Purpose of Awards:
The Bellwether Awards annually recognize outstanding and innovative programs and practices that are successfully leading community colleges into the future.
Categories of the Award:
- Instructional Programs & Services: Programs or activities that have been designed and successfully implemented to foster or support teaching and learning in the community college.
- Planning, Governance & Finance: Programs or activities that have been designed and successfully implemented to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the community college.
- Workforce Development: Public and/or private strategic alliances and partnerships that promote community and economic development.
Bellwether Finalist Selection:
Bellwether Finalists will be selected based upon how well the application addressed the following (selection weights are shown in parentheses).
- The application criteria listed below (75%)
- The conference theme: Becoming Forces For Good (10%)
- An identified critical issue (15%)
Award Selection Process: Proposals for the Bellwether Awards will be competitively reviewed and ten finalists will be selected in each category. Finalists will be required to present at the Futures Assembly and will be encouraged to provide evidence of program results. These results and the presentation will be used in selecting the final award recipients. Notification of finalists is planned for late November.
Application Criteria:
- Effective Programs for Students
- Remediation
- Effectively proven Retention, Persistence, and Completion
- Math Education
- Keeping up with Technology
- Conversion to Colleges (loss of mission)
- Tuition Affordability
- Veteran Opportunities
- Student Transfer
- Integrated Student support services
- Effective Programs for Community Development
- Nurture Non-profit Networks
- Continuously Adapting
- Economic Development/Supporting Job Creation
- Job Availability/Economic Environment
- Citizen Governance
- Trustee Training & Education
- Community Awareness of Community College Programs
- Effective measures to educate policy makers and funders
- Institutional Gaps
- Making Markets Work for Good
- Implementing Innovative Business Models
- Shared Leadership
- Accountability
- Creative Strategies for Funding
- Space Utilization
- Effective Administrator Training
- Creative Strategies for Funding
- Program Integrity
- Leadership Succession/Training/Development
- Increased Partnerships
For further information/exploration:
"Another View" by Dale F. Campbell
Critical Issues:
The 2013 Community College Futures Assembly seeks nominations/applications for leading edge trend-setting Bellwether Programs that address one or more of the following critical issues:
- Current Institutional Gaps
- Faculty-Admin. Comm.
- Prof. Development
- New Vision of Education in USA
- Int./Ext. Partnerships
- Global Partnerships
- Projected Institutional Gaps
- Employee selection
- Connections with WFD/Industry
- Leadership/HR
- Teaching to fit the need
- Technology
- Actions on Behalf of the Students
- E-learning infrastructures
- Multicultural
- Stronger community relations
- Break “Silos”
- Employability skills
- Critical Thinking skills
- Actions on Behalf of the Community
- Continuous dialog
- Regional partnerships
- Telling CC/Econ. Develop. Story
- Globalization
- Understanding role on Econ. Develop.
- Collaboration with business partners
If you have an outstanding program that is not directly related to the bullet points from the listed above, please identify the critical issue that you program addresses.
Recognition:
At the awards luncheon, three winners will be presented the exclusive Bellwether Award.
In recognition of their achievement, photographs and press releases will be provided to the Bellwether finalists for publication within their local community.