Submission Information

Welcome to The Community College Moment Submissions Page
Call for Submissions for Volume 17, Spring 2017

The Community College Moment invites articles, interviews, photographs, artwork, academic and creative writing, and other original work relevant to the mission and environment of community colleges. Submissions should provoke meaningful, progressive inquiry that will appeal on a local and/or national level to an educated, but not specialized, audience. Each issue of The Moment is thematically organized, all or in part, providing multiple perspectives on a given topic. The next theme is Civic Engagement.  The deadline for submission is Monday, November 21, 2016.

Photo by Russell H. Shitabata

2017 Theme: Civic Engagement

In the work of the Truman Commission of 1947, the U.S. government made the case for the central role of higher education in democratic society. At the first meeting of the commission in 1946, John Steelman argued that “We face national decisions that are as important as any that have confronted us since the federal union was formed. These decisions are made in a democracy by the people, and not by a Government apart from the people. Their choices are governed in large part by their opportunities for education aimed at producing effective citizens” (in Hutcheson 107-8). Not only did the Truman Commission lay the conceptual groundwork for a community college system open to all “without regard to economic status, race, creed, color, sex, national origin, or ancestry,” it imagined an educational curriculum that explicitly helped students to develop “ethical principles consistent with democratic ideals” (in Hutcheson 109).

This issue of The Moment will take up and reflect upon the vision of the Truman Commission as it manifests (or does not) today. In the context of the various reform movements within and outside of higher education, to what extent are community colleges — and we as educators — fostering civil and social engagement? To what extent should or can we? We encourage you to think about the relative importance of civic awareness and engagement in your pedagogy. Which models of education and modes of communication produce and/or deter such engagement in ourselves and in our students? What challenges do we as educators and citizens face when we work towards these goals? We invite submissions that consider the above questions in various contexts: professional, political, and personal (and all of the intersections between them).

Work Cited
Hutcheson, Philo A. “The Truman Commission’s Vision of the Future.” Thought and Action: The NEA Higher Education Journal (Fall 2007): 107-115. Web.

We ask for your submissions by November 21, 2016.

Submission Categories and Format
The Moment is open to a variety of submission formats, including the following categories: articles (under 5000 words; languages other than English welcome), sabbatical research summaries, plans and reflections on innovative pedagogies, artwork (paintings, photography, sculpture, choreographic projects featured through photographs, musical compositions, etc.), fiction and poetry (relevant to the Moment audience), works-in-progress (provocative ideas not fully worked out), collaborative projects, web-based and multi-media projects. We also invite submissions of short reviews (under 1200 words) that offer insights on books and other materials relevant to our audience.  Additionally, we have a new section, Life in the C.C., which focuses on short works (under 1500 words) covering both professional and life experiences of those working at community colleges.

We prefer work to be submitted electronically via Google Docs. Please submit a cover letter as the body of your email, along with two copies of your work, one with your name removed from all pages.  In your cover letter, please include a brief, one paragraph biographical note highlighting your relationship with community colleges. In written submissions, please use endnotes instead of footnotes, single spacing after periods, and indents set in formatting options (instead of using the "tab" or "space" key).  Be clear and consistent in your style of documentation. Art should be sent as .tiff files. Please contact us first for submissions in other media or for text submissions via hard copy.

Please submit in one category only. Send no more than one prose piece, three poems, or four visual pieces. Queries welcome. Mailed submissions cannot be returned unless accompanied by SASE with appropriate postage.

Review Process
Your work will be reviewed in a blind process by two members of the Review Panel, and you will then be notified of their decision. The Review Panel is comprised of community college staff.  Currently, our review process runs from November to December, and submitters are notified in January. Publication for accepted submissions usually occurs in May.  The deadline for the upcoming publication is November 21, 2016.  We also accept submissions year-round for future consideration (confirmation notices may be significantly delayed in the summer months).

Mail submissions:
Community College Moment
Attn: Russell H. Shitabata 
Lane Community College
4000 E. 30th Avenue
Eugene, OR 97405

Electronic submissions:
Moment: Moment@lanecc.edu

Community College Moment
Lane Community College
4000 E. 30th Avenue
Eugene, OR 97405
Moment@lanecc.edu