Community College Humanities Association

The Community College Humanities Association (CCHA) is a formal, non-profit association of faculty members from the nation's community colleges. The organization seeks to advocate for the humanities in the nation's two year colleges; although, it does also engage in work with four-year institutions, and much of the association's work is done through grants and affiliations with the National Endowment for the Humanities. History CCHA was founded in 1979 through the American Association for the Advancement of the Humanities. CCHA held its first conference that year in Summit, New Jersey, culminating in the publication of Challenges Before the Humanities in Community Colleges: Review and Proceedings of the Community College Humanities Association. Through the years, CCHA has been at multiple institutions as the association has never been a "stand-alone" association and has always existed and been supported by a community college campus. Most recently, CCHA was housed at Essex County College in Newark, NJ, until the end of 2015. At the beginning of 2016, CCHA moved to the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) and it is currently housed on the Essex campus. The Community College Humanities Association is also a member of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) Affiliated Council. Governance CCHA is governed by a board of directors composed of community college presidents and five elected regional presidents. The current chairman of the board is David A. Berry, Professor of Humanities at Essex County College, who won the National Humanities Medal in 1997 for his services to the humanities. In addition, the regular day-to-day work of the organization is overseen by the National Director, Andrew Rusnak, Jr, who is an associate professor of English at the Community College of Baltimore County.