Hudson County Community College Named Finalist for American Association of Community College’s New Awards of Excellence
February 27, 2013
JERSEY CITY, N.J. / February 27, 2013 - Hudson County Community College (HCCC) is one of just 25 community colleges from across the United States to be named as a finalist in a new national program to recognize innovation and promising practices among two-year colleges. The new program — The Awards of Excellence — is sponsored by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), and was established by that organization to align with key recommendations of the 21st Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges. Finalists were chosen by a specially appointed committee of the AACC Board of Directors based upon specific and measurable criteria.
HCCC is a finalist in the Student Success category, as is Central New Mexico Community College (NM), Phillips Community College (AR), South Texas College (TX), and Tarrant County College (TX). HCCC is the only New Jersey two-year college among the 25 finalists.
“It’s an honor for Hudson County Community College to be selected as a finalist, and to be recognized for the work being done to help ensure that our students succeed,” said HCCC President Dr. Glen Gabert.
Dr. Gabert said that the College’s submission underscored the facts that today’s college students face challenges such as rising tuition rates, and juggling schedules to handle classwork, employment and caring for a family. Additionally, students’ challenges include being academically unprepared to handle college coursework and overcoming language and cultural barriers.
“Our nomination submission details the many innovative programs implemented here at HCCC that have been designed to meet the specific needs of the men and women of our community,” Dr. Gabert stated. These include pre-college courses that better prepare students to successfully complete their studies and earn their degrees, and making one-on-one counseling and tutoring as well as faculty and peer tutoring more available. “As a result, the College’s retention rate has risen from 46.4% to nearly 60%, and the overall two- and three-year graduation rate has risen 66% in the past five years,” he said.
The AACC awards will be presented at the 2013 AACC Convention in San Francisco on April 23.