ACE is pleased to announce that Rio Salado College and Windward Community College (Windward CC) are the recipients of the 2025
ACE/Fidelity Investments Award for Institutional Transformation.Since 2014, the award has recognized institutions that responded to higher education challenges in innovative ways and achieved dramatic changes in a relatively brief period. Each institution was presented the award today at the ACE Experience 2025 (ACEx2025) and will be awarded a $10,000 prize.
“I am thrilled to present this award to two model institutions that have displayed ingenuity and resilience to overcome challenges and revamp their campuses,” ACE President Ted Mitchell said. “Windward Community College’s broad and tailored actions to meet the needs of students has enabled it to bolster its campus and strengthen the wider community. Rio Salado College’s unwavering commitment to student success and inclusion has created a culture where diversity flourishes and students from all backgrounds succeed.”
(Left to right) Sheri Gilchrist, Fidelity Investments; Kate Smith, president of Rio Salado College; Ardis Eschenberg, chancellor of Windward Community College; and ACE President Ted Mitchell.
“We are so impressed by the initiative taken by both of these institutions to further efforts around the inclusivity, engagement, and career readiness of their student bodies,” said Sangeeta Moorjani, head of tax-exempt market at Fidelity Investments. “Through a dedication to promoting diversity and inclusion—such as with Rio Salado College—and enabling access to education and career pathways—such as with Windward Community College—these institutions are tackling head-on the challenges being faced by their current and prospective students—efforts that will make an incredible difference in the lives of these students.”
ACE invited nominations and applications for the award from any U.S. college or university eligible for ACE membership. Applications were divided into two categories: one for institutions with student populations of 12,001 and more (Rio Salado), and another for institutions with student populations of up to 12,000 (Windward CC).
At Rio Salado, a public community college in Tempe, Arizona, that serves more than 40,000 students from a variety of backgrounds, an unwavering commitment to accessibility drives educational initiatives and community engagement. The college has implemented and refined a comprehensive Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging program to ensure its services meet the unique needs of its students, 90 percent of whom attend part-time and nearly half report to be the first in their families to go to college.
Continuously working to transform its services to meet students’ ever-changing needs, Rio Salado developed a
strategic roadmap for 2024–2026, centered on four key strategies: Increasing student goal attainment, offering innovative learning pathways, fostering a culture of inclusion and belonging, and improving operational and organizational stability. The roadmap reflects the college’s commitment to fostering a culture of inclusion and innovation and is guided by the principles of Distributed Leadership Theory, emphasizing collective responsibility and collaboration.
To address barriers, Rio Salado has partnered with community organizations such as Chicanos Por La Causa and Bloom 365 to tackle challenges like housing insecurity, food scarcity, and gender-based violence, ensuring students have access to critical resources. Additionally, the college has begun collaborating with Welcome to America, a nonprofit supporting refugee resettlement, to further expand its outreach to vulnerable populations.
Rio Salado is focused on enhancing student engagement and career readiness. Initiatives like its new first-year Bridge Program and service-based learning projects aim to ease the transition into higher education and foster civic responsibility. The college has also introduced programs to increase representation in high-demand fields through partnerships like the STEMM Opportunity Alliance.
Rio Salado’s professional development for faculty and staff and student-focused initiatives create a welcoming and supportive environment that ultimately builds supportive pathways to education that transform lives and strengthen communities. By addressing the needs of nontraditional learners and marginalized populations, Rio Salado exemplifies the transformative potential of higher education.
“We are deeply honored to receive the 2025 ACE/Fidelity Investments Award for Institutional Transformation,” said Rio Salado College President Kate Smith. “This recognition affirms the tireless efforts of our employees, students, and community partners to create a more inclusive and accessible learning environment. At Rio Salado, we are committed to breaking down barriers and providing opportunities for all learners. This award inspires us to continue innovating to meet the ever-evolving needs of our students and community.”
Windward CC, located in Kāneʻohe, Hawaiʻi, has faced considerable challenges impacting enrollment and completion, including an aging local population, declining high school graduation rates, and an increasingly high cost of living. In 2020, during a decade-long decline in enrollment, Windward CC began work on a strategic plan that emphasized connection, progress, and completion, using innovative approaches to make education more accessible.
As part of its strategic plan, Windward CC implemented programs to leverage early college for recruitment. The
Early College High School program strengthened ties with local high schools and facilitated a seamless transition to college, and targeted scholarships such as the
Hoʻolei Scholarship Program help local high school graduates pay for college. Initiatives such as application workshops and
Senior Bash, where local high school seniors gather on campus for workshops, networking, and a reggae concert, helped Windward CC enroll some of its largest freshman classes in years.
Windward CC has also expanded career-focused and culturally relevant programs to meet students’ needs and create career pathways. As the institution with the highest percentage of Native Hawaiian student enrollment in the University of Hawai'i System, Windward CC redesigned its Hawaiian Studies degree into a fully asynchronous online program to expand access, which ultimately led to an 80 percent enrollment increase in the program. Recognizing workforce needs, Windward CC restructured its Veterinary Technology program for statewide access and created a Mental Health Tech certificate in collaboration with key employers. These programs, alongside innovative initiatives such as the Hawaiʻi Conservatory of Performing Arts, directly address employability challenges.
In tandem with efforts to enhance recruitment and revamp offerings, Windward CC has implemented a range of programs to support students’ basic needs and enhance access. It has an on-campus
childcare center for infants and toddlers, provides free lunches to all students every day, and maintains a food pantry and clothing closet for students. Additionally, Windward CC, which has served the only women’s and only youth correctional facilities in Hawaiʻi since 2017, expanded its offerings to a correctional facility serving men and will
broaden its offerings this year to a correctional facility in Arizona.
Since Windward CC implemented its strategic plan in 2020, it has seen remarkable success in boosting both access and completion. Windward CC’s enrollment is 20 percent higher than it was in 2020, and Windward CC’s 150 percent time-to-degree success rates are higher than they have been since 2005 for both full-time and part-time students.
“He pūnāwai kahe wale ke aloha. ‘Aloha is an endlessly flowing spring.’ Through enacting this concept of the abundance of aloha, our faculty, staff, and students have transformed our college to become even more what it was meant to be—a learning institution that supports students during their journey to obtain meaningful careers, growing our entire community,” said Ardis Eschenberg, Windward CC chancellor.