By Mark Martin, Bay Window Staff Writer
How does an organization aspire to be the best? That was the message that was shared with the community by Dr John Selmon and his strategic implementation team on Wednesday in Collegiate Hall. In 2021 MCC had set about creating a new strategic 54-month plan for and by the community in accordance with the school’s vision of “An educated, inclusive community.” The theme selected was “Aspiring to Be the Best”. The deadline coincides with the school’s centennial anniversary.
With this in mind, the college intends to become one of the best community colleges in the nation. In 2021, 150 students, stakeholders, and staff collaborated to form six committees to identify priorities and goals selected for this plan. Community members were also invited to give input through town hall meetings, forums, and surveys. There was a strong consensus that the priorities for this plan needed to focus on three things: Access, Equity, and Excellence.
“Our biggest responsibility is to do everything that we can to make sure that our students succeed” Selmon said, “We have some great people that work here at this institution who care about our students, and they get involved at many levels.” Wednesday’s summit was a chance for the college to get further feedback and input from students, staff, and community members on these three main priorities.
The priorities of Access, Equity, and Excellence were broken down into 10 individual goals, each one tied to a priority. Raising awareness of MCC, expanding opportunities for underrepresented populations, and to expanding community engagement all work towards reaching the goals of Access. Equity goals include creating and maintaining an inclusive culture of understanding and respect, increasing diversity amongst students and staff, and to overall enhance the student experience. For excellence, the goals are to improve student outcomes, improve institutional effectiveness, provide exceptional environments for effective learning, and to increase transfer and career success of graduates. Background information on the planning process as well as quarterly reporting data and metrics can be found at muskegoncc.edu/aspiring.
The summit began with an introduction by Tina Dee, the Director of Strategic Initiatives. She shared some background information about the strategic plan as well as instructions about how the “round table” format was going to work that evening. Three stations were set up around the hall, each focusing on a single priority. Summit attendees would then break up into three groups and rotate through each station. The facilitators at each station would then have 19 minutes to share their goals and accomplishments, as well as receive feedback from the groups on how to improve. A gong marked the end of the allotted time, and the groups would rotate to the next station, until all three had been visited. Dr John Selmon finished out the summit with a Q & A, to cover any questions the participants still had after visiting all of the stations. Dr John Selmon left the audience with a final goal at the end of the summit by saying “If we can take care of the barriers that stand in your way, you become free to focus on learning.”