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is the article’s main aim for rural community colleges?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"To identify common characteristics of American college towns that can serve as a road map for rural community colleges to embed educational imprints into local communities.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"What research basis does the author use?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"The author draws on a multi-year project involving physically visiting 100 American college towns across 34 states, along with campus visits to hundreds of rural community colleges and thousands of small towns in North America.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"How does the article explain the connection between colleges and place?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"Both rural community colleges and American college towns are described as higher-education systems anchored in designated geographical places, shaping local systems and cultures through their interwoven 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\nAmerican College Towns as a Road Map for Rural Community Colleges to Imprint Higher Education into Community  \nDevon Almond  \nWilkes University, [d.almond.das@outlook.com](d.almond.das@outlook.com)  \nFollow this and additional works at: [https://newprairiepress.org/edconsiderations](https://newprairiepress.org/edconsiderations)  \n Part of the Community College Leadership Commons, Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons, and the University Extension Commons  \nThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.  \nRecommended Citation  \nAlmond, Devon (2022) \"American College Towns as a Road Map for Rural Community Colleges to Imprint Higher Education into Community,\" Educational Considerations: Vol. 48: No. 2. [https://doi.org/10.4148/](https://doi.org/10.4148/)[ ](https://doi.org/10.4148/)0146-9282.2334  \nThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in Educational Considerations by an authorized administrator of New Prairie Press. For more information, please [contact](contact cads@k-state.edu)[ cads@k-state.edu](contact cads@k-state.edu).  \nAmerican College Towns as a Road Map for Rural  \nCommunity Colleges to Imprint Higher Education into  \nCommunity  \nDevon Almond  \nThis reflective article brings together two interrelated educational interests: rural community  \ncolleges and American college towns. More than a decade ago, while working across various  \nrural community colleges in Northern Canada, I began to imagine how American college towns  \nmight offer a model to imprint higher education into rural places where there are few, if any,  \ncollege campuses. Guided by this vision, I sought to identify the most common everyday  \ncharacteristics found across American college towns in order to create a road map for rural  \ncommunity colleges to embed educational imprints into community. In what follows, I offer  \nreflections around how these college town characteristics offer a potential road map for rural  \ncommunity colleges to structure educational imprints into the lifeblood of local towns. In  \naddition to drawing on this multi-year research project that involved physically visiting 100  \nAmerican college towns across 34 states, I also draw on campus visits to hundreds of rural  \ncommunity colleges and thousands of small towns across North America to offer ideas related to  \nembedded cultures and rural ways of knowing. The article concludes with practical steps for  \nrural community college administrators to embed educational imprints into rural places.  \nSystems and Cultures Anchored in Place  \nBoth rural community colleges and American college towns represent higher education systems that are anchored in place. In rural community colleges, this commitment is reflected in a broad orienting organizational mission that involves the community development of collectives through the career development of individuals within designated geographical places (e.g., rural region) .  \nOrganizational hallmarks ofthis place-based mission include open admission (i.e., a democratic  \ntheme), pathways to university degrees (i.e., an academic theme), and skills-based training for  \nemployment (i.e., an economic theme) (Rogers, 2010) . As “neighborhood schools of higher  \neducation,” rural community colleges are close to home and both representative and inclusive of  \nlocal communities (Rural Community College Alliance, 2021) . Initially instilled across the  \nUnited States to accommodate local G.I. Bill recipients and then significantly expanded a  \ngeneration later (Cohen & Brawer, 2013), rural community colleges have offered longstanding  \nsignificance to rural places. With these deeply anchored roots, rural community colleges  \ncontinue to adapt to shape local communities. For instance, this evolution is evidenced thro","cbCaidwkbz5eIy4k","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidwkbz5eIy4k","pdf",314238,12,"English","# Systems and Cultures Anchored in Place\n## Place-based missions in rural community colleges\n## College towns as interwoven local influences","[{\"question\":\"What is the article’s main aim for rural community colleges?\",\"answer\":\"To identify common characteristics of American college towns that can serve as a road map for rural community colleges to embed educational imprints into local communities.\"},{\"question\":\"What research basis does the author use?\",\"answer\":\"The author draws on a multi-year project involving physically visiting 100 American college towns across 34 states, along with campus visits to hundreds of rural community colleges and thousands of small towns in North America.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the article explain the connection between colleges and place?\",\"answer\":\"Both rural community colleges and American college towns are described as higher-education systems anchored in designated geographical places, shaping local systems and cultures through their interwoven roles.\"}]","American College Towns as a Road Map for Rural Community Colleges to Imprint Higher Education into Community | PDF",1792095582]