community College Reception at the AIR Forum in Denver (May 27 – 31).  The  reception will be Thursday, May 30^th from 6:30 – 8:00.