In Massachusetts, Northern Essex Community College has been selected by the Boston Foundation to receive the 5th Annual Deval Patrick Prize for Community Colleges, which comes with a $50,000 award.
NECC was recognized for its PIÉS Latinos de NECC program, which helps immigrants who have earned credentials from other countries reach their professional potential. Since 2016, the program has evaluated the credentials of more than 600 immigrants, including dozens with university degrees from foreign countries, helping them gain credits and/or enroll in coursework that moves them into and through higher education at NECC and other institutions.
“At a time when we know demand for skilled workers is high, this program opens doors for hundreds of talented students who can fill those roles, but deserve credit for the relevant work they have done,” said Paul S. Grogan, Boston Foundation president and CEO.
Each year, the Deval Patrick Prize for Community Colleges is awarded to a community college program leading the way in innovation and business partnership.
Minnesota
South Central College can modernize its nursing labs and classrooms thanks to a $350,000 pledge from the Mankato Clinic Foundation. The college in 2017 received $9.6 million from the state legislature for campus renovations, which will begin in June. The new funding will help with the purchase of equipment and will provide scholarships for students in need.
North Carolina
Johnston Community College (JCC) will use a $200,000 grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation to create a simulated specialty care unit at the college. It will be used to train nurses with the skills to care for the most acute and critically ill patients in intensive care and progressive care units, and those in post anesthesia and post-operative care.
The project will add new clinical opportunities for students in their capstone course, offering them 12 lab hours dedicated to specialty care. It also allows JCC to increase the total student capacity of the associate degree program from 105 to 125.
Tennessee
Pellissippi State Community College has received a $100,000 pledge from Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) to support a new center for math and science.
“It’s exciting to think how many young scientists, engineers and mathematicians this new building will serve in the coming years,”said ORAU President and CEO Andy Page.
ORAU has been a long-time partner of Pellissippi State, supporting the college and students both financially and with volunteer time. Through the support of ORAU, Pellissippi State offered an annual middle school mathematics contest for 18 years. ORAU also partnered with the college to offer an advanced manufacturing internship to prepare students to enter this high-tech workforce, and provided scholarship support to Pellissippi State students, who worked as math tutors during their time at the college.
(From left) Eric Abelquist, executive vice president of ORAU, and ORAU President Andy Page present a $100,000 donation to Pellissippi State President L. Anthony Wise., Jr. (Photo: Pellissippi State)
Washington
Clover Park Technical College’s (CPTC) work to redesign math instruction got a boost when College Spark awarded the college a supplemental grant worth nearly $150,000.
CPTC is transitioning to the guided pathways education approach, which seeks to eliminate developmental math and instead place students in college-level math earlier in the process with supports in place to help them succeed. The three-year College Spark grant will help CPTC implement these changes in the placement process and supportive co-requisite courses to assist students.
CPTC’s plan will involve creating a holistic placement process that involves one-on-one collaboration between college advisers and students to determine the best math placement. In addition, contextualized co-requisite courses will help students get the support they need to understand the necessary math concepts and apply them to their program of study.
