CMC receives national recognition for its student success initiatives

Ongoing Colorado Mountain College strategies designed to help students, especially multilingual learners, more successfully complete their studies has earned the school a prominent national educational award for its efforts.

CMC recently received the Barefoot & Gardner Award, which is given every two years by the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. It recognizes two-year and four-year post-secondary institutions that have demonstrated a strong commitment to expanding educational opportunities and undergraduate success for all learners; CMC was the sole two-year honoree for 2025.

Karla Hardesty, Ed.D., CMC’s dean of academic support and accreditation liaison officer, accepted the award on CMC’s behalf earlier this month at the Gardner Institute’s annual symposium in Chicago. She says the award is a testament to a range of evidence-based initiatives CMC has put in place systemwide as part of what is known as the Compass project, designed to help support students at every stage of their educational journey.

Hardesty said Compass has sought to closely align academic and student affairs and other community resources, using data to more effectively guide students and help boost retention and completion rates as a result. Success in school can also lead to new economic opportunities for graduates, she added.

“We’ve added a layer of holistic and proactive advising and created a point of contact for each and every student, which also provides more support for multilingual learners,” she said.

Since the Compass project began, Hardesty said CMC has been able to significantly mitigate performance gaps between white and Hispanic students, with higher matriculation rates in CMC’s multilingual Bridge programs, which include English as a Second Language, high school equivalency and adult high school diploma classes. In fact, 323 adults earned their high school diplomas through that coursework last year. The award also recognizes CMC’s innovative English Acquisition for Academic Purposes certificate, which provides a more effective pathway for multilingual students seeking higher-level classes.

“The Barefoot & Gardner award shows that what CMC has been doing has not been done in a void,” she said. “It’s a good recognition that implemented strategies are collectively effective, leading to improved support for student success,” she added.

Although Dr. Kathryn Regio, CMC’s vice president of academic affairs, and Dr. Abby Crew, the former associate dean of planning, assessment, improvement and impact, and Hardesty co-authored the application, credit goes to many faculty and staff at CMC who made substantial contributions to implementing student-success initiatives that resulted in this award.

For more information about the award and to learn more about CMC’s Compass project, contact Karla Hardesty at 719-530-7908.