SCC plans to thrive in trying times

SCC President Lee Lambert speaks at an all-campus meeting.

Photo courtesy SCC.

by SCC staff in the campus blog

Faculty, staff, administrators and students at Shoreline Community College gathered in the PUB Main Dining Room for an all-campus meeting, May 6, 2011, to hear President Lee Lambert and others discuss strategic initiatives and legislative issues and highlight student successes.

An in-person audience of about 100 was on hand with another 47 watching via webcast using Elluminate.

Lambert spoke to a number of strategic initiatives being undertaken at the college, including: International Programs recruitment, the Virtual College Implementation Team, the Strategic Planning and Budget Committee, the 2015 group, an enrollment management plan, a new Web site, a new data management group and preparing for a new accreditation process.

Lambert said that all of the initiatives are intended to help the college manage through these times of significant change by attracting more students and revenue to cope with dwindling state funding. Lambert said growing the number of international students, who pay more tuition than state-resident students, is a key and component of the plan.

The virtual college idea, building on Shoreline’s already substantial online educational offerings, is another cornerstone component, he said. “Online education is the fastest growing sector of education today,” Lambert said. “I wish face-to-face was the fastest growing, but it isn’t.”

Shoreline does offer a number of completely online degrees and certificates, but the registration, payment and orientation processes can be cumbersome for a student who can’t come to the physical campus, he said. To that end, Lambert said he is pushing the Virtual College Implementation Team to move as quickly as possible with the process to add those capabilities by fall quarter.

Lambert spent some time tying four areas together: the Strategic Planning and Budget Committee, the enrollment management plan, accreditation and a new effort being called the 2015 group. “We’re trying to remodel the plane while it’s flying,” Lambert said. The Strategic Planning and Budget Committee is an essential part of the college governance structure, while the other three are components that do and will fall under the committee as appropriate.

The 2015 group doesn’t yet have members or an official charge, but Lambert said it will focus on recommendations for how the college should be structured given the realities of ongoing state budget cuts. “I’m speaking with the co-chairs of Strategic Planning to determine just how 2015 will fit in,” he said.

The college Web site is also moving ahead. Jim Hills, interim special assistance to the president for communications, marketing and government relations, announced the college has just this week purchased new software, a Web content management system by OmniUpdate. Lambert also spoke of a new data management group, designed to better coordinate data requests and analysis.