S2 E16 - From Navy Submarine to Community College Dean: Decisive Leadership at Three Rivers (Part 2) - Kem Barfield

Digication Scholars Conversations

During his time as a Navy Submariner, Kem Barfield learned many valuable lessons about leadership and problem solving. Now, in his role as Dean of Academic and Student Affairs at Three Rivers Community College, he regularly calls upon the steady sense of resolve gained during his Naval experience in order to overcome the inherent challenges of educating and supporting students at a community college. In this Digication Scholars Conversation, Kem walks host Jeff Yan through several such challenges, including leading ePortfolio and assessment efforts on campus, and responding to COVID19 in a decisively vigilant yet flexible manner. He then discusses his contribution to the book Transforming Digital Learning and Assessment, which covers using ePortfolio to undertake assessment for prior learning, a practice which allows adult students from diverse backgrounds to receive college credit for their experiences outside of academia. Though not a major source of revenue for the college, he explains, it is an important act of support for these students. According to Kem, this is a fundamental purpose of a community college. “The average student needs a lot more guidance. They need support. I think then when you're talking about what community colleges do, we're the people that are the practitioners of education -- that actually do provide all that extra guidance.”