Clark State College has been named a finalist for the 2022 American Association of Community College (AACC) Advancing Diversity Award of Excellence. The AACC Excellence Awards underscore the association’s priorities and brings national visibility to promising practices among its member colleges.
A special committee of the AACC board of directors selected the finalists. Winners will be announced at the Awards of Excellence Gala on May 1 during the AACC Annual conference in New York City.
“We are beyond honored to have been selected as a finalist for the AACC Award of Excellence in the Advancing Diversity category,” said Dr. Tiffany Hunter, Provost and vice president of academic affairs at Clark State. “Clark State made a very intentional decision to make Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion a priority in 2019 and the work we have done over the past two and a half years has been incredible.”
Hunter went on to say Clark State is committed to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts to ensure that all of faculty, staff, and students feel supported, respected and welcomed on all campuses.
“Our partnership with Achieving the Dream has advanced our work in a significant way and we are proud of the progress we have made,” she said. “We are committed to increasing our efforts to continue Advancing Diversity positively at Clark State.”
Clark State was accepted as a participant in the Achieving the Dream (ATD) 2020 Cohort. Clark State’s participation enables the College to champion evidence-based institutional improvement.
Hunter said the work through ATD allows Clark State to delve deeper into its data and determine the best course of action for supporting students as they pursue their educational and career goals.
In September of 2021, Clark State College was also named a 2021 Outstanding Diversity Champion by the Dayton Business Journal.
As its Mission Statement declares, Clark State strives “to engage and empower diverse learners by providing high-quality educational programs and services that emphasize student and community success.”
Each college’s application is reviewed against the criteria for the AACC Excellence award and assigned a score for each category. Those colleges with the highest scores move on to become finalists. The AACC staff narrows applications down, and a committee of the board of directors selects the winners.
The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) is the primary advocacy organization for the nation’s community colleges. The association represents more than 1,000 2-year, associate degree-granting institutions and nearly 12 million students.