In this episode, OCCRL senior research assistant H.M. Kuneyl, who coordinates OCCRL’s yearly Illinois Community College Leadership Institute, talks with Terry Wilkerson, the president of Rend Lake College who partook in the institute's Journey to the President panel in 2023. Kuneyl and Wilkerson discuss the challenges and benefits of working in the field of postsecondary education at a rural community college, President Wilkerson's career trajectory, the qualities that make a good leader, and other topics.

In this episode, OCCRL research assistant H.M. Kuneyl, who coordinates the yearly OCCRL Illinois Community College Leadership Institute (ICCLI), talks with two individuals who were a part of the institute’s first cohort. They are Andy Hynds, dean of math, science and business and the executive dean of academics at Richland Community College; and Brianna McClay, associate dean of student services at Kennedy King College in the City Colleges of Chicago. Hynds and McClay discuss their work as community college leaders and how the ICCLI they attended in May of 2023 influenced their outlooks and careers.

In this episode, OCCRL senior research associate Stacy Bennett talks with Joe Saucedo and Lee Roe, from the Partnership for College Completion in Chicago, to discuss developmental education reform in Illinois.

In this episode, OCCRL senior research assistant Nina Owolabi talks to several guests about the use of open educational resources, also known as OER, as an equity initiative in Illinois community colleges. In addition, OCCRL research assistant Aidana Sirgebayeva relates the findings of the OER research project that has been taking place at OCCRL for the last several years. The shows guests are Dr. Eboni Zamani-Gallaher, Magnus Noble, Heather Blicher, and Dr. Lorenzo Baber.

This Democracy's College podcast episode is the fourth one in a series featuring contributors to the book Critiques for Transformation: Reimagining Colleges and Communities for Social Justice, edited by Drs. Lorenzo Baber and Heather McCambly. In this episode, Dr. McCambly talks to Drs. Erin Doran and Sergio Gonzalez about how their chapters for the book originated. The scholars also discuss the topic of ethnic studies and the subject's role in community colleges, talk about the evolution of positionality statements and more.

In this episode, OCCRL affiliate member Heather McCambly talks with Dr. Rosemary Perez and Dr. Aireale J. Rodgers about the chapters they contributed to in the volume Critiques for Transformation: Reimagining Colleges and Communities for Social Justice, a book that was co-edited by Dr. McCambly and Dr. Lorenzo Baber.

In this episode, OCCRL Director Lorenzo Baber talks with Isaac Gottesman about the chapter that Dr. Gottesman contributed to the volume titled Critiques for Transformation: Reimagining Colleges and Communities for Social Justice, which was co-edited by Dr. Baber and Dr. Heather McCambly.

In this episode, Drs. Lorenzo Baber and Heather McCambly provide context on the origin and content of their book proposal and the eventually published volume, Critiques for Transformation: Reimagining Colleges and Communities for Social Justice, which they and their colleagues developed during the trying years of the pandemic. Baber and McCambly also discuss their overarching goals for the book, the pre-pandemic conversations they had on the way to getting it published, and how others might use it in their courses and in policy-development discussions.

In this episode, Chequita Brown talks with Kate Danielson of the organization Foster Progress, as well as with Anna Wandtke and Tricia Wagner of Rock Valley College in Rockford, Illinois. The group discusses how to cultivate a foster-friendly culture at Illinois community colleges.

In this episode, Dr. Francena Turner talks with humanities educators at community colleges in California and North Carolina about the importance of the humanities to community colleges and to community college students. The guests also share the challenges they've faced during COVID-19, as well as the challenges they've experienced in introducing students to skills learned through the humanities that contribute to student learning, mobility, and employability.