West Kentucky Community and Technical College (WKCTC) was named today one of ten finalists for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the nation’s preeminent recognition of high achievement and performance in America’s community colleges.
Located in Paducah, WKCTC with 10,000 students has earned a place on the ten top finalists’ list in each of the three years the Prize has been awarded and was named a finalist-with-distinction in 2011. The $1 million prize fund will be awarded in March 2015 in Washington, D.C. to the winner and up to four finalists-with-distinction. *see complete list of finalists below*
The Prize, awarded every two years, recognizes outstanding institutions selected from an original pool of more than 1,000 community colleges. With a singular focus on student success, the Prize assesses community colleges’ achievements in four areas: student learning, certificate and degree completion, high rates of employment and earnings for graduates, and high levels of access and success for minority and low-income students.
“Since the Aspen Prize started in 2010, West Kentucky Community and Technical College has been a finalist in every cycle, demonstrating its place as one of the top community colleges in the country,” said Joshua Wyner, Executive Director of the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program in Washington, D.C. “WKCTC demonstrates that a community college can help students be successful in the classroom and in the job market when faculty consistently measure and improve student learning, when programs are aligned to economic opportunity, and when leaders strategically build and sustain a culture of continuous improvement.”
West Kentucky stands out as one of the nation’s top community colleges for many reasons, including:
- Strong graduation/transfer rate (48% compared to 40% national average)
- Exceptional culture among faculty for improving teaching practice across the college, resulting in measurable improvements in student learning
- Alignment of programs to both long-term and short-term needs of local community and businesses, resulting in the college playing a central role in region’s economic development
The success of our nation’s community colleges is more important than ever before. Nearly half of all college students attend community college, with more than seven million students—youth and adult learners—working toward degrees and certificates. This includes rapidly growing numbers of lower-income and minority students.
The federal government is increasingly looking to community colleges to help educate and transform our nation’s workforce and grow the country’s middle class. And constrained family budgets and mounting student debt—which recently surpassed $1 trillion nationally—will only serve to increase the appeal of community colleges. With average tuition of about $3,000 per year per student—less than half the average at public four-year colleges and less than 10 percent of what is now charged by top private four-year colleges and universities—community colleges offer a uniquely affordable path straight to a job or an on-ramp to a bachelor’s degree.
The Selection Process
Aspen’s Finalist Selection Committee, comprised of former community college presidents, respected researchers and policy experts, selected the ten finalist institutions after reviewing extensive data on performance and improvements in learning, graduation, workforce outcomes, and equitable outcomes for all students, especially those in traditionally underserved racial/ethnic groups—African American, Hispanic/Latino and Native American—and those from low-income backgrounds. Of the 150 institutions named eligible in January, over one hundred applied to compete for the Prize.
This fall, the Aspen Institute will conduct site visits to each of the ten finalist institutions. Following a rigorous review process, a distinguished Prize Jury will select a grand prize winner and up to four finalists-with-distinction to be announced in March 2015. To learn more about the selection process, go towww.aspeninstitute.org/aspen-prize-selection-process.
The 2013 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence was awarded to Santa Barbara City College (California) and Walla Walla Community College (Washington). In 2011, Valencia College (Florida) was the inaugural Prize winner. According to the Prize rules, former winners were not eligible to reapply for this cycle.
The Aspen Prize Finalists selected today reflect the diversity and richness of American community colleges—from the large El Paso Community College in El Paso, Texas, with a majority Latino student body of 40,000, to the small-town Lake Area Technical College in Watertown, South Dakota with 1,700 students, to the urban, ethnically diverse Eugenio María de Hostos Community College, part of the City University of New York and located in the South Bronx, the nation’s poorest congressional district.
The 2015 Aspen Prize Finalists (listed in alphabetical order):
Two colleges have been named finalists in three consecutive Prize cycles (indicated with *) and two others were finalists for a second time (indicated with #)
Brazosport College - Lake Jackson, TX#
Contact: Kyle Smith, tel: 979-230-3489, kyle.smith@brazosport.edu
El Paso Community College – El Paso, TX
Contact: Keri Moe, tel: 915-831-6475, kmoe@epcc.edu
Eugenio María de Hostos Community College, CUNY – Bronx, NY
Contact: Ana Carrión-Silva, tel: 718-518-4246, amcarrion@hostos.cuny.edu
Indian River State College – Fort Pierce, FL
Contact: Dr. Mary Locke, tel: 772-462-7225, mlocke@irsc.edu
Kennedy-King College – Chicago, IL
Contact: Katheryn Hayes, tel: 312-553-2719, khayes32@ccc.edu
Lake Area Technical Institute, Watertown, SD*
Contact: LuAnn Strait, tel: 605-882-5284 ext. 241, straitl@lakeareatech.edu
Olympic College – Bremerton, WA
Contact: Joan Hanten, tel: 360-475-7120, jhanten@olympic.edu
Renton Technical College – Renton, WA
Contact: Kendra Smith, tel: 425-235-2356, ksmith@rtc.edu
Santa Fe College, Gainesville, FL#
Contact: David Houder, tel: 352-381-3625, david.houder@sfcollege.edu
West Kentucky Community and Technical College, Paducah, KY*
Contact: Janett Blythe, tel: 270-534-3079, janett.blythe@kctcs.edu
Dr. Karen Hill Johnson, communication instructor at West Kentucky Community and Technical College, was recently named the Looney-Benin Community College Instructor of the Year by the Kentucky Communication Association (KCA).