Pockets of Connection: Creating a Sense of Community at a Large Urban Community College

Abstract

Building connections among students and faculty is a difficult challenge at a large, urban community college. This article examines one programmatic effort, the Honors Program at the Community College of Philadelphia. It describes the origin and development of the program, emphasizing the evolution of faculty thinking and programmatic decisions. The central features of the Honors Program are identified as a set of practices that build an intellectual community among faculty and students. These include an integrated, interdisciplinary curriculum, seminars and writing group, the overlapping of first and second semester student groups, and a collegial model of faculty development.