A good review, in University Business magazine by Ann McClure, of a surprising number of initiatives underway to bolster the community college mission. Each of the following is described in a short summary:

• The White House Summit on Community Colleges
• Department of Veteran's Affairs
• The Brookings Institute
• Lumina's 'Adult Degree Completion Commitment'
• The American Association of Colleges and Universities' 'Roadmap Project'
• The Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence
• The Gates Foundation's 'Completion by Design' Program

As one example, regarding veterans:

Helping veterans accomplish education and employment goals was one breakout session topic community colleges are already tackling. The robust program at Coastline Community College (Calif.), which has served active military since the 1970s, earned Jocelyn Groot, dean of military and contract education, a summit invitation. “What I took from our session is veterans are a different community with different needs,” Groot says. “What emerged was the disconnect between the Department of Education, Department of Labor, and Veterans Affairs.” Having Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in the session assured Groot the message would be heard. She says an exciting aspect of the summit was that it felt like a normal meeting until she realized there were people at the table who could actually make a difference.

A challenge she sees is in getting information about veterans’ support programs out to community college students and the public. For example, many people are unaware of the Student Veterans of America support clubs on many campuses.

On September 20-21, a Sustainability Education Summit: "Citizenship and Pathways for a Green Economy" was held at the Washington Plaza Hotel in DC. The meeting was a legislatively mandated invitation-only summit of about 300 green and sustainability leaders from within and around education, and featured appearances by subject matter experts as well as by various representatives from the US Departments of Education; Labor; and Housing and Urban Development.

SCUP was there, and captured some YouTube quality video excerpts so that you can experience some of the summit. We will be sure to share with you the summit outcomes when they become available.

Here is Secretary of Education Arne Duncan beginning his address to the group, in which he notes that his department is a bit late to the realm of sustainability education, but that this is a start.

Here is Tony Cortese of Second Nature and the ACUPCC. Warning, he starts out with a lightbulb joke that is not about energy.

Martha J. Kanter is the Under Secretary of Education, the position reporting to Secretary Arne Duncan in the realms of adult and higher education and federal student aid. These are some of her remarks at the opening of the first Sustainability Education Summit, "Citizenship and Pathways for a Green Economy."

Michael Crow is president of Arizona State University These are some of her remarks at the opening of the first Sustainability Education Summit, "Citizenship and Pathways for a Green Economy." He speaks here of the "design aspirations" at ASU and how those guiding principles affect its striving for sustainability. There is also more from Michael Crow, below.

One the meatiest sessions was on Tuesday, when a panel of experts moderated by yet another expert, discussed the presentations from Monday, as well as the outcomes from the small group visioning sessions at the end of Monday.

Below is Jim Elder of the Environmental Literacy Campaign, who moderated this panel.

Panelist Tom Kelly of the University of New Hampshire.

Panelist Leith Sharp of the Illinois Green Economy Network.

Panelist Debra G. Rowe of Oakland Community College (MI), as well as DANS, HEASC, and the US Partnership.