The Aspen Institute

Two Eastern Mississippi colleges qualified to compete for the $1 million Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, a prize awarded every two years in “recognition of high achievement and performance among America’s community colleges,” according to the Aspen Institute.

East Mississippi Community College and Meridian Community College both made the cut and will compete against 148 other U.S. community colleges for the prize, to be announced in 2019. 

The top 10 finalists will be named in May of 2018. 

The Aspen Institute selects community colleges based on four areas: student learning, certificate and degree completion (including of a bachelor’s degree after transfer), employment and earnings, and high levels of access and success for minority and low-income students.

“Our faculty and staff are dedicated to ensuring that the quality of the education our students receive at EMCC is among the best in the nation,” Thomas Huebner, the president of EMCC, said in a statement about EMCC’s third Aspen Institute recognition. “That EMCC has been included in the Aspen Institute’s Top 150 Community Colleges in the Nation list in recurring years shows that our commitment to excellence is paying off. I am proud of the efforts of so many and particularly pleased for our students, who are the beneficiaries of the EMCC team’s hard work.”

According to EMCC, it also qualified in 2014 and 2016.

“I believe this is either the third or fourth time MCC has been nominated for the Aspen Prize in the last 10 years,” Scott Elliott, the president of MCC, said in a statement. “It is a significant honor just to be nominated. It’s obviously very challenging to win the $1 million prize against the nation’s top-ranked colleges, but it’s gratifying to be in such company. All the credit goes to our outstanding faculty and staff who consistently strive to achieve excellence in the teaching-and-learning process.”

Elliott noted that nine of Mississippi’s 15 community colleges qualified. 

“To have nine of its 15 community colleges nominated for this award is important validation of the quality of our system,” Elliott said.

The Lake Area Technical Institute, in Watertown, South Dakota, won the Aspen Prize for 2017.