IHEP Honors Institutions and Individuals as “Champions of Access and Success”
Published May 13, 2014
Washington, D.C., Dec. 3, 2013—The Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP), an organization celebrating 20 years of promoting access to and success in higher education for all students, announced today recipients of its inaugural IHEP Champions of Access and Success Awards. Winners of the “Institutional Champions of Access and Success Awards” and “Champion of Champions Awards” include postsecondary institutions and individuals who have successfully advanced strategies that increase opportunity, persistence, and degree completion for low-income, first-generation, minority, adult, veteran, disabled, and other underserved students.
Recipients of the Institutional Champions of Access and Success Awards are being recognized for scaling and institutionalizing their access and success strategies. Awardees have strong leadership, faculty, and staff who are committed to achieving positive outcomes for students. Each institution has put in place robust data systems that inform their decision-making and interventions. The Institutional Champions of Access and Success Award winners are:
- Northern Virginia Community College (Annandale, Va.)
- Salish Kootenai College (Pablo, Mont.)
- St. Edwards University (Austin, Texas)
- The University of Texas at El Paso (El Paso, Texas)
IHEP is also honoring “Exemplar Institutions”: Colleges and universities with strong programmatic efforts and promising practices that are driving access and success gains for targeted underserved student populations. The winning Exemplar Institutions are:
- California State University, Northridge (Northridge, Calif.)
- Fayetteville State University (Fayetteville, N.C.)
- Florida State University (Tallahassee, Fla.)
- Miami Dade College (Miami, Fla.)
In addition, IHEP is recognizing individuals through its Champion of Champions Awards. Those individuals have provided exceptional leadership for improving access and success for underserved student groups and whose persistent work on behalf of these students has significantly improved the policies, practices, resources, and/or public will necessary for their successful entrance to and completion of postsecondary education. The Champion of Champions Award winners are:
- Secretary Richard W. Riley, Former U.S. Secretary of Education, Former Governor of South Carolina, and Current Senior Partner of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP and its affiliate EducationCounsel, LLC
- Dr. Arnold L. Mitchem, Founder and President Emeritus, Council for Opportunity in Education
- Mary Beth Marklein, Education Reporter, USA Today
- Dr. Clifford Adelman, Senior Associate, IHEP
“Since our founding in 1993, IHEP continues to embrace a vision where all people have the opportunity to reach their full potential by participating and succeeding in higher education,” said IHEP President Michelle Asha Cooper, Ph.D. “The IHEP Champions of Access and Success Awards not only affirm our longstanding commitment to championing increased college access and success for underserved students across the nation, they also recognize the efforts of postsecondary institutions and individuals for working to advance this important mission.”
The IHEP Champions of Access and Success Awards are being presented today during the organization’s National Policy Summit: Redefining Access for the 21st-Century Student held at the National Press Club. This signature IHEP event brings together critical stakeholders—policymakers, institutional decision-makers, business leaders, and other influential individuals whose reach extends across and beyond the postsecondary community—to foster policy and practice solutions in support of increased access and success.
The IHEP Champions of Access and Success Awards were selected through an open application and nomination process; for the institutional awards, all institutions committed to improving access and success were invited to apply. Selections were vetted by IHEP staff, board members, and external postsecondary access and success experts.
For more information about the IHEP Champions of Access and Success Awards or to learn more about the award recipients’ efforts in access and success, visit the organization’s website at www.ihep.org.
