The Bellwether College Consortium recently announced its list of 30 community colleges selected as 2022 finalists for the highly-coveted Bellwether Awards in the first round of competition.
Bucks County Community College was selected as a finalist in the Instructional Programs and Services category for its submission, “Creating a Culture of Open at Bucks County Community College.”
Bellwether finalists represent leading community colleges whose outstanding and innovative programs and practices were selected among competitive submissions as exemplary. The finalists will undergo a rigorous second and final round of review at the 28th annual Community College Futures Assembly, Jan. 30-Feb. 1. Each selected college provides a 60-minute presentation on its program or model to an anonymous panel, recognized as skilled practitioners and thought leaders in the field. The Bellwether Awards are widely regarded as one of the nation’s most competitive and prestigious recognitions for community colleges.
“We are thrilled to be meeting in person this year. The Bellwether College Consortium prides itself on identifying and celebrating replicable, scalable and results-based programs and models and disseminating these highly lauded examples of institutional success to peer institutions,” said Dr. Rose Martinez, director of the Bellwether College Consortium, which honors community colleges with awards in three categories.
The Instructional Programs and Services category recognizes programs and services that foster or support teaching and learning in the community college.
Regarding its program, Bill Hemming, dean, learning resources and online learning at Bucks, said, “We have a successful process for the redesign of courses to include only open educational resources and other zero-textbook-cost materials. We are saving our students about a million dollars a year in textbook costs, with no reduction in the quality of those courses.”
All finalists will be presented at the 2022 Community College Futures Assembly and one winner will then be selected from each category by a panel of national experts.
The assembly, now in its 28th year, convenes annually as an independent national consortium for key higher education leaders to work as a “think tank” in identifying critical issues facing the future of community colleges, and to recognize Bellwether winners and finalists as trend-setting institutions. The Bellwether College Consortium is a group of colleges charged with addressing the critical issues facing community colleges through applicable research and the promotion and replication of best practices addressing workforce development, instructional programs and services, and planning, governance and finance.
Visit bellwethercollegeconsortium.com for more information.
