LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL—The 2013 Community College Futures Assembly (futures.education.ufl.edu) announced the winners of the 19^th annual Bellwether Awards at their annual policy summit showcasing the competitively selected leading edge programs in community college practice worthy of replicating.

The winners are: Elgin Community College (Elgin, Illinois) in the Instructional Programming and Services (IPS) category, Piedmont Technical College (Greenwood, South Carolina) in the Planning, Governance, and Finance (PGF) category, and Chattanooga State Community College (Chattanooga, Tennessee) in the Workforce Development (WD) category.

“In more than 1,200 national community colleges this is one of the highest honors an institute can receive. The awards are similar to being selected by your peers, comparable to the Oscar ®” or Emmy® Award,” said Dale, F. Campbell, Professor and Director of the Community College Futures Assembly and Institute of Higher Education. “Leaders of past winning programs have obtained ‘free agency’ status through the demonstrated results their programs have made. Leaders from the winning institution are often hired recruited by other colleges to replicate the award-winning program. They also receive thousands of phone calls and hundreds of visits to help others replicate the success of their program in other community colleges and institutions.”

The Instructional Programs and Services (IPS) category recognizes programs or services that have been designed and successfully implemented to foster or support teaching and learning in the community college. Elgin Community College presented a project called “One school can do so little; together we can do so much.” They cited statistics showing “since 2006 the percent of direct-from-high school graduates at Elgin Community College needing remediation has decreased 8% overall, and 10% in mathematics because of faculty-centered school district partnerships. This [project] replicated an Alliance for Readiness meeting by providing opportunities to interact with data, ask questions, and transcend educational boundaries.” For more information on this project please contact: Dr. Libby Roeger, Dean, College Transitions & Developmental Education (847) 214-7463 fax (847) 214-7818 E-mail: eroeger@elgin.edu

The Planning, Governance, and Finance (PGF) category recognizes programs or activities that have been designed and successful y implemented to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the community college. Piedmont Technical College presented a project called “LEAN in Higher Education: How it Continues to Change Our Culture.” The project created better customer service by becoming LEAN to better record student enrollments through more efficient processes.  For more information on this project please contact: Mr. Keith Lasure, Associate Vice President of Process Development, Dean Engineering & Industrial Technology, (864) 941-8687 Fax (864) 941-8677 E-mail lasure.k@ptc.edu

The Workforce Development (WD) category recognizes programs that create public and/or private strategic alliances and partnerships that promote community and economic development. Chattanooga State Community College presented a project called “The Wacker Institute: Diplomas with Job Offers!” Chattanooga State has teamed with Wacker Polysilicon-North America to create the Wacker Institute. This innovative program, which includes working in a chemical pilot plant, allows graduates in Chemical Engineering Technology to leave with their diploma in one hand and a job offer from Wacker Chemical in the other!. For more information on this program please contact: Dr. George Graham, Department Director, Wacker Institute & Dept. Head, Chemical Engineering Technology (423) 697-3275 FAX (423) 697-4493 E-mail George.Graham@ChattanoogaState.edu

The featured keynote address was presented by Leslie Crutchfield, Senior Advisor at the Foundation Strategy Group and co-author of the critically acclaimed book “Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Non-Profits.” This year’s policy summit was led by Thomas Bailey, Ph.D., Director of the Community College Research Center (ccrc.tc.columbia.edu) with his remark on “Scaling Innovation: Research on the Promising Practices in Developmental Math Education.” J. Noah Brown, Ph.D. president of the Association of Community College Trustees (Acct.org) also provided a session showcasing his new book “First in the World: Community College and America’s Future.” Together the lessons from the speakers and keynote address served as the basis for introspection, strategic decision making, selecting critical issues, and directing policy creation for distribution to key administration and community college oversight board of directors including the Department of Education, American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC), the National State Directors of Community Colleges, the National Council for Continuing Education and Training (NCCET), the Council for Resource Development (CRD), the National Council of Instructional Administrators (NCIA), the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), the Academic Chairs Academy as well as legislators and key policy makers.

The Community College Futures Assembly has been held annually in Lake Buena Vista, Florida at the Hilton Hotel and serves as an independent policy summit, to identify the critical issues facing community college leaders, while showcasing leading edge programs with demonstrated results, worthy of replicating in any community college. Annually between 100 and 500 applications are received from around the United States, Canada, and other countries. Peer-reviewed committees judge entries in each of the three categories to select ten finalists to go to Lake Buena Vista to present and showcase their projects. The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT.org) oversees the judging process while, the Council for Resource Development (CRDnet.org) sponsors and provides the peer review judging for the Planning, Governance, and Finance (PGF) category, and the National Council for Continuing Education and Training (NCCET.org) sponsors and provides the peer review judging for the workforce development (WD) category. In almost two decades there have been thousands of applicants but only 55 winning projects honored programs with the Bellwether Award.