2009 Performance Accountability Report Vol. 2 - Maryland Higher ...

cohorts when measured by percentage earning a GPA of 2.0 or better (benchmark 90%).
Examination of the MHEC-supplied PGCC data covering academic years 2005-2008 shows that
the percentage of PGCC students with 2.0+ GPAs never rose above 80% (AY 2008 cohort
73%). On the second measure of transfer student performance mean first-year GPA the
trend line across academic years is negative, dropping from 2.61 in 2005 to 2.41 in 2008.
Campus Cultural Diversity
PGCC understands that fulfillment of its mission to facilitate access to higher education entails,
in part, working towards a culturally diverse student body which includes minority attenders in
proportions approximating service area ethnic characteristics. The fall 2008 breakdown of credit
enrollees by race/ethnicity suggests a high level of success in meeting these objectives. Seventyseven
percent of attenders were non-Hispanic African American (64% of county residents), 9%
were of Asian heritage (county 4%), and 4% had Latino backgrounds (county 13%). Altogether,
91% of all credit students belonged to a minority group. Additionally, a growing percentage of
international students attend the college – 5.3% in fall 2008, up from 4.8% in fall 2007, and an
analysis of student birthplaces found that fully a quarter of recent fall attenders were foreignborn
(county 13%), hailing from over 125 different countries.
Last fiscal year the college began crafting a formal cultural diversity plan, to focus on boosting
enrollment among Hispanics (somewhat under-represented relative to the county population),
increasing content on World cultures and the U.S.’s multiethnic history and heritage in its
academic programs, and promoting greater awareness of the benefits of a culturally diverse
learning environment.
It should be noted, however, that the college has always celebrated the ethnic and religious
pluralism of its campus community and service area in a number of substantive ways. The
International Education Center and the A.L.A.N.A. (African, Latin, Asia, Native American)
Experience are long-established campus organizations socially and academically supporting the
college’s foreign and minority populations, and last year alone saw a host of college-sponsored
cultural events, including: The 16 th annual Bluebird Blues Festival, which has grown into the
best respected and attended event of its kind in the region; the annual Caribbean Festival; the
annual Black History Month celebration (public lectures, field trips, historical presentations,
poetry readings); the annual National Hispanic Heritage Month celebration; the 1 st annual
Caribbean American Heritage Month celebration (traditional food and a film fest); the 2 nd
International Education Week celebration (campus parade of flags, international art show, public
lectures and issue fora); the Global Café (Ethiopian food, Argentine and Brazilian music and
dance); Women’s History Month celebration (film screenings, rape clinic, poetry reading,
women’s health information workshop); and the continued sponsorship and hosting of the Prince
George's County Women’s Fair (20 workshops).
Minority Student Success
Prince George’s Community College is one of only two community colleges in the state that
services a credit student body made up primarily of minority students. By the fall 2005 semester,
the percentage of PGCC minority credit students topped 90% and has continued to grow; last fall
2008 it reached 92%. This growth was paralleled by increases in the county proportion of
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