November 25, 2025 • 28 mins
Today we’re joined by Dr. Alycia Marshall, the newly appointed seventh president of Community College of Philadelphia. A mathematician, educator, and nationally respected community college leader, Dr. Marshall previously served as CCP’s provost and interim president. She steps into this role with a clear vision for expanding access, strengthening student success, and deepening the College’s impact across the city. Under her leadership, CCP continues to be a powerful engine of opportunity, workforce development, and economic mobility for Philadelphia’s diverse learners.
🌐 Community College of Philadelphia
Website: www.ccp.edu
Social Media: @CCPedu (Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube)
🌐 Community College of Philadelphia
Website: www.ccp.edu
Social Media: @CCPedu (Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning. You're listening to insight MI Shoe about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Balla. Tomorrow, we have a very
special program today, we're joined by doctor Alisha Marshall, the
newly appointed seventh President of Community College of Philadelphia. She
previously served as ccpece Provost and interim president and brings
a deep background in mathematics, education and community college leadership.
(00:22):
Congratulations to you. I'm so excited for you. You've got
a big job ahead. What's the mission statement for your
first one hundred days and how will students feel the
impact right away?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
So my mission is to listen and to connect and
to lead with purpose. I believe that we have a
great opportunity at the Community College of Philadelphia, and there's
great work that has been happening there over the past
sixty years. We're actually celebrating sixty years of CCP this year,
So I'm excited to be stepping into this role at
(00:55):
this particular time. But one of the things that I
think kind of makes us unique as an institution is
that we really wrap around our students. So what I
think students will feel is that holistic wrap round student
supports that we put around them to ensure that they're successful.
We are reinvesting in advising and counseling and support services
(01:19):
at all of our locations. As the main campus location
has traditionally had a majority of our student population, We've
put a lot of effort around providing advising, counseling support
services there.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
We are now.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Expanding and putting more of those support services at our
Northeast Regional Center as well as our Career Advanced Technology Center,
So I think that students will feel that immediately. We're
also moving into the spring semester with smaller class sizes
for our students, so definitely that individualized attention, one on
one approach when the ratio is smaller, is going to
(01:52):
be a great opportunity for our students and they will
feel that.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, And I think so many students. For so many students,
this is their first experiens in their family of going
to college, right, So having these wrap around services and
supports to make sure that their journey and education runs
smoothly is so important, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
It's very important, and sometimes it's the difference between a
student being successful and them not. I'm fortunate that I
did have parents that went to higher education and god
advanced degrees, but not everyone has that opportunity or example
in their household and when they come to us. At
Community College of Philadelphia, we meet students where they are
and we want to make dreams come true there and
(02:34):
we want to be the opportunity for students to see
that what they thought is not possible is actually possible.
And we do that by providing all of the support
the community. I like to say the Community College of Philadelphia,
one of the most important words in our title is community.
We become a community, a family, and we make sure
(02:55):
that our students are successful. From faculty who are very
passionate about their disciplines and their work, who are constantly
taking advanced courses and participating in professional development so they
can learn the latest technologies and the latest ways that
they can impact their students. To our staff that is
really there for the students. They come to work every
(03:16):
day and they work really, really hard to make sure
that they connect our students to the resources that we
have and they support them throughout their journey.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
You came up through the community college path as math
professor and academic leader before becoming provost and interim president.
Is CCP. How does that journey shape your leadership today?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
That's a great question, and I feel like it really
has a lot to do with where I ended up
and why I'm here at this particular time as African
American female and a woman of color in a discipline
like mathematics, I had a very difficult journey, and in
my own lived experience, I was in spaces where I
(03:56):
was the only person of color in the space. I
was the only female of color in space. I've also
had people tell me that I should not go into
mathematics as a discipline. My own experience in being told
that and actually not listening to that and moving forward
and pushing forward really led me to where I am today.
(04:17):
And so when I see students, I see myself. I
see that My role is to work with my colleagues,
my amazing colleagues, faculty, and staff to make sure that
every student that comes to us with a dream, with
an idea, with something in mind about what they want
to do for their life and their future and their career,
that we're there to say yes, you can do that,
(04:38):
not there to say no or you shouldn't.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
If they're struggling, then.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
We bring the supports and we bring the intention around
making sure that they're successful. So it definitely has an impact.
And I would also say too that I've been fortunate
to have amazing teachers and mentors throughout my journey, which
really made a difference in regards to me seeing what
was possible and seeing people that look like me that
(05:04):
we're doing things that I'm now doing. And so one
of my mentors was my college president as an undergraduate,
my college president Freeman Rabowski at the University Mell in
Baltimore County, who's retired now, but he was a mathematician
and he's an African American and really showed me in
real time what I could do. And so that's my
(05:24):
role to encourage, to support, and really create opportunities for
students like me.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I love that enrollment and persistence are top of mind nationwide.
What strategies will CCP use to keep students on track,
especially working adults in student parents.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
So I have to say that the Community College of
Philadelphia is really in a good place right now in
regards to that, while as you mentioned, other institutions are
potentially closing or struggling with declining enrollments. I'm please report
that the Community College of Philadelphia is up five percent
year of a year for our enrollment as a fall,
and we're up eight percent since twenty twenty two. We
(06:04):
continue to experience and increase in our graduation rates as well,
and so that speaks to we're doing something right. So
it's not just about bringing students in, but it's also
about supporting them retaining them so that they do move
towards graduation. Our graduation rates are up eight percent since
twenty twenty two, and so as part of that, we're
leveraging the great work that's already happened. We have a
(06:27):
lot of faculty that have implemented high impact practices in
their classrooms.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
We are leveraging that and working to expand that.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
And we're also creating support for a large population of
our students that tend to be student parents. As a
community college, we do see a lot of student parents,
and nationally, twenty five percent of our students in community
colleges nationwide are also parents. We recently opened what we're
calling Rory's club House, which is a place for student
(06:55):
parents to come bring their children where they can actually play.
There's toys there, there's a study space, there, and it
really speaks to our understanding of what the day to
day life of our student parents are and how we
can support their efforts and make them continue to be
successful even though they may have a child with them
when they come to school. So we're excited about that
(07:18):
and we're making sure that we're providing more classes, more
options for students, different modalities. Hybrid classes, what we call
high flex classes are also classes where students can attend
in a multiple modality mode, even in the same course,
so they can take the class online asynchronously, they can
(07:38):
zoom in and take a synchronous online class with a
faculty member, or they can choose to come in person.
And this is the first time that we've had an
opportunity to offer a course in the way that we've
had these multiple modalities. So we've been offering them for
a few years, but it's really an opportunity to expand
those options for our student parents who may have or
(07:59):
need the flexibility of how they attend their courses.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
CCP's Career in Advanced Technology Center and Employer Partnerships are
key workforce engines. Where do you see the biggest growth
sectors for Philadelphia and how will CCP plug students into
those jobs.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
So there are several areas of growth for the city
and I do see CCP as a major player in
several of those areas. One area I would say is
the advanced manufacturing area in particular. We're really excited about
a two point seven million dollar investment from the US
Navy that we receive this year to implement two new programs.
(08:40):
One is called naval welding, so it's a specific type
of welding to work on building submarines. The US Navy
has a foreseeable future the need to build three new
submarines to each fleet over the next ten plus years.
They need over one hundred thousand workers. And CCP we're excited.
I did was selected as one of the trading providers
(09:02):
in the area. In addition to that program, we also
launched the non Destructive Testing program, so that in combination
with the naval welding are two brand new programs that
we're launching at our Career in Advanced Technology Center located
in West Philadelphia. And these are opportunities for our students
to come in take short term programming in the non
(09:24):
credit space four and a half months, and then actually
go right into the workforce to work on these Navy submarines.
In regards to the kind of money they are making,
non destructive testing program students that graduate can make up
to seventy seven thousand dollars. So these are really lucrative
opportunities for our students and we are excited to be part.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Of that effort.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
There's also a lot of energy around transportational logistics that
I see for the city, and we're excited that we
have very strong technology programs, particularly in our automotive space.
We have a lot of automotive technology programs as well,
and in our automotive technology programs, we have one program
in particular that I'm going to highlight as a Toyota
(10:06):
T ten program. It allows our students to actually work
in the Toyota dealerships while they're taking courses towards their
associate's degree at automotive. So this is one of the
opportunities that I think lines up very well with the
transportation and logistics area. Other areas in Philadelphia for possible
workforce development that I think are really up and coming
(10:27):
right now healthcare, life sciences. We are playing in that
area too. We have dental assisting programs. We have very
strong nursing programs, medical assisting, radiography. We have tons of programs,
and so we're excited to be part of those efforts
as well.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah, that's great affordability and transfer. What is your plan
to expand last dollar scholarships, duel enrollment, and seamless transfers
to four year universities.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
So I'm excited about some of the recent developments, and
I'll start with the transfer for a piece. We recently
launched Cheney at CCP partnership where we are allowing an
opportunity or providing an opportunity in partnership with Chaney University,
the oldest HBCU. We're providing an opportunity for students who
(11:15):
attend the Community Couture Philadelphia or live in the city
to go to Chaney University without having to leave the city.
We have a lot of students in our population that
have challenges with transportation and so to be able to
have an opportunity to complete a bachelor's degree by taking
courses at CCP while they're still in the city. Their
(11:38):
courses can be either online or in person, but Chaney
University has agreed to offer the courses that the students
will need to complete their degree in one of those
two modalities, either at.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Our campus or online.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
To be able to offer that opportunity for students is
really going to be incredible. We've targeted several programs psychology, business, biology,
and education as starters for this program, and we're also
leveraging and providing the wrap around support structures for those
students that are.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
In that program as well.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
This is a great opportunity, but we foresee this type
of partnership and strengthening partnerships with multiple institutions for your
institutions in the city and in the region. Our top
transfer institution is Temple University, and we've recently met with
their leadership and i'm President John fry shout out to
President Fryett Temple and his team, and we are working
(12:31):
to strengthen that partnership as well to continue to create
seamless transfer opportunities for students that are interested in going
to our top transfer institution, Temple. So we really have
a lot of logs in the fire in regards to that.
In addition to the dual enrollment question, we are excited
to be partnering and working collaboratively with School District of
Philadelphia to expand our dual enrollment opportunities. We're doing very
(12:55):
well in that space, but there are opportunities and places
in the city where we don't have as many dual
enrollment students, and we would love to expand those opportunities
and have students taking college courses earlier and in all
areas of the city. So we are working in real
time on looking at where those opportunities exist and working
collaboratively with School District of Philadelphia and their leadership to
(13:19):
impact and expand those opportunities as well.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Now, when we talk about scholarships, we have to talk
about the Catto Scholarship. Tell us more about that. That's
an extraordinary opportunity.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Yes, well, we're excited.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
The Cattle Scholarship program has touched and impacted over four
thousand students since it started in twenty twenty one. Most recently,
we've impacted sixteen hundred students in our recent year, so
we're looking to help more.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Students through this program.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
It really provides last dollar scholarships, so students are essentially
taking courses and completing their degree with us for free.
But what I think is really important about their experience
is not just the free tuition, if you will, it's
also the success coaching. Our students that are in the
CATTO program get a success coach, and someone there is
(14:08):
exactly what it says, is coaching them through and making
sure that they're navigating their journey experience and they're signing
up for the right courses and they are getting support
and connected to our tutoring resources if they're struggling or
having problems. And so the CATTO Scholarship program has been
highly successful. We are excited about the number of students
that we're able to impact with that program, and obviously
(14:30):
I'm looking to see how we can expand we're also
looking at how do we leverage the best practices in
that program in other areas of the college as well.
So we've used CATO as a model, and we also
have brought some of those elements into our Chainey partnership
as well.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Equity has been central to your work. What concrete steps
will you prioritize to close completion gaps and support first
gen and returning learners.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
So a lot of my work prior to coming Community
Calls Philadelphia was in the mathematics space and in particular,
I was working on what we call math pathways. It's
really an opportunity to minimize the time that it takes
for students to complete their credit level mathematics courses. And
that may seem like it's not a huge deal, but
(15:18):
when you're a student and you come to college or
your desire is to earn an associates or a bachelor's degree,
and you place into what we call developmental mathematics, it
can sometimes add two, three or four courses to your
journey before you are even in a course that is
considered college level. That is very disappointing for a lot
(15:38):
of students. Not only is it disappointing, it takes a
lot of time, and students that run up against these
barriers and can't see the light at the end of
the tunnel can sometimes.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Be very discouraged.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
The work that I did in the state of Maryland
around that was really to work collaboratively with the math department.
I was the chair of the math department at Anamalto
Community College for a while, and we worked across the
state to implement mathematics pathways, which were corequisit models, minimizing
the time it took for students to get through, so
you have they're just in time remediation instead of having
(16:13):
to take long sequences of developmental courses. You go right
into a credit or college level course, but you have
a companion course or you have support in that course
so that you can still be successful in less time.
I'm pleased that the Community House of Philadelphia has very
strong leadership in our math departments there and they've implemented
aspects of mathematics pathways. And we also have similar formatting
(16:36):
in our English department, which we call ALP program, where
you have developmental students in courses with credit students and
again getting that extra support as they move through the
course sequence. And so we want to leverage and expand
those opportunities for more students. We also are leveraging our
student retention systems. We have a lot of opportunities for
(16:59):
early life Alert where we have an opportunity to connect
with students when they're struggling and to connect them with
resources immediately. Faculty can direct them through our early alert system,
so it really provides kind of a flag and the
student needs help and we connect them with the resources.
We are working on expanding the usage of those systems
with our faculty, and we've had some increase in that
(17:20):
as well. So leveraging these high impact practices, working with
our faculty to support our students as well as our
advisors and our counselors to ensure that we are wrapping
ourselves around our students and leading them to success is
what I plan to do with my partners in the College.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Doctor Marshall. Philadelphia is a city of partners from K
twelve to employers to neighborhood organizations. What new collaborations are
you excited to launch our skill this year?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
So we're really excited. In addition to our partnership with
the School District of Philadelphia to expand DOLE enrollment opportunities
for our students, we're very excited about our partnership with
the City of Philadelphia. We have launch the City College
for Municipal Employment in partnership with the City of Philadelphia,
the School District of Philadelphia, and Philadelphia Works. As a
(18:08):
result of this program, we are training students, providing programs,
providing education, power skills, upskilling for students and city residents
who are interested in pursuing jobs with the City of Philadelphia.
We're excited about the programs that we're offering to date,
and we are looking to expand and grow these programs
as well. Two programs that we are adding are forensic science.
(18:29):
We're looking to add that possibly as well as looking
to add cybersecurity. So we are excited about what has
happened so far and we're looking forward to more opportunity
to expand our programming and strengthen the pipeline.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
To city jobs with the City of Philadelphia.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
On a personal note, what keeps you grounded outside of
the office and what's one story from a student that
motivates you when decisions do get tough.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
That's a loaded question.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
I would say, you know these jobs are tough. One
that goes into higher education right now, or specifically higher
education and leadership knows that this is not an easy
path and it does cause a lot of stress. I
do a lot of working out and exercising outside of work,
(19:17):
and part of that is not just to help me
maintain my own health, which I think is critically important
because if you're not healthy, you're not going to be
able to show up for so many people that need
you to show up in a healthy way for them.
So that's part of why I do that, but it's
also very competitive. I'm very competitive, so I'm always pushing myself.
(19:40):
I do way trading, and I push myself and there's
opportunities to be impressed or to struggle in those workouts.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
To me, it is also a mirror of what happens
in life.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Sometimes there's something that you don't think you can do
and I can push through. I can have a horrible
I can be exhausted, I can feel like I'm very
very weak, and I can push myself.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Through a workout where I've lifted.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
More than I thought I could, or I'll go one
wight up, And just the thought of being able to
get through that is something that I think our students
go through every day, something that's insurmountable, like getting an education,
completing their associate's degree or a bachelor's degree, and not
knowing whether they can do it or not, but then
(20:28):
just pushing through that and sometimes with the help of
someone there. And so for me, I see that as
an opportunity where you can leverage the strength that you
get outside of that and bring that into the workplace.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
So I use that.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
I also would say there are so many stories from
students about CCP, and I've been hearing a lot more
of them lately, particularly as we're celebrating our sixtieth year.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
We've reconnected with a lot of.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Our alumni, but there's a common theme that I hear,
so I'm just going to speak to that. I have
talked to many alumni who say CCP has changed my life,
similar to that I have heard CCP saved my life.
I see that as a very powerful statement in regards
(21:17):
to what the college can.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Do for people.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
It really transforms their lives. And particularly we have single
parents that work and come to school and they have
kids at home, and getting the skills that they receive,
getting the support from the faculty that they received, working
with our passionate faculty who are experts in their discipline,
who really really care about the students in their classroom.
(21:43):
Having these experiences and then coming out and being able
to make a living wage, it really transforms not just
the life of the student, but the family and ultimately
hopefully the community. And so I say the community in
the Community College of Philadelphia really is about that. It's
about what we're able to provide access to students who
(22:06):
may not have access to education, and we remove the
barriers and we wrap our arms around them and we
help them to succeed.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
When you said you've heard that community college saved a life,
I can speak from personal experience because my husband can
say that he was on that very negative track. Many
of his peers are dead or in jail, but his
father convinced him to enroll in community college, and community
(22:35):
college literally saved his life. So he went on to
complete He transferred to a four year college u Arts, graduated,
and has thrived ever since. So I can speak from
a personal experience where I can say for real that
CCP saved a life that I know about, and I'm
sure there are countless other lives that have not only
(22:58):
been changed and up lifted, but certainly saved. So that's
pretty great.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Yeah, that's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
And lastly, I'd like to talk a little more personally
because in our conversation you talk about your evolution through
life and some of the obstacles that you experienced, certainly
as a woman of color in a field in which
you were always a minority, and I'm sure a lot
of people who did not believe that you could succeed.
(23:25):
There are a lot of people who experienced that through life.
You know, certainly I'm one of them too.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
But what is it?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
What's the secret, Sauce. What do you say to people
who sometimes get discouraged by facing discrimination, misogyny, racism, all
the isms that sometimes stand in the way of our success.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Well, I don't think there really is a secret, Sauce.
I think it is about community. And I know I've
said that a couple times to this interview. But I
was fortunate where I had two parents that really loved
me and raised me to do whatever I wanted to do.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Not everyone has that.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
If you don't have that, again, I was very rich
if I think about it, and not rich in money,
but rich in these relationships that really helped me at
a time when I could have been discouraged.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Right.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
So, not only did I have parents who were amazing
role models and they went against odds themselves, also had mentors,
and I talked about one of them, doctor Freeman Rabowski,
who was president of the University of Marland Baltimore County,
took an interest in me. And there's many others, not
just in my trajectory as a young woman in college,
(24:37):
but even beyond as I started to move through different
roles and positions and higher education. There were always people
around me that I was fortunate to be able to
ask questions of look at who.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Looked like me.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I'm the first person that comes to my mind right
now is doctor Charlene Dukes, who is a president emeritus
at Prince George's Community College in Maryland, and she became
my mentor back when I was a mathematics department head
years ago. African American female. That was the first time
I up close saw someone who looked like me who
(25:12):
was a college president. And so, you know, I really
understand impact of mentorship, and not only you know, in
my professional life as a person that's trying to move
into different roles, but I also bring that back to
my work at the college. I've started multiple leadership development
programs in my career, and most recently at Community College
(25:33):
of Philadelphia the Aspiring Leaders Program. But one of the
key components of that because of my experience, was to
infuse this mentorship piece. So we have mentors that are
presidents and vice presidents all the way across the country
that invest in one of our employees at the Community
College of Philadelphia who wants to move into a leadership
(25:54):
role and right there is just really something that really
speaks to my heart. How can I be a mentor,
a role model, be that person that someone the student
is looking at and say, oh, maybe I can do that.
She's doing it, maybe I can do it. That's what
I think is really critical. And sometimes you're lucky like
(26:14):
I was to have it in my family, but sometimes
you don't seek them out. And doctor Duke's will tell
you I walked up to her and asked her to
be my mentor, and I'm glad she said yes. But
sometimes you have to seek these opportunities out and you
have to go outside of your comfort zone and you
will sometimes get knows even in that because not everyone
has the time to invest in other people.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
They're busy.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
But you don't know if you don't ask. And it's
definitely no if you don't ask. So I would encourage
people who feel alone, who feel like they don't have
people rooting for them all the time.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Seek that out.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
There are people that are willing and passionate about giving back.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Yeah, and representation matters, and the fact that you risen
to the position of president of community college is about
representation and showing that a woman of color can ascend
to that institution and that level of leadership, and we
wish you all the luck in the world. Certainly, CCP
is an important component of our community, providing opportunities for
(27:19):
students who may not have had other options. It's providing
a wonderful, warm embrace academically in lots of different ways,
and we congratulate you for ascending to this position as
the newly appointed seventh president of Community College of Philadelphia,
doctor Alicia Marshall, previously serving as CCP's provost an interim president.
(27:40):
Bringing a deep background in math education and community college leadership,
we wish you the best of luck and we're very
encouraged by you and your mission at CCP. Thank you
so much for joining us.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
You can listen to all of today's interviews by going
to our station website and typing in keyword community. You
can also listen on the iHeartRadio app Hey Words Philadelphia
Community Podcast. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Lorraine Ballard.
I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrow, and I stand for service to
our community and media that empowers. What will you stand for?
(28:14):
You've been listening to Insight and thank you
Good morning. You're listening to insight MI Shoe about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Balla. Tomorrow, we have a very
special program today, we're joined by doctor Alisha Marshall, the
newly appointed seventh President of Community College of Philadelphia. She
previously served as ccpece Provost and interim president and brings
a deep background in mathematics, education and community college leadership.
(00:22):
Congratulations to you. I'm so excited for you. You've got
a big job ahead. What's the mission statement for your
first one hundred days and how will students feel the
impact right away?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
So my mission is to listen and to connect and
to lead with purpose. I believe that we have a
great opportunity at the Community College of Philadelphia, and there's
great work that has been happening there over the past
sixty years. We're actually celebrating sixty years of CCP this year,
So I'm excited to be stepping into this role at
(00:55):
this particular time. But one of the things that I
think kind of makes us unique as an institution is
that we really wrap around our students. So what I
think students will feel is that holistic wrap round student
supports that we put around them to ensure that they're successful.
We are reinvesting in advising and counseling and support services
(01:19):
at all of our locations. As the main campus location
has traditionally had a majority of our student population, We've
put a lot of effort around providing advising, counseling support
services there.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
We are now.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Expanding and putting more of those support services at our
Northeast Regional Center as well as our Career Advanced Technology Center,
So I think that students will feel that immediately. We're
also moving into the spring semester with smaller class sizes
for our students, so definitely that individualized attention, one on
one approach when the ratio is smaller, is going to
(01:52):
be a great opportunity for our students and they will
feel that.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, And I think so many students. For so many students,
this is their first experiens in their family of going
to college, right, So having these wrap around services and
supports to make sure that their journey and education runs
smoothly is so important, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
It's very important, and sometimes it's the difference between a
student being successful and them not. I'm fortunate that I
did have parents that went to higher education and god
advanced degrees, but not everyone has that opportunity or example
in their household and when they come to us. At
Community College of Philadelphia, we meet students where they are
and we want to make dreams come true there and
(02:34):
we want to be the opportunity for students to see
that what they thought is not possible is actually possible.
And we do that by providing all of the support
the community. I like to say the Community College of Philadelphia,
one of the most important words in our title is community.
We become a community, a family, and we make sure
(02:55):
that our students are successful. From faculty who are very
passionate about their disciplines and their work, who are constantly
taking advanced courses and participating in professional development so they
can learn the latest technologies and the latest ways that
they can impact their students. To our staff that is
really there for the students. They come to work every
(03:16):
day and they work really, really hard to make sure
that they connect our students to the resources that we
have and they support them throughout their journey.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
You came up through the community college path as math
professor and academic leader before becoming provost and interim president.
Is CCP. How does that journey shape your leadership today?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
That's a great question, and I feel like it really
has a lot to do with where I ended up
and why I'm here at this particular time as African
American female and a woman of color in a discipline
like mathematics, I had a very difficult journey, and in
my own lived experience, I was in spaces where I
(03:56):
was the only person of color in the space. I
was the only female of color in space. I've also
had people tell me that I should not go into
mathematics as a discipline. My own experience in being told
that and actually not listening to that and moving forward
and pushing forward really led me to where I am today.
(04:17):
And so when I see students, I see myself. I
see that My role is to work with my colleagues,
my amazing colleagues, faculty, and staff to make sure that
every student that comes to us with a dream, with
an idea, with something in mind about what they want
to do for their life and their future and their career,
that we're there to say yes, you can do that,
(04:38):
not there to say no or you shouldn't.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
If they're struggling, then.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
We bring the supports and we bring the intention around
making sure that they're successful. So it definitely has an impact.
And I would also say too that I've been fortunate
to have amazing teachers and mentors throughout my journey, which
really made a difference in regards to me seeing what
was possible and seeing people that look like me that
(05:04):
we're doing things that I'm now doing. And so one
of my mentors was my college president as an undergraduate,
my college president Freeman Rabowski at the University Mell in
Baltimore County, who's retired now, but he was a mathematician
and he's an African American and really showed me in
real time what I could do. And so that's my
(05:24):
role to encourage, to support, and really create opportunities for
students like me.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I love that enrollment and persistence are top of mind nationwide.
What strategies will CCP use to keep students on track,
especially working adults in student parents.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
So I have to say that the Community College of
Philadelphia is really in a good place right now in
regards to that, while as you mentioned, other institutions are
potentially closing or struggling with declining enrollments. I'm please report
that the Community College of Philadelphia is up five percent
year of a year for our enrollment as a fall,
and we're up eight percent since twenty twenty two. We
(06:04):
continue to experience and increase in our graduation rates as well,
and so that speaks to we're doing something right. So
it's not just about bringing students in, but it's also
about supporting them retaining them so that they do move
towards graduation. Our graduation rates are up eight percent since
twenty twenty two, and so as part of that, we're
leveraging the great work that's already happened. We have a
(06:27):
lot of faculty that have implemented high impact practices in
their classrooms.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
We are leveraging that and working to expand that.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
And we're also creating support for a large population of
our students that tend to be student parents. As a
community college, we do see a lot of student parents,
and nationally, twenty five percent of our students in community
colleges nationwide are also parents. We recently opened what we're
calling Rory's club House, which is a place for student
(06:55):
parents to come bring their children where they can actually play.
There's toys there, there's a study space, there, and it
really speaks to our understanding of what the day to
day life of our student parents are and how we
can support their efforts and make them continue to be
successful even though they may have a child with them
when they come to school. So we're excited about that
(07:18):
and we're making sure that we're providing more classes, more
options for students, different modalities. Hybrid classes, what we call
high flex classes are also classes where students can attend
in a multiple modality mode, even in the same course,
so they can take the class online asynchronously, they can
(07:38):
zoom in and take a synchronous online class with a
faculty member, or they can choose to come in person.
And this is the first time that we've had an
opportunity to offer a course in the way that we've
had these multiple modalities. So we've been offering them for
a few years, but it's really an opportunity to expand
those options for our student parents who may have or
(07:59):
need the flexibility of how they attend their courses.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
CCP's Career in Advanced Technology Center and Employer Partnerships are
key workforce engines. Where do you see the biggest growth
sectors for Philadelphia and how will CCP plug students into
those jobs.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
So there are several areas of growth for the city
and I do see CCP as a major player in
several of those areas. One area I would say is
the advanced manufacturing area in particular. We're really excited about
a two point seven million dollar investment from the US
Navy that we receive this year to implement two new programs.
(08:40):
One is called naval welding, so it's a specific type
of welding to work on building submarines. The US Navy
has a foreseeable future the need to build three new
submarines to each fleet over the next ten plus years.
They need over one hundred thousand workers. And CCP we're excited.
I did was selected as one of the trading providers
(09:02):
in the area. In addition to that program, we also
launched the non Destructive Testing program, so that in combination
with the naval welding are two brand new programs that
we're launching at our Career in Advanced Technology Center located
in West Philadelphia. And these are opportunities for our students
to come in take short term programming in the non
(09:24):
credit space four and a half months, and then actually
go right into the workforce to work on these Navy submarines.
In regards to the kind of money they are making,
non destructive testing program students that graduate can make up
to seventy seven thousand dollars. So these are really lucrative
opportunities for our students and we are excited to be part.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Of that effort.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
There's also a lot of energy around transportational logistics that
I see for the city, and we're excited that we
have very strong technology programs, particularly in our automotive space.
We have a lot of automotive technology programs as well,
and in our automotive technology programs, we have one program
in particular that I'm going to highlight as a Toyota
(10:06):
T ten program. It allows our students to actually work
in the Toyota dealerships while they're taking courses towards their
associate's degree at automotive. So this is one of the
opportunities that I think lines up very well with the
transportation and logistics area. Other areas in Philadelphia for possible
workforce development that I think are really up and coming
(10:27):
right now healthcare, life sciences. We are playing in that
area too. We have dental assisting programs. We have very
strong nursing programs, medical assisting, radiography. We have tons of programs,
and so we're excited to be part of those efforts
as well.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah, that's great affordability and transfer. What is your plan
to expand last dollar scholarships, duel enrollment, and seamless transfers
to four year universities.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
So I'm excited about some of the recent developments, and
I'll start with the transfer for a piece. We recently
launched Cheney at CCP partnership where we are allowing an
opportunity or providing an opportunity in partnership with Chaney University,
the oldest HBCU. We're providing an opportunity for students who
(11:15):
attend the Community Couture Philadelphia or live in the city
to go to Chaney University without having to leave the city.
We have a lot of students in our population that
have challenges with transportation and so to be able to
have an opportunity to complete a bachelor's degree by taking
courses at CCP while they're still in the city. Their
(11:38):
courses can be either online or in person, but Chaney
University has agreed to offer the courses that the students
will need to complete their degree in one of those
two modalities, either at.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Our campus or online.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
To be able to offer that opportunity for students is
really going to be incredible. We've targeted several programs psychology, business, biology,
and education as starters for this program, and we're also
leveraging and providing the wrap around support structures for those
students that are.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
In that program as well.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
This is a great opportunity, but we foresee this type
of partnership and strengthening partnerships with multiple institutions for your
institutions in the city and in the region. Our top
transfer institution is Temple University, and we've recently met with
their leadership and i'm President John fry shout out to
President Fryett Temple and his team, and we are working
(12:31):
to strengthen that partnership as well to continue to create
seamless transfer opportunities for students that are interested in going
to our top transfer institution, Temple. So we really have
a lot of logs in the fire in regards to that.
In addition to the dual enrollment question, we are excited
to be partnering and working collaboratively with School District of
Philadelphia to expand our dual enrollment opportunities. We're doing very
(12:55):
well in that space, but there are opportunities and places
in the city where we don't have as many dual
enrollment students, and we would love to expand those opportunities
and have students taking college courses earlier and in all
areas of the city. So we are working in real
time on looking at where those opportunities exist and working
collaboratively with School District of Philadelphia and their leadership to
(13:19):
impact and expand those opportunities as well.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Now, when we talk about scholarships, we have to talk
about the Catto Scholarship. Tell us more about that. That's
an extraordinary opportunity.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Yes, well, we're excited.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
The Cattle Scholarship program has touched and impacted over four
thousand students since it started in twenty twenty one. Most recently,
we've impacted sixteen hundred students in our recent year, so
we're looking to help more.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Students through this program.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
It really provides last dollar scholarships, so students are essentially
taking courses and completing their degree with us for free.
But what I think is really important about their experience
is not just the free tuition, if you will, it's
also the success coaching. Our students that are in the
CATTO program get a success coach, and someone there is
(14:08):
exactly what it says, is coaching them through and making
sure that they're navigating their journey experience and they're signing
up for the right courses and they are getting support
and connected to our tutoring resources if they're struggling or
having problems. And so the CATTO Scholarship program has been
highly successful. We are excited about the number of students
that we're able to impact with that program, and obviously
(14:30):
I'm looking to see how we can expand we're also
looking at how do we leverage the best practices in
that program in other areas of the college as well.
So we've used CATO as a model, and we also
have brought some of those elements into our Chainey partnership
as well.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Equity has been central to your work. What concrete steps
will you prioritize to close completion gaps and support first
gen and returning learners.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
So a lot of my work prior to coming Community
Calls Philadelphia was in the mathematics space and in particular,
I was working on what we call math pathways. It's
really an opportunity to minimize the time that it takes
for students to complete their credit level mathematics courses. And
that may seem like it's not a huge deal, but
(15:18):
when you're a student and you come to college or
your desire is to earn an associates or a bachelor's degree,
and you place into what we call developmental mathematics, it
can sometimes add two, three or four courses to your
journey before you are even in a course that is
considered college level. That is very disappointing for a lot
(15:38):
of students. Not only is it disappointing, it takes a
lot of time, and students that run up against these
barriers and can't see the light at the end of
the tunnel can sometimes.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Be very discouraged.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
The work that I did in the state of Maryland
around that was really to work collaboratively with the math department.
I was the chair of the math department at Anamalto
Community College for a while, and we worked across the
state to implement mathematics pathways, which were corequisit models, minimizing
the time it took for students to get through, so
you have they're just in time remediation instead of having
(16:13):
to take long sequences of developmental courses. You go right
into a credit or college level course, but you have
a companion course or you have support in that course
so that you can still be successful in less time.
I'm pleased that the Community House of Philadelphia has very
strong leadership in our math departments there and they've implemented
aspects of mathematics pathways. And we also have similar formatting
(16:36):
in our English department, which we call ALP program, where
you have developmental students in courses with credit students and
again getting that extra support as they move through the
course sequence. And so we want to leverage and expand
those opportunities for more students. We also are leveraging our
student retention systems. We have a lot of opportunities for
(16:59):
early life Alert where we have an opportunity to connect
with students when they're struggling and to connect them with
resources immediately. Faculty can direct them through our early alert system,
so it really provides kind of a flag and the
student needs help and we connect them with the resources.
We are working on expanding the usage of those systems
with our faculty, and we've had some increase in that
(17:20):
as well. So leveraging these high impact practices, working with
our faculty to support our students as well as our
advisors and our counselors to ensure that we are wrapping
ourselves around our students and leading them to success is
what I plan to do with my partners in the College.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Doctor Marshall. Philadelphia is a city of partners from K
twelve to employers to neighborhood organizations. What new collaborations are
you excited to launch our skill this year?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
So we're really excited. In addition to our partnership with
the School District of Philadelphia to expand DOLE enrollment opportunities
for our students, we're very excited about our partnership with
the City of Philadelphia. We have launch the City College
for Municipal Employment in partnership with the City of Philadelphia,
the School District of Philadelphia, and Philadelphia Works. As a
(18:08):
result of this program, we are training students, providing programs,
providing education, power skills, upskilling for students and city residents
who are interested in pursuing jobs with the City of Philadelphia.
We're excited about the programs that we're offering to date,
and we are looking to expand and grow these programs
as well. Two programs that we are adding are forensic science.
(18:29):
We're looking to add that possibly as well as looking
to add cybersecurity. So we are excited about what has
happened so far and we're looking forward to more opportunity
to expand our programming and strengthen the pipeline.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
To city jobs with the City of Philadelphia.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
On a personal note, what keeps you grounded outside of
the office and what's one story from a student that
motivates you when decisions do get tough.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
That's a loaded question.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
I would say, you know these jobs are tough. One
that goes into higher education right now, or specifically higher
education and leadership knows that this is not an easy
path and it does cause a lot of stress. I
do a lot of working out and exercising outside of work,
(19:17):
and part of that is not just to help me
maintain my own health, which I think is critically important
because if you're not healthy, you're not going to be
able to show up for so many people that need
you to show up in a healthy way for them.
So that's part of why I do that, but it's
also very competitive. I'm very competitive, so I'm always pushing myself.
(19:40):
I do way trading, and I push myself and there's
opportunities to be impressed or to struggle in those workouts.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
To me, it is also a mirror of what happens
in life.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Sometimes there's something that you don't think you can do
and I can push through. I can have a horrible
I can be exhausted, I can feel like I'm very
very weak, and I can push myself.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Through a workout where I've lifted.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
More than I thought I could, or I'll go one
wight up, And just the thought of being able to
get through that is something that I think our students
go through every day, something that's insurmountable, like getting an education,
completing their associate's degree or a bachelor's degree, and not
knowing whether they can do it or not, but then
(20:28):
just pushing through that and sometimes with the help of
someone there. And so for me, I see that as
an opportunity where you can leverage the strength that you
get outside of that and bring that into the workplace.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
So I use that.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
I also would say there are so many stories from
students about CCP, and I've been hearing a lot more
of them lately, particularly as we're celebrating our sixtieth year.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
We've reconnected with a lot of.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Our alumni, but there's a common theme that I hear,
so I'm just going to speak to that. I have
talked to many alumni who say CCP has changed my life,
similar to that I have heard CCP saved my life.
I see that as a very powerful statement in regards
(21:17):
to what the college can.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Do for people.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
It really transforms their lives. And particularly we have single
parents that work and come to school and they have
kids at home, and getting the skills that they receive,
getting the support from the faculty that they received, working
with our passionate faculty who are experts in their discipline,
who really really care about the students in their classroom.
(21:43):
Having these experiences and then coming out and being able
to make a living wage, it really transforms not just
the life of the student, but the family and ultimately
hopefully the community. And so I say the community in
the Community College of Philadelphia really is about that. It's
about what we're able to provide access to students who
(22:06):
may not have access to education, and we remove the
barriers and we wrap our arms around them and we
help them to succeed.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
When you said you've heard that community college saved a life,
I can speak from personal experience because my husband can
say that he was on that very negative track. Many
of his peers are dead or in jail, but his
father convinced him to enroll in community college, and community
(22:35):
college literally saved his life. So he went on to
complete He transferred to a four year college u Arts, graduated,
and has thrived ever since. So I can speak from
a personal experience where I can say for real that
CCP saved a life that I know about, and I'm
sure there are countless other lives that have not only
(22:58):
been changed and up lifted, but certainly saved. So that's
pretty great.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Yeah, that's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
And lastly, I'd like to talk a little more personally
because in our conversation you talk about your evolution through
life and some of the obstacles that you experienced, certainly
as a woman of color in a field in which
you were always a minority, and I'm sure a lot
of people who did not believe that you could succeed.
(23:25):
There are a lot of people who experienced that through life.
You know, certainly I'm one of them too.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
But what is it?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
What's the secret, Sauce. What do you say to people
who sometimes get discouraged by facing discrimination, misogyny, racism, all
the isms that sometimes stand in the way of our success.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Well, I don't think there really is a secret, Sauce.
I think it is about community. And I know I've
said that a couple times to this interview. But I
was fortunate where I had two parents that really loved
me and raised me to do whatever I wanted to do.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Not everyone has that.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
If you don't have that, again, I was very rich
if I think about it, and not rich in money,
but rich in these relationships that really helped me at
a time when I could have been discouraged.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Right.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
So, not only did I have parents who were amazing
role models and they went against odds themselves, also had mentors,
and I talked about one of them, doctor Freeman Rabowski,
who was president of the University of Marland Baltimore County,
took an interest in me. And there's many others, not
just in my trajectory as a young woman in college,
(24:37):
but even beyond as I started to move through different
roles and positions and higher education. There were always people
around me that I was fortunate to be able to
ask questions of look at who.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Looked like me.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I'm the first person that comes to my mind right
now is doctor Charlene Dukes, who is a president emeritus
at Prince George's Community College in Maryland, and she became
my mentor back when I was a mathematics department head
years ago. African American female. That was the first time
I up close saw someone who looked like me who
(25:12):
was a college president. And so, you know, I really
understand impact of mentorship, and not only you know, in
my professional life as a person that's trying to move
into different roles, but I also bring that back to
my work at the college. I've started multiple leadership development
programs in my career, and most recently at Community College
(25:33):
of Philadelphia the Aspiring Leaders Program. But one of the
key components of that because of my experience, was to
infuse this mentorship piece. So we have mentors that are
presidents and vice presidents all the way across the country
that invest in one of our employees at the Community
College of Philadelphia who wants to move into a leadership
(25:54):
role and right there is just really something that really
speaks to my heart. How can I be a mentor,
a role model, be that person that someone the student
is looking at and say, oh, maybe I can do that.
She's doing it, maybe I can do it. That's what
I think is really critical. And sometimes you're lucky like
(26:14):
I was to have it in my family, but sometimes
you don't seek them out. And doctor Duke's will tell
you I walked up to her and asked her to
be my mentor, and I'm glad she said yes. But
sometimes you have to seek these opportunities out and you
have to go outside of your comfort zone and you
will sometimes get knows even in that because not everyone
has the time to invest in other people.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
They're busy.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
But you don't know if you don't ask. And it's
definitely no if you don't ask. So I would encourage
people who feel alone, who feel like they don't have
people rooting for them all the time.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Seek that out.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
There are people that are willing and passionate about giving back.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Yeah, and representation matters, and the fact that you risen
to the position of president of community college is about
representation and showing that a woman of color can ascend
to that institution and that level of leadership, and we
wish you all the luck in the world. Certainly, CCP
is an important component of our community, providing opportunities for
(27:19):
students who may not have had other options. It's providing
a wonderful, warm embrace academically in lots of different ways,
and we congratulate you for ascending to this position as
the newly appointed seventh president of Community College of Philadelphia,
doctor Alicia Marshall, previously serving as CCP's provost an interim president.
(27:40):
Bringing a deep background in math education and community college leadership,
we wish you the best of luck and we're very
encouraged by you and your mission at CCP. Thank you
so much for joining us.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
You can listen to all of today's interviews by going
to our station website and typing in keyword community. You
can also listen on the iHeartRadio app Hey Words Philadelphia
Community Podcast. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Lorraine Ballard.
I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrow, and I stand for service to
our community and media that empowers. What will you stand for?
(28:14):
You've been listening to Insight and thank you
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