Sharing in the success of NCTA Aggies
NCTA Dean’s Message by Larry Gossen, Ph.D.
Week Number 16 concluded last Friday. But who’s counting?
All of us, I’m quite sure. The Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture campus will be rather empty after the typical liveliness of the fall semester.
Final projects and exams wrapped up in the past week, with semester grades turned in by the end of this week.
It’s been another challenging, yet successful, semester for our Aggie students. They didn’t quit when times got tough with health concerns or obstacles that are a part of life.
Our faculty, staff, student resident assistants in the residence halls, and friends from around the community stepped in to help with encouragement, concern, motivation, sustenance, and much-appreciated study snacks.
Fourteen students are on track to complete their college career here at NCTA, having finalized credits for an associate degree, adding a second degree, or fulfilling requirements for a certificate in one of our academic areas.
Congratulations to each one! Although NCTA doesn’t have a December graduation, some graduates will return for the ceremony on May 5, or perhaps they already “walked” last May, needing the summer session or internship to finish up.
Some are now going directly into their careers. Others are headed to internships. And one or two will be transitioning to further education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
We send them off with congratulations, and we look forward to hearing from them in 2022.
Pictorial count
Through the semester we’ve enjoyed seeing a visual tally of our students and activities in a photo collage.
Week by week, the images of contests, awards, social activities, field trips, and groups have been documented in the pictorial collage assembled by Andela Taylor, recruiting coordinator.
It’s been fun for all of us to see what submissions come through to Andela as we snap photos on our cell phones or cameras.
She has described the weekly litany from Week #1 to Week #16. Catch these each week on social media or in the e-newsletter distributed by email. If you’d like to be added to the email distribution list, please let Andela know at ataylor59@unl.edu.
Who’s counting?
NCTA has repeated high national rankings among 650 two-year colleges for success of our graduates, in a cost analysis of earnings compared to the cost of education.
The financial entity, WalletHub, does an annual evaluation of the Best and Worst Community Colleges in the United States. https://wallethub.com/edu/e/best-worst-community-colleges/15076
NCTA rises to the top in this analysis. For the past few years NCTA has not only been ranked at the top for America’s two-year colleges in affordability and success of our graduates in career earnings, but leads the seven Nebraska colleges, overall, in the formula rating.
The WalletHub.com site explains their project:
In order to determine the best community colleges in the U.S., WalletHub selected 650 member institutions in the American Association of Community Colleges. Individual community colleges vary in quality and affordability. To determine where students can receive the best education at the lowest price, WalletHub compared the colleges across 19 key indicators of cost and quality. The data set ranges from the cost of in-state tuition and fees to student-faculty ratio to graduation rate.
NCTA is a part of the University of Nebraska system, and although based in southwest Nebraska at Curtis, has a duty for statewide delivery of academic programs. We are an open admission institution, and the only two-year campus of the NU system.
As we close this fall semester at NCTA, we congratulate and appreciate every individual who is a part of our Aggie community. Thank you for contributing to the success of Aggie students and the NCTA campus!
NCTA Campus Events:
Dec. 13-16: NCTA Fall Semester Final Exams
Dec. 17: NCTA Fall Semester Ends
Dec. 24-Jan. 2: NCTA Offices Closed
Jan. 3: NCTA Offices Open
Jan. 10: NCTA Second Semester begins
Part of the University of Nebraska system, the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture is a two-year institution with a statewide mission of preparing students for successful careers in agriculture, veterinary technology and related industries. NCTA is known for its affordable tuition, high job-placement rate for its graduates, and for the success of student teams in competitive activities including crops judging, ranch horse events, livestock judging, shotgun sports, stock dog trials, and intercollegiate rodeo. The college is consistently ranked as one of the best two-year schools in the nation.