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NDSCS Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Jane Vangsness Frisch has been selected by the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program to join the 2019-2020 class of the Aspen Presidential Fellowship for Community College Excellence. This leadership program is aimed at preparing the next generation of community college presidents to transform institutions to achieve higher and more equitable levels of student success, both in college and in the labor market.

“Congratulations to Jane on her selection for this very prestigious professional development program,” said NDSCS President John Richman. “Jane’s many accomplishments and contributions have positively impacted NDSCS and higher education, and I’m excited for her to build upon her experiences through this fellowship.”

Vangsness Frisch and the 39 other Aspen Presidential Fellows will embark on a 10-month fellowship beginning in July 2019. Delivered in collaboration with the Stanford Educational Leadership Initiative, the fellows will work with mentors – current and former community college presidents – who have achieved exceptional outcomes for students throughout their careers. Fellows will also learn from national experts about ways to harness data to assess student success outcomes, strategies for internal change leadership, and how to create strong external partnerships with K-12 schools, four-year colleges, and employers.

The Aspen Presidential Fellowship responds to a specific and growing need for a new generation of leaders who are well-equipped to meet the challenges of the future. Nationally, nearly 80 percent of community college presidents plan to retire in the next decade. The pathway to replace them has traditionally excluded women and people of color. The incoming class of Aspen Presidential Fellows is 65 percent female and non-binary, 43 percent are people of color, and their institutions vary widely in size and location.

“Evidence shows that substantial improvements in student success are achieved only when presidents have the commitment and skill needed to lead change within their institutions and through partnerships in the community,” said Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program. “These fellows have been chosen because they embody that commitment and, we believe, will build their skills even further to become transformational presidents.”

Vangsness Frisch was selected through a rigorous process that considered her abilities to take strategic risks, lead strong teams and cultivate partnerships, and focus on results-oriented improvements in student success and access.

The Aspen Presidential Fellowship for Community College Excellence is supported by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, College Futures Foundation, Greater Texas Foundation, JP Morgan Chase Foundation, Joyce Foundation, Kresge Foundation, and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program has released The Workforce Playbook: A Community College Guide to Delivering Excellent Career and Technical Education. After researching community colleges across the country, The Aspen Institute selected North Dakota State College of Science as one of six institutions they visited to learn what the best colleges do to build effective workforce programs. The Workforce Playbook recognizes NDSCS as a high-performing community college that has excelled in delivering excellent career and technical education.

“We are honored to have been selected to contribute to the Aspen Institute’s Workforce Playbook,” said NDSCS President John Richman. “Being selected as one of six two-year colleges from across the United States exemplifies the College’s effectiveness at strategically building programs and collaborations to fulfill workforce needs.”

The Workforce Playbook highlights NDSCS in several areas, including: assessing who’s being left out of the local economy, making partnership building an explicit expectation, effective K-12 outreach and engagement, and matching employers with students who are interested in their industry.

“As demographics evolve and the world of work changes rapidly, it is more important now than ever for community colleges to deliver excellent workforce programs,” said Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program. “Aspen has been researching community colleges that deliver exemplary workforce education – including North Dakota State College of Science – and have featured their practices in our just-released Workforce Playbook to guide other community colleges in offering the education their students and the employers in their communities need.”  

“We are proud of the work we do to fulfill our mission to educate and train the workforce for North Dakota and the region, and we are excited to share our practices and successes that can enhance career and technical education across the country,” said Richman. “We look forward to considering other successful workforce initiatives contained in this report to further strengthen NDSCS.”

Aspen’s workforce playbook is designed to help community college leaders develop practices and employer partnerships that improve labor market outcomes for students. Using concrete examples from high-performing community colleges, the playbook offers specific guidance about what colleges can do to build more effective workforce programs so that students gain the skills they need to succeed in the next stage of their lives.

The Workforce Playbook is available online at highered.aspeninstitute.org/workforceplaybook.