Tarrant County College Southeast had been named a winner of the Eduardo J. Padron Award for Institutional Transformation. The award is given annually by Campus Compact, a national coalition of colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher education.
Faculty member Kristan Foust (History) compiled and submitted the report chronicling the campus effort and was included on the email from Campus Compact with news of the award. “It was kind of late at night,” she said, “but I ran in and woke my husband to give him the news. We are all so excited!”
The award was based on TCC Southeast’s ongoing efforts to increase civic engagement on the part of students. These have included focusing on areas of need in the student body and community, working with members of the Districtwide Civic Engagement Work Team to help make civic engagement part of the College curricula, establishing an anti-discrimination speaker series, working with the District team to make students part of the democratic process, and sponsoring professional development in civic engagement for campus faculty and staff.
In his nomination of the campus program for the award, TCC Chancellor Eugene Giovannini wrote, “During these unprecedented times, our priorities are focused on the core needs of our students and the communities we serve. We recognize a core mission of community colleges is to prepare leaders to be civic-minded, contributing members of society.”
“The promotion of civic engagement and responsibility is an important part of our commitment to our students and community,” said TCC Southeast President Bill Coppolla. “I am proud that our faculty and staff have been recognized by their peers for their fantastic work in this area.”
The other community college receiving a Padron Award was Madison Area Technical College in Wisconsin. Winners in all categories will be recognized at Campus Compact’s virtual conference in March.