AUSTIN, TX – The Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Kimberly Lowry as the new Vice President of TACC and Executive Director for the Texas Success Center (TSC) effective June 17, 2024. Dr. Lowry brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of leadership in higher education, with a focus on community college excellence and student success.
Dr. Lowry joins TACC from The Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program, where she serves as the Director of Leadership and Impact. In her role, she is instrumental in developing strategies and executing initiatives that advanced student success and community college leadership nationwide. Her leadership significantly contributed to the professional growth of numerous community college presidents and the overall enhancement of community college education standards.
Houston, TX - The Texas Success Center is excited to announce the recipients of the 2023 Talent Strong Texas Pathways Awards. The Texas Success Center honored the exemplary work of eight Texas community colleges for their success in the implementation and scaling of the state’s research-based guided pathways strategy, Talent Strong Texas Pathways. Awardees were celebrated in Houston, Texas at the November Talent Strong Texas Pathways Institute: Mapping Pathways to Student Post-Completion Goals, with 500 attendees representing 48 colleges statewide.
Five colleges were recipients of the Recognition of Scaling Excellence (ROSE) award, including North Central Texas College, Coastal Bend College, Victoria College, Clarendon College, and Galveston College. Outstanding among their peers, these colleges have dramatically scaled the essential practices associated with the strategy, resulting in
Austin, TX - The T.L.L. Temple Foundation awarded $2.2 million over five years to the Texas Success Center, a Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC) division, to improve young adults’ postsecondary and employment outcomes in rural areas of East Texas.
Through the foundation’s generous support, the Talent Strong East Texas Strategy will strengthen, scale, and expand guided pathways into a regional pipeline strategy targeting postsecondary degrees or credentials that lead to high-demand, high-wage jobs. The goal is to upskill East Texans, especially students who are Black, Latinx, or from low-income communities, by building sustainable pipelines that create a steady flow of valuably credentialed workers for thriving East Texas businesses.
“There is an urgent need to enable well-trained East Texans to enter meaningful careers with family-sustaining wages while providing an
Congratulations to Dr. Kurt Ewen,Vice Chancellor for Strategy Planning & Institutional Effectiveness and Chief of Staff at Houston Community College for winning the Carl “Cheesie” Nelson Award for 2022.
Dr. Ewen has exemplified what it means to be a transformational leader by developing a vision for HCC’s future that follows uncharted pathways. He has a deep understanding of organizational design, is adept at mobilizing commitment from people, and, most importantly, is able to institutionalize that commitment. With more than 20 years of experience in higher education, he is fully committed to creating large-scale change that impacts the greatest number of students.
During the awards ceremony, Dr. Cesar Maldonado, Chancellor of HCCS, said, “Dr. Ewen’s contributions to HCC have greatly impacted both the experience of our students and the Houston community. By identifying ways to be
Austin, TX – The Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC) announced today that the Board has appointed Ray Martinez III as President & Chief Executive Officer. He will officially assume leadership of the association on August 22, 2022. Martinez will provide leadership to advance state policy, institutional practice, and research in support of the Texas community colleges that comprise the TACC membership.
“The Board and I are confident Ray is the right leader for the association as he was unanimously supported by the TACC Board. I’m certain he will continue to build on the momentum the association has created leading up to the 88th legislative session with a passion for the students we serve,” said William Serrata, TACC Board Chair and President of El Paso Community College. “We are fortunate to have him.”
"Community colleges serve as a foundation of the higher education
