Aspen Institute announced that Tallahassee Community College (TCC) was named as one of 25 semifinalists for the 2023 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the nation’s signature recognition of high achievement and performance among America’s community colleges. The College was selected because of its focus and commitment to improving student success, making college accessible for all students, and preparing students for the workforce or to transfer and graduate from a university. In addition to this year’s nomination, TCC was named a Top 10 finalist in the 2021 Aspen Prize.
“We are thrilled to have made it to this next milestone for the 2023 Aspen Prize,” said Dr. Jim Murdaugh, president of TCC. “TCC is one of the best community colleges in the nation. There’s so much good work happening here, and we are proud of all our successes on behalf of our students. This recognition will help us share our story”
The Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program aims to advance higher education practices and leadership that significantly improves student learning, completion, and employment after college, especially for the growing population of students of color and low-income students on American campuses. The colleges selected as semifinalists stand out among more than 1,000 community colleges across the country with positive results for Black and Hispanic students. Eligibility for this prize requires colleges to show data displaying strong and improving student outcomes in areas such as retention, completion, transfer, and equity. These institutions must elevate the community college sector and facilitate the duplication of effective practices. The Aspen Institute invited 150 colleges to apply for the 2023 award by sharing their data and success stories with an expert Data/Metrics Advisory Panel and the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. Aspen uses this model as part of their intensive review process as the colleges await the announcement of the spring 2023 prize winner.
The next steps in the process will include an additional selection of committee members to review data and narratives from the 25 semifinalists. The committee will conduct site visits to each of the 10 finalist institutions where a team of experts will collect student data and gather information about effective practices. After the visit, a distinguished jury will decide on which college will be the winner of the coveted Aspen Prize based on quantitative data and qualitative information. Lastly, the winner of the Aspen Prize will be announced in Spring of 2023.
The Aspen Prize, which is awarded every two years, is generously funded by Ascendium, the Joyce Foundation, JPMorgan, and the Kresge Foundation.
For the full list of the 150 eligible institutions in the United States and to learn more about Aspen’s selection process, visit https://highered.aspeninstitute.org/aspen-prize/.
Original source can be found here.
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