Aspen Institute Selects Pasadena City College as One of Top 150 Community Colleges

Highlighting the critical importance of improving student success in America’s community colleges, the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program today named Pasadena City College as one of the top 150 community colleges in the nation.

With the accolade, PCC is now eligible to compete for the 2017 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence and $1 million dollars in prize funds, as well as Siemens Technical Scholars Program student scholarships.

“This is a very prestigious recognition that will propel this college, which is already one of the best of the nation, to an even higher level,” said Dr. Rajen Vurdien, Ph.D., superintendent-president of PCC.

The Aspen selection comes on the heels of an announcement last week that PCC’s Biology 11 course has been recognized with an Exemplary Program Award from the Chancellor’s Office — one of only two programs in California to receive the honor for innovative program design that improves student outcomes.

Awarded every two years, the Aspen Prize is the country’s signature recognition of high achievement and performance among America’s community colleges. It recognizes institutions for exceptional student outcomes in four areas: student learning, certificate and degree completion, employment and earnings, and access and success for minority and low-income students.

PCC was selected from a national pool of more than 1,000 public two-year colleges using publicly available data on student outcomes in three areas:

• Performance (retention, graduation rates including transfers, and degrees and certificates per 100 full-time equivalent students)
• Improvement (awarded for steady improvement in each performance metric over time)
• Equity (evidence of strong completion outcomes for minority and low-income students)

PCC has also been invited to submit an application to the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence containing detailed data on degree and certificate completion (including progress and transfer rates), labor market outcomes (employment and earnings), and student learning outcomes.

Ten finalists will be named in fall 2016. The Aspen Institute will then conduct site visits to each of the finalists and collect additional quantitative data. A distinguished Prize Jury will select a grand prize winner and a few finalists with distinction in early 2017.

A full list of the selected colleges and details on the selection process are available at www.aspenprize.org.

About Pasadena City College

Since 1924, Pasadena City College (www.pasadena.edu) has provided the San Gabriel Valley with a high-quality, innovative learning environment that inspires student success. Our academic programs encompass a variety of degrees, transfer programs, certificates of achievement, and occupational skills certificates that challenge students and support progress toward their goals. Widely recognized as a transfer leader, PCC is one of California’s top schools for transfers to local universities, including the CSU and UC system, USC, Art Center College of Design, Caltech, and more.