Rochester Community and Technical College has seen a nearly 21 percent drop in enrollment during the last seven years, a fall that has prompted officials to investigate ways of reversing the trend.

Last month, RCTC President Jeffery Boyd used his blog to call for changes at the college and invited a dozen faculty and staff to participate in an Enrollment Summit.

Developing the future generation of agricultural leaders, Riverland Community College sent its best to the National Professional Agricultural Student Organization conference last week.
More than 600 career-ready professional agricultural students, their collegiate advisors and industry representatives gathered in Loveland, Colorado, for three days of national-level competition, workshops to develop their networking skills as well as going on industry tours.

ST. PAUL — The President of Riverland Community College was appointed Friday to the state’s Commission on Judicial Selection.

In the Minnesota College Athletic Conference, men's basketball teams in the Southern Division battled from start to finish in the regular season with several teams in the hunt for post-season spots.  In the end, two teams tied for top honors with St. Cloud Technical & Community College and Riverland Community College claiming co-champion honors.  Western Technical College had a chance to extend their season until a final victory by Rochester CTC over M State-Fergus Falls provided passage for the Yellowjackets to capture the fourth seed in the post-season.  Anoka-Ramsey Community College claimed a third-place regular season spot to allow them to participate in the Region XIII tournament held on their campus, while Ridgewater College and Minnesota West CTC will look to rebuild for a run at the 2019-2020 campaign.  Coach-of-the-Year voting was as close as the Divisional race and was decided by one vote; Derek Hahn of Riverland Community College claimed COY in the Southern Division for 2018-19. 

The 14-player MCAC Southern All-Division selections- as nominated by and voted on by Conference coaches - has been named and is available at this link.

Riverland Community College put together one of the strongest regular-season resume's of any tournament team, rolling to a 22-5 overall record and 10-4 Conference mark. 

Austin’s arts community continues to grow, as does the city’s diversity – which is the focus of a photography exhibit at Riverland Community College.

Riverland Community College Theatre has delayed its third production by one day, opening this Thursday instead of Wednesday because of recent winter storms. This weekend, however, escape your cabin fever as the department’s hope filled season of legends continues with the mastermind character of Sherlock Holmes in “Ken Ludwig’s The Game’s Afoot.”

Danger and hilarity are non-stop in this murderously funny whodunit set during the Christmas holidays in 1936. Broadway star William Gillette, admired the world over for his leading role as Sherlock Holmes, has invited his fellow cast members to his Connecticut castle for a weekend of revelry. But when one of the guests is stabbed to death, the festivities in this isolated house of tricks quickly turn dangerous. It is then up to Gillette himself, as he assumes the persona of his beloved Holmes, to track down the killer before the next victim appears.

Just in time for the holidays, the second production of Riverland Community College Theatre’s hope filled season of legends continues Dec. 5-8 with the classic family holiday show, Miracle on 34^th Street, the Play.

Minnesota State, the system of 30 state colleges and seven state universities, recently released the results of a study that estimates the contribution of Riverland Community College to the local economy is $121.4 million in Fiscal Year 2017 and supports and sustains 1,101 jobs with $7.1 million in state and local revenue each year.

A Minnesota Education Fair for all high school students and their parents will be held at the Riverland Community College Austin Campus on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018 from 12:30 - 2 p.m.

Students and community members can spend St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland in 2019. Riverland Community College's Music and Theatre Departments announce a new and exciting hands-on learning opportunity: Irish Excursion. The Irish Excursion is a travel-study opportunity focused on music, art, theatre, and history through Riverland's World Cultural Studies course. This tour will allow the participants to experience the Emerald Isle while emphasizing its unique arts and culture.

Special Informational Sessions, open to anyone interested in participating will be held at Noon and 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 19 at Riverland Community College’s Austin Campus in the East Building’s Room E102. The Trip is scheduled for March 8-18, 2019 and will explore both Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Diesel technology instructor Doug Blom, left; Nuss Trucking President/CEO Bob Nuss, scholarship recipient Dakota Mancilman and Riverland Community College President Adenuga Atewologun gather for a photo as Mancilman receives a check from Nuss Trucking. Mancilman will start in Riverland’s diesel technology program in the fall. 

On Wednesday, The Hormel Foundation officially kicked off a program to offer all qualifying seniors from Austin public and private schools full scholarships to Riverland Community College.

President Atewologun wins prestigious Shirley B. Gordon Award;
Suzette Overby and Heidi Schara win International advisor awards

The laugh-out-loud Best Musical Tony Award-winner, Avenue Q tells the timeless story of a recent college grad named Princeton who moves into a shabby New York apartment all the way out on Avenue Q. Together, Princeton and his new-found friends struggle to find jobs, dates, and their ever-elusive purpose in life.

Riverland Community College, with campuses in Albert Lea, Austin, and Owatonna, used an Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC) to make major energy upgrades throughout its facilities. It was the first college to use the state’s Guaranteed Energy Savings Program (GESP) to oversee its project, which focused on improving lighting, lighting controls, energy management controls, building envelope, chiller controls, and water conservation measures such as faucet aerator retrofits. The project was completed in fall 2017 and is expected to reduce energy use
by 27% and yield cost savings of $136,632 per year. The project is being paid for over 15 years via energy, operation and maintenance savings, which are guaranteed by Honeywell, the energy services company.