Talent Strong Texas Pathways 2025 Award Winners
Talent Strong Texas Pathways 2025 Award Winners
April 15, 2025
Austin, TX – The Texas Success Center is proud to announce the recipients of the 2025 Talent Strong Texas Pathways Awards. Eight Texas community colleges were honored in Houston, Texas at the April Talent Strong Texas Pathways Institute: Ensuring Teaching and Learning – Instructional Strategies for Connection and Completion, which brought together attendees from 46 community colleges across the state.
Six colleges were recognized with the Recognition of Scaling Excellence (ROSE) award for outstanding efforts in scaling essential practices aligned with the four foundational pillars of the Talent Strong Texas Pathways strategy. These institutions have demonstrated a deep commitment to transformational change, elevating the student experience and ensuring stronger outcomes.
Two additional colleges received the Recognition of Dedication to Educational Outcomes (RODEO) award, which celebrates colleges that have made significant strides in institutional leadership, and increased student success outcomes.
Learn more about the awardees’ leadership and innovation in student success below.
2025 ROSE Award in Recognition of Scaling Excellence in Pillar 1: Mapping Pathways to Student End Goals - Dallas College
Dallas College was honored for its exceptional work in mapping clear, aligned pathways to student goals across all educational programs - including academic, workforce, continuing education, adult education and literacy, and dual credit. The college has fully organized these programs by meta-major and aligned them with transfer and employment outcomes. Every program map includes a field-specific math requirement, and relevant career and transfer information is readily available to students online. In addition to academic innovations, Dallas College has made institutional strides in establishing centralized hubs to provide basic needs support and dedicated staff to provide holistic wellness services for students.
2025 ROSE Award in Recognition of Scaling Excellence in Pillar 2: Helping Students Choose and Enter a Pathway – Grayson College
Grayson College received this award for its substantial progress in scaling mandatory onboarding for nearly all students. Students now engage in academic orientation with meta-major-specific content and participate in first-year experience courses tailored to their chosen fields. All students - whether academic, workforce, continuing education, or dual credit - receive career assessments and mandatory initial advising, and they create a full program plan during their first term. These plans are accessible online, helping students clearly understand their path to completion. Grayson also ensures that all students are informed about available basic needs supports and participates in structured interventions to promote a strong sense of belonging throughout their college experience.
2025 ROSE Award in Recognition of Scaling Excellence in Pillar 3: Keeping Students on Their Pathway – Temple College
Temple College earned this recognition for its comprehensive and inclusive approach to advising and support. The college has scaled mandatory advising and systematic checkpoint interventions to serve all students - including those in academic, workforce, continuing education, adult education and literacy, and dual credit programs. Students receive regular communication about available basic needs services, and the college has prioritized cultivating a culture of belonging. Using tools to assess each student’s sense of connection, Temple College implements strategic interventions throughout the student journey to ensure every learner feels supported and engaged.
2025 ROSE Award in Recognition of Scaling Excellence in Pillar 4: Ensuring Students Are Learning – Texas Southmost College
Texas Southmost College was selected for its for its intentional approach to ensuring every student is learning. Program Learning Outcomes are developed and assessed across academic and continuing education programs to inform ongoing improvements. The college has scaled corequisite support for underprepared students, embedding academic and basic needs supports throughout each pathway. Faculty have a formal referral process for connecting students to both learning and wellness services. All faculty, advisors, and administrators receive training to identify and respond to basic needs insecurities and to foster a sense of belonging. College-wide efforts also focus on enhancing applied learning - particularly in foundational courses across disciplines - to deepen engagement and improve outcomes.
2025 ROSE Award – Exemplar: Scaling Excellence Across All Four Pillars – Victoria College
Victoria College received the Exemplar ROSE Award for its institution-wide transformation driven by a clear strategic vision. Guided Pathways is not only a student success strategy at Victoria College - it is embedded in the strategic plan and embraced at all levels, including the Board of Trustees. The college maintains transparent communication about progress and actively seeks feedback from the college community. Its reforms are far-reaching, ensuring that students across academic, workforce, and continuing education programs experience strong onboarding, meaningful learning, and a supportive environment. Victoria College is also a leader in addressing basic needs and fostering belonging. It regularly engages with K-12, higher education, and workforce partners to build a more aligned and effective educational ecosystem.
2025 ROSE Award – Exemplar: Scaling Excellence Across All Four Pillars – San Jacinto College
San Jacinto College was recognized as an Exemplar ROSE recipient for fully embedding Talent Strong Texas Pathways into its institutional fabric. With steadfast leadership from Chancellor Hellyer and the Board of Trustees, Guided Pathways is a strategic priority and the foundation for student success at the college. San Jac has prioritized student wellness and created programs that ensure learners are supported from entry to completion. The college regularly collaborates with K–12 and workforce partners to build a dynamic education-to-career pipeline. As a result of these efforts, all students - across academic, workforce, and continuing education programs - benefit from clear, well-designed pathways, strong onboarding, and active, applied learning opportunities.
2025 RODEO Award in Recognition of Dedication to Educational Outcomes – Alvin Community College
Alvin Community College was honored with the RODEO Award for its measurable gains in student success and educational outcomes. The college achieved impressive growth in 7 of the 8 early momentum metrics, including significant increases in students completing math and writing, a 10 percent increase in credential attainment within three years, and an 8 percent increase in student transfers within three years. Alvin’s commitment is further evidenced by its leadership participation in the Board of Trustees Institute and contributions to national conversations through sessions at Pathways Institutes.
2025 RODEO Award in Recognition of Dedication to Educational Outcomes – Trinity Valley Community College
Trinity Valley Community College received the RODEO Award for its exemplary outcomes and institutional engagement. The college has demonstrated significant progress across 7 of the 8 early momentum metrics, including notable gains in first-term credit completion, a 12 percent increase in credential attainment within three years, and a 6 percent increase in student transfers within three years. TVCC’s leadership team is deeply involved in the Pathways work - participating in the Board of Trustees Institute, sharing practices at statewide convenings, and engaging in national conversations around student parents. Two of its leaders are also currently participating in the Texas Leadership Academy. Trinity Valley’s results reflect a student-centered approach to transformation, resulting in more students completing a credential of value leading to a better career and better future.
The Texas Success Center supports Texas community colleges in their efforts to improve student success and direct Texas Pathways - a statewide strategy focused on building capacity for community colleges to design and implement structured academic and career pathways at scale, for all students. For more information, visit www.tacc.org/tsc.
Media Contact:
Amber Silva
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tacc.org