Laker Nation News

The Aspen Institute for College Excellence Program recently named Lake Land College as one of the top 150 community colleges in the United States. This prestigious recognition places Lake Land in the top tier of community colleges demonstrating high achievement and performance in student success and outcomes.

“Assisting students in reaching their goals is the anchor to all that we do at Lake Land College. We continuously evaluate programs and services and develop enhancements to create an excellent learning environment for our students. Receiving this honor from the Aspen Institute for the third time in less than a decade spotlights the outstanding collaboration and commitment our faculty, staff and trustees demonstrate on a daily basis,” Josh Bullock, Lake Land College president, said.

“With a singular focus on student success, 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 by assessing performance and improvement in four areas: graduation rates, degrees awarded, student retention rates and equity in student outcomes,” the institute stated in a news release.    

The 150 community colleges announced were selected from a national pool of more than 1,000 public two-year colleges using publicly available data on student outcomes.

“Especially in the current social and economic climate, it is exceptionally important that our nation’s community colleges develop the diverse talent needed to fuel democratic engagement, social mobility, and economic opportunity and growth,” said Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program.

The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program aims to advance higher education practices, policies, and leadership that significantly improve student outcomes. Through the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the Siemens Technical Scholars Program, and other initiatives, the College Excellence Program works to improve colleges’ understanding and capacity to teach and graduate students, especially the growing population of low-income and minority students on American campuses. For more information, visit http://highered.aspeninstitute.org/.

To learn more about Lake Land College, visit lakelandcollege.edu.