STANDARD ONE
INSTITUTIONAL MISSION and GOALS,
PLANNING and EFFECTIVENESS
1.A Mission and Goals
Peninsula College is a public, comprehensive, two-year community college that provides “open-door” educational opportunities to a diverse and widely dispersed population with varied goals and disparate levels of preparedness. Its purpose is to combine high standards of excellence in academic transfer courses, high-demand professional and technical programs, adult basic skills, and community service courses of an educational, cultural, and recreational nature. Consistent with this mission, the College was granted candidacy at the baccalaureate level (in 2007) to award a bachelor of applied science degree in applied management.
1.A.1 Understanding of Mission and Goals
The College is defined by its mission, vision, goals, and Guiding Principles. [Exhibit—1-1] These key statements of purpose and principles are widely understood by the campus community (see also 6.C.2 and 9.A.1). They are guided by Washington state statute and the Peninsula College Board of Trustees. [Exhibits—1-2, 1-3]
The College mission statement is reviewed once every five years as part of the College’s annual planning and assessment process. It was revised most recently by the Board of Trustees on February 14, 2006 following campuswide discussions of the College’s core purpose. The discussions were initiated by the President at his monthly meetings with faculty and staff. The proposed revision was reviewed by the College Council and the administrative leadership team before adoption by the Board of Trustees.
Institutional goals are reviewed annually as part of the College’s assessment and planning process. Institutional assessment is specifically designed to evaluate the extent to which the College is achieving its goals. The product of this assessment is published each year as the Institutional Effectiveness (IE) Report (see 1.A.3). The findings of this assessment process are reviewed each year by the College Board of Trustees.
1.A.2 Publication of the Peninsula College Mission
The Peninsula College mission and goals are publicized in numerous College publications, including the annual Report to the Community, the College catalog and the Peninsula College website. They also are featured in the Employee Information and Resource Guide and displayed in classrooms and most faculty and staff offices. [Exhibits—1-4, 1-5]
1.A.3 Accomplishment of Mission and Goals
Progress in accomplishing the College’s mission and goals is documented and made public. It is documented in the annual IE Report, the annual Report to the Community, and in the President’s monthly report to the College Board of Trustees. [Exhibits—1-6, 1-7]
The IE Report is designed to be a functional, internal document. It is used by College administrators to inform and guide their unit plans for the coming year.
The annual Report to the Community is designed for an external audience and is co-published by the College and the Peninsula College Foundation. Its purpose, as the name suggests, is to inform the residents of the College’s two-county service district of the most recent initiatives and accomplishments that support the Peninsula College mission; it relates the College’s progress toward achieving its goals in a very tangible way. The report is broadly disseminated to the news media, business groups, civic organizations, and to 24th District legislators.
1.A.4 Goals and Resources
Peninsula College has six collegewide goals, derived from the College mission:
· To provide educational opportunity in all facets of the college mission―academic transfer, professional and technical, basic skills and continuing education.
· To maximize student access to higher education by expanding educational opportunities for the diverse populations of Clallam and Jefferson counties.
· To provide a college environment that places teaching and learning at the center of institutional practice, ensures quality services to students, and demonstrates sound and planful stewardship of public resources.
· To foster college/community connections through active participation in civic organizations and innovative partnerships that optimize public resources.
· To promote cultural enrichment by providing culturally rich and diverse programs.
· To model pluralism. . .a culture of mutual respect and acceptance that embodies diversity and promotes a civil society.
These goals are evaluated annually as part of the College’s institutional assessment process. The results of that process are published in the IE Report, as noted above in Section 1.A.3, and on the College website, and they are presented to the Board of Trustees at their regular monthly meetings.
Collegewide goals provide the structure and framework for institution-wide planning—a process that integrates resource planning and budget development at all levels of the institution. Goals lead to objectives, which lead to specific actions. Those actions that require new funding are identified in unit-level plans and, in turn, elevated to each of the vice president’s administrative unit plans (AUPs), which are in turn elevated to the collegewide Operational Plan according to specific criteria.
It is in this way that resource planning—human, physical, and financial—is linked to collegewide goals through institution-level planning, budget development, and assessment (see Standard 7.A.2). [Exhibits—1-8, 1-9]
1.A.5 Direction for Activities, Policies, and Planning
Peninsula College’s mission and goals direct its educational activities through its planning process. Each academic and administrative unit develops an annual plan that reflects the mission and goals of the College. Academic and administrative unit plans (AUPs) inform the plans of Instructional Services, Student Services, Administrative Services and the President’s Office, which in turn inform the collegewide Operational Plan in accordance with the criteria noted in 1.A.4.
Figure 1-1. Annual Assessment and Planning Cycle
The planning process at Peninsula College engages the entire college community. Every academic and administrative unit is involved in an annual cycle of assessment and planning. Draft and final plans are available for review through a custom-built Web application that facilitates documentation and transparency. Prior plans are archived, which enables both plan “owners” and any interested member of the College community to view the progress of planning initiatives and their results (see Section 1.B.6). [Exhibit—1-10]
This planning process is comprehensive and inclusive, operationalizing the correlation between the College’s mission and goals and its varied activities: educational programs, admission policies, selection of faculty, and allocation of resources.
1.A.6 Public Service
The College’s commitment to public service is explicitly addressed in its mission statement: “The College also contributes to the cultural and economic enrichment of Clallam and Jefferson Counties.”
Further, one of the College’s five institutional goals addresses the importance of outreach to the community:
. . .To foster college/community connections through active participation in civic organizations and innovative partnerships that optimize public resources. [Goal # 4]
College participation in community organizations and interagency partnerships is assessed annually by way of two internal surveys. Respondents to the 2009 community partnerships survey continued to report that community involvement is a meaningful outreach activity. However, the office of institutional research, planning and assessment is seeking a more effective tool for evaluating the College’s engagement with the communities it serves. [Exhibit—1-11]
Contributions to community economic development are primarily centered on work through the Clallam Economic Development Council (EDC). The College President serves as a member of the Council (since 2001) and has also served as its president and as an executive committee member.
The College and the EDC have developed a number of joint programs, including community leadership training courses and recruitment/skills-assessment and training programs for the shipbuilding industry. Further, College faculty provide economic-related research reports as requested by the Council.
The College’s involvement in the Lincoln Center, which comprises the Skills Center (regional vocational high school), Business Incubator, and Entrepreneur Institute, is mission-driven. The Lincoln Center has been a major strategic initiative of the EDC and Peninsula College. The College president serves as a standing member of the Lincoln Center board, as well as the Business Incubator board and the Skills Center Board. The College also offers an entrepreneurial training center and internship placements in support of the incubator’s mission.
The College’s Center of Excellence provides education and training, research, and technical services that solve problems and foster economic opportunities in environmental science, marine services, and natural resource management. It is a dynamic resource for communities, businesses, government agencies, nonprofits, and industries and it helps them to:
· Explore particular needs and interests
· Solve knowledge and skill-related problems
· Provide employment avenues for new, well-trained workers
· Serve as a source for upgrading an existing workforce
· Involve students in research activities
· Find answers to technical questions
· Promote applied research in particular fields
1.A.7 Substantive Change
Peninsula College has submitted two substantive-change notifications in the past ten years: in 1999, when it proposed to offer the associate of arts degree via Washington Online, and most recently, when it proposed to offer an applied baccalaureate degree following approval by the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) and the Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB). The College was subsequently granted candidacy by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) at the baccalaureate level to offer a Bachelor of Applied Science in Management degree. [Exhibit—1-12]
1.B Planning and Effectiveness
1.B.1 Institutional Evaluation and Planning Processes
Peninsula College’s evaluation and planning processes are clearly defined in the College’s Institutional Assessment Plan, which states the College’s assessment philosophy, procedures, key roles, scope, implementation, and timelines (see also 1.B.5). [Exhibit—1-13] This plan was first developed in 2001. It has since been updated, primarily to reflect changes in organizational structure and key personnel. The original framework for institutional planning and assessment continues unchanged, which contributes to ongoing consistency in the implementation of the evaluation and planning processes.
It is the intent of the College’s Institutional Assessment Plan to document procedures for evaluating institutional effectiveness. The plan is available to the College community on the College intranet, along with planning and assessment guides, a planning calendar, and planning tools.
1.B.2 Systematic Planning and Evaluation
Peninsula College has defined “systematic” to mean regular and ongoing. Accordingly, the College reviews and revises its AUPs and collegewide Operational Plan each year. The regularity of this process is reflected in the annual planning calendar and in the uniform format used by all academic and administrative units. Further, regularity and uniformity leads to a raised consciousness and better of the planning and evaluation process. [Exhibits—1-14, 1-15, 1-16]
The College’s planning-and-assessment processes have been ongoing since 1996, although they have changed in form over time. Changes in formats and vocabularies have contributed to greater clarity and improved methods of assessment. This has been facilitated by the development of a customized planning-and-assessment tool, which facilitates regular-and-ongoing planning and assessment by standardizing formats and automating functions in an efficient and seamless way (see Section 1.B.6).
Assessment occurs at the course, unit (academic and administrative) and institutional level (Institutional Effectiveness Report). Planning and assessment processes are inclusive and integrated (see Figure 1-2 below); for every plan, there is an assessment. One of the automated features of the AUP tool noted above is the systemic link between a unit plan and its corresponding assessment. Every assessment includes the “use of findings,” which informs the following year’s plan. [Exhibits—1-17]
The College’s six goals establish the framework for assessing unit performance. The comprehensive scope of this process ensures that all of the College’s core activities are evaluated and consistent with Peninsula College’s mission and goals.
The College’s five-year Strategic Plan provides the overarching blueprint for annual planning and institutional priorities [Exhibit 1-18], while the annual Operational Plan aggregates all key planning initiatives. [Exhibit 1-19]. Collegewide plans that inform the Operational Plan include Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) plans, the Facilities Master Plan, and the IT Master Plan. [Exhibits—1-20]
The SEM planning process is rooted in collaboration among all administrative divisions of the
College: Instructional Services, Student Services, Administrative Services and the President’s Office. In the years prior to 2005, the College struggled to meet enrollment targets. SEM instituted a process that enabled the College to better understand its service area, develop the appropriate instructional and support programs, and stabilize enrollment while achieving enrollment growth.
The College’s Facilities Master Plan informs the Operational Plan and serves as a blueprint for improving the College’s physical environment. The Facilities Master Plan also informs the development of the College’s capital biennial budget requests, which ultimately result in the acquisition of new buildings, renovation or replacement of existing space, and minor repairs. Similarly, the IT Master Plan ensures that the Operational Plan reflects collegewide priorities in an arena of rapidly changing and competing technologies.
Figure 1-2. Institution-Wide Planning
1.B.3 Participation in Planning
The planning process at Peninsula College is collaborative and grassroots-driven. While the process is framed by the College mission, goals and Strategic Plan, it is unit-driven. Planning begins with academic and administrative units. Faculty and staff develop annual plans (AUPs) that include unit goals, objectives and specific actions. Unit-level actions are then incorporated in the division-level AUPs for Instructional Services, Student Services and Administrative Services. Finally, those actions represented in division-level plans that meet one or more of the following criteria are elevated to the collegewide Operational Plan. These criteria are:
§ The action is derived from a unit-level plan;
§ It is timeline specific (e.g.. 2010-2011), as opposed to ongoing actions of a given unit;
§ It has a multi-unit or institution-wide impact that transcends the domain of a single unit; and/or
§ It has a budget impact that exceeds unit-level funding.
In sum, the collegewide Operational Plan is comprised of initiatives that originate with unit-level plans across the institution. This process is reflected in the annual planning calendar. [Exhibit—1-21]
A draft of the Operational Plan is reviewed by all members of the College community at the monthly meetings with the President in March. Once revised, per collegewide feedback, the annual Operational Plan is presented to the Board of Trustees.
Concurrent planning processes that contribute to the collegewide Operational Plan are the Facilities Master Plan [Exhibits—1-22, 1-23], SEM plans [Exhibit—1-24], and IT Master Plan [Exhibit—1-25]. As described in 1.B.2, these planning processes are distinct from AUPs in so far as they represent collegewide needs and direct collegewide initiatives. Each of the committees responsible for generating these plans includes administrators, faculty, and staff. The needs reflected in these plans are frequently an aggregate of needs reflected in unit-level plans.