Lone Star College- University Park to Host U.S. Department of Education's Second Regional Community College Summit

Lone Star College – University Park in Houston, Texas will be the site of the U.S. Department of Education’s second regional community college summit on Wednesday, March 9. The all-day meeting will bring together 150 participants from 10 surrounding states to identify promising practices for increasing completion at community colleges. U.S. Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter will give the summit’s opening remarks and also moderate the luncheon panel, entitled “Exemplary Practices in Two-to-Four Year Transfer.”

Education Secretary Arne Duncan has described community colleges as the linchpin for meeting President Obama’s national goal to once again lead the world in college completion by 2020. Wednesday’s summit, entitled “Challenges, Solutions, and Commitments,” will include representatives of community colleges, business, labor, industry, philanthropy, state and local governments, and students. The focus of the Houston summit is “Exemplary Transfer Practices.”

The regional community college summits are follow-up events to the White House Summit on Community Colleges, held last October. The first regional summit was held last week in Philadelphia, and two more will be held in the coming weeks in Indianapolis and San Diego.