Interview

Rebecca Ralph
AET/516
Instructor: Charity Jennings
January 15, 2015

For my field experience I had the opportunity to interview the program coordinator of
History and Political Science Department at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville,
TN. Her name is Toni McDaniel and she has a PhD in History and is an instructor at the college.
I started out by discussing about the possible changes that maybe occurring at the community
colleges in Tennessee as well as the community colleges nationwide. These new changes will
help the future of college education and it is a need that a needs analysis was created. Mrs.
McDaniel explained the new changes which brought to light that there was a need that needed to
address.
Before discussing the new changes, Mrs. McDaniel described how difficult it was for
some students to get around a campus like Pellissippi, especially for those who are not used to a
college setting and/or are fresh out of high school. Many students who are new to college have
trouble getting around the campus, making their schedules, purchasing books, etc. This new
program will introduce mentors to the campus to help navigate new and current students around.
This will allow more community involvement for community colleges in Tennessee and
nationwide in the future. However, when I asked about curriculum changes, she mentioned that
changes such as these will be not addressed until five years from now. Mrs. McDaniel
mentioned that it is hard to predict how the curriculum would look like with these new changes.
This needs analysis covers and solves some of the major problems that may be found in
community colleges. As mentioned above, many students struggle when it comes to college
especially with the basic stuff. Providing these mentors on campus will help relieve some of the
burden. I asked what were the goals community colleges want to achieve for its students and
how can this relate to the new changes. Mrs. McDaniel mentioned two points regarding
community colleges. Those points are: 1. Prepare students to go onto a university; and 2.

Prepare students to go into the work force. The key idea is to promote college education to
adults and help guide them along the way. With establishing mentors on campus, it will help
achieve these goals that community colleges want to see happen.
As I was listening to Mrs. McDaniel talking to me about the community college
organization, I thought of a question of would this be done at a university setting? She answered
that more than likely it will not be seen at a university because it will cost too much. I believe
that if cost was not the factor it would work just as well at a university as it will at a community
college. Many students are university ready, but get scared when starting and need help
navigating through campus. This program would be great and something that should be
suggested in the future.
If it does not happen at the university level, I recommend adopting a program such as
TRIO program. At the University of New Mexico, where I got my undergraduate degree, the
TRIO program has helped many students, including myself, through my college years. This
program consists of Student Support Services, Upward Bound, Ronald E. McNair, etc., that help
low income, first generation students work towards their college degree. I was a part of the
Student Support Services program all five years at the University of New Mexico and this
program has helped me a lot. I attended seminars, met with academic advisors, set my major,
etc. This program has truly helped me with my college career and I know if the schools in
Tennessee will adopt them such as the University of Tennessee it will help many students finish
college especially if cost is the concern. What the community colleges are getting with this new
program, universities such as UT can have the same thing if they adopted the TRIO program. So
many students will benefit from this program.

I really enjoyed interviewing Mrs. McDaniel. She gave me a lot of information that I can
use for when I begin my instruction. She explained thoroughly about the new changes that
community colleges were facing which will help students out a lot. These new changes will not
only help students, but the faculty and staff as well. She seemed to be looking forward to these
new changes. Her focus seemed to be geared towards helping students succeed and get them to
where they need be. Helping students achieve their goals was her biggest goal she had.