Odessa College, a finalist for the 2019 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, was recognized by Aspen with a "Rising Star" award for dramatic improvement, accompanied by a $100,000 cash award. During a ceremony at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., Odessa College was honored for its remarkable efforts to engage students and faculty, resulting in a record-low course withdrawal rate of 1.8 percent and an increase in the graduation and transfer rate over five years from 15 percent to 36 percent.
“In a community where a college education has historically not been needed for a good job in the oil fields, Odessa understands that the world of work is changing and will demand increasing levels of educational attainment,” said Joshua Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program. “That is why Odessa is singularly focused on finding innovative strategies to
"There is strong bipartisan support for reauthorizing the Higher Education Act this year, particularly in the Senate, but there are plenty of policy issues that lawmakers need to work out, according to a U.S. Education Department (ED) official."
Some of these conversations are centered around:
Allowing dual-enrollment students to tap Pell grants
Extending Pell eligibility to certain inmates
Writing a new state Perkins plan
Establishing a program to help colleges establish effective apprenticeships
For a more in-depth analysis of these topics and their discussion, visit Community College Daily here.
"A state bill that would secure funding for community colleges affected by Hurricane Harvey has been amended to include campuses in the Crossroads area, according to a news release.
State Rep. Geanie Morrison, of District 30, successfully amended State Bill 500, the state supplemental appropriations bill, to include Alvin Community College; Brazosport College; Coastal Bend College; Del Mar College; Houston Community College; Lone Star College System; Victoria College; and Wharton County Junior College."
President of Victoria College, Dr. David Hinds, expresses his gratitude towards Rep. Morrison stating, “We have a champion of community colleges in Representative Morrison. She understands and supports us, as she has for many years. We are deeply appreciative of her efforts with the House to get us to this point in the process.”
Jerome Drain,Dean of Natural Sciences and Horticulture at Houston Community College and Suzanne Wilson Summers, Special Assistant to the Provost and Professor of History at Austin Community College have been selected as fellows with the American Council on Education for 2019-2020. Drain and Summers will be placed at an institution other than their own, where they will work with a senior leader. Learn more about the ACE Fellows Program.
Del Mar College received a substantial donation of $1.5 million dollars from Gulf Coast Growth Venture on Thursday, March 21. Del Mar College is currently growing both in enrollments and in size. The “history-making” donation will allow them to expand both their facilities and resources for students on their campus.
"This is going to benefit our entire region of South Texas for generations to come," said Del Mar College President Mark Escamilla.
As of now, the money will be used for new equipment and to further enhance workforce training programs like process technology, millwright, welding, transportation training, and environmental/petrochemical lab technology. As Coastal Bend's economy grows, all of these positions are in high demand.
Read more on the impact of this incredible donation here.
