Laredo Community College Strategic Plan: 2015-2018 Student Success and Institutional Excellence Prepared by the Office of Communications and Institutional Effectiveness Adopted by the LCC Board of Trustees September 3, 2015
Table of Contents History and Background... 2 Strategic Planning Process... 3 Workshop Overview... 3 Finalizing the Plan... 4 Reporting... 4 Laredo Community College Strategic Plan: 2015-2018... 5 Mission... 5 Vision... 5 Core Values... 5 Institutional Goals and... 6 Acknowledgements... 9 1 P a g e
Strategic Plan: 2015-2018 History and Background Laredo Community College (LCC) is Laredo s oldest and largest institution of higher education, established in 1947 on the site of historic Fort McIntosh to prepare returning World War II soldiers for America s new workforce. Today, LCC is a two-campus district serving the diverse needs of a growing community. The two campuses serve more than 16,000 students each year through a variety of affordable academic programs, career-technical programs, non-credit continuing education courses, specialized training, and adult education courses. Both campuses serve a three-county area composed of Webb, Jim Hogg, and Zapata counties. As the only 2-year public institution within a 150-mile radius of Laredo, LCC is a learnercentered institution that transforms students lives through educational programs and services that fulfill the dynamic needs of its local, regional, and global community. The College offers more than 120 certificate and degree programs, from one-semester certificates leading to immediate employment to two-year associate s degrees. Students from LCC are well-prepared to transfer to a four-year institution to continue their education and fulfill their educational, personal, and career goals. The College continually improves its educational programs, administrative support services, student support services, and community/public services to meet the needs of its predominantly Hispanic students, many of whom are academically and economically disadvantaged. Laredo Community College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate degrees and is approved or accredited by a number of national and state agencies to award degrees and certificates. 2 P a g e
Strategic Planning Process The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, LCC s accrediting agency, requires the college district to periodically review and update its mission and goals. The college accomplishes this through the development of its Strategic Plan. LCC holds strategic planning sessions every 3-5 years to assess institutional priorities in the form of institutional goals and objectives. At this time, the college also addresses the current mission, vision, and philosophy statements to ensure that they and the institutional priorities are in alignment. The Board of Trustees adopted the Strategic Plan: 2012-2015 in September 2012 with a focus on student success. The plan served as the basis for the new strategic plan, which was reviewed and updated by the Strategic Planning Taskforce with a focus on student success and institutional excellence. The taskforce consisted of the various teams of the college s Campus Assembly: Student and Community Outreach; Student Learning and Engagement; Student Retention and Success; Communications, Teamwork, and Morale; Institutional Effectiveness; Resource and Finance; and Technology. The teams considered data from the college s most recent Student Success Report Card, Employee Climate Survey, and Community College Survey of Student Engagement. The Strategic Planning Taskforce convened in September 2014 to begin the initial assessment of LCC s strategic plan. The taskforce spent the fall and spring semester conducting a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, a content analysis, and a gap analysis in order to assess each goal and objective, recommend revisions, plan necessary resources, and assign accountability. The 78 participants included personnel from all employee groups, including faculty, classified staff, and administrative/professional/technical staff. A list of all participants can be found in the Acknowledgements section. Workshop Overview The LCC Strategic Plan: 2015-2018 culminated in an off-campus workshop May 7-8, 2015, where the Strategic Planning Taskforce discussed and proposed revisions to the following: Mission Statement Vision Statement Philosophy/Core Values Institutional Goals and On Day 1, the taskforce was guided through a series of exercises to address the development and/or revision of the institution s goals and objectives. Each team included students, who provided valuable feedback throughout the process. Once the teams presented the revised institutional goals and correlating objectives, those assembled then ranked the goals in order of 3 P a g e
importance. The new Strategic Plan: 2015-2018 lists the goals in rank order as determined by the group. Day 2 began with a community breakfast to garner feedback from community and business leaders. Participants from the following sectors were invited: economic development, banking and finance, education, employment, government, law enforcement, logistics and manufacturing, and technology. Following the breakfast, the taskforce met again to revisit the college s mission, vision, and philosophy for potential revisions. After another series of guided exercises, feedback was collected from all the teams. The taskforce then voted to have the Campus Assembly s Institutional Effectiveness Team review the feedback and make appropriate revisions. To develop the revised mission, vision and philosophy, the Institutional Effectiveness Team gathered all data collected during the strategic planning workshop. Using qualitative data analysis techniques, the responses from the various Campus Assembly teams were coded to identify major themes. The major themes were incorporated into the revised statements, and the philosophy statement was revised with a list of core values. Finalizing the Plan The Institutional Effectiveness Team compiled all of the feedback from the strategic planning workshop into the Strategic Plan: 2015-2018, which was presented to the President s Management Team for approval. The strategic plan was then presented to the college body at the 2015 Fall Convocation on August 17, 2015, and the plan was shared with the college district s Board of Trustees for adoption at the September 3, 2015 board meeting. Reporting The institutional goals and objectives will be uploaded into the college s institutional effectiveness program, WEAVEOnline, so that all units can connect unit outcomes to them. At the beginning of each improvement cycle, the Institutional Effectiveness Office will generate a report to ensure that all institutional goals and objectives have correlating unit outcomes, and that all unit outcomes are linked to one or more goals/objectives. At the end of each improvement cycle, the Institutional Effectiveness Office will generate an annual report that indicates the achievement of unit outcomes by institutional goal and objective for assessment purposes. This information will be utilized to make improvements or adjustments as needed to the strategic plan based on data collection, results, and findings. The strategic plan will be formally assessed and reported on annually and at the end of its intended lifespan in 2018. 4 P a g e
Laredo Community College Strategic Plan: 2015-2018 Student Success and Institutional Excellence The Laredo Community College Strategic Plan: 2015-2018 was developed with two driving themes: Student Success and Institutional Excellence. The college s mission, vision, core values, and institutional goals and objectives address these two themes, and all unit outcomes for institutional effectiveness will address one or more of the goals and objectives listed herein. Mission Laredo Community College is a learner-centered institution that transforms students lives through educational programs and services that fulfill the dynamic needs of its local, regional, and global community. Vision Laredo Community College cultivates an exceptional learning, teaching, and working environment that facilitates student success and promotes institutional excellence. Core Values Laredo Community College values: Achievement of educational, professional, and personal goals. Collaboration with all stakeholders. Empowerment for our students, faculty, and staff. Excellence in every aspect of our campus community. Innovation that responds to student and community needs. Integrity as our foundation. 5 P a g e
Institutional Goals and Goal 1: Educational Programs and Student Success To prepare students for a globalized and rapidly changing society through an accessible and innovative approach to learning. Objective 1.1: To place students into appropriate academic or vocational pathways by implementing a comprehensive advising strategy. Objective 1.2: To address the individual needs of students by utilizing a variety of course design and delivery options. Goal 2: Institutional Effectiveness To assess, evaluate, and improve educational programs, administrative support services, student support services, and community services based on research, planning, and comprehensive data. Objective 2.1: To implement a data-driven decision-making process to improve educational programs, administrative support services, student support services, and community services. Goal 3: Educational Support Services To provide comprehensive support services that facilitate student growth and academic success. Objective 3.1: To implement a campaign that engages incoming students. Objective 3.2: To increase student persistence and success rates through instructional support. 6 P a g e
Goal 4: Financial Accountability and Management To provide effective and efficient administrative management of fiscal resources. Objective 4.1: To develop best practices for administration of fiscal processes. Objective 4.2: To expand existing accountability measures. Goal 5: Professional Development To provide professional development that improves institutional programs and services. Objective 5.1: To dedicate 1% of the budget for professional development activities. Goal 6: Technology To incorporate emerging technologies for instruction, student support, operational processes, and activities. Objective 6.1: To evaluate the technological infrastructure for improvement of operational processes. Goal 7: Outreach and Communication To promote college programs, services, activities, and events throughout the community and surrounding area. Objective 7.1: To increase communication and outreach strategies. 7 P a g e
Goal 8: Student and Community Engagement To provide cultural and educational experiences for students and community residents. Objective 8.1: To promote LCC s community events and activities through internal and external communication resources. Goal 9: Financial Resources To increase and optimize external funding beyond traditional sources. Objective 9.1: To develop and implement fiscal resource strategies that will increase the level of funding. Objective 9.2: To develop a comprehensive, long term, institutionwide plan to address financial needs as the college grows. Goal 10: Physical Resources To build and maintain accessible facilities, infrastructure, and grounds that functionally and aesthetically meet institutional needs. Objective 10.1: To allocate appropriate financial resources that support the maintenance of the college s facilities. Goal 11: Participatory Governance To increase stakeholder participation in campus governance. Objective 11.1: To promote communications and teamwork among all employee groups through a variety of cooperative strategies. 8 P a g e
Acknowledgements The Laredo Community College Strategic Plan: 2015-2018 was made possible through the contributions of many members of the campus family who were instrumental in providing data, guidance, data collection and analysis, and myriad other tasks necessary to complete this project. Their participation was invaluable, and a special thank you to all listed below. Strategic Planning Taskforce The members of the Strategic Planning Taskforce represented all employee groups, and they worked on the strategic plan throughout the fall and spring semester. Student & Community Outreach Team Priscilla Medina Chair Stephen Aguilar David Cabrera Carmelino Castillo Gabriel Estrada Armando Fonseca Dimitri Garcia Albert Hernandez Mary Lara Pablo David Morales Elizabeth Moore Steve Trevino Student Retention & Success Team Dr. Vince Solis Chair Amy Arguijo Mary Bausman Tony Carranza Carmelino Castillo Hilda Cavazos Dr. Jim Goetze Marissa Longoria Andrea Lopez Priscilla Medina Michelle Perez Albert Salinas Carolyn Schmies Dr. Fred Solis Alan Web Student Learning & Engagement Team Raquel Pena Chair Alicia Gonzalez Gloria Juarez Humberto Laurel Prakash Mansinghani Robert Moore Dr. Orlando Patricio Carlos Perez Manuel Ramirez Andrew Uhe Communications, Teamwork & Morale Dimitri Garcia Chair Cin Bickel Gary Brown Gabriel Carranza BG Gutierrez Maria C. Madrigal Juanita Perez Horacio Salinas Steve Trevino 9 P a g e
Resource & Finance Team Cesar Vela - Chair Faculty Senate President Cin Bickel CSO President Juanita Perez Norma Cano-Sifuentes Diana Espinoza Dr. Nora Garza Diana Aguilar Alma Hernandez Alfredo Iniguez Patricia Lopez Norma Moore Robert Ochoa Dr. Armando Perez Luciano Ramon Deirdre Reyna Dahlia Silva Dr. Fred Solis Dr. Vincent Solis Institutional Effectiveness Team David Arreazola Chair Rachel Bohmfalk Claudia N. Garcia Richard Gillard Safety Committee Rep Oscar Gomez Marissa Jimenez Marissa Longoria Dr. Dianna Miller Marco Mondragon Sara Pompa Maria Luisa Ramirez Marisela Rodriguez Esmeralda Vargas Technology Team Luciano Ramon Chair Humberto Cardenas Ricardo Iniguez Mark Johnson Tony Lopez Maribel Mitsui Ana C. Proa Jose Luis Santos Jerry Sifuentes Ricardo Tijerina Marco Mondragon Institutional Effectiveness Office David Arreazola, Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment Director Marco Mondragon, Institutional Effectiveness Technician Sara Pompa, QEP Coordinator 10 P a g e
Institutional Research and Planning Maria Luisa Ramirez, Institutional Research and Planning Director Patricio Ortiz, Research Programmer/Analyst Alejandro Hinojosa, Research Programmer/Analyst Elva Martinez, Research Associate/Coordinator LCCTV Ricardo Iniguez, LCCTV/Fine Arts Theater Director Alfredo Saldana, TV Assistant Norma Unruh, Secretary Media Center Roberto Teran, Media Specialist Waldo Rocha, Media Specialist Communications and Institutional Effectiveness Office Mary Lara, Administrative Assistant Administrative Officers Dr. Juan L. Maldonado, President Dr. Vincent R. Solis, Vice President for Instruction & Student Services Dr. Nora R. Garza, Vice President for Resource Development Ms. Deirdre Reyna, Communications & Institutional Effectiveness Officer Mr. Luciano Ramon, Information Technology Officer Ms. Nora Stewart, Chief Financial Officer Board of Trustees Mercurio Martinez, Jr., President Allen Tijerina, Vice President Cynthia Mares, Secretary Leonides G. Cigarroa, Jr., M.D. Rene De La Viña Gilberto Martinez, Jr., Ed.D. Michelle De La Peña Jackie Leven-Ramos Ernestina "Tita" C. Vela 11 P a g e