Sugar Grove – A Waubonsee Community College administrator received national recognition at the 2024 American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) annual conference in Louisville, KY. Dr. Scott Peska, Assistant Provost of Student Services, was selected as one of three finalists for the AACC's Awards of Excellence, Rising Star – Executive Award.
AACC's Awards of Excellence program recognizes outstanding leaders among its member colleges in several categories. The Rising Star - Executive Award honors a community college staff member who has shown exceptional leadership in their college, introduced innovative practices that have led to better student experiences, used data to demonstrate the effectiveness of these innovations, brought together stakeholders leading them toward initiatives that benefit students, and represented the college in the communities it serves.
"Being recognized for this work is humbling," said Dr. Peska. "I feel grateful to have been selected as a finalist among colleagues who have accomplished so much in their careers."
Since joining Waubonsee in 2012, Dr. Peska has been directly involved in creating and improving the total student experience as the Dean for Students, the Assistant Vice President of Student Services and Alumni Relations, and the Assistant Provost of Student Services.
"Dr. Peska provides vision and leadership for critical student service areas at the college, including financial aid, admissions, registration, disability services, and athletics," said Dr. Brian Knetl, President of Waubonsee Community College. "He understands the transformational work of community colleges and the critical role they play within a community."
Dr. Peska believes he is fortunate. As a community college graduate from a small, rural community in northwest Illinois, Dr. Peska can attest firsthand the generational impact education can have on families. The son of a working class family, he worked hard to pursue his education and at one point held four jobs to pay his rent and tuition at Highland Community College. . During this time, an English community college professor encouraged Dr. Peska to take a Phi Theta Kappa leadership course and another faculty member invited him to write for the college's student newspaper, further developing his interest in journalism and communications.
"I got involved because of faculty encouragement,” said Dr. Peska. “I had no idea these were intentional efforts put on by the college to engage students and help them succeed.”
Dr. Peska earned a bachelor’s and master's degree in Communication and Media Studies from Illinois State University (ISU) and accepted an assistantship with Resident Life. During his time at ISU, he developed an interest in working within student affairs. Dr. Peska had a personal experience with a student who had suicidal ideation and required additional support, which inspired him to go into this field and to pursue a doctorate in higher education administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“I’ve always been a person who wants to help,” said Dr. Peska. “That’s been my background from Boy Scouts through K-12 and I love that part of community and service.”
At Waubonsee, Dr. Peska shapes the student experience based on his fundamental understanding of the many challenges students face. Under his leadership, Dr. Peska assembled the Cares Program initiative to address food insecurity across Waubonsee's four campus locations, a project close to his heart. The Cares Program partners with local food pantries to address food insecurity through sack lunches, a mobile food pantry schedule, and the Empty Bowls project to raise funds to support food insecurity efforts.
Dr. Peska is passionate about providing leadership skills for Waubonsee students and served as the college’s project sponsor to establish a highly sought-after, no-cost, eight-week student leadership experience, Engaging Leaders, to serve 30-35 students per semester. In addition, Dr. Peska secured a National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS) grant to provide this program on campus at no cost. Over 800 students have since joined the leadership society.
Dr. Peska has also assisted in redesigning the first-year seminar course, Great Beginnings, and led the placement Implementation and Placement steering committees to get multiple campus constituencies together to implement various measures. He has led student onboarding efforts to shift the inequities between the part-time and full-time student experience. In 2019, Dr. Peska helped establish an Esports program within Athletics, the second or third community college program in Illinois and developed a three-phase plan to create an Esports Arena and practice facility.
In addition to receiving national recognition from AACC, Dr. Peska has been named one of 40 leaders selected for the 2024-2025 Aspen Rising President's Fellowship. Applying lessons from over a dozen years of researching exceptional community colleges, the Aspen fellowship aims to select and prepare the next generation of presidents who can lead institutions to higher and more equitable levels of student success.
AACC is one of the primary organizations that advocate for the nation's community colleges. AACC Annual provides access to the nation’s community college leaders who collectively serve more than 40 percent of the nation’s undergraduates. The association hosts one of the largest convenings of community college professionals and offers various awards to individuals who have excelled in their fields and contributed to their communities. The Waubonsee community congratulates this year's winners and applauds their outstanding efforts in making a difference in our community and beyond.
