Today, the Aspen Institute named South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC) as a semifinalist for the 2025 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The $1 million award is the nation's signature recognition of high achievement and performance among community colleges. The institutions selected for this honor stand out among more than 1,000 community colleges nationwide as having high and improving levels of student success, as well as equitable outcomes for Black and Hispanic students and those from lower-income backgrounds.
"Being named an Aspen semifinalist fills us with an immense sense of pride and gratitude," said Dr. Timothy Stokes, President of SPSCC. "For almost a decade, our staff and faculty have relentlessly redefined our approach to serving students, placing their success at the forefront of everything we do. Through innovation, risk-taking, and never settling for ‘good enough’, we’ve fostered a campus community that prioritizes and honors every student, and it's truly gratifying to see this commitment acknowledged at a national scale."
Awarded every two years, the Aspen Prize honors colleges with outstanding performance in six critical areas: teaching and learning, certificate and degree completion, transfer and bachelor’s attainment, workforce success, broad access to the college and its offerings, and equitable outcomes for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. The winner will be announced in the spring of 2025.
The Aspen Prize selection process began in October 2023, when Aspen invited 150 community colleges to apply, based on data showing strong, improving, and equitable student outcomes in key areas such as retention, completion, and transfer. One hundred and eighteen colleges applied, and their applications went to a diverse selection committee of 18 higher education experts who assessed each application based on extensive data and narrative answers to questions. Following interviews with leadership teams from applicants receiving top scores, 20 semifinalists were selected. In the coming weeks, the committee will continue its review and narrow the field to 10 finalists, which will be announced in June. To read more on the selection process, visit https://highered.aspeninstitute.org/aspen-prize/.
