“By focusing on students,
the plan positions the College as a foundational player in the community, a
driving factor in the state economy and a leader in the evolving educational
landscape.”
Focusing
on students is how SLCC fulfills its vision, which is to be “a model for
inclusive and transformative education, strengthening the communities we serve
through the success of our students.” The college’s Strategic Plan provides a clear
framework to guide our efforts in encouraging student success.
One of the most
important lessons the college has learned since adopting its Strategic Plan is
that we must intentionally and continually connect our specific areas of
responsibility in holistic, integrated and collaborative ways. This is vital
because the SLCC student journey is complex and non-linear. As students engage
with SLCC they ‘live’ within a complicated matrix of compliance, choices and
decisions. They must make sense of our marketing and websites, our admissions
processes, our financial aid and scholarship offerings, our orientation and
advising, and our academic course, program and transfer requirements. Students
do this repeatedly throughout their college career.
It is important to keep
in mind that, prior to 2014, we did not have the resources to understand collectively
who our students actually are — their diversity, the communities they
represent, their challenges as first-generation college students, and their
courage, despite personal obstacles, to believe that college education or training
is a sure path to improved lives and strengthened families and communities.
We cannot take this for
granted as an institution dedicated to access and completion.
Living our vision means we
must learn from each other as we share our observations and ideas on how we can
simplify and improve the quality of the SLCC student journey. How we bring our
best thinking and analysis to our work on strategic initiatives, Collaborative
Work Teams, teaching, analysis and governance makes all the difference in how
we move forward.