Heather Mejia

This strategic plan for Highland Community College addresses identified shortcomings in data collection, strategic planning, and embedding continuous improvement within the institutional culture. The plan is structured around six core goals: ensuring viability, fostering a culture of achievement and collaboration, maintaining an optimal physical environment, maximizing student success, enhancing academic excellence, and contributing to local economies and quality of life.

This document details Highland Community College's comprehensive approach to continuous quality improvement, aligning with its mission to provide lifelong learning opportunities and contribute to economic development. The plan's strategic framework encompasses enhancing student learning, meeting student and stakeholder needs, valuing employees, fostering effective planning and leadership, ensuring sound knowledge management, and promoting a culture of quality. It aims to develop graduates who are competent, communicative, respectful, decisive, responsible, and collaborative.

This document outlines several action projects undertaken by Highland Community College, focusing on enhancing student support, academic assessment, and institutional effectiveness. Key initiatives include developing an automated early alert system for students at academic risk, selecting a new capstone academic assessment tool for graduating students, implementing a web-based observation and evaluation tool to improve instructor effectiveness, and establishing methods for measuring Common Learning Outcomes, now referred to as Shared Performance Expectations. A significant project also focuses on embedding continuous improvement concepts throughout the college's culture to support its strategic planning initiatives.

This strategic plan for Highland Community College outlines a clear path for the next five years, aiming to advance student success, strengthen access, and maximize the institution's impact on its communities. It focuses on six strategic imperatives: nurturing student success and engagement, expanding access and affordability, enhancing learner success opportunities (including workforce and transfer pathways), boosting institutional innovation and agility, fostering a culture of belonging and collaboration, and ensuring stewardship and sustainability. The plan is designed to transform lives through education, position the college as a national model for rural-serving community colleges, and achieve enduring impact.

The strategic plan focuses on key priorities and goals for HCC. It aims to enhance institutional effectiveness and student success.