National Convening Recap
Thanks to all who attended our #Micropathways National Convening on Jan. 19, 2022!
+ Read a recap of the Convening
+ Watch the recording on YouTube
+ View the presentation slides (PDF)
+ Download our Design Insights Brief
+ Explore all 30+ micro-pathways
+ Learn more at the Community College Growth Engine Fund website
+ Join the conversation on Twitter with #Micropathways
#Micropathways: A Gateway to Community College Transformation
A Community College Growth Engine Fund (#CCGEF) National Convening
Have we found the gateway to community college transformation?
This is the question posed in this CCDaily op-ed … and the answer could be micro-pathways. Specifically, the innovative energy unlocked during the process of designing micro-pathways.
What are micro-pathways?
These employer-validated credentials take less than a year to earn and connect low-wage and entry-level workers to in-demand jobs that pay at-or-above median wage. Micro-pathways also stack to a degree, which can be earned later or part-time while working.
The Community College Growth Engine Fund, led by Dr. Lisa Larson, is a design accelerator that was set up just before the pandemic to help community colleges lean into a future role as regional talent agents in a skills-based economy. Six of the nation’s largest community colleges and systems joined the Fund’s first cohort, surpassing their goals by designing 30 micro-pathways in the first year. Each system or college received a startup award through the Fund, which is supported by over 15 foundations and investors.
Community college leaders, employers, funders, and learners will convene Jan. 19 to share their progress. We invite you to join this critical conversation.
Meet our speakers
Jessica Cinelli
Workforce Development & Grants Specialist, Kingsborough Community College
Dr. Sue Ellspermann
President, Ivy Tech Community College
June Evans
Director for the Center for Entrepreneurial Development & Training, Prince George’s Community College
Courtenay Gebhardt
Founder, Blue Sound Construction, Seattle, WA
Dr. Rufus Glasper
President + CEO, League for Innovation in the Community College
Lee Lambert, J.D.
Chancellor, Pima Community College
Carolynn Lee
Senior Program Officer, Ascendium
Dr. Donna McLean-Grant
Assistant Director of Workforce Development, Borough of Manhattan Community College
Dr. Shouan Pan
Chancellor, Seattle Colleges
Dr. Ian Roark
Vice President of Workforce Development & Strategic Partnerships, Pima Community College
Dr. Stacy Townsley
Vice President for Adult Strategy and Statewide Partnerships, Ivy Tech Community College
Hannah Weinstock
Senior Director of Workforce Development, LaGuardia Community College
Meghan Williams
Assistant Professor and EMS Program Director, Borough of Manhattan Community College
Meet our hosts
Kathleen deLaski
Founder + CEO
Lisa Larson, EdD
CEO
Sara Lundquist, PhD
Innovation Coach, CUNY, Community College Growth Engine Fund
#Micropathways: A Gateway to Community College Transformation
On the Agenda
PART 1: Why micro-pathways?
College executives, funders + industry partners — along with the voices of learners — will discuss how micro-pathways expand access to living-wage job opportunities, close skills gaps, and address talent shortages.
- Dr. Shouan Pan, Chancellor, Seattle Colleges
- Courtenay Gebhardt, Founder, Blue Sound Construction, Inc.
- Carolynn Lee, Senior Program Officer, Ascendium
- Dr. Lisa Larson, Education Design Lab
PART 2: Micro-pathway models
Colleges will present micro-pathways co-designed with the Lab + employers, celebrate Year 1 successes, and reflect on challenges + opportunities.
- Dr. Ian Roark, Pima Community College
- Dr. Stacy Townsley, Ivy Tech Community College
- Dr. Donna McLean-Grant, Borough of Manhattan Community College
- Hannah Weinstock, LaGuardia Community College
- Meghan Williams, Borough of Manhattan Community College
- Jessica Cinelli, Kingsborough Community College
- June Evans, Prince George’s Community College
- Dr. Sara Lundquist, Education Design Lab
PART 3: A gateway to community college transformation?
The Lab and college leaders will discuss the transformational changes catalyzed by the micro-pathways design process.
- Lee Lambert, J.D., Chancellor, Pima Community College
- Dr. Sue Ellspermann, President, Ivy Tech Community College
- Dr. Rufus Glasper, President + CEO, League for Innovation in the Community College
- Kathleen deLaski, Founder + CEO, Education Design Lab
Connect with Us
About Education Design Lab
The Lab is a national nonprofit that co-designs, prototypes, and tests education-to-workforce models through a human-centered design process focused on understanding learners’ experiences, addressing equity gaps in higher education, and connecting learners to economic mobility. The Lab’s process also shows higher education leaders how to consider the needs of employers, using the curriculum and program design as a gateway to make skills more visible to students and employers alike.
To get in touch, contact our team at ccgef@eddesignlab.org
Follow our work on Twitter @eddesignlab #Micropathways
Connect on LinkedIn at Education Design Lab
Press + Media
Higher Ed Dive: Why community colleges should embrace depth over breadth
Community colleges are under pressure to do more with less, and a new op-ed from our partners in Colorado shows what it looks like to go deeper instead of broader as a strategy for boosting economic…View Story
Watch this Chronicle webinar on demand: Scaling workforce innovation
Education Design Lab's Dr. Rachel Kahn, who is scaling stackable micro-pathways with community colleges across the U.S., joined a panel discussion hosted by the Chronicle of Higher Education. In this April 2026 virtual forum, Scaling…View Story
Watch on demand: How can colleges keep up with the AI job market?
This is definitely a question that keeps us up at night: How can higher education keep pace with the rapid changes to the job market and set up their learner-earners for career success? Don Fraser,…View Story
What’s the most important factor in designing college programs?
It's the learner voice, according to Dr. Janet Spriggs, president of Forsyth Technical Community College in North Carolina. In her op-ed published by CCDaily earlier this month, Dr. Spriggs explains how their human-centered design work…View Story
Work Shift: Training the New Tech Workers Amid the Data Center Boom
This October 2025 Work Shift article spotlights the Lab's Texas Flywheel Initiative, which is creating a sustainable talent pipeline for data centers and bitcoin mines in the state.View Story
MassLive: Are microcredentials the future of education? How short-term programs are changing higher ed
This August 2025 article features Bunker Hill and Roxbury community colleges, which are unbundling the associate degree into stackable, industry-aligned micro-pathways.View Story
CCDaily: Workforce Pell is finally here. What will it take to get it to work?
In this July 2025 CCDaily op-ed, Education Design Lab CEO Lisa Larson outlines the path forward with Workforce Pell and shares an inspiring example of collaborative work already underway with the Colorado Community College System.View Story
C-SPAN: Q&A with author + Lab founder Kathleen deLaski
In this April 2025 Q&A interview with C-SPAN, Lab founder and board chair Kathleen deLaski talked about her book, Who Needs College Anymore? Watch the one-hour video interview on C-SPAN's website. An audio-only version is…View Story
Why ‘nearly every industry should be paying attention’ to our work in Texas
The Lab is excited to share an April 2025 story by Stand Together, which explains why "nearly every industry should be paying attention" to the work the Lab and our partners are getting started in…View Story
CCDaily: Pima Community College designs micro-pathways to train Tucson’s unhoused population
This February 2025 Community College Daily story spotlights Pima Community College (PCC), which has expanded their micro-pathways programs to train the unhoused population in Tucson, Ariz. PCC was one of the Lab's first Community College…View Story
Politico: The future of short-term Pell
This Dec. 9, 2024, edition of Politico's Weekly Education newsletter includes a quote from Kevin Stump, Education Design Lab's Vice President of Impact.View Story
Work Shift: New partnership to bring ‘micro-pathways’ to Arkansas community colleges
This November 2024 story by Work Shift spotlights the “Scaling Learner Opportunity and Economic Growth Across Arkansas” program in partnership with the Lab's Community College Growth Engine.View Story
Oct. 3 webinar: Designing Equitable Career-Connected Accelerated Pathways with Hispanic Serving Institutions
Education Design Lab and our partners from Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) will share what we’ve learned about designing career-connected, dual enrollment pathways during an Oct. 3 webinar hosted by the U.S. Department of Education's Office…View Story
WATCH: Lab founder Kathleen deLaski discusses her upcoming book at Chronicle Festival
Watch a recording of the 2024 Chronicle Festival session, "Revamping Educational Pathways," by Education Design Lab founder + board chair Kathleen deLaski. Her forthcoming book, “Who Needs College, Anymore?,” will be released in February 2025.…View Story
Florida’s Business Observer: Polk County education exec links employers, job seekers
Dr. Naomi Boyer, the Lab's Senior Vice President of Digital Transformation, talks about her "why" and how she's changing the way the world looks at skills in this Business Observer profile (August 2024).View Story
Community colleges: Start your engines
Kathleen deLaski, Education Design Lab founder and board chair, wrote about the Advancing Economic Mobility at Community Colleges convening (July 2024) for Harvard's Project on Workforce blog.View Story
PBS NewsHour: How Arizona is building the workforce to manufacture semiconductors in the U.S.
PBS NewsHour spotlights Maricopa Community Colleges in this June 2024 "Rethinking College" series. Maricopa designed micro-pathways — including the Semiconductor Technician Quick Start — with the Lab in 2022.View Story
Denver Post: Colorado doesn’t have enough mental health workers to meet demand. Here’s what’s being done to fix that.
This May 2024 story in the Denver Post highlights the behavioral health micro-pathways the Lab developed with the Colorado Community College System.View Story
Higher Ed Geek podcast: Designing the future of work and education
In this May 2024 episode recorded live in Austin at SXSW EDU, Don Fraser, Jr., chats about the unique work of Education Design Lab and our approach to building a smarter ecosystem that better serves…View Story
WATCH: Lab education designer joins Brookings panel discussion on LERs
Learn more about the use of digital learning and employment records (LERs) around the world in this May 7, 2024, webinar hosted by the Brookings Institution. Skills visibility is a game-changer for learner economic mobility.…View Story
WorkingNation: A convening of rural higher education institutions aims to provide economic mobility for rural learners
Dr. Leslie Daugherty, the Lab's senior director for design programs, explains the Rural College Design and Data Academy in this WorkingNation report (April 2024).View Story
Montana Free Press: The rural workforce is changing. Colleges are scrambling to keep up.
Education Design Lab's state-wide micro-credential work is spotlighted in this Montana Free Press story (March 2024).View Story
WATCH: How Education Design Lab is changing the status quo
In late summer of 2023, Don Fraser, the Lab's Senior Vice President for Design + Innovation, traveled to San Antonio, Texas, to meet up with one of our longtime partners: Luke Dowden, the Chief Online…View Story
Higher Ed Dive: Some employers are wary of Gen Z workers. What can colleges do?
Dr. Naomi Boyer, Senior Vice president of Digital Transformation at Education Design Lab, is quoted in this February 2024 article by Higher Ed Dive.View Story
Inside Higher Ed: The economic returns of a rural education
Dr. Leslie Daugherty, Head of Design Programs at the Education Design Lab, is quoted in this February 2024 story by Inside Higher Ed.View Story
Getting Smart: A community micro-credentials effort connects students to local employers
David McCool, president and CEO of Muzzy Lane, writes about the Lab's Propel Polk! initiative in this February 2024 guest post on Getting Smart.View Story
Op-ed: With higher education on trial, policy changes may be the only path to a winning case
A January 2024 op-ed in RealClearEducation by the Lab's Dr. Leslie Daugherty and TJ Bliss, Chief Academic Officer at the Idaho State Board of Education.View Story
Evolllution Q&A: Maximizing return on education with micro-pathways for workforce development
In this October 2023 Q&A with the Evolllution, Joe Thiel, Interim Deputy Commissioner for Academic, Research and Student Affairs, Montana University System, and Lisa Larson, Senior Vice President of College Transformation, Education Design Lab, discuss…View Story
USA TODAY: Some parts of rural America are changing fast. Can higher education keep up?
USA Today spotlights some of the Lab's work in Montana and Idaho in this September 2023 story, which also features our rural partners at College of Eastern Idaho and the Lab's Dr. Leslie Daugherty.View Story
Work Shift op-ed: What’s in your (skills) wallet?
Skills look to be the currency of the future. Creating wallets to hold them will mean breaking down a “labyrinth of silos,” writes Dr. Naomi Boyer of Education Design Lab. Aug. 16, 2023.View Story
WATCH: Lab expert joins Chronicle of Higher Education forum on Transcript of the Future
Dr. Naomi Boyer, the Lab's Senior Vice President of Digital Transformation, joined a panel of experts for The Chronicle of Higher Education's virtual forum, “The Transcript of the Future,” on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. Watch…View Story
EdSurge column: The power of micro-credentials
In his March 23, 2023, column, Mordecai I. Brownlee, president of the Community College of Aurora (Colorado), explains how micro-credentials co-designed with employers and the Education Design Lab are creating more affordable academic options.View Story
Community College Daily: Fast-track learning
Pima Community College's micro-pathways are featured in this January 2023 excerpt from Community College Journal, the bimonthly magazine of the American Association of Community Colleges.View Story
Higher Ed Dive: Can higher education really be redesigned to connect learners and the workforce?
Bill Hughes, Education Design Lab’s CEO, talks about the nonprofit’s work in this October 2022 Q&A with Higher Ed Dive.View Story
Hechinger Report: Rethinking community college supports for single moms
The Lab's Single Moms Success Design Challenge was featured in this Sept. 16, 2022, story in The Hechinger Report.View Story
Open Campus: Can virtual welding help solve the density challenge?
Robert Nye, president of Finger Lakes Community College and BRIDGES Rural partner, talks about their GRIT pilot program in this Sept. 8, 2022, Mile Markers story.View Story
Podcast: Catalyzing Change in Rural Spaces
Senior Education Designer Leslie Daugherty, EdD, joins Episode 9 of the Rural College Student Experience podcast, July 19, 2022.View Story
Inside Higher Ed: Concrete ways to teach students resilience
In his June 29, 2022, op-ed for Inside Higher Ed, Brian LaDuca writes about the resilience micro-credential the University of Dayton created in collaboration with the Lab.View Story
eCampusNews: How two institutions tackle micro-credentials
Two Lab partners — the University of Maine System and Pima Community College — are featured in this June 20, 2022, story published by eCampusNews.View Story
Micro-pathways: An urgent gateway for community college transformation
Op-ed by Lab Founder + CEO Kathleen deLaski published on June 15, 2022, by the Charles Koch Foundation.View Story
Trending in Ed podcast: Skills Visibility and Equity with Kathleen deLaski
Podcast published on May 23, 2022, by Trending in Education. Interview by Mike Palmer.View Story
eCampus News: Is K-12 ready for skills-based hiring?
Op-ed by Lab Founder + CEO Kathleen deLaski. Published May 9, 2022.View Story
Washingtonian: Lab Founder + CEO Kathleen deLaski among D.C.’s Most Influential People
Washington D.C.'s 500 Most Influential People. Published May 3, 2022, by Washingtonian magazine.View Story
Rural Matters podcast: The incredible work of Education Design Lab + partners
A podcast interview with the BRIDGES Rural project team, including Leslie Daugherty, Kathy Temple-Miller, Dana Cotton, and Joe Davis. Interview by Michelle Rathman. Published April 10, 2022.View Story
Podcast on skills visibility: The changing relationship between learners, employers, and education
A podcast interview by Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation. Published April 5, 2022.View Story
Three prominent CC leaders discuss importance of transformative micro-credentials and micro-pathways
By George Lorenzo, Workforce Monitor, Published Feb. 9, 2022View Story
Not your typical shop class: New CTE program requires lessons in social skills
By Olivia Sanchez, The Hechinger Report, Published Jan. 21, 2022View Story
Country’s largest community colleges work to expand microcredentials
By Elin Johnson, Work Shift (Open Campus Network), Published Jan. 18, 2022View Story
Revamping short-term credential pathways
Community College Daily Staff, Published Jan 18, 2022View Story
Have we found the gateway to transform community colleges?
Community College Daily op-ed by Lee Lambert + Kathleen deLaski, Published Nov. 9, 2021View Story
