Core Themes

Building a Sustainable Community 
Within this theme, the concept of “community” is both internal and external, and extends outward from local to global.  “Building community” means that in our programs, services and facilities we are accessible, welcoming of diversity, actively inclusive, and service-oriented.  It implies that we reach both across and outside our institution to form partnerships and collaborations.  It means that we pursue civic engagement in an effort to support and develop the communities we serve.  It acknowledges our responsibility to work in ways that minimize our environmental footprint and that are sustainable environmentally, socially, and economically.  It calls us to intentionally nurture and sustain a sense of civility through open communication, mutual trust and respect, and by understanding and valuing one another’s ideas, experiences and concerns.  It requires that we be accountable to one another and to our commitments.

Excelling in Teaching and Learning
This theme lies at the heart of our mission.  It engages—either directly or indirectly—the talents and efforts of every college employee.    This theme calls for vision, creativity, and innovation, to create the courses, programs, and supportive learning environments that help students learn the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will inform and enrich their lives as individuals, workers, and contributing members of families and communities.  It calls on all of us to be teachers and learners who are adaptive and open to changing ourselves, our curricula and our practices to respond to the emerging needs of an increasingly complex, interdependent and rapidly changing world.  It includes engaging in ongoing assessment and professional development to ensure the effectiveness and quality of our work, and for our own growth and renewal.

Advancing Student Success
The theme of “advancing student success” comprises the work and impact of the services, processes and infrastructures that are known to support student learning, persistence, momentum, and goal completion.  This theme embraces strategies and structures such as student engagement, well-articulated educational and career pathways, comprehensive support services, efficient and effective institutional processes, learning-supportive facilities and the like.  Adopting student success as a core theme means creating an environment— intellectual, interpersonal, organizational, and physical—that intentionally places student learning and growth at the center of what we do.  

Updated 9/16/2024