San Jacinto College ranks 31st among associate degree producers

San Jacinto College has been ranked 31st among two-year institutions in Community College Week Magazine's annual Top 100 Associate Degree Producers list.

SJC was ranked 36th on the list last year.

The list also ranked SJC 26th in students who graduated with one- to two-year certificates and 77th in Hispanic graduates in all disciplines.

"The shared commitment to student success that exists across the college means that each of us understands his or her role in facilitating and supporting that success and takes that role seriously," said Dr. Laurel Williamson, San Jacinto College vice chancellor of learning and student success, via a press release. "We take pride in our efforts as individuals and as a college focused fully on student success and student completion."

SJC also received the following rankings by the magazines for fiscal year 2010-2011: No. 6 in science technologies/technicians; No. 9 in family and consumer sciences/human sciences; No. 18 in registered nursing, nursing administration, nursing research and clinical nursing; No. 21 in health professions and related programs; and No. 27 in business, management, marketing and related support services.

"We continue to see the results of our hard work in student performance and certificate and degree completion, and it is always gratifying to receive national notice for this work," Williamson said. "We are making steady gains in closing the gaps among our diverse populations. We are committed to creating an effective, rigorous learning environment that engages students and promotes their success and that is fully integrated with student support services."

In a report to Community College Week about the Top 100 list, Dr. Victor Borden, professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., said that despite a "constrained fiscal environment," completion rates are on the rise at most postsecondary institutions in the United States.

"In the tough fiscal year of 2010-11, especially for public institutions, completion of two-year degrees and one- to two-year certificate awards not only reached another all-time high but increased at an even faster rate than the year before," Borden said via a release.

San Jacinto College is at 4624 Fairmont Parkway, Suite 210 in Pasadena.