Nov. 10, 2020 – Collin College is among 30 community colleges nationwide selected as a 2021 finalist for a highly-coveted Bellwether Award.
The Bellwether Awards are widely regarded as one of the nation’s most competitive and prestigious recognitions for community colleges. Bellwether finalists represent leading community colleges whose outstanding and innovative programs and practices were selected among competitive submissions as exemplary. The finalists will undergo a rigorous second and final round of review at the virtual 2021 Community College Futures Assembly in January 2021. Each selected college will provide a 60-minute presentation on its program or model to an anonymous panel of skilled practitioners who are recognized as leaders in the field.
“The Bellwether College Consortium prides itself on identifying and celebrating replicable, scalable, and results-based programs and models and disseminating these highly lauded examples of institutional success to peer institutions,” said Dr. Rose Martinez, director of the Bellwether College Consortium.
The consortium honors community colleges with awards in three categories: Instructional Programs and Services; Planning, Governance, and Finance; and Workforce Development. Collin College is one of 10 institutions named a finalist in the Planning, Governance, and Finance category.
“The Board of Trustees and I are extremely proud of this recognition as it serves to acknowledge efforts across the organization to improve the college’s efficiency and effectiveness,” said Dr. Neil Matkin, Collin College district president. “Congratulations to all the finalists whose hard work brought them to this stage in the process—Collin College is among exceptional company.”
All finalists will be presented at the 2021 Community Colleges Futures Assembly and one winner will then be selected from each category by a panel of national experts.
The assembly, now in its 27th year, convenes annually as an independent national policy forum for key higher education leaders and to recognize Bellwether winners and finalists as trend-setting institutions. The Bellwether College Consortium Policy Summit kicks off on Jan. 22, 2021.
The Bellwether College Consortium is a group of colleges charged with addressing the critical issues facing community colleges through applicable research and the promotion and replication of best practices addressing workforce development, instructional programs and services, and planning governance and finance.
The Bellwether Award is sponsored by the Alamo Colleges District in San Antonio, Texas.
For more information, consult the Community College Futures Assembly website, www.bellwethercollegeconsortium.com.
Collin College serves more than 58,000 credit and continuing education students annually and offers more than 100 degrees and certificates, including new Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and Bachelor of Applied Technology (BAT) in Cybersecurity degrees. The only public college based in Collin County, Collin College is a partner to business, government and industry, providing customized training and workforce development. For more information, visit www.collin.edu.