NORTHWEST-SHOALS COMMUNITY COLLEGE: NW-SCC President Dr. Glenda Colagross receives Luthman Meritorious Service Award

By Press release submission

Dec 21, 2020

Northwest-Shoals Community College issued the following announcement on Dec. 16.

Northwest-Shoals Community College (NW-SCC) President Dr. Glenda Colagross was recently awarded the 2020 Carol A. Luthman Meritorious Service Award by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), which is the accreditation agency for institutions of higher education.

The annual award was presented to five individuals across the Southeastern United States as part of the virtual SACSCOC Annual Meeting on Dec. 7, 2020. It honors outstanding service to the peer review accreditation process, including volunteerism, leadership and commitment to the principles of accreditation.

Colagross has served on 16 SACSCOC peer review teams and 7 as the chairperson of the peer review committee. She has been a member of the SACSCOC Board of Trustees for the past six years and has served as the chairperson of numerous Fifth-Year Interim Report committees during the Board of Trustee meetings.

After being awarded the Meritorious Service Award, Colagross expressed her appreciation for this honor. “I’m very honored and appreciative of this award,” said Colagross. “Having had the opportunity to serve as a peer reviewer, committee member, chair, and on the Board of Trustees, I have had the opportunity to experience the entire accreditation process from beginning to end. I believe my college has benefitted from the knowledge that I have gained. I am incredibly humbled by this award, and I believe my colleagues in the Alabama Community College System share with me in this honor.”

Luthman Service Award winners have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to the accreditation processes in various volunteer capacities, and they are respected by their peers for their integrity and the meritorious quality of their service over a sustained period of time.

SACSCOC is the nation’s largest accrediting body that accredits approximately 800 institutions. SACSCOC is the recognized regional accrediting body in the 11 U.S. Southern states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia) and in Latin America for those institutions of higher education that award associate, baccalaureate, master's or doctoral degrees.