OCC named Aspen Prize Top 150 U.S. Community College
O Olney Central College has earned a prestigious recog- nition, being named one of the Aspen Prize Top 150 U.S. Community Colleges. This designation makes the college eligible to compete for the $1 million Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The Aspen Prize is the nation’s foremost recognition of high achievement and performance among two-year colleges.
The Aspen Prize spotlights exemplary community colleges in order to drive attention to colleges achieving post-graduate success for all students, and is a central way Aspen researches highly effective student success strategies that are shared with the field. The 150 eligible colleges have been invited to submit student success data and narratives about strategies to achieve better and more equitable student outcomes as the next step in an intensive review process that culminates in the naming of the Aspen Prize winner in Spring 2025. The eligible colleges represent the diversity and depth of the community college sector. Located in urban, rural, and suburban areas across 30 states, these colleges serve as few as 169 students and as many as 49,619.
The 150 institutions selected for this honor stand out among more than 1,000 community colleges nationwide as having high and improving levels of student success as well as equitable outcomes for Black and Hispanic students and those from lower-income backgrounds. OCC has been continually selected as an Aspen Top 150 U.S. Community College since 2011. Olney Central College President and IECC Vice Chancellor of Business Operations Chris Simpson said the honor recognizes the hard work and dedication of OCC faculty and staff along with the college’s commitment to providing exceptional services to students. “The national ranking by the Aspen Institute is in line with the long legacy of educational excellence at Olney Central College,” Simpson said. “For 60 years, OCC has been helping to set students on their path to a successful future.”
Educational Impact
“The Aspen Prize is rooted first and foremost in an assessment of whether colleges are walking the walk,” said Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program. “As community colleges face enrollment variations, enroll students with pandemic-related learning loss, and graduate students into a rapidly changing labor market, it is easy to lose track of what matters most. The best community colleges
ABOVE: Olney Central College has been named an Aspen Prize Top 150 U.S. Community College.
22 OCC Annual Report
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker