WASHINGTON, D.C. - Oct. 16, 2012 - Over 1,700 community college trustees, presidents, and national and state leaders gathered at the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) 43^rd  Annual ACCT Leadership Congress. The 2012 ACCT Congress was held at the Sheraton Boston hotel and Hynes Convention Center from October 10 - 13.

"Minimum wage is not a living wage," said ACCT Chair Jean Torgeson, a trustee at North Iowa Area Community College.  "Community and technical colleges make it possible for Americans to earn living wages-an especially urgent need in today's economy."

"America used to be first in the world, both economically and in college-degree attainment," said J. Noah Brown, ACCT's president and CEO, referencing the theme of his newly released book First in the World: Community Colleges and America's Future.  "Our colleges have the potential to make us number one again, through data-based decision making, strong strategic partnerships, and increased public commitment."

"ACCT and our colleagues at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Kresge Foundation, Lumina Foundation for Education, the U.S. Department of Education, the American Association of Community Colleges, the College Board and others," Brown continued, "have dedicated tremendous resources to developing a framework for unprecedented achievement in the field of higher education.  This year's ACCT Leadership Congress has taken these refined ideas and processes and started setting them into action."

The event featured a diverse array of keynote speakers, reflecting the diversity of community college students:

• Byron Pitts, 60 Minutes contributing correspondent and CBS News chief national correspondent
• Andrew Feustel, NASA astronaut and Oakland Community College (Mich.) graduate
• Bill Green, executive chairman, Accenture
• Paul E. Lingenfelter, president, State Higher Education Executive Officers
• Sterling Speirn, president and CEO, W. K. Kellogg Foundation
• Gene Wilhoit, executive director, Council of Chief State School Officers
• Douglas Wood, program officer, Ford Foundation

Immediately prior to the ACCT Leadership Congress, on October 9 and 10, ACCT convened its third Symposium on Student Success, with this year's focus being metrics and data analysis.  America's leaders in higher education, including trustees, presidents  and educators, as well as nationally recognized experts, researchers, and representatives from national membership associations, deliberated on the challenges to college completion. The attendees worked together on how to combine resources in order to identify the means by which to achieve the goal of improved college completion rates throughout the United States, specifically by utilizing their vastly different experiences to create innovative new solutions.  The symposium was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Kresge Foundation, and Lumina Foundation for Education.  And with the support of Ellucian, the entire Symposium on Student Success and select student success-related sessions from the 2012 ACCT Leadership Congress will be made available online next month. 

The 43^rd Annual ACCT Leadership Congress featured over 80 educational sessions on best practices for community colleges, fundamental and advanced trustee training, and a lively town hall meeting dedicated to determining priorities in the governance of community college student success initiatives.  With additional pre-Congress sessions on effective governance, CEO contracts and evaluations, crisis preparedness and response, and the popular Governance Leadership Institute, attendees experienced many opportunities to review fundamental information and further enhance their seasoned expertise.

ACCT's Board of Directors elected new officers to its executive committee, Chair Jean Torgeson, North Iowa Area Community College; Chair-Elect John W. Sanders, John A. Logan College, Ill.; Vice Chair LeRoy W. Mitchell, Westchester Community College, N.Y.; Secretary-Treasurer Robin Smith from Lansing Community College, Mich.; and Immediate Past-Chair Roberto Uranga from Long Beach City College, Calif.

2012-2013 Regional Chairs include Jeffrey A. May (Central), Joliet Junior College, Ill.; Bakari Lee (Northeast), Hudson County College, N.J.; James Harper (Pacific), Portland Community College, Ore.; Randall "Mack" Jackson (Southern), Midlands Technical College, S.C.; and Roberto Zárate (Western), Alamo Colleges, Texas.

Newly and re-elected Regional Directors are John W. Sanders (Central), John A. Logan College, Ill..; William E. Coleman, Jr. (Northeast), Mercer County Community College, N.J.; Emily Yim (Pacific), Edmonds Community College, Wash.; Randall "Mack" Jackson (Southern), Midlands Technical College, S.C.; and Robert Feit (Western), Southeast Community College, Neb.

Newly and re-elected Directors-at-Large are Stanley Edwards, Halifax Community College, N.C.; Jeffrey A. May, Joliet Jr. College, Ill.; and Rafael C. Turner, Mott Community College, Mich..  Cid Wilson from Bergen Community College, N.J., was appointed to serve on the Board of Directors as Diversity Committee Chair.

ABOUT THE KRESGE FOUNDATION

Based in metropolitan Detroit, The Kresge Foundation is a $3.1 billion private foundation that seeks to influence the quality of life for future generations through its support of nonprofit organizations working in its seven program areas: Arts and Culture, Community Development, Detroit, Education, the Environment, Health, and Human Services.  Fostering greater access to and success in postsecondary education for low-income, minority and first-generation college students is the focus of Kresge's Education grantmaking. In 2011, Kresge awarded more than $22 million in grants to support higher education in the United States and South Africa, with half benefiting U.S. community colleges.  For more information, please visit the Foundation website: www.kresge.org or follow @kresgedu.