Dr. Pam Eddinger, President of Bunker Hill Community College: Blurring Traditional Education Boundaries

About this episode

Dr. Pam Eddinger discusses innovative strategies for community colleges to enhance relevance and student success.

Offering only one degree; developing a cloud computing program in collaboration with Amazon Web Services; working with high schools so students can earn an associate degree before graduation: these are examples of the kind of innovation community colleges must pursue to stay relevant to students and employers alike, according to our guest today, Dr. Pam Eddinger, president of Bunker Hill Community College. “This is where the next iteration of community college must be. We can’t just stay in a classroom. It doesn’t work that way anymore.” Those examples and others are included in the new book Dr. Eddinger is co-editing, Beyond the College Walls: Partnerships and the Future of Community College Reform, which is due out from Harvard Education Press in September, 2026. As she explains to Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, who contributed a chapter to the book, community colleges must work to blur the boundaries between high school, college, and careers and make it easier for students -- especially adult learners -- to gain the skills they need in ways that fit their lives. Join us for a forward-looking WorkforceRx conversation on how community colleges are reimagining pathways to…

People in this episode

Host: Van Ton-Quinlivan

Guest: Dr. Pam Eddinger

Topics covered

• community colleges
• education reform
• economic mobility
• partnerships
• adult learners

Keywords

• community colleges
• education innovation
• cloud computing
• high school partnerships
• economic mobility

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bunker Hill Community College, Amazon Web Services, Harvard Education Press

Books & works: Beyond the College Walls: Partnerships and the Future of Community College Reform

More episodes of WorkforceRx

• Caitlyn Brazill, President Of Per Scholas: Turning Structural Gaps Into Tech Career Opportunity · June 10, 2026 · 37 min
• Reigniting Education Journeys with a Personalized Approach: Terah Crews, Chief Executive Officer at ReUp Education · May 28, 2026 · 24 min
• Dr. Zakiya Ellis, Principal Consultant at  EducationCounsel: Why Higher Ed Needs Firefighters and Architects in the Age of AI · May 13, 2026 · 26 min
• Dr. Joshua Travis Brown, Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Education: How Higher Education Went From Mission-Driven to Margin-Obsessed · April 8, 2026 · 38 min
• Dr. Andrea Austin, Emergency Medicine Residency Program Director at Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital: How to Create Changemakers in Healthcare · March 25, 2026 · 29 min
• David Zuckerman, President & CEO of Healthcare Anchor Network: Boosting the Local Economic Impact of Hospitals · February 25, 2026 · 42 min