Previous Past Districtwide Winners

2022-2023: Up-Skilling Adult Education Students: A Collaborative Career Training and Partnership Pathway Model (Rio Salado College)

In an Inside Higher Ed report, Gandal (2021) stressed, "To achieve greater equity, community colleges must bridge the divide between noncredit and credit programs." Rio Salado College (RSC) Adult Education (AE) has initiated multiple innovative partnerships to create college bridge solutions and help noncredit adult education students access and succeed in college-level career training programs. RSC AE’s innovative workforce preparation partnerships support a diverse population of adult learners who embody the mission of community colleges and remain vital to Arizona’s local economy. RSC AE’s innovative integrated education and career training partnership solutions are impactful, collaborative, and scalable. They reduce costs and remove barriers for underprepared learners. These creative partnerships help learners build academic and employability skills to access, persist, and complete college-level coursework and seek fulfilling careers with family-sustaining wages.

2021-2022: Academic and Student Success Integrated Technology (ASSIST) (District Office)

Maricopa’s Academic & Student Success Integrated Support Technology (ASSIST) enables MCCCD to affordably deliver high-quality, timely, accessible, and informed service to all students. No single product exists in the marketplace to serve students throughout their entire journey and across multiple service areas with everything needed to support their success. Pricing models make broad adoption of these tools too expensive. Further, deciding who gets the technology due to the cost creates inequities as to which students get optimized service. ASSIST allows MCCCD to avoid these costs and improve service; automate communication; analyze data; and facilitate adoption, training, and support. The ASSIST platform means that MCCCD can now afford to equip ALL of its student services staff with access to powerful technology that enables them to provide effective support throughout the student lifecycle and improve success with the option to replicate these solutions at other colleges in the US.

2020-2021: Estrella First-Generation of Many Student Conference, Celebrating and Building Community (Estrella Mountain Community College)

Estrella Mountain Community College (EMCC) serves approximately 67% of students who identify as first-generation (FG) college students.  To further EMCC’s mission that learning happens anytime, anyway, any place, the First Generation of Many Student Conference (FGM) supports student development. It allows EMCC students to learn new skills that will help them succeed while enrolled at EMCC and provide them the social capital to be successful beyond our campus.  FGM took place virtually on November 13, 2020, and offered participants the chance to hear from a keynote speaker and attend breakout sessions.  Based on theory and research, breakout session topics were carefully selected to build community and garner success: imposter syndrome, financial literacy, wellness, writing, family support, and more. By hosting FGM virtually, it has allowed the planning committee to create a program that can be accessed at any time, to even more students, and be replicated for future semesters.

2019-2020: Full Cart (Rio Salado College)

According to a survey done in 2019 by the Association of American Colleges & Universities, more than 60 percent of students had experienced food insecurity within the past 30 days or housing insecurity within the past year. A majority of Rio Salado College students are taking courses online and therefore may not travel to our Rio Salado sites during the course of a semester. For this reason and to assist our students who are faced with financial challenges and as a result not being able to buy food, Rio initiated a partnership with‚ Full Cart‚ to provide food packages to Rio Salado students regardless of their place of residence. The Rio Salado College Family has embraced this partnership and we are on track to assist literally hundreds of students from across the country. The innovative partnership has had a positive impact on student success and retention. Nearly 70% of students who received emergency food assistance have remained enrolled and successfully completed. This project has provided equitable access to food for our students and ensured that students do not go hungry. 

2018-2019: Chandler-Gilbert Community College's Food and Green Waste Recycling Program: An Ongoing (Chandler-Gilbert Community College)

Collaborative Project Model for Sustaining Student Learning, Success, and Creativity, through Experiential Learning

The Food and Green Waste Recycling Program established a receptacle system that facilitates the separation of food waste generated on campus and the design of a digester machine that recycles food and green waste into liquid fertilizer. Students play an integral role in this program giving them cross-disciplinary, experiential learning opportunities.

2017-2018: N.O.W. – No Opportunity Wasted (a Collaborative Retention Program) (GateWay Community College)

The N.O.W. (No Opportunity Wasted) program is designed to help students be successful and regain their federal financial aid when they have become ineligible due to bad Student Academic Progress. Students complete a self-assessment (GRIT scale), create an individual educational plan, meet with a counselor throughout the semester, and continue their educational journey.

2016-2017: The Phoenix College Syllabus Project (Phoenix College)

Syllabi meeting MCCCD guidelines helps students understand important information for their success in a course and college. The Phoenix College Syllabus Project is our campus-wide process for the management of all course syllabi. The project helps ensure faculty are aware of and provides guidance and tools to more easily meet MCCCD syllabus requirements.

2015-2016: Partners in the Teaching Profession (Glendale Community College)

In order to meet the urgent needs of schools and the challenges of 21st-century classrooms, GCC Teacher Education Program (TEP) has partnered with local K8 schools to create diverse opportunities for future teachers to connect education theory with its practical application while under the expert guidance of mentor teachers. Not only do GCC students benefit, but K8 students are introduced to “real live” college students who serve as role models for college and career readiness.

2014-2015: MyPC Mobile Application for Students (Phoenix College)

The Phoenix College Information Technology team developed an innovative, free, easy-to-use mobile application to provide students with personalized class schedules, a list of required books, interactive campus maps, and printing balances to promote student success. In the spirit of One Maricopa, this successful application has been shared across the district.

2013-2014: Environmental Technology Center (Chandler-Gilbert Community College)

The Environmental Technology Center (ETC) is a two-acre outdoor learning laboratory that gives students experiential learning opportunities to explore the importance of carrying capacities in relation to the human population. 

2012-2013: Fast Tracking the Dream to College Completion (Mesa Community College)

Fast Tracking the Dream to College Completion is an innovative community partnership that minimizes financial barriers to earning a college education. Since 2008-09, 413 low to moderate-income students developed financial literacy skills and leveraged personal savings of $261,309.00 with matching funds totaling more than $783,926.00 to finance their education.

2011-2012: Arizona State University/Phoenix College Partnership Program for Medical Laboratory Science (Phoenix College)

Phoenix College and Arizona State University implemented a 90:30 agreement for a Bachelor of Applied Science in Medical Laboratory Science in Fall 2010 to meet the demand for Laboratory professionals. Students can essentially earn a bachelor’s degree on the Phoenix College campus. Hybrid delivery and videoconferencing technology expand the program statewide. 

2010-2011: Puma Athletic Web System (Paradise Valley Community College)

Puma Athletic Web System (PAWS) is a web-based application designed, developed, and built in-house by a cross-functional collaborative team. It was designed primarily to monitor student-athlete academic progress with an early alert system. It also features student-athlete eligibility and degree progress to assist student-athletes with successful course and degree completion.

2009-2010: Schedule e-Zine - Digital Interactive Class Schedule and Supplemental Information (Phoenix College)

During the spring of 2009, Phoenix College stopped printing the schedule and went completely online. To compliment the Maricopa Community Colleges online schedule, Phoenix College created an interactive digital magazine, the Schedule e-Zine–giving students an enhanced search feature and the ability to leisurely flip through a full listing of classes offered.

2008-2009: Web-Based Class Schedule (Paradise Valley Community College)

The web-based class schedule is designed as a dynamic environment to assist students in managing their time and resources through a class schedule-building tool accompanied by full course information and requirements. Enhanced functionality within the class schedule engages students in crafting an appropriate semester timeline that contributes towards their success.

2007-2008: Textbook Savings Program (Rio Salado College)

The Textbook Savings Program, which reduces Rio Salado’s textbook prices by an average of 51% while improving learning efficiency, is a unique model that successfully addresses this national concern. It combines the college-wide adoption of customized textbooks from a single publisher and the alignment of textbook content with course competencies.

2006-2007: myCGC Portal (Chandler-Gilbert Community College)

myCGC Portal is a one-stop-shop entryway to the web for CGCC students, faculty, and staff, which allows them to access a multitude of resources online, including academic check sheets, teacher evaluations, electronic portfolios, class rosters, class schedules, athletic grade checks, academic and career planning tools, a calendar of events, and much more. This tool has created an interactive network where students, faculty, and staff can work together to plan for students’ persistence and success.

2005-2006: Enfermeras En Escalera (E3) Program (Nurses on a Ladder) (Mesa Community College)

The Enfermas en Escalera (E3) Program at Mesa Community College is a fast-track for internationally-educated nurses, with United States residency, to obtain licensure as registered nurses (RN) in Arizona. The Program’s purpose is to improve their English skills, their cultural competency, and prepare them to succeed in passing the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses. The E3 Program curriculum consists of 14 courses covering fundamentals in health care delivery, medical terminology, and nursing assisting principles. Students are concurrently enrolled in English as a Second Language to improve their English proficiency. The first cohort represented students from Cuba, France, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Vietnam. 

2004-2005: SMCC/AAEC Collaborative (SABiSCo) (South Mountain Community College)

The South Mountain Community College and the Arizona Agribusiness and Equine Center Bioscience Collaborative (SABiSCo) developed a comprehensive biotechnology curriculum with research-quality facilities creating a charter high school, MI/HSI community college, and university pathway. Students learn science concepts as they conduct original research in association with four residential Ph.D. faculty, the United States Department of Agriculture, and U.C. San Diego’s Supercomputer Human Genome Project. Students may present their scientific findings at national symposia and apply for bio-industry and federal government internships. Enrollment was 36 in spring 2003, 115 in fall 2004, and is projected to be 230 in 2005.