Long-term goals meant to guide college’s growth and success
Schenectady County Community College’s new five-year strategic plan was unveiled during the college’s Board of Trustees meeting Monday, Aug. 9. It is the first five-year plan to be developed for the college.
The plan holds the theme Gateway to Excellence and will become effective Sept. 1. There were four major goals identified, which where: strengthen excellence in teaching and learning, enrich the student experience, enhance the campus physical environment and respond positively and responsibly to fiscal challenges. There were also 17 core values and 41 key objectives.
`The primary purpose for the strategic plan is to guide the college’s actions as we go forward and to ensure that we keep our focus on the four major goals, as well as major plan initiatives,` said SCCC President Quintin Bullock. `Achieving each of these goals will help document the college’s growth and success.`
The college typically had one- and two-year plans, but Bullock made it a key initiative for the college to develop a five-year plan, said Stan Strauss, chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee and associate dean for planning, marketing and public relations at the college. The recent plan for the college ended in 2008.
`We felt in today’s environment we really needed to look further out than a single year in developing new directions for the college,` said Strauss. `This plan can be updated and modified as we move through this five-year period. It goes a long way to helping our facility and staff meet the needs of the future, particularly with the economic times we are in and our regional community.`
Bullock said the plan allows the college to build upon what it’s currently doing and reach the next level of success.
`Long term, I think it will help the college reinvent itself and to keep its programs and services aligned with the needs of the community,` said Bullock. `It is important for the college to connect with business and industry to ensure that our programs are supportive of their needs in regards to future staffing. It allows the graduates to stay in the area.`
After Bullock established the Strategic Planning Committee, consisting of faculty, staff and two students, the first goal was to develop a new mission statement and the college’s first vision statement. Both developed statements helped direct the college with their plan, said Strauss.
Nine months were then spent developing the plan, which included eight focus group sessions after the draft plan was created, said Strauss. This allowed the college community and people outside of the college to make comments and suggestions.
`Through those eight focus groups we received quite a bit of feedback on the plan as we were developing it,` said Strauss. `We were very pleased from the feedback and that included feedback from students, but we received a lot of information and ideas from the entire faculty and staff base at college.`
A strategic planning summit was also held last September where members from industries and businesses within the Capital District were invited to share their ideas.
`We’re very happy with this result and we look at it in just being the first step in continuing to meet the needs of our community,` said Strauss. `This is the right time to be looking into the future.`
The next step in this process will include all the different divisions of the college creating detailed plans in support of the objectives outlined in the strategic plan.“