AC again short-listed for Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence
Amarillo College is once again in the running for the nation’s biennial signature recognition of community college excellence – the $1 million Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence.
The Aspen Institute on April 27 announced 25 semifinalists for the 2023 Aspen Prize, and Amarillo College, which in 2021 attained Top 5 recognition and was named an Aspen Rising Star, is in the running once more.
Awarded every two years, the Aspen Prize honors colleges with outstanding performance in five critical areas: teaching and learning, certificate and degree completion, transfer and bachelor’s attainment, workforce success, and equitable outcomes for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds.
The 25 semifinalists for the 2023 Aspen Prize are:
Amarillo College, TX
Broward College, FL
Cloud County Community College, KS
Elgin Community College, IL
Georgia Highlands College, GA
Harper College, IL
Hostos Community College (CUNY), NY
Imperial Valley College, CA
Itawamba Community College, MS
Kingsborough Community College (CUNY), NY
LaGuardia Community College (CUNY), NY
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, MS
Moorpark College, CA
North Iowa Area Community College, IA
Northwest Iowa Community College, IA
Pierce College, WA
San Jacinto College, TX
Seminole State College of Florida, FL
South Florida State College, FL
South Puget Sound Community College, WA
Southwest Wisconsin Technical College, WI
Southwestern Community College, NC
Tallahassee Community College, FL
Union County College, NJ
Western Technical College, WI
The committee will review interviews with leadership teams and narrow this selection of 25 semifinalists to 10 finalists, to be announced in early June 2022.
Following multi-day site visits to each of the 10 finalists, the Top 5 and the Aspen Prize winner will be announced in the spring of 2023.
“The Aspen Institute has its finger on the collective pulse of our nation’s community colleges like no other authority, anywhere, and to be listed among the semifinalists for next year’s award is gratifying in the extreme,” AC President Russell Lowery-Hart said.
“It’s a feeling that doesn’t get old, that once again humbles us and at the same time puts wind in our sails.”
The Aspen Prize is generously funded by Ascendium, the Joyce Foundation, JPMorgan, and the Kresge Foundation. Previous winners are:
2021: San Antonio College (TX)
2019: Indian River State College (FL) and Miami Dade College (FL)
2017: Lake Area Technical Institute (SD)
2015: Santa Fe College (FL)
2013: Santa Barbara City College (CA) and Walla Walla Community College (WA)
2011: Valencia College (FL)