ABSTRACT
U.S. community colleges, while oft en analyzed as a group or sector, encompass small institutions serving relatively insulated communities, large, multicampus behemoths that provide education and occupational training for a wide variety of students, and considerable variation in between. Furthermore, community colleges vary widely in relation to their roles and functions within state systems, and, depending on the ways in which power and authority are distributed within community college governance structures, colleges face diff erent expectations from both internal and external constituents.
