CCBC Strategic Plan – FY 2020 to FY 2022
Adopted August 2019
Mission
The Community College of Baltimore County transforms lives by providing an accessible, affordable, and high-quality education that prepares students for transfer and career success, strengthens the regional workforce, and enriches our community.
Vision
We will be the institution of choice for students, where together we make teaching purposeful, learning powerful, completion primary, and community paramount.
Values
Accessibility: We provide educational services for members of the community regardless of any economic, social or physical limitations.
Collaboration: We foster continuous partnerships among students, faculty and staff and support ongoing cooperative relationships with our partners in the community regarding their educational, cultural, recreational and workforce needs.
Commitment: We prepare our students to succeed and make progress toward the completion of their educational goals through degree or certificate attainment, transfer, workplace certification, career enhancement or personal enrichment.
Inclusion: We value the diversity of people, cultures, ideas and viewpoints and honor the dignity of all persons. We are committed to preparing students to be active citizens, ready to meet the challenges of an increasingly diverse world and a changing global marketplace.
Excellence: We emphasize quality as a standard for all we do and consistently look for ways to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness.
Innovation: We value innovation and support a climate of discovery. We encourage students, faculty and staff to explore new ideas, methods and processes.
Integrity: We inspire public trust by maintaining ethical and collaborative relationships with our faculty, students, staff, alumni and communities. We share our achievements and challenges honestly and openly. We insist upon fairness, mutual respect, collegiality and civility at all times.
Responsibility: We have high standards for the work of our faculty and staff, the academic rigor of our offerings, the knowledge and performance of our students, and the involvement of the community and workplace in the college’s future.
Scholarship: We are committed to seeing our students become lifelong learners and contribute to the improvement of the county, state and society.
Stewardship: We employ sustainable fiscal and environmental practices to responsibly manage our resources toward advancing the college’s mission and strategic directions. This includes viewing the responsibility to manage public money as a public trust.
- Student success defines our college.
- All of our efforts must focus on helping students complete their goals.
- Quality programming and innovative learning strategies enhance student performance and engagement.
- All students, faculty and staff are integral to the collaborative process of teaching and learning.
- A student must be supported by college services that address academic and non-academic barriers to completion.
- CCBC is responsible for being aware of and responding to the changing, diverse needs of our students, faculty, staff and our community.
- An affordable, high-quality education is possible only through the prudent management of our fiscal and human resources.
- Faculty and staff contributions, as individuals, are critical to the college’s success.
- The rich diversity of our students and communities should be reflected in the diversity of our faculty and staff.
- Community engagement extends beyond our campuses and sites and is global in nature.
- Fiscal integrity, programmatic transparency, and accountability are vital to maintain the trust of our public and private supporters.
- Partnering with existing and potential stakeholders is important to the future of the college.
- Student success is aligned with the intellectual, cultural, civic and economic growth of individuals and their communities.
- Engaged students are empowered to achieve academic success and are committed to lifelong learning.
- Students equipped with credentials play a vital role in our regional workforce.
- We will use data to honestly and transparently analyze our progress.
Strategic Priority I - Enrollment Stabilization
CCBC will employ a continuum of recruitment, retention and completion strategies that will enhance the overall student experience and enable students to achieve their goals as we work toward enrollment stabilization.
Enhance customer service
- Show students they are welcome at CCBC and provide helpful guidance at each step of their enrollment process.
- Provide a seamless and personalized student experience—online and in person—from initial inquiry and recruitment to academic advising, program selection, registration, orientation and mentoring, through to completion.
- Address student needs with accurate and timely communication.
- Use technology to make it faster and simpler for students to apply, register, pay for courses, and conduct their business with CCBC.
- Extend opportunities that engage, connect, orient and mentor students and their families to the CCBC experience.
- Train faculty and staff to adeptly assist students and our communities in accessing CCBC resources, electronically or in person.
- Secure and respond to student and community feedback to continuously improve the student experience.
Recruit and retain diverse audiences
- Engage, as early as middle school, with students and parents in their connection to higher education, promoting the quality and value of attending CCBC whether to earn a degree and transfer, or to enter the workforce with industry-recognized credentials.
- Offer K-12 students on-campus opportunities where they can experience cutting-edge classroom technology, participate in performing arts, engage in hands-on instruction, and explore CCBC’s many career programs.
- Expand enrollment incentives and opportunities for new students and special populations, including high school students in CCBC’s Early College Access and Career Technology programs.
- Connect prospective students who are employed or underemployed with programs that enable them to change jobs, enter a profession, or advance their careers through credit or non-credit program opportunities.
- Encourage academically advanced students to take advantage of the challenging courses and enrichment opportunities offered through the CCBC Honors program.
- Expand our nationally recognized outreach and service to veterans and military-connected students.
- Continue to offer student-athletes the opportunity to participate in CCBC Athletics—home to numerous regional and national NJCAA championships.
- Promote “reverse transfer/comeback” degrees with incentives to encourage students to return to complete a credential.
- Target-market prioritized programs to generate growth in on-site and online programming.
- Expand and support career counseling opportunities, internships, job placement and apprenticeship capabilities.
- Encourage students to get involved via Student Life, academic Pathways, and program activities, and to access college resources and services that support their success.
Expand CCBC Online
- Establish a seamless and comprehensive online student experience.
- Develop programs, services, pricing and promotions to position CCBC Online for new student enrollment in the county, the state, nationally and internationally.
- Implement target marketing strategies to increase online enrollment, including single course, blended, and fully online learning options.
- Work toward building regional, national and international online presence for CCBC Online, including a competitive pricing and marketing model.
- Maximize marketing and communication
- Aggressively promote the Baltimore County and Maryland College Promise Scholarships for both credit and non-credit programming; encourage full-time attendance.
- Promote CCBC’s value proposition in terms of quality, selection and affordability.
- Promote the excellence of academic, career and workforce development programs, the expertise and real-world experience of faculty, and the benefits of small class sizes.
- Showcase CCBC’s vast array of instructional and student services, resources and support available regardless of a student’s background, experience or interest (scholarships, academic Pathways, tutoring, mentoring, athletics, clubs and activities).
- Utilize technology, including a customer relationship management system, to more effectively manage relationships with prospective and current students, business partners, and other college constituencies.
- Develop a “suite of programs” approach to marketing programs with capacity for expansion.
- Deliver appropriate and timely multi-media communications that are responsive to students’ evolving media preferences (e.g., face-to-face, online, mobile, print and social media).
- Promote CCBC’s tuition incentive programs as enrollment enhancement initiatives.
- Establish a dynamic college social media presence that attracts and engages students, partners and surrounding communities with compelling content about CCBC, our programs, services and events.
- Utilize the network of faculty and alumni experts to share their success stories and demonstrate what CCBC students can achieve.
- Market the benefits of associate degree completion leading to transfer opportunities at four-year-institution transfer partners.
Strategic Priority II - Economic Stabilization
CCBC will maximize existing resources, improve operational efficiency, and increase funding and financial aid opportunities to benefit students and advance the college’s mission while ensuring overall economic stabilization.
Pursue operational and technological efficiencies
- Rightsize staffing and operations to 2009 enrollment dimensions.
- Identify duplicative business functions and, where appropriate, create a college-wide service model to reduce costs and standardize practices, processes and procedures.
- Leverage technology to reduce manual processes, enhance student service and maximize growth opportunities.
- Continuously evaluate the costs and benefits of major software systems to identify areas for improvement and greater efficiency.
- Reduce technology maintenance costs across all classrooms through the development of classroom technology needs assessment and expanded computer lab usage.
- Identify technical knowledge gaps and increase related training opportunities for faculty and staff in the efficient use of available technology.
Optimize space utilization
- Take a holistic approach to scheduling that optimizes the use of space, leverages software, minimizes waste and reduces unnecessary resource allocation.
- Assess facility rentals to pursue those that generate the greatest return on investment.
- Centralize facility rental processes and promotion to improve revenue and efficiency.
Build internal and external partnerships
- Create a standardized approach to college partnership cultivation that maximizes opportunity and mitigates risk.
- Establish a centralized resource for partnership information that improves tracking and benefits to the college.
- Train faculty and staff on how to best establish and maintain partnerships.
- Expand outreach and engagement with local businesses and organizations via online and social media connections.
- Centralize the coordination of college internships and externships to maximize student opportunities and provide a single point of contact for potential placement organizations.
Enhance advocacy efforts
- Deploy aggressive advocacy strategies to influence state and county legislative agendas, including full funding for Maryland’s CADE formula.
- Work with legislators and private organizations to expand scholarship opportunities like College Promise.
- Continue to identify new funding streams for operation and capital projects.
Enhance environmental sustainability efforts
- Explore co-generation of utilities.
- Install LED lights and occupancy sensors.
- Maximize single-stream recycling.
Generate new income streams
- Seek alternative funding sources and explore entrepreneurial enterprises or new “books of business” (facility rental, vendor advertising, etc.).
- Explore ways to increase non-governmental and non-student revenues.
- Cultivate new markets; repackage curricula into new product formats.
Strategic Priority III - Credit/Continuing Education Integration
CCBC will unify and consolidate CCBC’s instruction and administrative systems, resources and processes to support a seamless student experience that provides consistent, quality service to all, while maximizing the strengths of both credit and non-credit programming and increasing operational efficiencies across the college.
Provide premiere workforce solutions
- Expand partnerships with businesses to supply their hiring and training needs across the instructional continuum of credit and non-credit programs.
- Centralize partnership management for improved process efficiency.
- Apply local labor market analysis to drive career programming and ensure students acquire the knowledge and skills that meet or exceed industry standards.
- Expand the use of industry advisory boards and leverage successful alumni to build partnerships with employers and industries in our communities.
- Bring the latest technology, techniques and thinking from the workplace into the classroom.
- Create a centralized resource that provides career services for all students and actively involves business partners.
Build instructional bridges between credit and non-credit curricula
- Develop a systematic approach that encourages the development of stackable credentials and a seamless transition from non-credit to credit programming (or the reverse) where applicable.
- Provide opportunities for faculty and staff to participate in structured collaboration and cross-training activities.
- Encourage faculty in programs with similar content areas to share instructional methods, knowledge and resources.
- Integrate the recruitment and sourcing of applicants for faculty and staff positions.
Ensure seamless student processes
- Establish shared responsibilities, processes and systems to provide unified services for a consistent student experience.
- Align enrollment, financial aid and payment options and operations to remove redundancies and, where appropriate, provide a single process to complete a given task.
- Extend career and alumni services to all students.
- Provide student advisement by career area to enable students to explore both degree and workforce certifications to meet their career goals.
- Co-locate, where practical, staff who have similar job duties.
- Establish a single call center strategy.
Expand and centralize marketing and outreach
- Develop shared terminology meaningful to students, business partners, faculty and staff, while clarifying student academic and career outcomes.
- Provide students with information and guidance on CCBC’s full menu of both credit and non-credit program options available to help them reach their academic and career goals.
Strategic Priority IV - Transformational Academics
CCBC will provide the highest quality instruction and student services to improve student learning, reduce barriers that interfere with successful learning, and help students reach their educational goals. We will offer cutting-edge, market-viable academic programming that prepares students for employment, transfer, and mastering techniques for lifelong learning.
Boost successful completion
- Help students define what goals they seek to complete while at CCBC.
- Apply outcome-driven assessments to instructional initiatives, with the quality of instruction remaining paramount.
- Strengthen and expand academic Pathways to help students determine their optimal career paths.
- Ensure seamless transfer opportunities for students through expanded partnerships with four-year colleges and universities.
- Reduce both academic and non-academic barriers that prevent students from completing degrees, licensures and workplace certifications.
- Continue to assist students as they overcome non-academic barriers, including but not limited to transportation, financial issues, and the stress of attending college.
- Continue to reduce the cost of books and materials for classes.
- Continue to support students through robust academic support services, including tutoring and mentoring.
Build student-centered course schedules
- Coordinate scheduling across schools and departments to ensure students can access courses in times and places that meet their needs.
- Evaluate and repackage course offerings and schedules to appeal to a broader range of students, particularly online and part-time students.
- Offer intensive workshops and training targeted at business customers, such as one-week leadership workshops and conferences.
- Explore expanded enrollment options, including rolling enrollment in online courses.
- Repackage curriculum offerings and scheduling models to appeal to new markets.
- Expand on-site day/evening courses (credit and non-credit) at high schools and community centers.
Guide the transition to college and careers
- Restructure CCBC’s transfer/articulation functions to elevate transfer partnerships and opportunities to a strategic priority.
- Guide students into the career path of their choice as soon as practical.
- Provide students with accurate and timely information about their options, including both credit and non-credit programs.
- Offer personalized advising and orientation to entering students.
- Encourage students to form relationships with their program advisors, department faculty, and fellow students.
- Evaluate students’ academic preparedness and, if necessary, help them develop the academic skills they need to succeed.
- Continue to work with local high schools to help prepare students to attend CCBC.
Community is a word that has defined CCBC for more than six decades; literally hundreds of thousands of students have discovered and achieved their potential at CCBC. This is a place where everyday heroes champion incredible transformations that advance the path to college completion for all who can benefit, including low-income students and student-veterans; educate and strengthen the region’s workforce; and provide enriching cultural and recreational experiences for local residents, from children to seniors.
We take immense pride in the immeasurable ways we benefit the diverse individuals, organizations and communities we serve:
- Students can earn associate degrees in a wide range of fields, including nursing and related health fields, business and aviation.
- CCBC provides students with affordable and accessible pathways to a bachelor’s degree through transfer agreements and specialized programs with many Maryland four-year institutions.
- Industry-recognized certifications in fields such as welding, automated manufacturing, and massage therapy provide students the opportunity to enter or advance their chosen careers.
- As early as the ninth grade, CCBC’s Early College Access program provides students with opportunities to obtain industry-recognized credentials, earn college credits with free or reduced tuition, and a path to simultaneously earn an associate degree and a high school diploma.
- CCBC is one of Maryland’s largest providers of adult basic education, literacy and GED preparation courses.
- Individuals, families and groups benefit from CCBC’s hundreds of life enrichment courses and specialized programs, many of which are specifically created for youth and senior citizens.
- CCBC supports workforce development and local businesses by providing customized training and employment placement assistance, and encouraging entrepreneurial spirit through the Center for Business Innovation and the School of Continuing Education.
- For lower skilled and at-risk individuals, CCBC offers specialized programs, support services, financial support and placement assistance to help better prepare them for participation in the workforce.
- CCBC delivers rapid response initiatives when our community experiences a crisis, such as the closure of a major employer, local college or training school.
- Through their service as members and leaders in professional and community associations and commissions, CCBC faculty and staff help to shape local, state and national policies that will have a positive impact on current and future Marylanders.
- The college’s cultural and athletic programs offer many and varied opportunities for community engagement. Our Visual and Performing Arts programs play a critical role by communicating across racial, social and economic barriers as they enhance cultural awareness and appreciation. In addition, we support 20 intercollegiate teams for our women and men student-athletes.
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