LINN — The Aspen Institute named State Tech as a semifinalist for the 2025 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The $1 million award is the nation’s signature recognition of high achievement and performance among community colleges. The institutions selected for this honor stand out among more than 1,000 community colleges nationwide as having high and improving levels of student success, as well as equitable outcomes for Black and Hispanic students and those from lower-income backgrounds.

“We have received numerous national accolades, but this recognition from the Aspen Institute holds a special significance for us,” State Tech President Dr. Shawn Strong said. “Being selected as one of the final 20 institutions further emphasizes its importance. This achievement speaks to the dedication of every member of our exceptional faculty and staff who have contributed to this success. Simply put, we have one of the very best technical colleges in the country in Linn, MO. We graduate students and start rewarding careers and no one does it better than State Tech. Employers know this, It means a lot when national ranking agencies such as Aspen recognize this. As we say at State Tech, From the Classroom to your Career, We are the Employers’ Choice.”

Awarded every two years, the Aspen Prize honors colleges with outstanding performance in six critical areas: teaching and learning, certificate and degree completion, transfer and bachelor’s attainment, workforce success, broad access to the college and its offerings and equitable outcomes for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. The winner will be announced in the spring of 2025. 

Joshua Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program, congratulated the semifinalists. “Each of these colleges has demonstrated a sustained commitment to moving beyond enrollment and retention as the markers of student success to defining their success by whether the education they provide changes lives,” Wyner said. “These colleges understand that enrollment and graduation matter most when tied tightly to post-graduation success in transferring for a bachelor’s degree and in securing fulfilling, good-paying jobs and careers.” 

The Aspen Prize selection process began in October 2023, when Aspen invited 150 community colleges to apply, based on data showing strong, improving and equitable student outcomes in key areas such as retention, completion and transfer. One hundred eighteen colleges applied, and their applications went to a diverse selection committee of 18 higher education experts who assessed each application based on extensive data and narrative answers to questions. Following interviews with leadership teams from applicants receiving top scores, 20 semifinalists were selected. In the coming weeks, the committee will continue its review and narrow the field to 10 finalists, which will be announced in June.

After the 10 finalists are announced, next steps in the process include a multi-day in-person site visits to each of the 10 finalists in the fall. During the visits, the Aspen Institute and partners will collect additional information and data, including extensive employment and earnings data on graduates from the finalist colleges. In winter 2025, the independent Aspen Prize jury will review data and qualitative summaries that synthesize each part of the 14-month analyses, then meet for a full day to select the winner and others for additional recognition. In spring 2025, the Aspen Prize winner will be announced and there will be a celebration of the 10 finalists in Washington DC.

More information is available at highered.aspeninstitute.org/aspen-prize.

The Aspen recognition is the latest in a list of national accolades State Tech has received including being ranked first by Wallethub for five years running, fourth by Value Colleges, Smart Asset, and Brookings Institute and 5th by Bankrate.