EPCC RECEIVES NATIONAL AWARD

Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count and Lumina Foundation for Education announced that El Paso Community College has been honored with the third annual Leah Meyer Austin Institutional Student Success Leadership Award. EPCC received the award during the opening of the annual Achieving the Dream Strategy Institute in Indianapolis.

EPCC received the award for simultaneously increasing student success and college access. In partnership with Achieving the Dream, EPCC instigated a college-going culture in a metropolitan border area where 82 percent of residents are Hispanic, 27 percent are low-income and 54 percent have a high school diploma or less education. The college’s multi-faceted strategy reduced the number of students who need developmental (remedial) courses; added enrollment in gateway courses (introductory and prerequisite courses); expanded completion rates in gateway courses; and raised graduation rates.

“The Achieving the Dream initiative was the best thing that could have happened to EPCC,” said EPCC President Richard Rhodes. “It motivated us to use data intentionally to inform our decision making and helped us focus on student success. The outcomes have empowered our faculty, staff, students and community to engage in promoting and supporting student success at levels never seen before.”

“EPCC’s resolute commitment to student success and completion has set them apart as an impressive example of what is possible at community colleges across the country,” said Achieving the Dream President and CEO William Trueheart. “This award recognizes EPCC’s strong presidential leadership and broad institutional engagement, their breadth of successful programs and the pervasive impact of their programs on the community. EPCC is showing the nation that high-level commitment and well-focused, evidence-based decision-making can lead to substantial improvement in student success and completion.”

Conceived in 2004, Achieving the Dream (ATD) has expanded to 130 institutions in 24 states and the District of Columbia serving more than 1.6 million students. ATD is focused on creating a culture of evidence on community college campuses where it identifies problems that prevent students from succeeding, particularly low-income students and minorities. Colleges develop programs to help them stay in school and receive a certificate or diploma.

The Lumina Foundation is an Indianapolis-based private foundation committed to enrolling and graduating more students from college including low-income, minorities, first-generation students and adult learners.

The Leah Meyer Austin Award recognizes outstanding institutional achievement in creating excellence and equity through committed leadership, use of evidence to improve policies, programs and services, broad engagement and systematic institutional improvement.

For additional information, please contact the EPCC Marketing and Community Relations Office at 831-6531; Katie Loovis at KLoovis@AchievingtheDream.org or Lucia Anderson at landerson@luminafoundation.org

EPCC, the Best Place to Start