Stanly Community College has been invited to apply for the Achieving the Dream’s (ATD) Leah Meyer Austin Award.

The Leah Meyer Austin Award is the highest honor a college in the ATD Network can earn. This award has been given annually since 2009 to a college that employs a holistic

approach to reducing achievement gaps between student groups and increasing success for all.
The award recognizes institutional strength, aligned policies and procedures, a student-focused culture and notable increases in student outcomes.
SCC is eligible as a Leader College in good standing and met the ATD Leah Meyer Austin Award data criteria by showing four-year improvement in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System’s (IPEDS) three-year graduation rate of at least three percentage points for first-time, full-time students.

SCC’s graduation rate improved from 18 percent to 36 percent, which is higher than the national average for a two-year postsecondary institution of 32.8 percent graduating in 2016.

Through grant funding, SCC has up fitted classrooms to meet growing technology needs and created an eLearning team to support students as well as faculty professional development.

The college has implemented a broad variety of student support to increase accessibility and to be more responsive to student needs. All of these efforts accelerate learning, overcome barriers to success in college, and increase student access and retention with a focus on providing a quality education.

“SCC is excited to be eligible for this prestigious award. We want to thank our dedicated faculty and staff for their time, effort, and energy that they have invested to ensure the success of our students. Transformation within the College clearly shows in our students’ achievements,” said John Enamait, president, Stanly Community College.

For more information on this initiative, contact Carmen Nunalee, vice president of strategic planning and compliance, at 704-991-0249 or cnunalee5201@stanly.edu.
Achieving the Dream leads a growing network of more than 220 community colleges committed to helping their students, particularly low-income students and students of color, achieve their goals for academic success, personal growth, and economic opportunity.

ATD is making progress in closing academic achievement gaps and accelerating student success through a unique change process that builds each college’s institutional capacities in seven essential areas.

ATD, along with nearly 75 experienced coaches and advisors, works with Network colleges in 41 states and the District of Columbia to reach more than 4 million community college students.