Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005 | 10:50 a.m.
The Community College of Southern Nevada's mantra for its 35th year is "student success, student success, student success," President Richard Carpenter said.
Student success is at the heart of what Carpenter dubbed his "10-by-17 plan," which he unleashed to faculty and staff Monday morning at a welcome-back convocation at the Orleans showroom.
The plan, essentially the "outline" for the college's forthcoming strategic plan, includes 10 main strategies or areas Carpenter wants the college to work on and 17 ways to directly measure the college's progress.
Carpenter said he wants all administrators, faculty, staff, students and the community at large to be able to access real-time data on how the college is doing and compare those numbers to similar community colleges throughout the country, such as Portland Community, Sacramento City and Maricopa Community College.
"If you have real-time data you know when you are going off track," Carpenter said.
Carpenter's strategies include restoring public confidence in the college, increasing outside resources, improving student services, enhancing the academic reputation of the college and promoting CCSN's role in economic and workforce development.
The college will be collecting data on everything from student retention and graduation rates to class size information, program costs per full-time student and the student-to-faculty ratios, Carpenter said.
In measuring student success, the college will take a closer look at what goal a student has coming into the college -- earn an associate's degree, a certificate or just for job training or personal enrichment -- and see if students are meeting those goals when they exit the college.
Carpenter said he hopes to have the real-time system in place by mid-October.
Two "number crunchers" will be hired in the college's office of institutional research. The data will be displayed on flat-screen monitors in department offices and student areas that will also help broadcast the faculty and student-specific information, Carpenter said.
The first 100 monitors will cost about $150,000 once they are installed and networked, Patty Charlton, vice president for finance, said. Recent focus groups showed that internal communication has been problematic, Carpenter said, and he's hoping the monitors will help.
Carpenter developed his plan using input from several focus groups this summer, including faculty, staff, students and community members. He said it's essential to get faculty "buy-in."
The presentation went over well, Faculty Senate Chairman Darren Divine said.
"You can feel a distinct air of optimism with faculty today," Divine said at a post-convocation luncheon. Faculty will be attending meetings and professional development programs all week. Several told him they felt helpful about the college's future for the first time in a long time.
Getting real-time data on how the college is doing is "essential," Divine said.
"It's a must," Divine said. "We absolutely have to make decisions and base our everyday decisions for the future on data."
Linda Howard and Mark Alden, the only regents in attendance Monday, were excited about the plan, which they said addressed many of the college's major needs.
"I think he's moving the college forward to the cutting edge of where our institutions should be," Howard said.
Carpenter will present the "10-by-17" plan to the rest of the Board of Regents later in September.
He's also planning to unleash a new marketing campaign in the coming weeks, complete with a new logo. The college will be doing more target-specific recruiting and will reach out to students in middle school to let them know their options, Carpenter said.
In the past, the college has had multiple brands and no consistent marketing plan, Carpenter said, handing over up to $1 million to an agency with no specific direction. Now, the college is working with a smaller firm, W. G. Communications Group, and is much more "hands-on," Carpenter said.
The agency won a bid request and is being paid about $500,000 for the year, Charlton said.
The new marketing plan will help "perpetuate a unified image," Carpenter said..
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