CLC receives diversity award and two student awards from state organization

The College of Lake County has received the 2016 Equity and Diversity Award from the Illinois Community College Trustees Association ICCTA. Officials from ICCTA announced the award at the organization's annual banquet on June 3 in Springfield, Ill.

CLC was recognized for its many diversity-related programs for students,including:

Sister 2 Sister and Men of Vision, student chapters of national clubs designed to promote academic, personal and career success of students, especially men and women of color.

Coaching for Academic Success, a program launched in 2014 that provides academic support for students in developmental math and English courses.

TRIO Student Support Services, a federal grant-funded program that provides tutoring and mentoring to 140 first-generation, low income and students with disabilities per year.

Multicultural Student Center and programs that promote science, technology, engineering or mathematics careers for women.

Staff training: Among faculty and staff, an internal survey revealed that 88 percent of employees ranked CLC as a welcoming place to work. In addition to required diversity training for new employees, the college has developed unconscious bias training for search committees and has provided additional sensitivity training for supervisors and employees.

"We are extremely grateful for receiving the 2016 Equity and Diversity award," said Dr. William M. Griffin, chair of the CLC Board of Trustees. "Diversity is an integral part of who we are as a CLC community. A diverse world is not just 'out there' awaiting our students; it is here at the college and is an essential part of the CLC experience."

In addition to the college receiving the Equity and Diversity Award, a CLC student, Kara Barbieri of Gurnee, won first place in the ICCTA's 2016 Paul Simon Student Essay Contest. "For me, CLC was the first educational system that told me I could work in the difficult field I wanted to pursue," wrote Barbieri, who is pursuing a career in public health. "I was surrounded by staff and professors who cared about my success. The college believed in me when no one else did."

Additionally, Yesenia Mata of Round Lake received the ICCTA's 2016 Gigi Campbell Student Trustee Excellence Award that recognizes the system's outstanding student board members. Mata, one of six finalists, is the first CLC student trustee to ever win the prestigious award. "I know all the nominees well and know how hard they all work for the state's community college students, so I am so humbled to be chosen for this award," Mata said.

Each student received $500 at the ICCTA's June 3 awards banquet.

Founded in 1970, the ICCTA is an organization whose constituents are the individual members of the local boards of trustees of each of Illinois' community college districts.