Texas Launches the Leadership Academy for Student Success
One of three states to receive funds to build leadership capacity at community colleges.
May 1, 2023 | Austin, TX – Today, the Texas Success Center announced the first cohort of the Texas Leadership Academy for Student Success. This leadership development program is designed to provide mid-level community college faculty and staff with the critical skills and knowledge to improve student outcomes.
Nationally, community colleges often struggle to attract and retain the talented leaders they need to implement evidence-based reforms that help more students succeed. This project, which is made possible by generous funding from the Ascendium Education Group, the ECMC Foundation, and the Kresge Foundation, aims to address this challenge by strengthening the pipeline of leaders within colleges.
Dallas, TX - The Texas Success Center (TSC) is excited to announce the winners of the 2022 Texas Pathways Awards. TSC honored the exemplary work of five colleges for their implementation and scaling of the Texas Pathways strategy. Awardees were celebrated in Dallas, Texas at the November Texas Pathways Institute, Teaching and Learning in a Texas Pathways Framework, with over 450 attendees representing 47 Texas colleges statewide.
Three colleges were recipients of the Recognition of Dedication to Educational Outcomes (RODEO) award, including Kilgore College, Houston Community College, and Amarillo College. These colleges are deeply engaged with the network of Texas colleges, have CEOs who deeply support the guided pathways work at their campus, and show remarkable success in the growth of key performance metrics correlated with student completion.
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
