Campus Compact recognizes Arlington, Texas community college for implementing institution-wide efforts to address issues of public concern

Campus Compact is pleased to announce that Tarrant County College-Southeast Campus has been awarded Campus Compact’s Eduardo J. Padrón Award for Institutional Transformation. The award recognizes community colleges that have successfully implemented institution-wide efforts to address issues of public concern by aligning teaching, research, practice, and values in service of the common good. Recipients are institutions that have undertaken comprehensive efforts to advance the values articulated in Campus Compact’s 30th Anniversary Action Statement of Presidents and Chancellors

Tarrant County College-Southeast Campus, a public community college located in Arlington, Texas, is deeply committed to democratic engagement, with a particular emphasis on creating a culture that serves the community. Following the establishment of a 2019 district-wide committee for civic engagement, Southeast Campus formed a team to implement engagement initiatives with a unique vision—to help humankind through working to identify and meet the needs of the community, engaging students socially and politically, and embracing and celebrating a culture of diversity. This has been implemented on campus through a two-pronged approach, with one set of initiatives focused on meeting student and the community needs, such as providing parenting resources and food pantry services, and a second set of initiatives focused on educating and activating students for political participation.

“During these unprecedented times, our priorities are focused on the core needs of our students and the communities we serve,” said Tarrant County College Chancellor Eugene Giovannini in a letter supporting the Southeast Campus nomination. “We recognize a core mission of community colleges is to prepare our future leaders to be civic-minded, contributing members of society.”

Madison Area Technical College is the only other recipient of the Eduardo J. Padrón Award for Institutional Transformation this year.

The Eduardo J. Padrón Award for Institutional Transformation is presented as part of Campus Compact’s Impact Awards, which recognize the outstanding work of individuals and institutions in pursuit of the public purposes of higher education. Read more about the other awards and this year’s recipients at compact.org/2022-impact-award-recipients.

The recipients of these awards will be recognized in March at Campus Compact’s upcoming Compact22 virtual conference.

For more information contact:
Molly Leiper, Communications Manager, Campus Compact, mleiper@compact.org