Today the Aspen Institute announced the winners and finalists of the 2023 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the nation’s premier award for two-year colleges. Kingsborough Community College was recognized as a finalist, applauded for their outstanding work helping students succeed in college and beyond.
The jury commended Kingsborough Community College on its long history of being on the cutting edge of helping students succeed. Twenty years ago, the college pioneered learning communities that research showed were particularly effective—now, the college enrolls a third of its students in the nationally-recognized CUNY ASAP program. The ASAP program provides financial and advising support, plus career and internship opportunities.
“Kingsborough has long been a national leader in large-scale reforms,” said Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program. “In all this transformative work, the genuine commitment of Kingsborough leaders, faculty, and staff to helping all students succeed results in strong student outcomes.”
Since its creation in 2010, the Aspen Prize has been the nation’s signature recognition of community colleges that are achieving high, improving, and equitable outcomes for students both while in college and after graduating. The winners and finalists represent the amazing potential of America’s thousand-plus community colleges to lift up individuals and communities by serving as engines of prosperity and social mobility.
The 2023 Prize winners were selected by an independent nine-member Prize Jury of leaders in politics, journalism, and education:
- Jaime Aquino, Superintendent, San Antonio Independent School District
- Thomas Brock, Director, Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University
- Sarita Brown, President, Excelencia in Education
- Andrew Kelly, Senior Vice President for Strategy and Policy, University of North Carolina System
- David Leonhardt, Senior Writer, The New York Times
- Ericka Miller, President and CEO, Isaacson, Miller
- Joelle Phillips, President, AT&T Tennessee
- Michael Sorrell, President, Paul Quinn College
- Jane Swift, President and Executive Director, LearnLaunch; former governor of Massachusetts
Awarded every two years, the Aspen Prize honors colleges that show outstanding performance in six critical areas: teaching and learning, certificate and degree completion, transfer and bachelor’s attainment, workforce success, equitable access, and equitable outcomes for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. The selection process for this year’s prize began in October 2021, when an expert data panel guided the Aspen Institute in crafting a formula to assess student outcomes at nearly 1,000 community colleges in key areas such as retention, completion, and equity. Based on that formula, 150 top community colleges were invited to apply. A selection committee of 16 higher education experts reviewed 109 submitted applications and chose ten finalists in May 2022, following the announcement of 25 semifinalists in April 2022. For more information about the Prize process, please visit: as.pn/Prize.
The ten finalists (including the two winners of the $1 million prize) are:
- Amarillo College, TX (winner)
- Broward College, FL
- Imperial Valley College, CA (winner)
- Hostos Community College (CUNY), NY
- Kingsborough Community College (CUNY), NY
- Moorpark College. CA
- Northwest Iowa Community College, IA
- San Jacinto College, TX
- South Puget Sound Community College, WA
- Southwest Wisconsin Technical College, WI
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