2024 · National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE)
In 2024, the HACU/HSI Grow With Google Career Readiness Program Curriculum at Hostos Community College received a Career Services Excellence Award honorable mention from the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
The official NACE awards publication names me alongside the Hostos program and describes the initiative as a career-readiness and digital-skills program that used resources from Google and NACE to strengthen student preparation for the workforce.
Building a scalable career-readiness program
As program manager, I helped expand and operationalize the initiative at Hostos: developing and adapting curriculum, building tracking and outreach systems, supporting faculty and student engagement, and using program data to identify where participation and completion could be improved.
The work combined curriculum development with program operations. It required turning a broad set of digital and professional-skills resources into something students could actually navigate, complete, and apply—while also making it easier for staff and faculty to integrate the program into advising, workshops, and other student-support activities.
NACE’s recognition is especially meaningful because it reflects the program as a whole: not just a single workshop or resource, but a structured model for helping students build career-readiness competencies and digital skills at scale.
Recognition from the field
In its 2024 awards publication, NACE listed the Hostos program as the Small College Honorable Mention in the Career Services Excellence Award category. The publication specifically identifies Laura Elizabeth Hand with the program and highlights its impact on engagement, completion, and student preparedness.
Award exhibit. NACE’s official 2024 awards publication lists the HACU/HSI Grow With Google Career Readiness Program Curriculum at Hostos Community College as the Small College Honorable Mention for the Career Services Excellence Award and names Laura Elizabeth Hand with the program.