FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Zora Mulligan, MCCA Executive Director
(573) 230-9318 (mobile)
(573) 634-8787 (office)
zora.mulligan@mccatoday.org

Jefferson City, Missouri – May 16, 2013. Missouri’s manufacturing training consortium, MoManufacturingWINs, has been selected to participate in the Community College Transformative Change Initiative (CCTCI), a groundbreaking partnership between the Bill and Melinda Gates and Lumina Foundations, Achieving the Dream, the University of Illinois, and The Collaboratory, LLC. Missouri is one of only ten other TAACCCT consortia grantees chosen to participate in the initiative.

Led by the Missouri Community College Association (MCCA), MoManufacturingWINs is funded by a national grant that connects unemployed, underemployed, Trade Act-eligible, and low-skilled workers to manufacturing industry training at community colleges. The program cultivates multi-level strategic partnerships among two-year colleges, career centers, and employers to enable participants to earn industry-recognized credentials and high-quality certificates to boost their job competitiveness.

This is the second time a Missouri community college TAACCCT grant has been selected for this honor. Last November, MCCA announced that its healthcare training program, MoHealthWINs, was one of eight TAACCCT consortia grantees chosen to participate in CCTCI’s first experientially rich learning laboratory and collaborative network dedicated to advancing transformative change through community colleges.

On June 26-27, two representatives from Missouri’s consortium will participate in a “Scaling Forum” in Chicago where participants will share transformative policies, processes, and practices, work with experts on scaling implementation plans, and network with colleagues.

CCTCI says the knowledge, practices, policies and transformative innovations created across this national network “will advance the role that community colleges play today and tomorrow.”

MCCA Grant Director Dawn Busick credits the work done by consortium partners in recent years as the reason Missouri was selected. “We are already seeing real culture changes within the consortium institutions with these innovative and accelerated delivery models,” she said. “CCTCI provides the catalyst many of us have been waiting for to deploy educational advancements such as stackable credentials, credit for prior learning, and accelerated adult education across a broad statewide consortium of two-year colleges.”

The Missouri Community College Association is a statewide organization through which Missouri’s community colleges work together to advance common agendas. MCCA provides advocacy, education, information, and networking opportunities in service of the state’s 5,700 community college faculty, staff, administrators, and trustees.

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Adrienne Burfield, Zachary Miller, Vicky Bottorff and Shallyn Ward are all participants in the new College Now program, a groundbreaking partnership between the two institutions. The program, which is an extension of the “dual credit” partnerships Three Rivers maintains with over 40 area high schools, allows qualifying PBHS students to complete their general education requirements during their normal class schedules, and at a vastly discounted rate.

While a total of seven graduates from the PBHS Class of 2013 participated in College Now, only Burfield, Miller, Bottorff and Ward went above and beyond the program’s normal requirements to complete full associate degree coursework. In addition to the classwork mandated by College Now, all four grads ended up taking on even heavier course loads in order to meet the 62-credit hour requirement for an associate degree.

“I’ve taken online classes, summer classes, winter classes, Maymester classes… Last semester I took 21 credits,” said Burfield, who will be attending the University of Alabama in the fall to study Pre-Medicine. “My nose has pretty much not left a book.”

In return for their hard work, the College Now graduates will receive a significant leg up on their college careers, shaving one to two years off their time in higher education, for a third of what the same degree would cost outside the program. According to Three Rivers, dual credit courses are becoming an increasingly popular option with college-minded high school students. The college enrolled over 450 students in 2125 credit hours through dual-credit courses in the 2012-2013 school year alone.

“Beyond the educational advantages, students are learning how to survive the real world and transition into becoming a college student,” said Manda Reynolds, Coordinator of Academic and Career Outreach for Three Rivers. “This program attracts a lot of high-achieving students, and it’s not something that’s available from most four year institutions. We have the flexibility and initiative to build partnerships like College Now, which lets us give area students the help they need.”

The Master Class Series is based on the premise that behind every successful business leader is an inspirational story. It was spearheaded by the Business Club at the Forest Park campus in partnership with the St. Louis Business Journal and other campus departments. A core committee oversees each Master Class presentation; speakers are scheduled two to three times per semester, with two speakers per session. Student hosts guide each presentation. 

“These timely stories are not only of personal triumphs, but also of loss and disappointment,” said Angelic Cole, assistant professor in business administration who serves as the chair of the Master Class Series Committee. “What sets the leader apart from the ordinary business person, however, is how he or she reacts to life’s challenges.” 

The featured speakers in March were Robbie Montgomery and her son Tim Norman, owner and chef of Sweetie Pie’s restaurants in St. Louis and stars of the reality TV show on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network. Maxine Clark of Build-a-Bear Workshops and John Mozeliak of the St. Louis Cardinals also have been featured speakers.

In addition to Cole, other primary committee members include Kelli Harris, executive assistant to the president; Sandra Osburn, associate professor in communications; Claudia Perry, district coordinator of college communications; and Ena Primous, administrative assistant to the vice president for academic affairs.  

More information about this project can be found at http://www.stlcc.edu/Newsroom/2013/05/News49.html. 

The League for Innovation in the Community College established the Innovation of the Year Award to recognize an individual or group from each of the 20 member college districts who have used creative, productive approaches to meet new needs or solve old problems Criteria for the award are quality, efficiency, cost effectiveness, replication, creativity and timeliness. STLCC is a founding member of the League for Innovation. 

Established in 1962, St. Louis Community College is the largest community college district in Missouri and one of the largest in the United States.  STLCC has four campuses – Florissant Valley, Forest Park, Meramec and Wildwood – that annually serve more than 81,000 students through credit courses, continuing education and workforce development programs.  For more information about STLCC, visit www.stlcc.edu.

Jefferson City, Missouri – May 3, 2013.  Outstanding students, educators, and employers were honored today with the “Breaking Traditions” award today in the Capitol Rotunda.  The Breaking Traditions program recognizes students who excel in career and technical education programs in which their gender comprises less than 25 percent of those employed in the field.  Student award winners receive scholarships from the Foundation for Missouri Women and are eligible to receive substantial scholarships at any of Missouri’s community colleges.

This year’s Breaking Traditions award recipients include several with close ties to community colleges.  Brandon Medlock, a student in the Northland Career Center’s culinary arts program, plans to attend Metropolitan Community College next fall.  He received the Secondary State Winner Award.  Malee Alway, recipient of the Spirit Award, is a student in St. Charles Community College’s computer aided drafting (CAD) program.  Courtney Pennel, owner of Monarch Children’s Academy, works with Ozarks Technical Community College’s Middle College Program and received the Employer State Winner award.

Zora Mulligan, Missouri Community College Association executive director and Foundation for Missouri Women board member, attended the event and congratulated the award winners.  Mulligan said, “These outstanding students are showing that community colleges not only change lives, they help change society.  Career and technical education programs prepare students for high-wage jobs in some of our state’s most important industries, and recognizing students through a program like this shows others that no doors are closed to them.”

Jefferson City, Missouri – May 1, 2013.  Three Rivers College honored Zora Mulligan, executive director of the Missouri Community College Association on April 26 for her outstanding contributions toward promoting and supporting the state’s public two-year institutions.  Mulligan was among four people who received the 2013 Vanguard award at the college’s annual ACE Awards banquet, which recognizes individuals and groups external to the college who helped the college achieve its vision of being the preeminent community of learners.

“I want to give this award to Zora Mulligan in appreciation of her advocacy, wise counsel, and unwavering support for the College” said Dr. Devin Stephenson, President of Three Rivers College.  “She has been amazing with her work in Jefferson City with the legislators.  There is not a better promoter of Community Colleges, or a stronger ally for us in the legislature, than Zora.”

“This award is truly a great honor,” said Ms. Mulligan.  “I am proud of the work we do in Jefferson City to support all of our colleges, especially schools like Three Rivers that are changing lives every day in the community they serve.”

According to a press release from Three Rivers, the college also recognized a number of other award winners, including awards for innovation in teaching, outstanding student engagement, community impact, and distinguished service among faculty, professional, and support staff.  The award ceremony also recognized those with extended histories of service to Three Rivers, including six employees with twenty years of service.

The Missouri Community College Association is a statewide organization through which Missouri’s community colleges work together to advance common agendas. MCCA provides advocacy, education, information, and networking opportunities in service of the state’s 5,700 community college faculty, staff, administrators, and trustees.

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A native of West Plains, a small town in southern Missouri, Mulligan attended Drury College (Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Psychology) and the University of Kansas (Master of Education and Juris Doctorate).  She served as assistant attorney general for four years, during which time she litigated environmental and consumer protection cases on behalf of the State of Missouri and managed the consumer complaint unit.  In 2007, she joined the Missouri Department of Higher Education, where she served as the agency’s general counsel and lobbyist.

Mulligan became MCCA’s sixth chief executive officer in spring 2010.  The Association, which was founded in 1963, is an individual membership organization dedicated to bringing Missouri’s community colleges together to support advocacy, education, information-sharing, and networking.

Mulligan lives in Jefferson City with her daughter Anna Lea.  She is an avid reader, cook, and runner.

Twenty students from more than 1,800 nominees who represented 800-plus community colleges were chosen to the team. Winners receive textbook and academic scholarships to continue their education. The awards are administered by Phi Theta Kappa, the international honor society for community colleges.  “When I first found out that I made the team, I was shocked because I never imagined I would earn such an award,” he said. “I feel honored to be a part of this team because it is a great payoff for all my hard work.”  Read more…

Joe Seabrooks, Ph.D., president of Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley, will be honored with the KC Chamber’s Ace Award, the Chamber announced Thursday.

The Ace Awards recognize culturally diverse, mid- to senior-level managers who have been nominated by their colleagues for achievement in their profession. Seabrooks and three other award recipients will be honored at the 2013 Ace Awards and Multi-Cultural Business Reception on Tuesday, April 30 at Union Station.

For more information about the Ace Awards and the reception, visit www.kcchamber.com.