LCCC’s latest honor is big

Lorain County Community College has received another deserving honor, and this one is excellent.

LCCC was named the top community college in the country for excellence in student success by the American Association of Community Colleges.

This is tremendous news for the college.

Walter Bumphus, president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges, made the announcement April 30 as part of the organization’s Awards of Excellence program at its national conference.

The association is a primary advocacy organization for the nation’s community colleges, representing nearly 1,200 twoyear, associate degree granting institutions and more than 12 million students.

LCCC President Marcia J. Ballinger said this national recognition reinforces the progress the institution has made to ensure that degree completion, transfer and education that leads to jobs with labor market value are available for its students and community.

Ballinger said it is LCCC’s belief that every student’s dream matters.

The college has demonstrated that it truly cares about students and their successes.

The award proves that LCCC has demonstrated its commitment to excellence.

Of course, LCCC must generate funds to operate and to get the best staff it can to educate students.

But it has not lost its focus on education, and that’s one of the reasons it has received this excellent distinction from the American Association of Community Colleges.

Ballinger credits LCCC’s faculty and staff who are deeply committed to student success.

Earlier in 2018, LCCC was recognized for the second consecutive year as first among all Ohio community colleges in student success, which is defined as completion, transfer and persistence.

And the Ohio Department of Higher Education indicates LCCC’s success rate of 60 percent is higher than the state average of 51 percent.

That’s impressive news, and the news about LCCC is spreading across academia.

Josh Wyner, vice president and founder/executive director of the College Excellence Program of the Aspen Institute, said LCCC has embraced a fundamentally new paradigm of making student success “everyone’s business” across the college.

In particular, Wyner said there are two areas of excellence that stand out at LCCC — the reconfiguration of advising to support students in selecting and persisting in a program of study and the college leadership’s bold priority on equity.

The college has infused its student success agenda into all facets of the institution, creating a campus culture that keeps this priority top of mind for faculty, staff and students.

It has remained the top priority of the college’s strategic plan, which is a testament to the dedication to student success underscored by the college’s District Board of Trustees.

Ballinger said trustees are first and foremost committed to ensuring students succeed.

She said LCCC made this the top priority because they see firsthand the importance of raising educational attainment to ensure that the community thrives.

LCCC has reformed systems, processes and operations to create nine career pathways that guide students, in less time and with less cost, toward careers and transfer.

Rob Johnstone, founder and president of National Center for Inquiry and Improvement, said as one of the early pioneers of the guided pathways movement, LCCC’s efforts paved the trail for now hundreds of colleges across the country to do this work more intentionally with the experiential base from early adopter colleges like Lorain County Community College.

Since 2011, LCCC has tripled its 150 percent Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System graduation rate and increased the number of degrees and certificates awarded by 53 percent.

In addition, the college leads the state in bachelor’s degree completion for students who transfer to other schools.

Ballinger is correct when describing the award from the American Association of Community Colleges as not only recognizing the effort being put forth by LCCC, but the grit, hard work and determination of the students. That’s true. You can have the greatest staff in the universe, but a commitment from students to learn also is crucial for success.

Ballinger proudly says, “Today is a proud day and will fuel our campus and community to aim even higher to help more students achieve.”

And remember, LCCC announced March 20 it received final approval from the Ohio Department of Higher Education to offer Ohio’s first bachelor of applied science in microelectronic manufacturing.

It will become the first community college in Ohio to offer an applied bachelor’s degree in this region, an initiative it has worked on for two decades.

LCCC’s future looks good, especially for its students.