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LTCC’s DeFranco named Aspen New President fellow

DeFranco stands with President's Honor Roll recipients. Left to right: Isabella Wakeling, Brandon Estrada Hernandez, Julio Loera Hernandez, and Jeff DeFranco.
Provided

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Lake Tahoe Community College President Jeff DeFranco has been selected to participate in the inaugural Aspen’s Institute New President’s Fellowship for College Excellence program.

The program is an intensive learning experience that exposes community college presidents who are within their first five years to the best research practices to improve students outcomes and success. DeFranco is in his fourth year as president.

The 25 Aspen New Presidents were chosen from a national pool for their commitment to student success and equity, willingness to take risks to improve outcomes, understanding of the importance of community partnerships, and ability to lead change.



“This is a tremendous honor for me that I’m thrilled to accept, but it’s what this experience will mean for our students and college that I’m most excited about,” said DeFranco in a press release. “What I’ll be exposed to and learn about through this fellowship will have a direct impact on student completion and transfer rates, and other indicators that tell us how well our students are actually doing while at LTCC, and after they’ve left us.”

The fellows will share their expertise on how to improve student outcomes in degree completion, learning, transfer, employment, earnings for graduates and equity for low-income and students of color.



DeFranco will attend two seminars and will engage in peer group work, webinars and mentorship opportunities.

“We want to improve our results when it comes to timely completion in particular,” said DeFranco. “It’s a problem nationwide: it takes community college students longer to complete degrees, certificates, or required classes needed to transfer. But, part of what this fellowship will do is show us what blind spots we may have, and help us understand where else we need to improve. They may even identify an area we aren’t aware of.”

“All of LTCC’s trustees are really excited for Jeff, our current and future students, and for the college,” said LTCC Board President Nancy Dalton in a press release. “Everyone will benefit from this at LTCC and we’re looking forward to continuing to improve what we provide our students.”

Dates have not been set for the residential seminars. To learn more about the program, visit http://www.aspeninstitute.org.


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