Governance Institute for Student Success Launched by ACCT and the Community College Leadership Program, University of Texas at Austin
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 18, 2010
David Conner, ACCT
(202) 775-4454 (office)
(202) 384-5944 (mobile)
dconner@acct.org
Byron McClenney, CCLP
512-471-4484 (office)
512-470-3690 (mobile)
bmcclenney@mail.utexas.edu
AND THE
COMMUNITY COLLEGE LEADERSHIP PROGRAM,
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Supports Community College Trustees
WASHINGTON, DC—The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), in partnership with the Community College Leadership Program (CCLP), College of Education, The University of Texas at Austin (UT), and with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is undertaking a three-year initiative to design, develop, and implement a new Governance Institute for Student Success. ACCT and CCLP are developing a process through which governing boards and CEOs can foster the institutional agenda and skills necessary to accelerate and achieve the needed increases in student attainment and completion.
“Trustees work with policymakers at all levels to ensure that their colleges remain accessible, affordable, and accountable to their multiple constituencies,” explained ACCT Chair Thomas M. Bennett, a trustee at Parkland College in Illinois. “Student completion and institutional accountability represent the most important public policy work that trustees can undertake to fulfill their governance and fiduciary responsibilities.”
“The need for a renewed emphasis on student success propels the partnership of ACCT and CCLP to create the new Governance Institute for Student Success,” said ACCT President and CEO J. Noah Brown.
The new Governance Institute for Student Success initiative will blend ACCT’s esteemed Governance Leadership Institute (GLI) and CCLP’s highly-rated Board of Trustees Institute to provide the foundation for transformational work with governing boards of community and technical colleges to increase student success and attainment as governance priorities.
“The new blended institute initiative is a remarkable and unprecedented opportunity to reinforce the skills and knowledge bases of community college trustees throughout the country,” said ACCT Vice President for Research, Education and Board Leadership Services Dr. Narcisa A. Polonio. “We are grateful to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for recognizing this need and we are eager to begin expanding the model.”
“The opportunity to blend good governance practices with the work we have been doing on student success with Texas trustees is truly exciting,” said CCLP Project Director Byron McClenney.
“Community colleges are absolutely vital to our nation’s higher education system and economy but to ensure they deliver this promise, it is critical we improve college completion rates,” said Diane Troyer, Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We applaud the trustees’ commitment to ensuring their colleges identify current completion rates, and put the policies and program in place to improve completion.” The grant represents the mutual interests of ACCT, the CCLP, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in improving community college student completion rates.
Ohio will be established as the test pilot state with the 23 community colleges invited to participate in one of two institutes later this year.
“We are excited that Ohio has been selected as the pilot state for this promising new program,” said Ohio Governor Ted Strickland. “The Governance Institute for Student Success will help ensure that our community college governing boards are informed and equipped to take a leadership role at their colleges during a time of increased enrollment and focus on practical workforce training.”
“We look forward to working with the partners of the Governance Institute for Student Success and supporting this groundbreaking effort,” said Ohio Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut. This initiative perfectly aligns with Ohio’s 10-year Strategic Plan for Higher Education, which aims to graduate more students and employ them in our state.”
About ACCT
The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) is a non-profit educational organization of governing boards, representing more than 6,500 elected and appointed trustees who govern over 1,200 community, technical, and junior colleges in the United States. These community professionals, business officials, public policy leaders, and leading citizens offer their time and talent to serve on the governing boards of this century's most innovative higher education institutions-community, junior, and technical colleges-and make decisions that affect more than 1,200 colleges and over 11 million students annually. For more information, visit www.acct.org.
About CCLP
The Community College Leadership Program (CCLP) has an impressive national reputation for graduating the highest number of doctoral students to become community college CEOs and senior administrators in the country. Its reach further extends through a significant array of nationally recognized initiatives, including its key role in Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, the California Leadership Alliance for Student Success (CLASS), Student Success Institutes, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded Developmental Education Initiative, The Ford Foundation-funded Bridges to Opportunity, the Center for Community College Student Engagement, and the National Institute for Staff and Organization Development.
# # #