Forward Together: Ushering in Our Next Era of Service
Dear Community College of Aurora,
On May 20th the Community College of Aurora (CCA) celebrated the achievement of a monumental milestone. For 40 years, CCA has provided high-quality instruction and support services to prepare students for transfer and employment opportunities. During this time, CCA has been home to 176,624 individual students and has awarded 23,281 degrees and certificates. At our 39th Commencement on May 6th, 2023, CCA graduated one of its largest classes and over 1,000 alumni and scholars entered the next phase in their academic and professional journey prepared for success.
In 1983, CCA began as the Aurora Education Center, historically known as the “college without walls”. Through our humble beginnings, CCA held classes within recreation centers, places of worship, parks and even homes until 1991 when CCA opened its first campus at the current CentreTech Campus location. We then later expanded our instruction and student services to the Lowry campus in 1994. Since then, CCA has served thousands of students in professional, academic, STEM, and other industries of employment that actively contributes to the social and economic mobility of the Aurora community.
The Community College of Aurora, now known as the “college beyond walls” continues to remove and reduce barriers encouraging students to achieve their dreams. We provide over 70 two-year college degrees and certificates that seamlessly transfer to any four-year Colorado institution and/or prepare students for gainful employment. CCA’s desire to work with industry partners, academic and business leaders, and build more private and public partnerships, will continue to be a priority. With the creation of our new two-year degree programs in engineering, we will prepare students for in-demand tech roles in aerospace, construction, and beyond.
As CCA transforms to meet the needs of an ever-changing population of individuals from diverse identities, we recognize that we also need to be responsive to the intricate and unfolding issues that impact our lives and our community. Our support services are implemented to serve students’ well-being and success by helping them access the resources that meet their needs such as food and housing security, inclusive spaces, accommodations to meet the varying learning needs in the classroom, parenting/adult learner services, virtual tutoring and hybrid educational models and online classes and so much more. Just as CCA has for the past 40 years, we will continue to implement innovative approaches that will support our students in their success, for another 40 years.
As our 40th anniversary year gets underway, we will celebrate our history and look forward to working alongside you on a future committed to transforming the lives of our students through producing more transfer and career-ready graduates, fueling the workforce, and building stronger communities.
Thank you for being part of CCA and our legacy of success.
Dr. Mordecai Ian Brownlee
President