CTN was the only non-profit organization to receive the Edge Award from the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education which is a non-profit organization dedicated to partnering with colleges, universities, philanthropic organizations, educators, and other entities to increase institutional responsibility for improving outcomes associated with teaching, learning, retention, and completion. Through its efforts, the Institute strives to advance higher education’s larger goal of achieving equity and social justice.

The Gardner Institute focuses its work on the use of a previously non-existent set of aspirational standards for improvement of the first-year, the transfer student experience, and the gateway course experiences of students at all undergraduate levels. These first-year and transfer standards are known as Gardner Institute’s “Foundational Dimensions”® in a process called Foundations of Excellence® in the First College Year or Foundations of Excellence® – Transfer Focus.