CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FACING TODAY

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CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FACINGTODAYS
COMMUNITY COLLEGES PRESIDENTIAL PERSPECTIVES

• Dr. Stephen B. Kinslow President/CEO
• Thursday, May 7, 2009

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Presidents PerspectiveOpportunities
Challenges

• Arent They Really One and the Same?
• No Shortage of Challenges
• No Shortage of Opportunities
• Youre Never Really There
• Engage or Stagnate

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Presidents PerspectiveCore Challenge

• Creating an Institutional Culture Characterized
  by
• High Standards for Everyone
• Collaborative Goal-Setting
• Sustained Buy-In by Core Constituencies
• Accountability System Measuring the Right Things
• Data-based Decision Making
• Willingness to Embrace Change

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Presidents PerspectiveCore Opportunity

• Few organizations are as well-poised as the
  community college to positively impact lives and
  communities.

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Some Context About ACC

• 2nd largest higher education institution in
  Central Texas
• Among 10 largest one-college/multi-campuses
  system in U.S.
• 8 county service area (urban and rural)
• 7 campuses/ 9 centers
• 37,000 credit students/7,000 non-credit

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Some Context About ACC

• Integrated Master Plan and Budget Model
• Master Plan driven by State Closing the Gaps
  Initiative
• Institutional With a Past
• In Transition

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Some Context About ACC

• ACCs Core Goals
• Expand access
• Especially among traditionally under-served
• Especially among economically disadvantaged
• Meet Closing the Gaps enrollment goals
• Expand Instructional Capacity
• Increase Student Success
• Expand Tax Base to Support Regional Growth

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Stevie World My Biases About Community Colleges

• Under-funded and have to scrap for all we get
• Those with the most influence least understand us
• Historically, weve been happy with crumbs
• We rely too much on anecdotal information
• Old attitudes/behaviors dont work in our best
  interest
• Community college leaders must be more aggressive

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Challenges Advocacy/Funding

• Community colleges misunderstood and discounted
• Must aggressively challenge stereotypes
• Impact on economic development not well-known
• Role in strengthening the middle class not well
  understood
• Must refuse to be ignored in public policy

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Opportunities Advocacy/Funding

• The numbers are on our side/use them
• Connect the dots around economic development
• Chambers and business organizations engage them
• Four-year systems must become more active
  partners with community colleges
• Trustees are under-utilized messengers for
  advancing the community college
• Faculty, staff, and students are under-utilized
  ambassadors
• Branding must be constant effort

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Advocacy Example I am ACC Video

• http//www.austincc.edu/marketing/media/closingthe
  gaps.php
• Or
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vFD784XgRi2g

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Advocacy/FundingCore Messages

• Community colleges are the primary gateway to
  higher education and training
• Community colleges fuel economic development
• Community colleges strengthen the middle class
• Community colleges sustain critical societal
  infrastructure
• Community colleges are quality institutions
• As community colleges grow, four-year systems grow

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Advocacy/FundingCore Messages

• Access affordability matter to everyone
• Higher education levels
• quality worker pipeline to attract/expand desired
  industry
• better jobs, higher salaries
• increased local consumer spending
• larger local tax bases
• more equitable distribution of taxes among larger
  population
• Healthier, more involved citizens
• Lower social services costs

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ChallengeAccountability Movement

• Is movement the right word??
• Incomplete and lots of bad data
• Imposing 4-year model on community colleges
  (different animal)
• Shift from traditional measures to educational
  outcomes
• From quantitative to qualitative
• From belief in inherent value of education to
  proof of results
• Does this movement work for or against community
  colleges?

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OpportunitiesAccountability Movement

• Sunset review of all current measures?
• Lose some, and focus on the right things?
• Student affairs can become more integrated into
  core institutional processes through increased
  focus on changes in student behaviors, skill sets
• Design outcomes-based processes
• Better internal alignment of institutional
  resources
• Integration of accountability systems for P-16
  continuum
• Define what faculty need to know about their
  programs, give them that information, and support
  the reform they will seek

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OpportunitiesAccountability Movement

• We have to plan for strong faculty
• Faculty will use data for program improvement,
  but what do we give them?
• OIEA snapshot example

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OIE Dashboard
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ChallengesP-16 Reform

• Misaligned sectors of public education undermine
  public confidence in education
• Too many people fall through the cracks
• Business, industry, and government, are using the
  dysfunctions of the system as rationale for
  giving/doing less
• Perception that its all about high school
  students
• what about under-educated/under-employed adults?

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OpportunitiesP-16 Reform

• Identification and measurement of college/career
  readiness standards
• Opening dialog between K-12 and higher ed
• Creating/strengthening college-going culture
• Treating the system as a continuum
• Broadening the perspectives of external
  constituencies

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OpportunitiesP-16 Reform Examples

• Course Realignment based on college/career
  readiness standards
• Improved/expanded summer youth bridge programs
• Shared professional development opportunities
• Improved metrics for K-12 and higher ed
• Lessons apply to adult ed initiatives as well

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ChallengesInstruction

• Students changing faster than our institutions
• Faculty buy-in/engagement is spotty
• Relevant instruction requires closer ties to the
  outside world
• We must re-think and challenge the structures we
  create
• Engagement must be an expectation, not an
  enhancement or option
• We have to give faculty more tools to assess
  their effectiveness

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OpportunitiesInstruction

• Stimulus funding
• Greater business industry input - not just
  workforce programs
• Community-based partnerships to leverage
  resources
• More flexibility

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OpportunitiesInstruction

• Leadership in P-16 initiatives
• Foundations/External Giving

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OpportunitiesInstruction

• Blended and horizontal crossover technologies
• Continuing Ed and Credit Instruction (with
  cross-over tracks) mobility tracks
• Nanotechnology aligns STEM disciplines,
  electronics, semi-conductor manufacturing,
  robotics
• Gaming blends arts, animation, creative writing,
  architectural and engineering computer aided
  design, etc.
• External Advisory Committees for programs other
  than workforce education
• Participation in local Chambers

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OpportunitiesInstruction

• Student Engagement Must Be Embeded
• Campus Compact
• Aligning PTK, Honors Programs, Service Learning,
  Civic Engagement, Learning Communities, Student
  Life, El Centro, African-American Students
  Center, etc.
• CCSSE, CCFSSE, SENSE, ATD

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OpportunitiesInstruction

• External partnerships must increase support
• Capital Idea
• Clinical Education Center at Brackenridge
• Games Development Institute
• Nanoelectronics Workforce Initiative
• Renewable Energy Collaborative

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OpportunitiesInstruction

• Heavy support for technology, training, and
• professional development
• Major course redesign, with substantial use of
  technology
• Supplemental instruction, discipline-specific
• NCAT

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OpportunitiesInstruction Flexibility

• Flexibility/Responsiveness Must be Expected
• We have to question the processes we put in place
• Open entry/exit must become the norm
• Greater flexibility in delivery of student
  services must occur
• Modified case management for most at-risk

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ChallengeInstruction

• Lets destroy the Business Model Approach to
  Education
• Is a student the same as a piece of steel, a
  cardboard package, a microchip??

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Other Leadership Challenges

• How do you make it happen...
• Trustees and CEOs functioning as an effective
  team?
• Faculty and staff involved in institutional
  advancement?
• Fostering innovation and minimizing risk?
• Communicating high expectations of students, and
  establishing caring teaching/learning
  environment?
• Responsible stewardship of mother earth
  -greening/sustainability?
• Preparing for the worst kinds of emergencies?
• Succession planning to ensure continuum of
  leadership?

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For More Information About the Austin Community
College District

• Dr. Stephen B. Kinslow
• President/CEO
• Austin Community College District
• 5930 Middle Fiskville Road, Suite 501
• Austin, TX 78752
• ceo_at_austincc.edu
• 512-223-7598
• 512-223-7185 Fax
• ACC Web Site http//www.austincc.edu/pres
• ACC Master Plan http//www.austincc.edu/masterpl
  an/
• Copy of this Presentation http//www.austincc.ed
  u/pres/communications/CCLPIntersessionPresentation
  5-7-09.ppt