Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College (SKCTC) is proud to announce that it has once again been ranked by the Aspen Institute among the top 150 (10 percent) in the country. In 2011, the college was ranked in the top 10 percent, and in 2012, it was ranked in the top 10.

“We are honored to receive this distinction,” said Southeast President Vic Adams. “Our mission is to provide an accessible, affordable, quality education for all students, and to be ranked among the best is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our faculty and staff.”

Three other Kentucky colleges have also been recognized: Big Sandy Community & Technical College, Hazard Community & Technical College, and West Kentucky Community & Technical College.

“To achieve this recognition is no small feat,” KCTCS President Jay K. Box, said. “All of us at KCTCS are extremely proud of these four colleges and celebrate this great news with them.”

The four colleges are now eligible to move into phase two of the $1 million 2019 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The second phase narrows the field from 150 to the top 10, which will be named in May. The Aspen Institute then will conduct site visits to each of the finalists and collect additional quantitative data to determine a grand prize winner, finalist(s) with distinction and rising star(s) in spring 2019.

Awarded every two years since 2011, the Aspen Prize recognizes institutions with outstanding achievements in four areas: learning; certificate and degree completion; employment and earnings; and high levels of access and success for minority and low-income students.

The Aspen Institute says the prize aims to:

• Identify and celebrate excellence: In a sector of higher education that has historically been under-recognized, the Prize works to elevate outstanding institutions as models of excellence.

• Coalesce around a clear definition of student success: The comprehensive four-part Aspen Prize definition of student success aims to provide those within community colleges, as well as the public, examples of community colleges that are among the best at ensuring students – including the most underserved – learn, graduate, and secure good jobs.

• Stimulate replication of exceptional practice: By identifying outstanding community colleges across the nation, documenting their practices, and creating syntheses and tools for replication, Aspen uses the Prize to spread concrete college-wide strategies for improving student success.

For more information on the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, visit http://highered.aspeninstitute.org/aspen-prize/