Southwest Tennessee Community College Wins Prestigious 2021 National

Bellwether Award

Memphis, TN, January 27, 2021 --(PR.com)-- Southwest Tennessee Community College has won the
prestigious national 2021 Bellwether Award in the category of Planning, Governance and Finance. The
highly competitive award recognizes community colleges for their cutting-edge, trendsetting programs
that are worthy of replication.

Bellwether officials announced the award during a virtual presentation Jan. 26, 2021, at the 27th Annual
Community College Futures Assembly. The assembly is an independent national policy forum for key
higher education thought leaders.

“This is an amazing affirmation of our phenomenal journey of transformation at Southwest,” President

Tracy D. Hall said. “To be nationally recognized by our peers who are thought leaders in the community
college arena is especially gratifying and significant,” Hall added. “I am truly proud of the faculty and
staff for banding together in the name of student success. They defied the status quo and courageously
stepped into the light of innovation and wholeheartedly embraced and achieved meaningful, systemic
change at Southwest! I cannot praise our team enough on this achievement and can never adequately
express my profound gratitude and admiration for what they have accomplished. I am excited for the
future. There is more to come.”

Southwest was the only college in Tennessee selected as one of 10 finalists nationwide in the Planning,
Governance and Finance category that recognizes innovative programs and best practices to improve
efficiency and effectiveness. Each finalist underwent two rigorous rounds of judging by a panel of
thought leaders, national experts and academicians, as well as made a final presentation at the assembly.

Southwest’s winning submission, Redesign, Reinvent, and Reset: Organizing for Large Scale Systemic
Change, was a snapshot of the college’s strategies and successes and lessons learned as faculty and staff
moved the college forward to redesign and transform the student experience from recruitment to
graduation and every touch point in between. The work reflects the challenges faced by students in an
urban environment and maps out positive outcomes that students, regardless of their income or life
experience, can achieve. The result is a strategic plan for the college that embraces and fosters a culture of
equity and upward social mobility for students attending a predominantly black institution in one of the
poorest cities in the nation.

The journey of transformation began in 2016, when Southwest joined Achieving the Dream, a national
community college transformation movement. More than 200 employees from across the college
volunteered on 22 cross-functional teams to take a deep dive into rebuilding and reshaping the college for
student success. A movement was born as Southwest began the difficult work of organizing for systemic,
transformational change in the culture, structure and operations of the college. Working from critical data
gathered in a 2015 Huron report that provided a baseline of the student experience, Southwest identified
and targeted the factors that contributed to a spiraling decline in enrollment, retention and graduation
rates, along with growing achievement gaps between black and white students. The Redesign, Reinvent,

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Reset Teams focused on results-driven outcomes, rather than boutique initiatives that only led to
small-scale change. Fueled by new data teams, a new organizational and governance structure and
academic process maps, among other large-scale changes, the college began to see a reversal in its
previous negative trends. By 2017, the enrollment increased 10 percent. The following year, the
graduation rate doubled and the College narrowed the achievement gaps between black and white
students. Students, faculty and administration had much to celebrate that year with a 26 percent growth in
associate degrees conferred in 2018.

Southwest continues to move the needle forward, taking the achievements of its Redesign, Reinvent and
Reset outcomes to Reimagine Southwest during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The college congratulates two other fellow Bellwether Award winners in their respective categories:
Oxnard College for Workforce Development and College of the Canyons for Instructional Programs and
Services.

Southwest Tennessee Community College is a comprehensive, multicultural, public, open-access college

that serves more than 10,000 students annually. Southwest awards associate degrees and certifications in
more than 120 programs of study to raise educational levels, enhance economic development and enrich
quality of life for students and the community at large. Southwest is a Tennessee Board of Regents
institution, accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and
Schools. For more information, visit www.southwest.tn.edu.

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. The Bellwether Award is proudly sponsored by the Alamo Colleges District in
San Antonio, Texas. For more information, consult the Community College Futures Assembly website,
www.bellwethercollegeconsortium.com or email rmartinez1702@alamo.edu.

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Contact Information:
Southwest Tennessee Community College
Diana Fedinec
901-333-4247
Contact via Email
www.southwest.tn.edu

Online Version of Press Release:

You can read the online version of this press release at: https://www.pr.com/press-release/829776

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