CHICAGO — As reported by Forbes Magazine this week, Kennedy-King College is considered one of the top 10 community colleges in the country, and serves the largest predominantly Black student body on the list compiled by Academic Influence. Academic Influence used new artificial intelligence techniques to develop its first-ever ranking system naming the best community colleges in the nation.

“Our colleges welcome and support all of our students in reaching their goals,” said Juan Salgado, Chancellor of City Colleges of Chicago. “A quality, affordable community college education puts our students on the path to upward mobility and contributes to a more inclusive economy. Kennedy-King College embodies black excellence and success.”

“As President, I am humbled by this honor and for the world to learn more about the dynamic, innovative, and supportive faculty and staff that I work beside every day,” said Kennedy-King College President Gregory Thomas​, Ph.D. Our work goes beyond the classroom and extends to the community that we serve, supporting them on their way to success.”

The Academic Influence list ranked two-year colleges that award associate degrees along with a variety of shorter-term certificates. The rankings were derived from an initial list of 839 community colleges in the US that met the following three conditions:

  • They were fully accredited
  • They enrolled at least 1,000 students
  • They primarily provided two-year, associate degree programs (along with certificate credentials in most cases).

Here is the national list:

  1. Anne Arundel Community College (Maryland)
  2. Roxbury Community College (Massachusetts)
  3. Eastern Maine Community College
  4. Springfield Technical Community College (Massachusetts)
  5. College of Marin (California)
  6. Los Angeles City College
  7. Lamar Institute of Technology (Texas)
  8. Kennedy-King College (Illinois)
  9. West Kentucky Community and Technical College
  10. Lamar State College – Port Arthur (Texas)

Two City Colleges, Kennedy-King College and Olive-Harvey College, were included among the top five Illinois community colleges on the list:

  1. Kennedy-King College
  2. Richland Community College
  3. Lewis and Clark Community College
  4. Olive-Harvey College
  5. Black Hawk College

“City Colleges of Chicago has long been a leader in academic excellence, allowing our students to empower themselves through education,” said Olive-Harvey College President Kimberly Hollingsworth. “Olive-Harvey offers classes in transportation, logistics, and distribution, automotive training, as well as forklifting, aviation, diesel technology, supply chain management, cannabis business classes, and so much more to ensure our students are prepared to succeed in high-demand fields and lead the post-COVID recovery.”

To read the full article in Forbes, click here.