For the second year in a row, Hudson County Community College (HCCC) has earned the Insight Into Academia Magazine’s “Excellence in Mental Health and Well-Being” Award. The national honor highlights institutions that demonstrate outstanding commitment to fostering a culture of care for students, faculty, and staff through innovative programs and initiatives.
The College provides a roster of holistic, accessible, and equity-centered mental health and wellness services. These include: The HCCC Mental Health Counseling and Wellness Center, that utilizes a comprehensive, stigma-free approach for managing stress, anxiety, and/or depression, and improving wellness. The Center offers free, confidential in-person and virtual counseling sessions, 24/7 crisis hotlines, and teletherapy through partnerships such as Uwill. TalkCampus, which features global, peer-to-peer support in a safe, anonymous environment. Mental Health First Aid training, that educated 415 staff members and 118 students in how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental illness and substance use disorders.Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) training, that provided instruction about crisis warning signs and intervention for 168 staff members and 237 students. Social work interns, who expand capacity for wellness mindfulness and care. Wraparound supports provided through Hudson Helps Resource Center that include food pantries, housing assistance, a Career Closet, transportation, emergency funding, and Chromebooks. Employee resource groups, flexible work schedules, and professional development for faculty and staff. “We are steadfast in ensuring innovative, collaborative, and culturally responsive practices are available to everyone at the College,” said HCCC Interim President Dr. Lisa Dougherty. “This includes strengthening partnerships, enhancing early intervention and outreach, and embedding mental health and wellness supports. We are grateful to the staff who work to develop and provide sustainable, coordinated care models.”
“We know that institutions are not always recognized for their dedication to and prioritizing mental health and well-being services and support for their students and employees,” said Lenore Pearlstein, owner and publisher of Insight Into Academia. “We are proud to honor the colleges and universities who are standouts as the need for these resources continues to grow substantially.”The College will be featured in the September 2026 issue of Insight Into Academia magazine. For more information about the 2026 Excellence in Mental Health and Well-Being Award, visit insightintoacademia.com. # # #
About Hudson County Community College
Hudson County Community College serves more than 20,000 credit and non-credit students annually. The College offers more than 90 degree and certificate programs, including award-winning English as a Second Language; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM); Culinary Arts/Hospitality Management; Nursing and Health Professions; and Humanities and Social Sciences. The HCCC Culinary Arts/Hospitality Management program was ranked number six in the U.S. by Best Choice Schools. The College’s School of Continuing Education and Workforce Development offers cutting-edge, industry-recognized, stackable credentials in alignment with high-priority workforce needs.
HCCC has partnerships with major four-year colleges and universities in the greater New Jersey-New York area and beyond, accommodating seamless transfer of credits for further undergraduate and graduate education.
The College has received dozens of national awards throughout the years. HCCC was a finalist in seven categories of the 2026 American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) “Awards of Excellence” and earned 2026 Advancing Institutional Equity and Belonging, Faculty Innovation, and Faculty of the Year Awards, in addition to Dale P. Parnell Faculty Recognition. HCCC also earned AACC 2024 “Awards of Excellence” including CEO of the Year, Faculty of the Year, and Student Success Awards. In 2023, HCCC received the Outstanding Member-Institution Award from the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU).
For the sixth consecutive year, HCCC was selected as one of only a few community colleges in the United States to be named a “2026 Most Promising Place to Work in Community Colleges” by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD). HCCC was one of 22 community colleges in the nation, and the only college in New Jersey, to be recognized by ModernThink LLC and the “Chronicle of Higher Education” as a 2025, 2024, 2023 and 2022 “Great College to Work For®” and named to the 2024 and 2023 “Great Colleges Honor Roll of Distinction.”
HCCC is one of two colleges in the United States to be named a Top Ten Finalist in all three program categories for the nationally recognized 2023 Bellwether Awards, and received the 2023 Bellwether Award for the College’s cutting-edge “Hudson Scholars” program, which also won the 2024 Bellwether Legacy Award. HCCC further earned the 2026 Bellwether “Best in Showcase Award.”
The College’s exemplary work in advancing student success has been recognized with “Leader College of Distinction” designation by Achieving the Dream, the national nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing community colleges as catalysts for equity and mobility in their communities. HCCC also earned the Campus Prevention Network Seal of Prevention in 2025, 2024 and 2023 for demonstrating leadership in digital prevention programming focused on student safety, well-being, and inclusion.The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) named the College the inaugural recipient of the 2025 ACCT national “Impact and Success Award.”
About Insight Into Academia
Insight Into Academia magazine is the leader in advancing best practices in higher education excellence. Through thought-provoking print and online articles, Insight shares expert advice, valuable resources, in-depth profiles of top programs at colleges and universities, headline news, and much more to help keep readers informed and empower them to advance initiatives at their institutions.
