Introducing the new Alamance Community College Strategic Plan
Alamance Community College engages in a process of continuous improvement that includes Student Learning Outcomes Assessment, Administrative Services & Student Support Outcomes Assessment, General Education Outcomes Assessment, Curriculum and Continuing Education Program Reviews, and a college-wide Strategic Plan.
ACC Forward, the 2022-2025 Strategic Plan, is organized around four strategic priorities:
- Engage: ACC will engage with Alamance County communities in new and innovative ways that deepen existing partnerships and create new ones.
- Learn: ACC will involve all students in innovative and inclusive formal and informal learning experiences that improve student success, prepare students for jobs, and provide a strong foundation for continued learning.
- Equip: ACC will equip faculty and staff with resources and experiences that enhance their engagement, sharpen their skills, and enable them to provide exceptional teaching and service.
- Grow: ACC will ensure that students, faculty, and staff have access to the resources they need to grow as healthy individuals.
About
In November 2021, Alamance Community College began work on a new three-year plan when the Strategic Planning Committee launched a process to review ACC’s mission, vision, and values and identify institutional priorities. The Committee included faculty and staff representatives from all divisions of the College, a business representative, a student representative and a representative from the Board of Trustees.
The Committee's Work Progressed in Phases:
- Development of the 2022-2025 Strategic Planning Guidebook
- Reviewing the College’s Vision, Mission, and Values
- Analyzing environmental scans and other county and regional demographics and trends
- Studying key performance indicators
- Gathering and analyzing input through focus groups and surveys involving internal and external stakeholders
- Identifying themes and developing objectives based on the review of data and extensive input from stakeholders
- Gathering employee feedback on potential themes and objectives
- Identifying metrics to assess progress and effectiveness of the plan
- Presenting the plan to the Board of Trustees for approval
Implementation Teams
Each priority has an implementation team charged with driving the strategic plan forward. They will work with the appropriate stakeholders to create action plans to help ACC achieve each of the priorities. Specifically, these teams will research activities and ideas, serve as conveners, participate in implementation activities, track progress and performance, and report to College stakeholders.
Developing ACC Forward
Throughout the 2021-22 academic year, ACC sought broad-based input from internal and external stakeholders to help us chart ACC’s course through 2025. A Strategic Planning Committee was formed to perform the following tasks:
- Review ACC’s vision, mission, and values
- Review the college’s key performance indicators and other data
- Create and share a strategic planning guidebook
- Identify stakeholders and plan focus groups
- Lead and participate in focus groups
- Develop surveys
- Meet with departments and groups on campus, as requested
- Answer questions about the process
- Analyze feedback, focus group and survey results, and other input
- Create themes
- Create goals for each theme
- Identify strategies for achieving those goals
- Seek feedback on the draft plan, refine the plan
- Present the plan to the college community
Timeline
Strategic Planning Guidebook shared: Everyone invited to use discussion prompts and activities to generate ideas for the next strategic plan.
- Performance Indicators Analysis distributed to the college community.
- Environmental Scan distributed to stakeholders.
- Facilities and Budget information distributed to stakeholders.
- 2022-25 Strategic Plan website launched.
- Internal and external stakeholders invited to participate in focus groups.
- Surveys distributed to various stakeholders to gather input.
- Everyone invited to use discussion prompts and exercises in Strategic Planning Guidebook to generate ideas.
- Focus groups, surveys, and other input reviewed by Strategic Planning Committee.
- Themes identified.
- Goals and strategies drafted.
- Draft plan shared with the college community for feedback via survey.
- Survey results reviewed by the Committee.
- Refinements made.
- Revised plan submitted to the Board of Trustees for approval.
- New strategic plan launched.
- Responsible parties identified and workgroups formed for implementation.
- Assessment and reporting processes begin.
- Department- and program-level conversations continue: All units encouraged to review ACC’s progress on the strategic plan and consider how their work can link to and support the strategic plan.