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Welcome to Awake58 — a weekly newsletter where you’ll find the latest updates on community college related news and events around the state. Plus, a look at what’s trending nationally in higher education.
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Winter weather updates and school closures… EdNC’s playbook on Hurricane Helene and lessons learned from impacted community colleges… An evaluation of NC Reconnect… An update on the North Carolina Community College Master Instructor program… Faculty offer strategies for reengaging adult learners… An in-depth look at CUNY ASAP… Middle school to open on a community college campus… More enrollment numbers… Rowan-Cabarrus Community College announced as a finalist for AACC’s annual Awards of Excellence… Plus, register for myFutureNC’s State of Educational Attainment event…
Hi all, Emily Thomas with Awake58.
It’s unusual for me to write about winter weather two weeks in a row, but here we are.
On Monday, every school district and community college in North Carolina closed or transitioned to remote learning as the state began cleaning up after a historic snowfall. This is the most snow some eastern counties have seen since the early ‘80s. We’ll continue to update school closures this week.
At the end of last year, we introduced EdNC’s Hurricane Helene playbook. We noted that when the Pactiv Evergreen mill closed in Canton, EdNC used a playbook from the Pillowtex closing as our roadmap. The lessons learned from the insurance subsidies provided for workers after Pillowtex closed were especially important, and may have saved lives in Canton by reducing the suicide risk. The authors of the Pillowtex case study could not have predicted how important their work would eventually become.
In that same spirit, EdNC’s playbook addresses various areas, including: emergency management, mutual aid, early childhood, community colleges, K-12, faith and faith institutions, philanthropy, and leadership wellness.
The “lessons learned from community colleges” chapter explores how institutions impacted by the hurricane served their communities. It details leadership decisions, funding disbursements, and recovery updates from before the storm hit in September 2024 through the following year. Throughout the chapter, we provide considerations throughout for future natural disasters and emergencies.
More importantly, this work highlights the community colleges and their leaders who showed up despite their own disaster trauma, pouring from depleted reservoirs to serve. To our state’s community colleges, your work does not go unnoticed.
We have several other EdNC reads for you below, including an evaluation of NC Reconnect, an update on the North Carolina Community College Master Instructor (NC3MI) program, strategies from faculty on reengaging adult learners, and an in-depth look at the advising model guiding the state’s Boost implementation.
As always, if you have a story idea or promising practice you’d like EdNC to see or cover, send it our way. You can reply directly to this message or email me at: [email protected].
Until next week,
Emily Thomas
Regional Director of Western North Carolina — EdNC.org
EdNC reads
EdNC’s Hurricane Helene Playbook: Lessons learned from community colleges
In times of disaster, anchor institutions are vital lifelines for residents and government agencies alike. Their ability to operationalize quickly makes them a stabilizing force throughout all phases of disaster. At the same time, community colleges train the very individuals who are on the front lines of disasters leading search, rescue, and recovery efforts.
During and after Hurricane Helene, North Carolina’s community colleges became emergency response centers, providing shelter, basic necessities, internet access, strategic support for small businesses, and space for local, state, and federal agencies.
Learn how NC Reconnect is reenrolling adult learners in community colleges
An initiative aimed at increasing adult learners’ reenrollment in North Carolina community colleges is helping the state make progress toward its educational attainment goal, according to a new four-year evaluation report.
As of this report, NC Reconnect’s outreach efforts had helped 3,098 adults who previously left college without a degree or credential reenroll. Participants returned at rates far higher than the statewide average, the report found.
Community college faculty share strategies to meet adult learners where they are
Professional development opportunities for faculty can strengthen instructional practices and help them better support adult learners. However, according to Audrey Jaeger, executive director of the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research, only about a third of community colleges in the state have a center for teaching and learning, and among those colleges, only half have a full-time faculty member leading professional development.
At a “Community of Practice” meeting held on Jan. 21 by the Belk Center, leaders from NC Reconnect community colleges heard about strategies and resources to support community college faculty teaching this critical student population.
Meet the program advancing teaching excellence for NC’s community colleges
Unlike universities, most of the state’s two-year colleges do not have academic ranks for their instructors, limiting salary growth as instructors cannot progress to more advanced titles.
Recognizing this, Dr. Lane Freeman, director of online learning programs and student services for the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS), set out to create a program that would both serve as professional development for instructors and recognize teaching excellence across the state.
Freeman helped launch the North Carolina Community College Master Instructor (NC3MI) program in 2024 — a six-month professional learning experience for community college faculty modeled after the National Board Certification program for K-12 educators.
ICYMI: What makes CUNY ASAP’s advising approach so effective?
The CUNY ASAP model includes high-quality student services, direct financial support, course enrollment, and program expectations that facilitate movement through the program — but many consider the heart of the model to be high-touch, personalized student advising, with the same adviser, from enrollment to graduation.
In a 2015 evaluation of the program by MDRC, CUNY ASAP students shared that “advisers were important to their academic success” and “advisement was one of the most helpful program components.”
“The no. 1 thing students came to the (CUNY ASAP) program for was the financial benefits. However, when they left, the one thing they spoke most about was the advising experience. I think that says everything,” said Matthew Eckhoff, former ASAP LaGuardia director and current Boost director at Alamance Community College.
Around NC
Collaboration and partnerships | Haywood’s school district, community college, and county leadership are all behind an innovative educational opportunity that will launch in August 2026. Haywood Innovative — an accelerated middle school experience — is scheduled to open for the 2026-27 school year. It will be a replica of the nationally regarded Haywood Early College (HEC) for middle schoolers in Haywood County.
Leadership | In EdNC’s Hurricane Helene Playbook, Mebane Rash details lessons learned in leadership, trauma, wellness, and “facing forward.”
National model | In 2021, Made In Durham created the BULLS Life Sciences Academy to recruit young adults into the BioWorks program at Durham Technical Community College. Since the program started, over 200 students have graduated from BULLS, with 77 in the field of life sciences across 22 different companies. The BULLS Life Sciences Academy is currently recruiting for its 14th cohort. The last six cohorts had a 94% graduation rate. You can read more about it in this article from Indy Week.
Institutional design | Forsyth Technical Community College President Dr. Janet Spriggs writes in Community College Daily that student voice is the most important factor in institutional design.
Enrollment | At Alamance Community College, final enrollment numbers for the spring 2026 semester show a 10% increase in headcount and a 15.5% increase in full-time equivalent (FTE) compared to spring 2025.
Edgecombe Community College began 2026 with 1,679 curriculum enrollments, a 4.87% increase over last year. Enrollment growth occurred in nursing programs (up 10.1%), computer science (up 40%) and respiratory therapy programs (up 20%). The college says Career and College Promise (CCP) students are the biggest driver in their enrollment growth.
Awards | The American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) announced finalists for their Awards of Excellence. Rowan-Cabarrus Community College represents N.C. with two nominations: “Exemplary CEO-Board Relationship” and “Outstanding College Corporate Partnership,” for the college’s partnership with manufacturing corporation Okuma America.
In January, Blue Ridge Community College received two awards from Land of Sky Regional Council’s Mountain Area Workforce Development Board (MAWDB), “recognizing the College’s collaborative workforce development efforts through Apprenticeship Blue Ridge and the Healthcare Fellows program,” according to a recent college press release.
Events | Join myFutureNC for one of eight virtual 2026 State of Educational Attainment in North Carolina Regional broadcasts. Register today to add the event directly to your calendar and be ready to join virtually on Feb. 12, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. At each virtual event, participants will dig into new statewide and county-level insights and address next steps for strengthening local talent development in the year ahead.
Fellowship opportunity | Applications for the John M. Belk Impact Fellowship are now open. The 10-month paid fellowship is a “training ground for future generations of social impact leaders” who will have the chance to deepen their experience across a wide array of focus area and gain marketable skills toward future employment. Full-time community college, undergraduate, or graduate students at an accredited North Carolina college or university interested in fields of education, public policy, political science, data analytics, psychology, or related fields can apply. The application portal closes March 20, 2026. You can find out more details about the fellowship and how to apply here.
Other higher education reads
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