Annual Update: 2008-09-09
A. Describe the past year's accomplishments and the current status of this Action Project.
The NC State Planning Advisory Council (PAC) completed its second year of formulating,
proposing, and implementing the college’s strategic plan. The Council accomplished this with
regularly scheduled meetings twice a month. Last fall, the Council reviewed the strategic
initiatives that had been established during the previous year and decided to continue with these
initiatives, as they were all multiple year projects. During the winter, a subcommittee of PAC
met with the finance department to help develop the school budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year
that started on July 1st. At the same time, the PAC worked on developing assessment techniques
to gauge the results of the various strategic initiatives. The State of Ohio has recently generated a
new strategic plan for education, and the PAC has had to re-evaluate the method of assessment to
coincide with the state’s new strategy. As a result, the assessment portion of the strategic
planning cycle has not been completed. The Board of Trustees are planning a workshop in the
late fall to redefine the college’s goals to better align with the overall state goals. The PAC will
use those redefined goals to develop or modify the current strategic initiatives in December, and
give a revised set of initiatives to the President for his review and presentation to the Board of
Trustees in January, 2009.
Review (09-09-08):
Having to realign the college's assessment goals to meet new state goals has meant a longer
timeline for the PAC and other participants. However, good progress has been made in other
aspects of this project and a plan is in place to deal with the assessment portion in the near future.
B. Describe how the institution involved people in work on this Action Project.
The PAC consists of personnel from faculty, adjunct faculty, staff and administration. The twice
monthly meetings enable this cross disciplinary committee to communicate the status of the
school very well. Quarterly status reports on the existing strategic initiatives, along with
discussions of new projects and/or concerns provides excellent communication throughout the
college. As stated above, the budgeting process for the last two years has been done via a
subcommittee represented by a PAC member from each discipline. Also, during the college’s
transition of leadership, the Interim President made monthly presentations highlighting each of
the strategic initiatives to every standard committee on campus, including Faculty Caucus, Staff
Caucus, Management Advising Council, Board of Trustees and at each academic meeting.
Review (09-09-08):
Involving the internal stakeholders listed broadens the impact of the project for the College; were
there outside stakeholders involved at any point, or are there plans to involve them at a later
point in the project? [These would include employers, students, community leaders, etc.]
C. Describe your planned next steps for this Action Project.
As described in the first question, the PAC will act on the newly revised Board of Trustee Goals
that will be established in November, which will coincide with the PAC’s cycle of developing
and/or revising new strategic initiatives for the coming fiscal year. Those new or revised
initiatives will be forwarded to the President in December, who will use the PAC’s input to
finalize the strategic plan for the coming budget year.
Review (09-09-08):
These next steps will ensure that the president has the tools and information necessary for
effective budget planning.
D. Describe any "effective practice(s)" that resulted from your work on this Action Project.
The creation of the Planning Advisory Council at North Central State College has benefited the
college in a number of positive ways. Both formal and informal dissemination of information has
increased the attitudes of personnel in knowing that suggestions and proposals are being
considered by a broad representation of the college, rather than a select few. Information flow
has increased in both directions by virtue of the presentations made by our president on the
strategic initiatives, which in turn, have generated interest at all levels to participate in proposing
new projects. This positive attitude has also been seen in the development of the last two year’s
fiscal budgets, with the realization that input in developing the budget was garnered from a
subcommittee that represented the entire college.
Review (09-09-08):
The PAC has successfully broadened the dissemination of information internally to the
institution; is this information also disseminated to outside stakeholders who might have
issues/concerns/suggestions to share with the institution?
E. What challenges, if any, are you still facing in regards to this Action Project?
The challenge of developing an effective assessment system is the largest challenge facing the
PAC. The new strategic plan from the state, with its built in assessment criteria, will help the
PAC define an assessment technique that will gauge the success of our local initiatives as well as
their conformity to the state’s goals. Having struggled with assessment, the PAC recognizes that
future strategic initiatives will be written in a better format to allow for more concrete
assessment.
Review (09-09-08):
The PAC, depending on what needs to be assessed, might consider adopting more than one
assessment technique since different areas may not all fit into the 'one size' model for
assessment.
F. If you would like to discuss the possibility of AQIP providing you help to stimulate progress
on this action project, explain your need(s) here and tell us who to contact and when?
Review (09-09-08):