Four Black-Serving Community Colleges Join Faculty Training Pilot Focused on College Completion

Complete College America and ACUE are bringing evidence-based teaching certification and professional learning to faculty at four historically or predominantly Black colleges

INDIANAPOLIS — Complete College America has partnered with the Association of College and University Educators to launch a faculty training and development initiative across four historically or predominantly Black community colleges.

Faculty at Lawson State Community College in Alabama, Coahoma Community College in Mississippi, Baton Rouge Community College in Louisiana and Delgado Community College in Louisiana will participate in ACUE’s Effective Teaching Practices course, with participating faculty working toward Effective Teaching certification.

Investing in Faculty Development

The initiative is an extension of the CCA Accelerator, a multi-year program funded by the Gates Foundation that supports institutions working to identify and address barriers to college completion.

In addition to the certification cohort, faculty and staff at the four colleges will receive access to ACUE Commons, a professional learning community offering continued development in areas including AI for higher education, workforce readiness, civic and social engagement and holistic student support.

“Effective faculty are one of the most critical levers we have for fulfilling the promise of college completion,” Complete College America President Yolanda Watson Spiva said. “They’re the ones building connection, creating momentum, and supporting learners every day in the classroom.”

Four Colleges Selected

The participating institutions are Lawson State Community College, Coahoma Community College, Baton Rouge Community College and Delgado Community College.

The Effective Teaching Practices course focuses on areas including student engagement, active learning, inquiry-driven instruction and course design.

CCA and ACUE said they will track faculty engagement and progress toward certification and evaluate the impact of the teaching practices across the participating institutions.

Connecting Teaching With Student Success

The organizations are positioning faculty development as part of the broader effort to improve persistence and completion.

“Teaching quality is not separate from the completion conversation—it is central to it,” ACUE Chairman and CEO Andrew Hermalyn said.

The certification cohort launched September 21.

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