IHE names winners of Bellwether Award

UF’s Institute of Higher Education handed out this year’s Bellwether Awards at the 2007 Community College Futures Assembly in Orlando in January. Created to recognize excellence in community college administration, the Bellwethers draw competitors from across the country.

This year’s award for Instructional Programs and Services went to LaGuardia Community College/City University of New York for its “first-year academy,” which gives students practical experience in their areas of study.

The award in the Planning, Governance and Finance category went to Austin Community College in Texas, for programs which develop a connection between the college and admitted students as soon as those students graduate from high school. The program has increased attendance at the community college by 38 percent during its first two years.

The Workforce Development award went to Temple College of Temple, Texas, which partnered with a state medical school, a private teaching hospital and a number of school districts to develop a new, state-of-the-art research facility, boosting the local economy and raising the quality of medical research. U.S. Rep. John Carter is expected to honor Temple for its receipt of the Bellwether later this month.