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Drawing from examples of career development initiatives implemented by SAGE 2YC Faculty Change Agents, this chapter illustrates the role of career development in supporting the success of all community college students and guides faculty, administrators, and professional societies on how to advance student career development on a variety of scales. Career development as an integral component of community college science courses has major implications for increasing the diversity of science professionals, conveying the importance of science and scientific literacy in career sectors within and outside of the sciences, reducing equity gaps in students’ career development as undergraduates, and facilitating skill‐building necessary for the workforce. We urge community college science faculty and administrators to consider the powerful impact that career skill‐building and career exploration have on students and encourage the adoption of career development activities at the classroom, program, and institutional levels.

Objective/Research Question: This paper reports on data collected in a multi-year National Science Foundation grant project involving a professional development (PD) model built to support community college faculty as change agents (CAs). The research question was: How do disciplinary communities of practice (CoP) emerge among community college faculty working in teams? Methods: This research employed a mixed-method design. Data collection included interviews, focus-group sessions, reflective journals, observations, end-of-workshop evaluations, survey data with the 23 geoscience faculty CA, and data from a national survey. Data analysis used the principles of CoP. Results: When compared to other community college geoscience faculty nationally, the participants in our study reported greater levels of behaviors characteristic of CoP. The CoP emerged due to network building and resource sharing within the PD. The findings highlight the significance of structured PD on the development of robust disciplinary CoP. The initial orientation of CAs, existing institutional structures, and cultures of community colleges influenced the CoP. Putting lessons learned into practice, sharing outcomes, and leading regional PD for others contributed to strengthening of the CoP. Conclusions/Contributions: Intentional PD catalyzed the emergence of strong CoP among the community college geoscience faculty participants. The opportunities to connect with disciplinary colleagues teaching in community colleges who shared an interest in supporting student success and improving teaching practices and the opportunity to share lessons learned contributed to the CoP. Structured interactions, critical reflection, and leading colleagues in PD supported developing, maintaining, and growing the CoP.

This chapter presents the leadership journeys of five faculty who participated in the SAGE 2YC: Faculty as Change Agents project. These faculty stories illustrate the influence of the project on their leadership and work as mid‐level administrative or grassroots leaders. Key to the project was the explicit inclusion of leadership development in the professional development (PD). Learning about organizational frames and leadership approaches, the experience of faculty participants designing and leading their own workshops, and the resulting community of practice contributed to the leadership development of faculty participants. Implications and recommendations for leadership development of faculty members, critically important for colleges, concludes the chapter.

This chapter presents the experiences of adjunct faculty in theSAGE 2YC: Faculty as Change Agentsproject through the stories of five participants who share the influence of the project on them and their work. We describe the professional development that occurred in the project, which included learning with colleagues from across the country, implementing changes in their classroom teaching and beyond, and leading follow‐on workshops in teams on campus and/or in the region. The participant stories illustrate how the project gave them agency and validated their work. Adjunct faculty make important contributions to student and faculty success, and there is power in engaging adjunct faculty as leaders and change agents and fully realizing their potential.