A strategic plan is like a map. The process of developing the map is the process of considering all the directions the College could go, but in the end, the map conveys our decision of where we will go. In September 2016, Pikes Peak Community College began the process of developing the five-year strategic plan that will guide us forward over the next five years. This is our Destination 2022.
Planning
"Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now."
-Alan Lakein
Mapping Foundation: Keep What’s Working
We began the process with a look at the foundational strategic statements, such as the statutory mission set forth by the Colorado Revised Statutes (CRS), the Colorado Community College System (CCCS) Strategic Plan, and PPCC’s vision statement and core values..
As a result of the good work done under the previous strategic plan, the employee climate survey data showed the PPCC employees already had a very high level of awareness of and buy-in for the PPCC vision which is: “Students succeed at PPCC.” The data also showed a strong commitment to the statement of values which is described as “a community built on learning, mutual respect, and diversity,” and as manifest in these ways:
- Teaching and Learning: Our primary commitment is to student learning, success, and achievement, while promoting open and universal access to an affordable education and affirming the importance of our facilities and learning environments.
- Mutual Respect and Accountability: Because people are our greatest resource, we foster a culture rooted in civility, mutual trust, and support, and hold ourselves accountable for our decisions and actions.
- Community and Diversity: We engage and support our community while embracing diversity, as it enriches lives and educational experiences.
Rather than undo things that were clearly well-known and well-received, we decided to build on the vision and the core values.
The Process Priorities
With the vision and values in place as our parameters, we set about to design a planning process that would embody the following priorities:
- To be as inclusive and transparent as possible, while also being efficient.
- To look further outward into the community needs, market trends, and future educational and demographic trends than PPCC had been able to do in the past
- To make the plan actionable by focusing on what PPCC should do differently rather than trying to validate all of the things that are already going well. For example, while we considered PPCC strengths, we moved on to what was next; we didn’t want any plan goals or tasks to read “continue doing…”
- To produce a focused plan that will provide measurement of progress toward stated goals
Goals & Tactics:
Goal 1: Develop a Mission-Minded Culture
Tactics:
- Develop future and existing leaders
- Evaluate and incorporate best practices used by other institutions
- Develop internal communication that keeps stakeholders informed, inspired and provides a vehicle for feedback
- Establish an innovation incubator, where members of the college, the business community and students will utilize data and metrics to generate ideas and solutions
Goal 2: Assure that students set and achieve their academic and career goals
Tactics:
- Identify each student's goals and develop an academic plan
- Improve student support to maximize retention, completion and transfer
- Ensure excellence in teaching and learning
- Use assessment results to improve teaching, learning, and student support services
Goal 3: Deliberately drive enrollment to ensure a strong future for PPCC
Tactics:
- Streamline admission and enrollment process to increase yield in new students from application to enrollment
- Expand where and how classes are offered to meet students' needs
- Communicate PPCC's academic excellence
- Identify target-market segments and develop segmented marketing and recruitment strategies for each
- Strategically plan and invest in campus physical and technology infrastructures to support high quality learning environments
Goal 4: Anticipate and respond to emerging workforce needs and demographic shifts
Tactics:
- Grow the capacity to develop high-demand programming
- Monitor and use data about regional demographic trends (e.g. housing shifts, aging trends, etc.)
- Strengthen and build partnerships with business and industry
- Explore credentialing, competency-based initiatives or other strategies to align student needs with industry standards
- Evaluate and improve our degree portfolio
Goal 5: Better serve a diverse current and prospective student population
Tactics:
- Hire and retain a diverse workforce that represents our community
- Increase the cultural competency of faculty, staff and students
- Identify ways to improve recruitment, enrollment, retention and completion of underrepresented students
Contact us.
If you have general comments you can contact the committee below.