WESTCHESTER COMMUNITY COLLEGE WINS NATIONAL DIVERSITY AND CULTURAL AWARENESS AWARD FROM ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE TRUSTEES

ACCT President and CEO J. Noah Brown; WCC Trustee Toni Cox-Burns; and ACCT Chair and Orange County Community College Trustee Arthur C. Anthonisen. (Left to right.)

Westchester Community College has received national recognition from the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), winning the 2009 Charles Kennedy Equity Award for promoting diversity and cultural awareness. The award was bestowed at the ACCT Annual Leadership Congress in San Francisco.

This recognition comes after the college was recognized, earlier this year, with the Northeast Regional Equity Award from the ACCT. That regional award qualified the college to be considered on the national level.

The ACCT national award is given to an ACCT member’s governing board and chief executive officer for demonstrating leadership in setting policies and assuring results for the enhancement and expansion of opportunities for minorities and women in areas such as enrollment, completion, participation in higher mobility college majors, campus environment, employment, promotion and others.

Nancy DeRiggi, associate dean of Institutional Research and Planning, and Toni Cox-Burns, board of trustee member, submitted the comprehensive application for the award. “It was not easy fitting in all of the college’s programs into the award application format, due to the three-page space limitation,” says DeRiggi. “Our Board of Trustees and President Joseph Hankin deserve the praise for this recognition. Diversity and cultural awareness are important to every community college, but they are especially relevant in Westchester. Dr. Hankin and the board are constantly looking for ways to improve upon what we already provide for students,” she adds.

Toni Cox-Burns has been a college trustee since 2004. “This is an extraordinary honor which makes me extremely proud of my association with Westchester Community College. I am pleased that our ongoing efforts to assure diversity are being recognized. My fellow board members and I will continue to support activities and initiatives geared toward achieving and maintaining a campus environment that reflects the diversity of our community,” she says.

The application highlights college initiatives for diversity including the Dr. Julius Ford Teaching Fellowship; the First Annual Diversity Adjunct Job Fair; Year of Diversity; activities celebrating Women’s History Month and Black History Month; and the college’s Affirmative Action Committee. Various programs are in place to ensure student success including Project Transition, Job Success through Academic Resources (JobSTAR), Women’s Forum, Conversation Partners, College Start Academy, Entrepreneurship Summer Academy, Student Support Services Program (TRIO) and many more. Information was also forwarded on The Gateway Center, a 70,000 square foot building opening in the summer of 2010. This new structure will house the college’s English Language Institute and will provide resources for traditional students and students who are foreign born residents. Additional information on college’s diversity programs can be found at www.sunywcc.edu.

ACCT is a non-profit educational organization of governing boards, representing more than 6,500 elected and appointed trustees who govern more than 1,200 community, technical, and junior colleges in the United States, Canada, and England.