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MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT HCC WINS COVETED NATIONAL AWARD
BRIDGEPORT – Housatonic Community College has won the coveted MetLife Foundation Best-Practice College Award. The college, which has seen an enrollment increase of 77 percent since moving to a new downtown campus eight years ago, received the award for achieving an attention-getting 162.73 Retention Index score in the Community College Survey of Student Engagement as well as its retention data and strategies. A score of 150 stands out, according to the MetLife Foundation Initiative on Student Success, which sponsors the award. “ We’re overjoyed to learn that we won this prestigious award,” said HCC President Janis M. Hadley. “We place a priority on offering students a high quality education and student retention is one measure of this. Winning this award shows us how well we have done in this area.” In fact, Housatonic placed first in the Support for Learners category, with a score of 62.4. The national average for this category was 50. Likewise, in the category of Student Effort, HCC achieved a score of 55, which placed it in the top 10. The average score in this category was 50 as well. As a prizewinner, HCC will prepare a summary of its retention practices for Best Practice Highlights, a publication for community and technical colleges nationally. This will enable HCC to share its practices with other community colleges throughout the country. Also, representatives of HCC’s student body will have the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion at a national convention in Austin, Texas May 29-June 1. As a prize winner, HCC will receive a $10,000 cash award to cover convention-related travel expenses. College officials are reviewing the most appropriate use of any remaining funds. “ Community colleges that are the most effective in retention are models for the rest of the nation,” said Arlene Arnsparger, project manager for MetLife Foundation Initiative on Student Success. “We recognize these colleges and share their practices with other colleges.” Students enter a community college with a goal in mind and with a recognition that attending a community college is a way to achieve that goal, Arnsparger said. A measure of community college success is the extent to which they help students achieve those goals. Those goals, she noted, do not always mean graduating with a degree and moving on to a four-year institution. Often, they can mean strengthening one’s background to qualify for a new job or promotion. “A community college does a good job if it acknowledges that students have a goal when they come through the door, and that it helps them reach that goal,” she said. “ If a community college is not effectively helping students achieve those goals, the student will not move on,” she said. The MetLife award, she said, recognizes schools that are effective in giving students the support they need to achieve those goals, she said. HCC was one of four finalists chosen from a pool of 152 colleges that participated in the survey. Other award recipients include San Juan (NM) College, Santa Fe (FL) Community College and Valencia (FL) Community College. A national panel of community college experts chose the award-winners, following a “blind review” of college portfolios submitted by the 14 semifinalists. CCSSE was established in 2001 as a project of the Community College Leadership Program at The University of Texas at Austin. The survey is administered to community college students to produce new information about community college quality and performance. This would help colleges in their efforts to improve student learning and retention, while providing policymakers and the public with more appropriate ways to view the quality of undergraduate education. HCC was recognized in Engagement by Design: 2004 Findings, a report on the 2004 survey published by CCSSE. HCC was cited as one of seven medium-size colleges that were top performers in at least three survey categories that denote quality educational practice. In addition, the college was cited in the Support for Learners category for having mandatory student advising in which advisors must approve students’ course selections before they register. This fosters student engagement with the college, which, in turn, promotes retention. According to the most recent statistics released by the Washington D.C.- based American Association of Community Colleges, Housatonic was the Northeast’s second fastest-growing community college and its fastest-growing in terms of full-time students. In response to increased enrollments and changing workplace needs both regionally and nationally, Housatonic has increased the number of programs offered from 43 to 63 since moving to its new campus. HCC is located less than 150 yards off I-95 (Exit 27) and Rte. 8 (Exit 1) in downtown Bridgeport, one block from the Arena at Harbor Yard. |
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