Tunxis Community CollegeTunxis Community CollegeTCC_e746de7e-773c-40eb-aaa4-fef98f501f43Tunxis Community College will be a vibrant educational and cultural center responsive to current as well as emerging student and community needs. Strategic Vision Statement: Tunxis will become a model of quality teaching, student-centered learning, and institutional effectiveness in implementing outcomes/ability-based education and evidence-based decision making. Each of the strategic initiatives outlined below is transformational involving a major cultural change designed to significantly enhance student success and the organizational strength of the College. Building on a deserved reputation for excellence, dedicated and creative faculty and staff, visionary leadership, and the significant progress already made, Tunxis is well placed to fully realize its potential as a preeminent educational and cultural center._02d436b9-8eed-486d-a1eb-0b8181e0cf62Tunxis Community College offers its students a quality, yet affordable, education in an accessible and supportive environment, fostering the skills necessary to succeed in an increasingly complex world. Strategic Mission: Focus all decisions, policies, and initiatives on meeting the educational/ co-educational needs of Tunxis Community College students. Moreover, make the goals and purposes of our educational programs and support services explicit and public._3ed5c452-b559-43c5-bd1a-47b58d2c2496INTEGRITYWe value and demonstrate openness and honesty, resolving differences with civility and without reprisals. We speak and act truthfully, without hidden agendas. We admit our mistakes, say when we do not know, and honor our commitments. We avoid silence when it may mislead; we seek root causes and solve problems.RESPONSIBILITY We value institutional and individual accountability, defined as doing what needs to be done in a timely and competent manner. By acceptance of personal responsibility for our own actions and decisions, we help to create a college at which we are proud to work.RESPECTWe treat others fairly and with dignity. We value and honor each other in our diversity.EXCELLENCEWe value continuous improvement and growth in every area of college life. We value collaboration, cooperation, teamwork, innovation, and creative problem solving in our continuous improvement efforts. We value the courage to take risks and provide leadership.OPEN COMMUNICATIONWe share information, ideas, and feelings—listening carefully, speaking forthrightly, respecting diverse views, participating productively in dialogue and conversations. We welcome paradox and constructive conflict as we move toward consensus.HUMOR AND WELL-BEINGWe value laughter, play, love, kindness, celebration, and joy in our learning and work—taking our learning and work seriously and ourselves lightly.Student SuccessIncrease Student Success_8886d085-b9b6-438b-962d-70ed4ceb95191Strategic Rationale: Student success is central to all we do and thus it is the primary strategic objective. Assuch, it intersects and subsumes several other strategic objectives such as theimplementation of outcomes/ability-based education and improving internal cooperation.Student success is defined by student mastery of the General Education Abilities(communication, critical thinking, information literacy, technological literacy, worldcultures and perspectives, aesthetic engagement and creative expression, quantitativereasoning, values, ethics and citizenship, and scientific method), and continuousimprovement in Student Success Outcomes (employment preparation and placement,transfer preparation, developmental education effectiveness, and student persistence,goal attainment, graduation, and satisfaction).Ability-Based EducationCONTINUE TO IMPLEMENT ABILITY BASED EDUCATION_66b3d486-0526-459c-9a1f-b2a850e061af1.a(See Goal 2)Internal CooperationIMPROVE INTERNAL COOPERATION_9ef16c80-388f-4314-82e7-511e0352bbf21.b(See Goal 3)Teaching and LearningCOMMIT TO IMPROVING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING_4746e982-7d8d-410f-812b-da1168c952691.cDesign and implement a comprehensive First-Year Program with input from all areasof the college.Systematically integrate Center for Teaching in our work.Encourage life-long learning.Continuously improve the success of students in developmental courses.Student SupportSTRENGTHEN COMMITMENT TO STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES_1e1944c3-e74a-4a10-8de7-a2f02e59c4ef1.dStrengthen the commitment to the Student Support Services with theunderstanding that they serve a critical role in helping students meet theiracademic and personal development goals, both in and out of the classroom.Develop more collaborative efforts between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs toenhance student success.Develop and adopt to the extent possible a holistic approach to meet student needs.Support and strengthen all services that provide support to students.Improve outreach to service area high schools.Expand and enhance the Master Advising Program.Enhance the capacity and capability of the Academic Support Center.Continue and enhance the year-round programming reflective of student needsoutside the classroom.Provide leadership opportunities for students.Reestablish a commitment to co-curricular activities which reflect and enhance thecurriculum. Encourage and reward student–centered involvement in the co-curricularand community activities.Develop programs for special students including the at-risk and academically giftedstudents.Build a student assistance program and a comprehensive referral system to localsupport agencies.Within all the student support services, develop better data collection systems anddetermine how we will evaluate the effectiveness of our services in assistingstudents.Strengthen and expand articulation agreements.Promote/expand existing and consider new programs that prepare students for highgrowth occupations.Expand Computer Resource Services to meet growing student demand.Provide more extensive, year-round advising and mentoring services.DiversityPROMOTE DIVERSITY_603a4b59-c03a-46dd-930f-d058f366d2f71.eDevelop relationships with underrepresented groups and the communityorganizations that serve them.Recruit diverse faculty and staff who will provide a variety of perspectives for allstudents and strengthen our understanding of the specific challenges faced by manymembers of our minority student body.Institutional AssessmentImplement Comprehensive Institutional Assessment_3c42b41f-0cdd-4d5b-abf4-330f41936d532OUTCOMES/ABILITY-BASED EDUCATION_42f35e64-a6e9-4e6b-9039-74faa0a2b7a42.aSupport and promote the work of the Ability Assessment Team and the Ability Groups.Include broad representation in the ability groups with staff fromadministrative/student services, fulltime and adjunct faculty, deans, and students.Establish and maintain a continuous and structured schedule of meetings andactivities to advance the work of the Ability Groups. Incorporate the AbilityAssessment Team into the college’s governance structure. Make principles andoutcomes explicit and public.Fully implement the General Education Ability Assessment System.Finish embedding the abilities in courses. Ensure that graduates in every programare assessed in every ability through mastery level two. Create appropriatedepartmental and institutional assessment tools.Continue to solicit student opinion and communicate comprehensively tostudents.Define the role of developmental courses in the work of outcomes/abilitybasedassessment.Establish additional ability groups for developmental education. Mount a concertedeffort to increase resources for developmental education.Further develop technology resources for teaching and learning.Define institutional technology outcomes, increase faculty technology competencylevels, and further integrate technology into the teaching/learning process.Enhance student-centered, ability-based professional development forfaculty and staff.Focus professional development activities on improving and expanding the abilityassessment in all areas of the college. Compensate adjuncts for professionaldevelopment.EVIDENCE-BASED DECISION MAKINGCommit to the use of research data to implement evidence-based decision making in all spheres of the College’s activities._ce5b3a6a-fab6-400f-9ae0-11b34e4e9e192.bExpand assessment of performance on abilities and utilize results to formulate actionplans to address identified weaknesses and exploit identified strengths, as well as toinform strategic and operational planning.Ensure that every department and organizational unit undertakes regular evaluationof its performance.Develop mechanisms to systematically examine the viability of programs,departments and offices in the context of available resources.Follow-up to greater extent with former students when feasible.Continue to develop a more comprehensive operational planning process byspecifically focusing on activities that advance the Strategic Initiatives and byconnecting the operational plans to resource allocation.Initiate and advance continuity and contingency planning to meet future needs.Ensure the college's financial health by the following steps:Linking budget planning to strategic initiatives;Assessing expenditures and aligning them with strategic planning;Communicating effectively to the college community the status of the college'sfinances in clear and understandable language;Maintaining clear policies and procedures, segregation of duties and compliancewith Board and State regulations.Ensure the college is a physically, emotionally and intellectually safe and thrivingenvironment for faculty, staff and students.Maximize the use of the college's physical resources and plant by effective spaceplanning, careful monitoring of utility usage, and continued focus on green measures andcompliance with LEED.Internal CooperationImprove Internal Cooperation_93b5e676-34e5-4fc2-8fd7-d38296ed84fa3Strategic Rationale: Institutional effectiveness requires communication and collaboration across not only theacademic disciplines but also among the academic, student services, and administrativeservices divisions.In this respect the learning enterprise requires close collaboration and integration ofefforts of all divisions of the College (Academic, Student, Continuing Education, andAdministrative Divisions) to engage and empower students and integrate all aspects oftheir learning experience.Action PlanNOTE: The following are projects and efforts recommended by the InstitutionalEffectiveness Committee to accomplish this initiative. Other projects and efforts will beidentified and undertaken by the College’s work groups as part of the Strategic PlanningProcess.Charge a Task Force with responsibility to draft a set of "Values and Principles".Use an iterative process to gather input on the draft and make revisions asappropriate. Gain approval for the final draft through the college’s governanceand administrative structure. Widely disseminate and utilize the "Values andPrinciples" to improve service to students, service to internal and externalentities, and campus collaboration and communication.Hold at least one all college meeting each year. Feature examples of serviceexcellence. Respond to areas of concern that are identified in advance and at themeeting.Create and implement an employee orientation to the "Values and Principles".Provide professional development for career advancement.Increase accountability for job performance campus-wide.Encourage work groups to identify and implement initiatives that contribute tothe improvement of internal civility, cooperation and collaboration.Where appropriate, recommend new policies or revisions to existing policies.Regularly gather student input through a variety of methods, including forumsand focus groups.Community ConnectionsExpand and Strengthen Connections with the Community_599ef0f7-f7e4-4005-88f8-fa13432d0e884Strategic Rationale: Tunxis Community College is a significant asset to the region but has the potential to addeven more value to the communities it serves. To make that possible, it is necessary toexpand our current efforts to inform the public, schools, businesses, governmentalentities, and community organizations of the many strengths and areas of excellence atthe college.We should adopt a more comprehensive view of marketing and admissionsrecruitment efforts, in which a variety of promotional vehicles are utilized. As part ofthe marketing strategy, focus should also be given to developing and managing specialrelationships and partnerships, as well as product (service/program) development andresearch. These efforts require the collaboration of marketing and admissions withfaculty, as well as institutional research, academic affairs, and workforce developmentand continuing education.Rather than simply ―selling‖ our programs to potential students, we should continue toincrease the visibility of the College in the whole community and address all relevantpublics. Marketing should further increase its focus on increasing resources, in additionto its focus on reputation and enrollment goals.Excellence and StrengthsPromote Strengths and Areas of Excellence_12d8a973-0c8b-4916-946b-d797c04bbb344.aLIBERAL ARTS & SCIENCES: This area has many initiatives which, with a higher profile, could create the perception ofTunxis as a college of "first resort" for students and others--parents, teachers, andguidance counselors among them--who help students to plan for higher education. Theassociate's degree programs in Liberal Arts and General Studies are the heart of theCollege's transfer efforts; courses in Liberal Arts are also required in all occupationalprograms. Given the diversity of offerings, both curricular and extracurricular, Liberal Arts& Sciences is well suited to generate immediate and continuing visibility.Especially given the changing demographic of our student body toward younger and fulltimestudents, we are likely to be serving a higher proportion of students who intend totransfer and for them Liberal Arts and Sciences may be more relevant.Specific steps or aspects of this emphasis on Liberal Arts and Sciences include:Create a vibrant cultural center responsive to community needs through thelibrary, workshops, field trips, concerts, symposiums, guest speakers, and visitingartists.Inform external constituencies about the innovative extracurricular initiatives thatoccur regularly on campus.Present the community college as a cost effective alternative for college-levelstudents who wish to pursue a high-quality LA&S education.Develop a Liberal Arts Honors Program and highlight the Honors Program:Computer Science/Mathematics Associate in Science degree.ALLIED HEALTH: Demonstrate the programs' effectiveness for students and cost effectiveness.Make explicit the significance of the College’s contribution to these programs.Underserved Populations and MarketsEMPLOY STRATEGIES TO DEVELOP NEW OPPORTUNITIES AND INCREASE PENETRATION OF UNDERSERVED POPULATIONS AND MARKETS_24511dea-5a75-4ae5-a7e6-ac683a29d7cc4.bMaintain ongoing contact with the community and area businesses to identify andpursue opportunities to expand non-credit offerings.Utilize advertising and other strategies to increase the enrollment of recent highschool graduates in the northern part of the service area, adults age 25-40, andother markets identified through research.Increase outreach to area high schools, middle schools, and the communities weserve.Hold more events to bring people on campus.Promote technical/occupational credit programs that have unused capacity andprepare students for jobs that are or will become available.Transfer OpportunitiesExpand and promote transfer opportunities for students._44c49109-20aa-413b-8c87-ae3c9d2397024.cFocus a significant amount of the college’s public relations efforts on universitytransfer.Strengthen and expand articulation agreements with four year institutions.2009-09-012012-08-312010-02-08http://tunxis.commnet.edu/college/offices/institutional-effectiveness/strategic-planning/publications/Strategic-Plan-2009-2012.pdfArthurColman (www.drybridge.com)colman@drybridge.com