KAHULUI — Maui Community College has been selected as the 2008 winner of the prestigious Bellwether Award in the category of Workforce Development.
The award is sponsored by the Community College Futures Assembly of the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Florida to recognize innovative educational programs and practices in community colleges.
Maui Community College was recognized for “groundbreaking practices in sustainability and in meeting present and future workforce and institutional development needs.”
MCC Chancellor Clyde Sakamoto, Sustainable Living Institute of Maui Director Alex DeRoode and Maui Culinary Academy Director Chris Speere highlighted the MCC’s efforts in work force development at a Futures Assembly held in Orlando, Fla.
The MCC programs include:
• The Sustainable Living Institute of Maui, which promotes sustainability initiatives on campus and in the community.
• Funding for student internships.
• Utilizing a 250-kilowatt windmill to provide students with the latest in energy technology.
• Implementing campuswide recycling programs.
• Hosting a community Water Resources Forum and an international Islands of the World Conference.
• Creating public and private partnerships that support the college’s educational efforts.
The presentation also highlighted accomplishments of MCC’s Rural Development Project, a federally funded program that has provided training for more than 21,000 residents since 1991, as well as other efforts generating more than $83.7 million in grants to MCC projects since the 1990s.
Bellwether Award Coordinator Anna Lebesch said she was inspired by the presentation and impressed with how a rural community college could make such a significant impact on students, the community and the environment.
The UH-MCC presentation will be published in the “Community College Journal of Research and Practice.” For more information about the Futures Assembly and the 2008 Bellwether Awards, visit www.coe.ufl.edu/futures.
