Century College System Portfolio 2012-2013 Century College June 2013

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Century College System Portfolio 2012-2013 century college June 2013

Table of Contents

Table of Tables �� III

Table of Figures ��V

College Overview �� 2

Category One: Helping Students Learn �� 4

Category Two: Accomplishing Other Distinctive Objectives �� 32

Category Three: Understanding Students’ and Other Stakeholders’ Needs �� 38

Category Four: Valuing People �� 54

Category Five: Leading and Communicating �� 66

Category Six: Supporting Institutional Operations �� 76

Category Seven: Measuring Effectiveness �� 84

Category Eight: Planning Continuous Improvement �� 93

Category Nine: Building Collaborative Relationships �� 104

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Table of Tables

1. Table 0.1 Century College FY2013-2014 Strategic Goals...... 2

2. Table 0.2 Student Profile...... 2

3. Table 0.3 Programs and Degrees ...... 2

4. Table 0.4 Employee Profile ...... 2

5. Table 1.1 Century College Core Competencies for Student Learning ...... 5

6. Table 1.2 Minnesota Transfer Curriculum Goal Areas...... 6

7. Table 1.3 Core Outcomes Mapping and Assessment Timeline and Process ...... 16

8. Table 1.4 MnSCU Institutional and System Performance Metrics - Century College ...... 18

9. Table 1.5 Licensure/Board Exam Pass Rates...... 19

10. Table 1.6 Dental Hygiene Program Outcomes ...... 20

11. Table 1.7 Emergency Medical Technician- Paramedic Outcomes Summary...... 21

12. Table 1.8 Related Employment Rate...... 23

13. Table 1.9 Average Job Preparation Satisfaction ...... 24

14. Table 1.10 Medical Assisting Employer Survey Results FY2012...... 25

15. Table 1.11 Nursing Alumni Survey...... 25

16. Table 1.12 TLC Outcomes...... 28

17. Table 1.13 Learning Communities’ Outcomes...... 29

18. Table 1.14 Library Reference Desk Requests – October 2013...... 30

19. Table 1.15 MnSCU Institutional and System Performance Metrics -

Century College and MnSCU Comparison ...... 30

20. Table 2.1 Results of Image and Awareness Survey 2011...... 36

21. Table 3.1 CCSSE 2009 & 2011 Frequency, Satisfaction and Importance of Services...... 45

22. Table 3.2 CCSSE 2009 & 2011 Questions related to Feeling Supported ...... 45

23. Table 3.3 CCSSE 2009 and 2011 Relationships with College...... 47

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24. Table 3.4 Media Habit Survey Highlights...... 48

25. Table 3.5 Web Survey Highlights...... 49

26. Table 3.6 Student Communication Survey Highlights...... 49

27. Table 3.7 2011 CCSSE Frequency, Satisfaction and Importance of Services.

Comparative Data...... 51

28. Table 3.8 2011 CCSSE Relationships with College, Comparative Data...... 51

29. Table 3.9 2011 CCSSE Questions related to Feeling Supported, Comparative Data. . . . . 52

30. Table 3.10 Image Awareness Survey 2011, Comparative Data...... 52

31. Table 4.1 Results of Communication Survey 2006-2010...... 62

32. Table 4.2 Pace Survey Top Mean Score Questions ...... 63

33. Table 4.3 Pace Survey Bottom Mean Score Questions...... 63

34. Table 4.4. Staff Professional Development 2011-2012 Summary ...... 64

35. Table 5.1 Overall Mean Scores for PACE Results 2012...... 75

36. Table 6.1 Suggestion Box Review 2012-2013...... 81

37. Table 6.2 2012 TechQual Survey Perceived Gaps in Service...... 82

38. Table 6.3 Faculty Satisfaction with ITS Service during Start of Term Survey ...... 82

39. Table 6.4 2012 Survey Results from Emergency Drill Feedback...... 95

40. Table 8.1 FY13-14 Strategic Plan Goals Measure Matrix ...... 100

41. Table 9.1 K-12 Student Survey 2009-2010...... 108

42. Table 9.2 CECT Student and Client Satisfaction Feedback ...... 108

43. Table 9.3 Student Satisfaction Survey 2012 ...... 109

44. Table 9.4 Client Satisfaction Survey 2012...... 109

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Table of Figures

1. Figure 1.1 Writing Center Usage AY1999-2012...... 29

2. Figure 2.1 Public Relations Plan...... 33

3. Figure 3.1 Student Concern/Grievance Process...... 43

4. Figure 3.2 2011 CCSSE Benchmark – Support for Learners ...... 44

5. Figure 3.3 .SENSE 2010 Benchmark Scores ...... 46

6. Figure 3.4 and 3.5 2011 Counselors’ Survey Summary, select questions...... 46

7. Figure 3.6 Community Perception of Century College ...... 50

8. Figure 4.1 Professional Development Opportunities Available to Employees...... 56

9. Figure 4.2 Matrix of Current Organizational and Professional Development Activities...... 59

10. Figure 5.1 Minnesota State Colleges and University System (MnSCU) Board procedure 3.24. . .. 66

11. Figure 5.2 Century College Mission, Vision, and Values...... 68

12. Figure 5.3 Organizations with Active Participation from Century College Cabinet ...... 70

13. Figure 5.4 Standing Committees...... 71

14. Figure 5.5 NILIE PACE Survey results by Employee Classification ...... 74

15. Figure 5.6 2012 NILIE PACE Leadership Scale compared to Norm Base ...... 75

16. Figure 7.1 MnSCU Institutional and System Performance Metrics...... 86

17. Figure 7.2 Information Flow between AtD Core, Data and Advancement Teams...... 89

18. Figure 7.3 Screen shot of Reading Lab Use by Week, Fall 2012...... 91

19. Figure 7.4 MyData Web Analytics 4th Quarter 2012...... 92

20. Figure 7.5 List of Resource and Support Centers with Tracking Interface ...... 92

21. Figure 8.1 Budget Guidelines ...... 99

22. Figure 8.2 FY2014 Budget Development Timeline...... 100

23. Figure 8.3 Overview of MnSCU Institutions’ Progress on Board of Trustees’

Accountability Dashboard ...... 103

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Century College Overview Century College is the largest two-year college in Minnesota, serving nearly 15,000 credit students and more than 10,000 non-credit students each year. We have nearly doubled in size in the last 12 years and are the first college in Minnesota accepted into the Achieving the Dream national network, an acknowledgment of the College’s ongoing commitment to data-based decision making and its unwavering focus on improving the success of all students and closing achievement gaps. We inspire students to continue learning throughout life and to develop as whole people: intellectually, physically, and emotionally. We prepare and empower students to be successful by helping them develop the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to enter or progress within the work force or to transfer to a four-year institution, and to adapt and thrive in our increasingly diverse and ever-changing world (Figure 5.2).

Table 0.1 FY2013-2014 Strategic Goals Century College FY2013-2014 Strategic Goals 1. Ensure success for all students. 2. Create a diverse, inclusive and supportive community that embraces equity for all. 3. Create a culture of excellence and innovation. 4. Strengthen our strategic partnerships and community relationships to meet the College’s mission. 5. Expand workforce education and training in cooperation with our partners so that individuals develop the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for gainful employment. 6. Promote responsible stewardship of our human, physical, technological and financial resources to support student success

Table 0.2 Student Profile Student Enrollment Credit Students Non-Credit Students FY2012 Female Students 55% 45% Students of Color 36% 12% Average Age 26 37 Total 14968 10160

Table 0.3 Summary of Programs and Degrees Conferred Number of Programs Degrees Conferred 2012 Associate Degree Programs 46 1,216 Certificate and Diploma Programs 88 673

Table 0.4 Employee Profile Number of College Employees FY2012 850 Faculty 437 Staff 321 Administrators 23

Century College’s Quality Improvement Journey Century College began actively pursuing acceptance into the Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) in 2004 and was accepted into the AQIP process in October of 2005. The first four AQIP action projects were: Assessment: Closing the Loop and Establishing a Structure for Future Inquiry, Actions and Interventions for Academic Success, Design and Implement E-Services to Improve Services to Students, and We Are Century. Three of these first four projects addressed Category One: Helping Students Learn. Since 2006, all but two

2 Century College Overview century college June 2013 action projects have addressed issues relating to helping students learn. Century College submitted its first Systems Portfolio in June 2009 and received its Systems Appraisal Feedback Report in the fall of that year. The feedback report identified four strategic concerns: l lack a consistent culture of evidence that draws connections between data collection, analysis, and the use of information to drive improvement across the college, l struggles with faculty involvement, inclusion, and participation in measuring effectiveness of institutional operations, l a need to better understand overall success by engaging in efforts to assess student learning and develop stronger systems for improving student success, thereby going beyond traditional classroom methodologies and indirect evidence of learning l leaving some questions in the portfolio unanswered

The College’s response to these concerns was swift. In May 2010, the College declared an AQIP Action Project which is focused on creating a culture of data-based decision making. The stated goal of this project was to create a culture and practice of inquiry and data-based decision making, driving this behavior deeper into the institution with a focus on program and unit-level engagement and behavioral change. The College recognizes the challenges of faculty involvement, inclusion, and participation and has taken several active steps in the past two years to address this concern. Since 2010, all faculty, staff, and administrators have been engaged in professional development activities focused on developing a common understanding of individual and collective roles in improving student success. Building on this understanding, each program, department, and unit developed its own “Student Success Action Plan,” outlining specific activities each area will undertake to improve student success. Recognizing that it has an opportunity to improve processes for measuring student learning, the College applied for and was accepted into the HLC’s Academy for Assessment of Student Learning in 2011. The Assessment Plan developed as part of the HLC’s Academy was declared as an AQIP Action Project, Show What You Know, and will become part of the College’s program review cycle. By the end of four years, all five College approved core outcomes will be mapped, assessed and departmental student success action plans created to improve student learning based upon assessment results. Finally, since the 2009 portfolio was developed, there has been a significant number of new hires, an increased depth of experience in Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), and a shifting of responsibilities among senior leadership. As a result of this new focus, the College has hired new personnel with an eye to building a culture of evidence on campus. For example, the College hired a Dean of Institutional Effectiveness (IE) and hired a new president with a background in Institutional Research.

Since the College joined AQIP, it has learned several things about itself as an institution and processes in general. Some of the key lessons learned are: 1. The College does many things well but in order to successfully change as an institution, it has learned that it takes a team to accomplish the tasks – not just one unit of the College. We have learned the importance of broad-based, grass-roots involvement of everyone on campus. Change must be carefully planned, introduced and implemented in a manner that enables the integration of the change into the life of the College. We cannot improve student success and overall institutional effectiveness without involving all members of the college community. 2. Embedding and documenting continuous improvement involves much more than completing AQIP Projects and yearly summary reports. To make continuous improvement a high priority campus- wide initiative, additional projects, events, and employee development opportunities need to be provided to administrators, faculty, staff, and student leadership. We must continue to focus on breaking down silos and working in a more integrated fashion by cutting across divisions to address institution- wide issues. Identifying and implementing the system for continuous improvement requires a high level of resources, including employee effort and time. While we have made progress in this area, we have opportunities to improve. 3. Although sometimes the results from data are not expected or desired, making decisions informed by data is an excellent strategy for change. A systematic, centralized system of data collection and use, along with communication of key trends, is important for decision-making and goal setting. Data

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is collected by various areas and institutions (e.g. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU), peer organizations) as well as the Institutional Effectiveness Office. Determining data collection needs, and communicating the information clearly without overloading employees and other stakeholders is a challenge. Events need to be designed to allow for intentional review of data, reflection, analysis, and developing informed decisions. 4. Communication is a never-ending challenge and needs to be addressed on an ongoing basis. What works one year may or may not work the next year, so we must continue to focus on reinventing our approaches. 5. The changing demographic and economic environment within which the College exists requires that we reinvent ourselves both to remain financially viable and also to be effective in serving our students successfully and helping them along their pathway to success. 6. The Systems Portfolio can serve as a catalyst for change. Both the strengths and opportunities of the College were identified and the evaluators identified areas of concern that need to be addressed.

Category One: HELPING STUDENTS LEARN

Category Summary The College’s processes for helping students learn exhibit a range of maturity from integrated to systematic. As part of the MnSCU system, we have standard policies and procedures regarding transfer, assessment of academic preparedness, and processes for program initiation, change, and discontinuation. Processes in these areas are integrated. The College’s processes are also integrated in providing a common data set to Academic Affairs for program review, course completion, and student success measures. Career and technical degree programs, especially those with national/program accreditation, have stable, intentionally managed processes and are, therefore, considered aligned in maturity. These areas have further aligned processes with Student Services to assist students entering their programs by offering specialized orientations and communicating closely with counselors and admissions staff to ensure they are familiar with program requirements. Processes in other areas within this category fall within the systematic category. The College is improving and increasingly does its work by repeatable processes with clear, explicit goals; the processes for course and program approval through Academic Affairs & Standards Council (AASC) and the recently developed assessment plan being two examples. The College encourages closer coordination among units and regularly evaluates what it does for the purposes of improvement. Several current and recently closed AQIP action projects demonstrate this commitment: Show What You Know, Creating a Culture of Data-Based Decision Making, and Bridge to Success. These are discussed below and throughout the portfolio.

The College has several priorities for this category. The primary one is making progress on assessment of student learning. The College’s current AQIP Action Project, Show What You Know, is the assessment plan developed by the College at the HLC’s Academy for the Assessment of Student Learning. This four-year plan will focus on mapping and assessing each of the College approved Core Competencies and establishes an iterative process of assessing and improvement of teaching and learning based upon assessment results. Assessment will be integrated into the program review process, which will move the College towards alignment of processes in this area. A second college priority is the expansion of the College’s intranet portal with the creation of collaborative sites for AASC and Academic Affairs, among many others. These collaboration sites will facilitate communication among faculty. A recently closed AQIP Action project, Bridge to Success, promoted and encouraged closer collaboration between Academic Affairs and Student Services, focusing on processes for identifying under-prepared students and providing supplemental instruction in selected gateway courses. This project also established a common set of metrics to measure student success: course completion with a grade of C or higher, credit completion, re-enrollment in subsequent term, and retention.

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Processes (P)

1P1. How do you determine which common or shared objectives for learning and development you should hold for all students pursuing degrees at a particular level? Whom do you involve in setting these objectives? Century College has five Core Outcomes that are embedded into each of its degree programs. These were developed over a two-year period (2008-2010) by a cross-functional team with representatives from administration and from both the liberal arts and occupational/technical faculty. Faculty and staff were asked to list the three learning outcomes a graduate of Century College should have achieved after two years of study at the College. A similar request also went out to the members of the Advisory Boards for the occupational/ technical programs. The results of these surveys were compiled into thematic categories which the team discussed and developed into the five Core Outcomes (Table 1.1).

Table 1.1 Century College Core Competencies for Student Learning Core Core Components Competency Communication • Critically and effectively read • Critically and effectively write • Critically and effectively listen • Critically and effectively speak • Effectively send and receive nonverbal messages • Appropriately adapt oral and written discourse to various contexts and purposes • Construct logical and coherent arguments • Employ syntax and usage appropriate to academic disciplines and their professional world Critical Thinking • State the problem or question at issue clearly and comprehensively, including the context, potential sources of bias, and opposing points of view • Gather information and evaluate sources for relevance, accuracy, logic, and fairness • Develop and articulate their own position clearly, offering logical, and sufficient evidence to support their conclusions • Select a course of action or solve a problem based on reasoned analysis and synthesis of information gathered • State the problem or question at issue clearly and comprehensively, including the context, potential sources of bias, and opposing points of view Global, Cultural, • Identify individual and group similarities and differences and Intellectual • Analyze the beliefs, behaviors, and values of their own culture as well as others’ Diversity • Demonstrate an understanding of the interdependence of cultures and communities • Demonstrate skills and values needed to effectively live and work in a diverse global society Ethical and Civic • Identify their own ethical values and the social, environmental, political, and Responsibility economic contexts of ethical behavior and decision-making • Analyze ethical dilemmas and articulate a well-reasoned position based on that analysis • Make decisions and take actions that will enhance the common good of society and the natural environment • Participate in the civic life of the community

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Life Planning and • Articulate educational, professional, and personal goals through self-assessment Goal Setting and reflection • Identify strategies for fulfilling educational, professional, and personal goals • Demonstrate an ability to adapt plans, building on prior experiences to respond to new and challenging contexts

These Core Outcomes were adopted by the Academic Affairs and Standards Council (AASC) in the Fall of 2010. In addition, MnSCU has a common general education curriculum called the Minnesota General Education Transfer Curriculum (MnTC). The MnTC consists of the general education requirements typically completed during the first half (2 years) of a Bachelor’s degree (“four-year degree”). The MnTC is shared among all Minnesota two- and four-year public colleges and universities to support the transfer of coursework and credits in general education. Table 1.2 lists the goal areas of the MnTC.

Table 1.2 Minnesota Transfer Curriculum Goal Areas 1. Communication 2. Critical Thinking 3. Natural Sciences 4. Mathematical/Logical Reasoning 5. History and the Social and Behavioral Sciences 6. Humanities and the Fine Arts 7. Human Diversity 8. Global Perspectives 9. Ethics and Civil Responsibility 10. People and the Environment

Faculty have been actively involved in mapping the Core Outcomes within the college curriculum. The Communication Core Outcome was mapped in the spring of 2012. Student artifacts were collected in fall 2013 and assessed by the Assessment Committee in spring 2013. The next Core Outcomes to be mapped are Global, Cultural, and Intellectual Diversity, and Ethical and Civic Responsibility, which began in the fall of 2012.

1P2. How do you determine your specific program learning objectives? Whom do you involve in setting these objectives? The general education program’s learning objectives are described in 1P1 above. AASC is also involved in the establishment of learning objectives through the curriculum development process. AASC follows guidelines set forth by the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum (MnTC), discipline-specific standards, and industry standards to evaluate course or program proposals brought to AASC. In addition, faculty presenting proposals are asked to set appropriate levels of reading and English prerequisites for courses. Both faculty and administrators sit on the council and make judgments concerning additions and changes to course outlines and program proposals. The full council meets every other week, with Faculty Mentoring sessions held during the alternate weeks. These mentoring sessions give faculty members the opportunity to meet with the members of the council for advice and guidance about their course proposals. The full membership of AASC then meets to have a first reading of new or updated proposals. These proposals are then published in the Bulletin, (electronic newsletter that comes out regularily) to allow the larger college community to learn about and comment on them. Usually, the proposals are approved at the next meeting of the full AASC. Common and shared objectives are stated on the course outline. All course objectives are included and covered during course planning.

Occupational and technical programs with specialized accreditation have learning goals outlined by their various accrediting bodies. These programs must conform to those learning objectives in order to

6 Category One: HELPING STUDENTS LEARN century college June 2013 maintain their accreditation. The goals established in this way are closely aligned with the licensing exams that students must pass in order to obtain employment in their field of study. Advisory boards are also actively involved in making sure that the learning goals of the courses offered in a particular program are in concert with the learning goals established by the appropriate accrediting agency.

For example, the Radiologic Technology (RADT) program determines their program objectives based on the established national standards for radiography programs as approved by the national professional organization and the national registry, advisory committee members, peers, faculty and students. The program has been through peer reviewed national accreditation visits and the findings of the peers include having a curriculum that meets the national standards of radiographic technology. The College’s Dental Assisting Program is accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA), whose objectives for student learning and development are driven by the CODA standards. The Paramedic Program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP), and the Committee of Edu- cational Programs for the Emergency Medical Services Professions (CoAEMSP). The Medical Assisting program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP), which accredits programs upon the recommendation of the Medical Assisting Education Review Board (MAERB).

The Continuing Education and Customized Training (CECT) division also has certificate programs with objectives determined by industry standards. For example, the College’s Firefighting and Public Safety program meets the National Fire Protection Association standards and the Nursing Assistant training meets the requirements of the Minnesota Department of Health and OBRA.

1P3. How do you design new programs and courses that facilitate student learning and are competitive with those offered by other organizations? AASC follows MnSCU standards for all new program proposals. MnSCU requires a review and comparison of new programs with existing programs in the system and the region. To comply with the MnSCU standards, the College conducts research to determine what programs and courses are being offered by both public and private organizations in addition to examining enrollment patterns in various courses and needs of the campus community. Once faculty in a department determine that a new program or course is to be developed, they meet with their peers to determine objectives and outcomes for new programs and courses. Faculty in the occupational and technical programs consult with advisory committee members and industry experts to determine objectives and outcomes. For example, the Law Enforcement Program recently conducted a survey of area law enforcement professionals asking for input on skills and knowledge needed by new graduates in the field. Once program specifics are developed, faculty submit new programs and courses to AASC for approval.

AASC routinely asks how a proposed new course compares with other courses in the same discipline or field offered at other institutions. Changing trends in technology and industry needs will impact the design of new courses as well. The Radiologic Technology and Medical Assisting departments developed curriculum for an x-ray operator’s limited scope certificate. This was designed based on industry and employment needs for this training that was provided by our employer partnerships. In addition, some programs, such as Dental Assisting, have a state governing body through which course and program changes are approved.

CECT division focuses its programming on five main areas (Health Care, Trades and Industry, Transportation, Business Computer/Information Technology and Fire and Public Safety) but will develop trainings in other areas, depending upon client need and the capacity of the department. If they determine that they cannot meet the needs of the organization, they may refer students to another community college as appropriate. As part of the process for developing new programing, they follow trends and issues in these five areas, in addition to contacting existing partners and gauging interest for new training.

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If wide interest is found, they will pursue the new training opportunity. The CECT division has advisory boards for each of their cornerstone areas with whom they consult, which allows them to respond quickly to the changing training needs of the community and their clients. See Category 9 for more information about CECT.

1P4. How do you design responsive academic programming that balances and integrates learning goals, students’ career needs, and the realities of the employment market? See 1P3 above for occupational and technical programs and CECT. For general education courses, the department faculty meet regularly to update their academic programming. While AASC does not design curriculum, it designs curriculum proposal forms which create the Common Course Outline. The Common Course Outline is required of all courses and includes prerequisites, course objectives, topical outlines, and assessment methods. AASC expects faculty to incorporate current discipline standards, advisory committee recommendations, and industry standards in courses and program proposals.

Each year, Academic Affairs is given a comprehensive report, Criteria for Program Review, by the Office of Institutional Effectiveness which gives enrollment, program success, and, where applicable, employment statistics, for each academic department and discipline. In general, the curriculum offered at Century College is continually being reviewed and updated. As areas of deficit or student need are identified, new programs and courses are added or existing programs and courses are updated. These gaps or deficits are also connected to the transfer requirements of baccalaureate institutions within the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system and with other institutions of higher education with which Century College has articulation agreements.

College level credits and courses completed at other colleges, universities or institutions are evaluated for transfer to Century College based on official transcripts received at Century College from institutions students previously attended. Transfer of credit and courses are evaluated based on policies and procedures of Century College as identified in Century College’s catalog, System policy 3.21 and procedure 3.21.0.1. Credit achieved through college level alternative or nontraditional education experiences are considered for transfer, according to published national standard guidelines established by the American Council on Education (ACE) or other similar national organizations, as per System policies 3.33.0.1 and 3.35.0.1. Credit for prior learning options include: Advanced Placement (AP), Certified Professional Secretary (CPS), College Level Examination Program (CLEP), Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES/DSST), International Baccalaureate (IB), Military, and Tech Prep.

1P5. How do you determine the preparation required of students for the specific curricula, programs, courses, and learning they will pursue? Century College is an open enrollment institution. As such, most of its programs do not have criteria for admission. Students are accepted based upon high school or GED completion. Upon admission to the College, all students take a placement exam, ACCUPLACER, to determine whether they have college-ready skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. Students can also submit ACT scores to be waived from taking the placement exam. Students whose scores on the placement exam result in assignment to a developmental learner track are referred to a post assessment advisor for assistance with course scheduling and planning. AASC asks that all course or program proposals include appropriate and clearly stated recommendations and prerequisites. A number of departments and programs examined the success rates of students with varying placement levels and found a close correlation between reading and English placement levels and student success. As a result of that evaluation, AASC encourages disciplines and programs to add appropriate reading and English prerequisites to their courses in order to increase student success. Some departments have set prerequisites for the program and individual courses that aid in student success.

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For those occupational and technical programs that have special admissions criteria, such as Nursing, students must apply separately and are evaluated based upon their meeting the admissions criteria set by the departments. Some accreditors, such as the National Accreditation of Radiologic Technology Programs, also suggest general education courses needed for a students’ education. Employers of recent graduates from occupational and career programs are annually surveyed by the program and asked to provide input with regards to student’s readiness to work.

1P6. How do you communicate to current and prospective students the required preparation and learning and development objectives for specific programs, courses, and degrees or credentials? How do admissions, student support, and registration services aid in this process? Once AASC approves the requirements, they become part of the Common Course Outline or Program Award and can be enforced by Records and Registration. Admissions and Counseling also inform students of these requirements. The information is included in the online College Catalog and on the online course registration screens. Student Services offices are the first contact point for many students in acquiring information regarding preparation, learning, and development. While Admissions and Registration services can provide students with details about the specific programs and courses they are interested in, the Counseling Center is the primary office that provides degree and program preparation information to students. The occupational and technical programs receive substantial support from Admissions, Registration and other student support services. Many departments hold yearly meetings with counselors to share concerns and, in general, communicate frequently. These programs have separate admission booklets for their programs and special orientation sessions for their new and prospective students to discuss the program. The booklets and other information are available to students on the College’s website. In addition to responding to phone calls and email inquiries from prospective students, the occupational and technical faculty attend many recruiting or information sessions sponsored by the college or outside groups. For example: • Prospective dental assistant students are invited to view the “Program-at-a-glance” sheet, the Program Guide, and the Model Course Sequence on the Century College website. Dental Assisting has a Program Director to answer questions, and an Admissions Specialist to also answer questions from prospective students. There are also information forums and open houses. • Medical Assisting faculty host meet and greets each semester which are 1 ½ hour formal meetings with prospective students to deliver program information and start the student advising process. An email is sent out to all students who have selected Medical Assisting as their major informing them of the meetings. The department posts flyers regarding the sessions throughout the college to alert students who may not have a determined major yet or are interested in medical assisting. Student support staff attend classes during the first week of the semester to meet with the students and discuss all of the support options available to students. • Cosmetology program has an orientation program for all new students before the start of the fall term to review over the requirements of the program. This orientation allows students to get a better idea what the program expectations are and gets them more comfortable with faculty and the campus.

In all courses, course syllabi and course schedules communicate to students the required preparation, learning and development objectives for specific programs, courses, and degrees or credentials. Students meeting with admissions, student support, and registration staff are also provided with this information. Course outlines, approved by the Academic Affairs and Standards Council (AASC), are available to prospective students, college support personnel, and the public via the college website.

1P7. How do you help students select programs of study that match their needs, interests, and abilities? In addition to that mentioned in 1P5 and 1P6 above, the College hosts two Student Success Days each year, and GPS LifePlan Workshops are available for students in the area of career decision-making. The College also has a yearly “Transfer Days” open house where students can speak to representatives from visiting

Category One: HELPING STUDENTS LEARN 9 century college June 2013 colleges and universities about their intended majors. Counselors teach Career Studies 1010- Career and Life Planning. This course guides students through the lifelong career exploration and decision-making process. It includes an examination of individual strengths, personality types, interests, values, and skills. Students explore the world of work, examine educational options, and establish specific goals. The course presents processes for determining what gives meaning to students’ lives and integrating the work role with other life roles.

CECT offers courses and programing to students in the following options to meet the needs of students: • Open enrollment in non-credit courses • Contract training • Prison certification • Continuing Education for licensure updating, such as social workers and nurses • Workforce center partnerships for dislocated workers • Enrichment courses

1P8. How do you deal with students who are underprepared for the academic programs and courses you offer? Upon admission to the College, the majority of students take a placement exam, ACCUPLACER, to determine whether they have college-ready skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. Students whose scores on the placement exam place them on a developmental learner track are referred to a post assessment advisor for assistance with course scheduling and planning. Counselors help students clarify areas of under preparedness and encourage them to use the appropriate campus resources to increase their success in college. Counselors provide personal, career, and academic counseling, interpret assessment placement test scores, and provide resources to study prior to retesting. All faculty, including counselors, can and do refer students for assistance to numerous areas of the college (e.g. writing, math, and reading centers, Access Center, ESOL advocate, peer tutoring, GPS workshops) when applicable.

CECT is increasingly serving more under-prepared students. In response, they have shifted processes and administer more pre-class assessments, providing math tutoring, online preparatory courses, referral to take the ACCUPLACER, and taking credit bearing developmental education courses or non-credit skills raising classes as needed.

1P9. How do you detect and address differences in students’ learning styles? In general, individual faculty members detect and address differences through direct observation of students, discussion with students, and assessment of class performance. Faculty discuss and consult with each other during departmental meetings to determine trends they may be seeing and adapt their pedagogy as appropriate. Within occupational and technical programs, faculty can advise students on a more one-to-one basis, detect differences in learning styles, and refer students to support services more easily than faculty in the Liberal Arts departments. For example, Orthotics and Prosthetics faculty have a more individualized instruction format that gives them the opportunity to determine individual student needs and adjust accordingly. Cosmetology faculty meet with each student at least once a year to discuss progress and address any problems students may be having. All of the Dental Assistant courses have a lecture and lab component, with an “apprentice-type” technical learning and teaching model that addresses many learning styles. In the Medical Assisting program, instructors meet with each student individually at the end of each of the clinical and lab courses to do an “affective domain evaluation.” The New Student Seminar class for developmental reading students assists students in identifying their learning style in order to improve their academic success. In addition, faculty teach to different learning styles, for example: lectures, demonstrations, and visuals. Students that need additional assistance are counseled and may be advised to seek additional assistance by other campus resources.

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1P10. How do you address the special needs of student subgroups (e.g., handicapped students, seniors, commuters)? The College has a full range of support services to meet the needs of the various student subgroups. Most students self-refer to these services and as such, the process is mostly reactive. The Access Center is available for students who disclose that they need accommodations. The staff at the Access Center work with faculty to meet the needs of our differently abled students. The College is ADA compliant in our facilities. Faculty refer students to services to help address their needs as mentioned in 1P8. The College has an active Multicultural Center, Veterans Center, under-represented students and SSS/Trio/Upward Bound programs. In addition, counselors are available to address the unique needs of Century College’s diverse student population. Many of the College’s services respond to the needs of students of color, veterans, GLBTQ and others. Here is a sample of services and activities from the Counseling Center: • Provide Quick Stop assistance, early morning and evening hours for part-time, adult, and evening students • Support group for adult learners • Support group for young parents • Participate and develop online screening for eating disorders, chemical dependency, depression, bipolar, PPSD, and anxiety disorders, suicide prevention • Provide collaboration, consultation, and advocacy for student using the Access Center services CECT division works closely with their clients and workforce centers to identify training and education needs of students and adapts programming to meet those needs or refers them to appropriate credit and non-credit programs, classes, or other institutions as needed.

1P11. How do you define, document, and communicate across your institution your expectations for effective teaching and learning? All newly hired probationary faculty are evaluated by their deans who discuss the College’s expectations for teaching and learning. All faculty are eligible for professional development funds, which are contractually guaranteed, which may be used to pursue development in the area of effective teaching and learning. Faculty typically self-refer to access these funds. In addition, the College has annual college-wide professional development days where faculty can attend workshops, listen to speakers, and participate in training on teaching and learning related to the College’s institutional goals. Through the program review and student success action plan processes, departments have the opportunity to define, document, and communicate expectations for effective teaching and learning. There are also regularly scheduled faculty meetings and monthly meetings with other department chairs and program directors during which teaching and learning is often the main topic of discussion.

The College also has an active Center for Learning and Development that offers a variety of professional development opportunities for faculty. The Center provides a supportive environment for faculty to experiment, explore, develop, implement, and share ideas and experiences for the advancement of student success.

The Center has strong support from the College. Its goals are to: • Encourage experimentation and innovation in teaching and learning • Create a positive, supportive and dynamic climate for a diverse faculty • Facilitate collaboration and development of community among faculty • Enhance effective teaching and lifelong learning • Recognize and promote teaching excellence • Provide resources for active teaching and learning • Disseminate information about professional development opportunities and resources • Maintain a physical space for investigation and incubation of new ideas and technologies for teaching and learning

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The College Library offers instruction, classes, and one-on-one help at the reference desk to help students and employees learn to use information resources. Information literacy is also part of several courses and is part of the New Student Seminar. Outside of situations where access to these resources is integrated into a course, the process for using these resources is reactive, relying upon student and employee self- referral. The College has policies on academic honesty and integrity, which are posted on the website and in the yearly College planner that is given to all new students at mandatory orientation and is available in the student center for continuing students.

1P12. How do you build an effective and efficient course delivery system that addresses both students’ needs and your institution’s requirements? The College offers courses in a variety of formats: face-to-face, hybrid, lecture, lab, clinical, day and evening, Saturday, late start courses and fast track courses, online asynchronous, online synchronous courses, and non-credit bearing courses each semester depending upon the nature of the course or program and departments’ decisions. All credit bearing courses taught at the College must follow the AASC approved common course outlines and meet all of the course objectives. The faculty determine how those objectives are met according to academic freedom and individual pedagogy. Courses offered in varying formats such as condensed, hybrid, or fully online must meet the same approved objectives regardless of format. If a course is offered over a period of fewer than 15 weeks (compressed), it is scheduled so that the total number of minutes required for the number of credits assigned to the course is maintained. Hybrid or blended courses reduce the face-to-face time of the class and replace it with required online work. Although the amount of time spent in either format varies by course, instructor, and academic discipline, all hybrid courses must meet the approved course objectives. Online versions of approved courses are developed by faculty with the assistance of an instructional designer. The course is reviewed by the instructional designer and two peer reviewers utilizing a rubric derived from Quality Matters. The course will be offered in a semester’s schedule once the course has incorporated suggestions based upon the review rubric and the faculty member is confident in the integrity of the online version of the course. The MnSCU System hosts a common platform for online courses to ensure consistence in course navigation for students (Desire2Learn (D2L).

1P13. How do you ensure that your programs and courses are up-to-date and effective? AASC asks faculty to revise curriculum on a five-year cycle. All departments regularly review and update all courses, looking at data in the Criteria for Program Review and Course Completion data. See 1P3 and 1P4 for more information on this process.

In addition to the Criteria for Program Review data, occupational and technical programs, especially those with program accreditation or approval, follow industry standards and undergo regular peer evaluation visits. During this process the programs’ curriculum is scrutinized to ensure the latest content is being offered effectively according to accrediting or approval agency. These programs administer annual student, graduate, employer and other external stakeholder surveys as required by their accrediting or approving agency. In addition, programs have continued discussions with advisory committees and at the department level that guide the curriculum, making sure it remains current.

1P14. How do you change or discontinue programs and courses? For Liberal Arts/General Education departments, the process for changing or discontinuing programs and courses is based on ongoing discussions within the department, enrollment trends, evolution of the discipline, and student interest. Occupational and technical programs regularly review their curriculum in light of accreditation agency or industry standards, advisory board feedback, enrollment trends, graduate licensure pass rates, employment rates, and employer and recent graduate survey results. Once the decision has been made to change or discontinue a course or program, faculty bring the change or motion to discontinue to AASC for approval. For courses, once AASC has approved the change or discontinuation, the College’s course catalog and student information system is updated with the appropriate information. For program change and/ or discontinuation, after AASC approval, the program or department’s dean submits the appropriate paperwork

12 Category One: HELPING STUDENTS LEARN century college June 2013 to the MnSCU system office for notification and approval. After the system office approves the change and/or discontinuation, the Director of IR at the College notifies the Higher Learning Commission that the program has been discontinued. Additionally program stability is watched and each program/department participates in a program review process, called Program Health Indicators, which is on a 3-year rotation.

1P15. How do you determine and address the learning support needs (tutoring, advising, placement, library, laboratories, etc.) of your students and faculty in your student learning, development, and assessment processes? As stated above in 1P5 and 1P8, the College requires students to take a placement exam before registering for their first term at the College. Depending upon the results of the placement test, developmental learners are required to take a series of developmental classes to get them to college-readiness level. Some academic departments have placed reading, writing, and/or math pre-requisites on their courses to better ensure that students in their courses are prepared for the course material. Students are referred to other support services, such as Counseling, Tutoring, Writing, and Math Resource Centers, based upon performance in class and interactions with faculty and staff. Students may also self-select these services. Some occupational and technical programs, such as Radiologic Technology, surveys students as part of their Student Success Assessment Plan where they determine the learning support needs or deficiencies of new entering students. The Cosmetology program has personal advising sessions with students each year and refers students to services as needed. The Dental Assisting program follows the expectations of their accrediting agency, CODA, to provide services to students. Career and technical programs have technological and facility infrastructure to effectively meet learning objectives of their programs. The Nursing program maintains relationships with area hospitals for access to clinical sites. The College has an on-site dental clinic, cosmetology clinic, automotive service technology lab and shop, fabrication lab, science labs, theatre and music practice rooms to support students and faculty in those respective programs and courses. Programs that survey students and external stakeholders about the program will include questions about services and based upon feedback from those surveys, they will modify the services they provide, as feasible.

The College offers free tutors to any student who wants one. In addition, the College runs a vibrant supplemental instruction program called Tutors Linked to Classes (TLC) where tutors are assigned to specific classes to assist all students enrolled in the class.

The librarians determine learning support needs from reference question statistics and subjects; usage statistics for print, audiovisual, and online materials; discussions with faculty; attending departmental meetings; and consultation with departments prior to accreditation visits. In addition, the library uses a variety of professional selection sources to maintain a well-rounded collection suitable for our academic audience. In order to address these needs, the College library purchases materials and online resources in appropriate subject areas, organizes all materials for ease of access, both in the library and through the catalog, web page, and subject guides. The Library updates the collection on an ongoing basis. Additionally, the Library offers instruction, classes, and one-on-one help at the reference desk to help students learn to use its resources. Students on campus have access to a welcoming physical space conducive to study. Distance education students have access to online resources and library instruction tools.

Century College offers training opportunities outside of the program areas to enhance teaching. Some examples of these are diversity awareness program (SEED), On-Course Workshops, and Learning Exchanges. In addition to these, Professional Development Funds are available for faculty to continue education in their accredited field. Faculty learning support needs are addressed more fully in Category 4 and 1P11.

1P16. How do you align your co-curricular development goals with your curricular learning objectives? The College has a commitment to developing student leaders and engaging students outside the classroom by providing numerous opportunities for co-curricular involvement. The skills and knowledge that students acquire by their involvement in co-curricular activities reflect all of the themes that are a part of the Minnesota Transfer

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Curriculum (MnTC). The ten themes or skills are shown in Table 1.2. Century College has over forty different clubs and activities that are sponsored by Student Life. Examples of some of the clubs that relate to the themes include Black Student Association, Muslim Student Association, Queer and the Straight, Writer’s Block and Rock-It-Science. Many clubs are tied directly to the College’s occupational programs; examples include Orthotics/Prosthetics, Nursing, Radiological Technology, Law Enforcement and Dental Assisting. The advisors for these types of clubs are all faculty members from the particular program areas. They assist the students in shaping the mission and constitution of the club, in keeping with the programs’ curriculum. Other organizations with strong curricular, academic achievement and leadership components include Phi Theta Kappa honor society, Student Senate, Student Ambassadors, the student newspaper, and the Leadership Institute.

Clubs may be developed in one of two ways: either an instructor solicits students in his/her program to form a club, or students solicit the instructor to act as an advisor because they wish to form a club. Whether it was the student or the faculty member that was the initiator of the club, a club must advertise for members, write a constitution, seek approval from the Student Senate and college president, and secure funding through the Student Life Committee. Once a faculty member is involved, they will help align the mission and activities of a club with the program. Activities may include visits to area employers, attending related conferences, bringing speakers from the field to the campus, and learning activities at club meetings.

Intentional leadership development is a priority within the Student Life department. The Leadership Institute is a non-credit eight-week program designed to challenge, enhance, and develop personal, professional, and career-related skills among our students. Participants leave the Institute with a strong grasp of their strengths, along with a leadership philosophy. The Ducks Leadership ropes course is an engaging and exciting program. The outdoor initiatives program provides experiential learning opportunities for students and employees. A trained facilitator tailors specific activities to a group, which may include icebreakers, problem solving, communication, leadership, and conflict resolution. When working with a faculty member to bring a class through, the faculty member and the facilitator review course outcomes to tailor the experience.

Student Life supports curriculum development in the areas of theatre, music, and fitness. The theatre program includes courses for credit and participation in theatre productions as an actor or set technician. Choir is also offered as a course for credit or as an activity. The Student Life fee supports the physical education area through an intramural program, open fitness center hours, and intercollegiate athletics. It is important in all of these areas that the co-curricular experience complements the learning in the classroom. The Fitness Center is used as both a classroom and an open activity area and the staff assist students whether they are there for credit or personal development.

The GPS LifePlan is a program at Century College that provides a holistic structure for student development. The GPS LifePlan (Goals + Plans = Success) helps students define and attain their career, academic, financial, educational, and personal goals. The GPS LifePlan is an interactive and multi-faceted program that students experience through participating in campus activities and events, orientation, First Year Experience, workshops, eFolio (electronic portfolio) development, Student Success Day, and student-staff-faculty interactions. Critical to the success of the program is providing opportunities and support for faculty to integrate the GPS LifePlan into their curriculum. These workshops are available to faculty who wish to incorporate them into their curriculum. Faculty who have used workshops comment that the GPS LifePlan has provided a common language across the campus and has afforded them the opportunity to talk with their students about all dimensions of their lives and how those dimensions affect their success as a student.

While most orientation programs at community and technical colleges are a half day experience, the New Student Orientation process at Century College has evolved from a three hour, one-day program into a comprehensive two-day experience that responds to the changing needs of a diverse student and family population. The change emerged in response to a recognized need to separate course registration from resource and college readiness information. This change allows students to feel less anxious about securing

14 Category One: HELPING STUDENTS LEARN century college June 2013 their course schedule and better able to focus on exploring resources that will help them be successful students.

The First Year Experience program is a non-credit six week program that is currently targeted at the college level student. Because all non-college level reading students are required to take the New Student Seminar, this affords an opportunity for college level students to extend their orientation experience into their first semester. The sessions are facilitated by staff and student ambassadors and cover goal setting, time management, college resources and academic planning.

The Multicultural Center offers various programs, events, and services designed to enrich the campus experience and complement classroom curriculum through cultural awareness programming, advocacy, and advising. The staff works with faculty, students and the campus community through committees, feedback and meetings to ensure that a variety of meaningful and timely topics are offered. The Center has recently launched a national chapter of Brother-To-Brother serving males of color. Students are provided academic support, advising, and a supportive community. The goal is to close the achievement gap for all male students but specifically African American and Latino students.

The Veteran population at the college has continued to grow. The increased need for support and services led to the development of the Veterans’ Center. Through the staff member and the Veteran’s club, advising, programming, and community resources are available to Veteran students and the entire campus community. The GPS LifePlan also has a military version that was developed to assist with the successful reintegration of returning armed forces. See Category 2 for more information on Military GPS LifePlan.

Several programs have required service learning hours as part of their requirements. The Dental Assisting program has developed a co-curricular activity in which the student must achieve a total of 25 hours of professional development in their three semesters in the program. Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement programs required students to complete 80 hours of criminal justice related service learning.

Many of the College’s core competencies have linkages to these activities, such as Life Planning and Goal Setting, but the College has not yet defined co-curricular development goals to align with curricular learning objectives and has identified this as an opportunity for improvement.

1P17. How do you determine that students to whom you award degrees and certificates have met your learning and development expectations? The College is a participant in the HLC’s Academy for the Assessment of Student Learning. The four-year plan developed as part of that academy, which is also one of the College’s current AQIP projects, is focused on making the assessment of student learning more widespread and integral to the work of the College. The specific activities include mapping the College’s Core Outcomes onto the curriculum, developing strategies and tools for assessing the Core Outcomes, and developing a cyclical plan of assessment integrated into the Program Health Indicators process. In the 2011-2012 year, this project has been focused on two activities. The first activity is beginning to map the College’s curriculum onto the Core Outcomes for learning that Century College has adopted. The first Core Outcome is Communication. Nearly all (97%) of all the academic programs and departments completed this task by the end of the academic year, 2011-2012. The second activity is drafting and revising scoring rubrics for evaluating student work on the Communication Core Outcome in the fall of 2012. These rubrics were completed by the end of the spring semester 2012. The Academic Assessment Committee has developed rubrics for the first competency and is exploring using AAC&U’s Values Rubrics in the next academic year. Academic departments have mapped their courses to the Communications Core Competency and will submit student artifacts for assessment in spring 2013. They will then map their curriculum to the other core competencies, while the committee finishes the rubrics and determines which courses and student artifacts to solicit from faculty. AASC has strengthened the curriculum proposal forms in areas related to student requirements and course objectives.

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Occupational and technical programs determine whether students have met their programs’ learning and development expectations by evaluation and discussion of national certification results, licensure pass rates, results of competencies, exams, assignments, grades, test scores, capstone projects, clinical externship, graduate and employer surveys, and advisory committee input depending upon the requirements of their national accrediting agency (Table 1.7). For example, all health care programs, Cosmetology and Law Enforcement have licensure exams of their graduates that they regularly review to determine whether students have met program outcomes.

1P18. How do you design your processes for assessing student learning? The Academic Assessment Committee is charged with developing and implementing procedures for assessing student learning. Members of this committee have attended workshops and conferences such as the Assessment Institute in order to learn about best practices in the assessment of student learning. Century College is a member of the Higher Learning Commission’s Academy for the Assessment of Student Learning. The plan developed at the Academy is in the initial stages of implementation. The basic outline of the plan is to map the curriculum of the college onto the Core Outcomes and to use those curriculum maps to determine where to find samples of student work to assess students’ level of achievement with respect to the Core Outcomes. The results of these assessments will then be used to inform decision-making and planning regarding the ongoing development of the curriculum at Century College.The timeline and process are displayed in the Table 1.3.

Table 1.3 Core Outcomes Mapping and Assessment Timeline and Process Competency Fall Spring Fall Spring Fall Spring Fall Spring 2011 2012 2012 2013 2013 2014 2014 2015 Communi- Map Select Pilot Collect Programs Collect Programs Collect cation courses collection artifacts and depts artifacts and depts artifacts to sample of and consult and consult and assess and artifacts assess with assess with develop and student student process assess- learning learning for ment commit- committee collecting tee on on use of artifacts use of results results Global, -- -- Map Select Pilot Collect Programs Collect Cultural, courses collection artifacts and depts artifacts and to sam- of arti- and consult and assess Intellectual ple and facts and assess with Diversity develop assess- student process ment learning for committee collecting on use of artifacts results

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Ethical and -- -- Map Select Pilot Collect programs Collect Civic Re- courses collection artifacts and depts artifacts sponsibility to sam- of and as- consult and assess ple and artifacts sess with develop and student process assess- learning for col- ment committee lecting on use of artifacts results Critical ------Map Select Pilot Collect Thinking courses collection artifacts to sample of artifacts and assess and de- and as- velop pro- sessment cess for collecting artifacts Life Plan------Map Select Pilot Collect ning and courses collection artifacts Goal Setting to sample of artifacts and assess and de- and velop pro- assess- cess for ment collecting artifacts Note: as curriculum is updated, mapping of core outcomes will occur as part of a regular cycle of review.

The assessment of student learning also includes the federally mandated Technical Skills Assessment (TSA) process. Select occupational and technical programs will be participating in the TSA as it continues to grow and develop at the national level. Occupational and technical programs follow the recommendations and requirements of their national accrediting agency and industry standards as appropriate. In addition, some programs have licensure exams, such as Nursing, Dental Assisting, Cosmetology, Radiologic Technology, and Law Enforcement, which act as a proxy indicator of student learning. See Table 1.5 for a list of exams. Other departments in the liberal arts are at work developing exit competencies. This is especially true of departments that offer developmental courses for students.

As all of the processes described above grow and develop, opportunities for professional development will be available for faculty and staff. Systemic changes occur in tandem with training and guidance for adapting to those changes. In-class assessments vary by instructor. Common methods include tests, essays, presentations, blogs, discussions, feedback, practice, final projects and other in-class activities.

Results (R)

1R1. What measures of your students’ learning and development do you collect and analyze regularly? [1P13] The College uses the MnSCU Institutional and System Performance Metrics to track progress on student learning and success on an institutional level and to compare ourselves with our peers. The current metrics are displayed on the Board of Trustees’ Accountability Dashboard but metrics based upon the System’s new Strategic Framework is scheduled to be released by June 2013. The College internally collects data regarding course completion, credit completion, GPA, and transfer and

Category One: HELPING STUDENTS LEARN 17 century college June 2013 graduation rates which are disaggregated by key demographic characteristics. These metrics allow the College to track its unique programs and determine their impact on student success. The Criteria for Program Review includes course completion, withdrawal rates, graduates, years to graduation, graduate-related employment and satisfaction. All graduates are asked to complete the System Office’s Graduate Follow-up Survey from which is calculated a related employment rate.

Occupational and Technical programs have standard assessments they need to report to their accrediting or approval agencies, which include metrics such as: • Licensure pass rates • Test results • Survey results • Internship Performance Evaluations • Externship feedback • Job placement results • Employee Feedback • Competency Evaluation forms • Perkins Technical Skills Assessment With the implementation of the Assessment Plan developed through participation in the Academy for the Assessment of Student Learning, a comprehensive and ongoing program to assess the Core Outcomes is underway.

1R2. What are your performance results for your common student learning and development objectives?

Table 1.4 MnSCU Institutional and System Performance Metrics - Century College 2012 data Metric Two Years Prior One Year Prior System Student Persistence and FY2010: 67.7% FY2011:66.2% Completion (includes retention, transfer and graduation) System Retention Rate FY2010: 49.9% FY2011: 50.4% System Transfer Rate FY2010: 11.7% FY2011: 10.9% System Graduation Rate FY2010: 8.0% FY2011: 4.9% Under-represented Student FY2009: 69.5% FY2010: 66.8% Persistence and Completion Completion Rate (Time to Degree) FY2008: 39.9% FY2009: 40.8% Completion Rate for Diverse FY2008: 34.2% FY2009: 35.6% Populations Related Employment of Graduates FY2009: 77.0% FY2010: 79.0% Licensure Exams Pass Rate CY2009: 90.1% CY2010: 88.6%

1R3. What are your performance results for specific program learning objectives? Table 1.5 lists the pass rates for the past two years for those programs at the College that have licensure or board examinations.

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Table 1.5 Licensure/Board Exam Pass Rates Program Exam Pass Rate last 2 years Cosmetology State Licensing exam CY2011: 75.6% CY2012: 92.9% Dental Hygiene Board Exam FY2011: 92% FY2012: 100% Emergency Medical National Registry of CY2010: 96.4% CY2011:97.6% Technician EMT Examination - Written Emergency Medical National Registry of CY2010: 100.0% CY2011:100.0% Technician EMT Examination – Practical Emergency Medical MN Emergency Medical CY2010: 74% CY2011: 68% Technician Services Regulatory Board Law Enforcement Police Officer Standards CY2011: 94.7% CY2012: 90.5% and Training Medical Assisting American Association of FY2010: 88% FY2011: 86% Medical Assistants Nursing NCLEX-RN 2010: 83.1% 2011: 83.6% Orthotic Practitioner Certification Exam Not released by Not released by organization organization Orthotic Technology American Board for Not released by Not released by Certification registration organization organization examination Paramedic National Registry of CY2010: 96.4% CY2011: 95.2% EMT Examination - Written Prosthetic Practitioner National Certification Not released by Not released by Exam organization organization Radiologic Technology American Registry of CY2011:97.6% CY2012:100.0% Radiologic Tech exam

Tables 1.6 and 1.7 provide examples of program outcome data for selected Century College programs. These tables are not a complete listing for all outcomes for all occupational and career programs, but serve as examples of the types of data the College regularly collects and uses in decision-making at the program level.

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Table 1.6 Dental Hygiene Program Outcomes DENTAL HYGIENE FY2012 GRADUATION YEAR … CLASS OF Information is stated as % 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 STUDENT OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT

Attrition .083 0 0 0 0 .083 0 0 0 0 Retention / graduation rate 91.6 100 100 100 100 91.6 100 100 100 100 DENH courses pass % 100 100 100 100 100 91.6 100 100 100 100 Written Board Exam 100 91.6 100 100 100 100 91.6 100 91.6 100 Clinical Board Exam 100 100 91.6 91.6 100 91.6 100 83.3 75 91.6 Portfolio / competencies docu- NA NA NA NA NA NA NA mented INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH

Placement / employment 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 Graduate survey (good / excellent ratings) Employer survey (good / ex- NA NA NA 100 NA 86 NA NA 83.3 cellent ratings) PROGRAM OUTCOMES

Average # patient visits / student Patient Satisfaction (% no pend- pend- DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 8 85 77 negatives) ing ing DNS = did not survey ADA-CODA accreditation AWO AW AWO AWO AW AW AW AWO AWO AWO status (Fall) AWO = approved w/o reporting (RMC) (RMC) requirements AW = approved with reporting requirements RMC = Report of Major Change Filed

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Table 1.7 Emergency Medical Technician- Paramedic Outcomes Summary Graduation Year. Class of... 3 yr Total 5 yr Total 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 Thres- 2011 to 2011 to hold 2009 2007 Graduates 20 42 28 24 37 35 44 94 166 Outcomes 3 yr Avg 5 yr Avg Assessments 2011 to 2011 to 2009 2007 Attrition 25 30 29 33 21 36 27 30 30 Retention 75 69 70 66 78 63 72 70 69 * 69 Positive Place- 0 88 85 100 59 42 81 70 90 73 ment National 0 100 100 100 100 62 90 70 Registry Written -% of grads Attempting National Reg- istry Written 0 95 96 100 100 77 92 70 97 95 - Pass Rate - Success National Regis- try Practical - 0 97 96 95 102 62 90 70 % of grads Attempting National Reg- istry Practical 0 100 100 100 100 100 87 70 100 100 - Pass Rate - Success Compre- hensive 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 70 Final Written - % of grads Attempting Compre- hensive 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 70 100 100 Final Written - Pass Rate - Success Compre- hensive 100 100 100 95 102 62.9 100 70 Final Practical - % of grads Attempting

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Compre- hensive 100 97 100 100 100 100 100 70 98 99.3 % Final Practical - Pass Rate - Success State Exam Written - % of 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 70 grads At- tempting* State Exam Written - Pass 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 70 0 0 Rate – Suc- cess* State Exam Practical - % of 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 70 grads Attempt- ing State Exam Practical - Pass 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 70 0 0 Rate - Success Employer Sur- vey - % 0 62 37 45 68 86 52 50 50 58 returned Employer Survey - 0 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 Cognitive - Suc- cess Employer Survey - 0 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 Psychomo- tor - Success Employer Sur- vey - Affective 0 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 - Success Graduate Survey - % 0 64 57 58 13 62 65 50 60 50 returned Graduate Survey - 0 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 Cognitive - Sucess * no state exam exists. State accepts the National Registry.

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Graduation Year. Class of... Graduate Survey - 0.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Psychomotor - Sucess Graduate Survey - 0.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Affective- Success * Threshold not met

1R4. What is your evidence that the students completing your programs, degrees, and certificates have acquired the knowledge and skills required by your stakeholders (i.e., other educational institutions and employers)? [1P12, 1R2] MnSCU calculates a related employment rate for all graduates based upon survey responses of our recent graduates. This rate is viewed as a proxy measure to indicate that Century College graduates are acquiring the skills and knowledge that employers want. Table 1.8 lists the related employment rate for the past two years for all occupational and technical programs at the College.

Table 1.8 Related Employment Rate Program Related Employment FY 2010 FY 2011 Administrative Assistant 100% 83% Automotive Service Technology 100% 94% Cosmetology 100% 100% Criminal Justice 50% 40% Dental Assisting 89% 93% Dental Hygiene 88% 92% Education 100% 100% Emergency Medical Technician 50% 46% Engineering CAD 83% 75% Facilities Systems Technology 60% 60% Global Studies 33% 75% Heating & Air Conditioning 67% 67% Horticulture Technology- Greenhouse 100% 80% Horticulture Technology-Landscaping 0% 100% Human Services 100% 75% Information Technology & Communication 80% 74% Interior Design 86% 78% Kitchen & Bath Design 79% 100% Law Enforcement 72% 74% Marketing 50% 100% Medical Assisting 88% 86% Medical Office 67% 80%

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Microcomputer 100% 100% Nursing 91% 96% Nursing Assistant 80% 88% Orthotics 100% 50% Paraeducation 50% 88% Paramedic 93% 90% Prosthetics 100% 50% Public Safety NA 80% Radiologic Technology 77% 90%

Visual Communications Technology 64% 37%

See 1R3 above for pass rate of licensure and board examination. The College also collects graduate satisfaction data from recent graduates that assess whether they are satisfied with the level of job preparation they received. Table 1.9 below lists the average job preparation satisfaction score (7 point scale) of our recent graduates.

Table 1.9 Average Job Preparation Satisfaction Program Average Job Preparation Satisfaction Score (9 pt. scale) FY2010 FY2011 Automotive Service Technology 6.75 6.29 Business Administration 6.00 6.00 Chemical Dependency 5.00 6.57 Computer Forensics 5.00 6.67 Cosmetology 3.50 6.21 Dental Assisting 6.19 6.48 Dental Hygiene 6.00 6.00 Education 6.50 6.25 Emergency Medical Technician 5.80 6.36 Engineering CAD 6.40 6.00 Facilities Systems Technology 6.40 6.25 Global Studies 5.50 6.40 Heating & Air Conditioning 6.17 5.33 Horticulture Technology- Greenhouse & Land- 6.00 6.00 scaping Human Services 6.60 6.31 Information Technology & Communication 6.40 5.83 Interior Design 4.88 5.75 Kitchen & Bath Design 6.42 6.25

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Law Enforcement/Criminal Justice 5.78 5.70 Marketing 2.67 6.00 Medical Assisting 6.47 6.18 Office Technology (includes Administrative 5.71 5.47 Assistant and Medical Office) Microcomputer 6.00 5.00 Nursing 6.27 6.26 Orthotics 6.00 6.22 Prosthetics 6.33 6.25 Radiologic Technology 6.71 6.69 Visual Communications Technology 5.33 4.75

In addition to the above, several of the College’s accredited programs are required to collect feedback from employers about our graduate’s preparation for those careers. Below are excerpts from several programs as examples of evidence that our graduates are meeting the expectations of relevant external stakeholders. Tables 1.10 and 1.11 provide examples of survey data for selected Century College programs. These tables are not a complete listing for all outcomes for all occupational and career programs, but serve as examples of the types of data the College regularly collects and uses in decision-making at the program level.

Table 1.10 Medical Assisting Employer Survey Results FY2012

Admis- Total Number Number Number Participa- Number Number of Number of Number Percent sion Number of of Grads of Grads of Grads tion of Sur- Surveys Surveys of Sur- Employer Year Positive Em- Whose Whose Percent veys with with with veys with Survey Placements ployed as Em- Employ- Positive Positive Positive Overall Success MA or ployers er Re- responses responses responses Positive in Related Were turned - Cognitive - Psycho- - Affective Re- Field Sent Surveys motor sponses Surveys 2011 39 34 21 18 52.94% 16 16 16 16 88.89% 2010 43 43 41 25 58.14% 24 24 24 24 96% 2009 27 23 23 20 86.96% 20 18 18 19 95% 2008 31 31 31 21 67.74% 21 21 20 21 100% 2007 29 29 27 15 51.72% 15 15 14 15 100% Total 169 160 143 99 61.88% 96 94 92 95 95.96% Thresh- 30% 80% olds

Table 1.11 Nursing Alumni Survey Alumni Survey Results TRENDED DATA 2006-2011 Program Year 2006-07 2008-09 2009-10 2010-2011 Professional Behaviors Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Agree/Agree Agree/Agree Agree/Agree Agree/ Agree

Category One: HELPING STUDENTS LEARN 25 century college June 2013

1.The program taught me the concepts of 100% 91% 97% 100% patient confidentiality. 2. The faculty and program encouraged me to 92% 97% 100% 100% be a life-long learner.

3. I learned to practice as a nurse using 100% 97% 100% 100% ethical and legal principals. 4.The nursing program prepared me to 97% 94% 97% 100% maintain professional boundaries in the nurse-patient relationship. 5.Participation in professional organizations 68% 76% 92% 95% was emphasized. Communication Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Agree/Agree Agree/Agree Agree/Agree Agree/ Agree 6. The nursing program prepared me to 89% 94% 95% 100% communicate therapeutically with patients and co-workers. 7. The nursing program prepared me to 81% 85% 95% 97% adequately use documentation skills related to patient care. 8. The program assisted me to utilize Trad 92% 94% 90% 100% technology skills Assessment Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Agree/Agree Agree/Agree Agree/Agree Agree/ Agree 9. The nursing program educated me to 95% 100% 100% 100% utilize a holistic approach when performing an assessment of the patient.

10. The nursing program prepared me to 84% 97% 97% 97% assess the patient’s health status by completing a health assessment/history.

11. The nursing program prepared me to 92% 94% 92% 97% assess the patient’s learning needs related to health care. 12. I felt prepared to assess the patient’s 95% 94% 97% 97% response to my nursing interventions.

13. The nursing program prepared me to 89% 68% 79% 100% assess the patient’s support systems.

Clinical decision making Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Agree/Agree Agree/Agree Agree/Agree Agree/ Agree

26 Category One: HELPING STUDENTS LEARN century college June 2013

14. I learned to provide patient care based on 97% 94% 97% 100% the assessment of the patient. 15. The nursing program taught me to develop 95% 97% 95% 97% a patient plan of care. 16. I learned to apply critical thinking skills in 100% 94% 92% 97% managing the care of patients across the life span. 17. The program taught me to make 97% 94% 97% 100% appropriate clinical judgments utilizing safe standards of nursing practice. Caring interventions Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Agree/Agree Agree/Agree Agree/Agree Agree/ Agree 18. I felt prepared to perform Trad 95% 82% 85% 100% nursing skills competently. 19.I learned to value uniqueness of self 84% 97% 85% 100% and others.

20. I learned to deliver culturally competent 81% 91% 90% 100% nursing care. 21.The nursing program encouraged me to use intuitive thinking with problem solving. 95% 88% 95% 97%

Teaching and learning Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Agree/Agree Agree/Agree Agree/Agree Agree/ Agree 22.I developed the ability to teach illness pre- 95% 88% 92% 100% vention, health promotion, and wellness to the individual. 23.I learned to assess the learning needs of 75% 82% 79% 97% assistive personnel. 24.The nursing program taught illness preven- 92% 82% 95% 100% tion,health promotion,and wellness for self and others. Collaboration Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Agree/Agree Agree/Agree Agree/Agree Agree/ Agree 25.1 worked collaboratively with others to 89% 88% 95% 100% achieve patient outcomes. 26. I developed the ability to utilize available 86% 88% 92% 100% resources in providing patient care.

27.I learned how to prioritize patient care. 95% 94% 97% 100%

Category One: HELPING STUDENTS LEARN 27 century college June 2013

28. I learned supervision and delegation of 92% 76% 97% 100% skills 29. I learned strategies to provide cost efficient 76% 68% 74% 90% nursing care. Overall Strongly Strongly Strongly Strongly Agree/Agree Agree/Agree Agree/Agree Agree/ Agree 30. The nursing program prepared me with the 95% 97% 97% 100% knowledge to begin practicing as a registered professional nurse. 31. The nursing program prepared me with the 86% 91% 97% 100% clinical skills to begin practicing as a registered professional nurse. 32. The clinical sites provided adequate patient 92% 88% 95% 100% care learning opportunities. 33. The required Service Learning experiences 51% 65% 69% 90% broadened my understanding of community health needs.

34. The philosophy and framework of the 89% 82% 95% 97% nursing program helped me to be the type of nurse that I am today. 35. Overall, I am satisfied with this nursing 95% 97% 97% 97% program. 36. I will recommend this nursing program to 92% 91% 95% 97% others.

1R5. What are your performance results for learning support processes (advising, library and laboratory use, etc.)? The College has collected data for the past 5 years from initiatives within its Bridge to Success program (Action Project retired in 2012). The two components that have been extensively evaluated are the supplemental instruction program: Tutors Linked to Classes (TLC) and Learning Communities (LCOM), Results in Tables 1.12 and 1.13 display the most recent results of those initiatives.

Table 1.12 TLC Outcomes Tutors Linked to Classes College Level Tutored in Supported Developmental Level Tutored in vs College Level Non-Supported Supported vs Developmental Level Non-Supported C or > in TLC course 78% 70% 69% 63% (Percent of students) W in TLC course 12% 16% 16% 19% (Percent of students)

28 Category One: HELPING STUDENTS LEARN century college June 2013

Table 1.13 Learning Communities’ Outcomes Reading 80 Reading 90 College Level English Students Students Students of All All All of Color of Color Color C or > in base course 58% 57% 65% 61% 66% 64%

LCOM term credit completion rate 62% 61% 68% 62% 74% 73%

Re-enrollment to 2nd term 65% 63% 73% 69% 80% 83%

Re-enrollment to 3rd term 44% 44% 51% 49% 59% 53%

The College’s Writing Center also collects and analyzes data on student use. These results were used to justify expanding the space for the Writing Center, which will allow more students to use the center during business hours. Figure 1.1 shows the increase in use by students of the Writing Center from academic years1999-2012.

Figure 1.1 Writing Center Usage AY1999-2012

Writing Center Usage

3500

3000

2500

2000

FALL STUDENTS SPRING STUDENTS 1500 Number of Students

1000

500

0 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Year The Library collects and analyzes its Reference Desk requests and makes changes to its services based on the type and frequency of the requests. Table 1.14 shows examples of the types of requests received in October 2012.

Category One: HELPING STUDENTS LEARN 29 century college June 2013

Table 1.14 Library Reference Desk requests – October 2012 Search Term Count Example of Request Criticism 45 criticism, ref. book locations Known Author 10 Patterson, James Known Title 234 Gale encyclopedia of medicine Other 16 community member trying to access databases from home Subject 334 MLA citation for essay in reference book Technology 3 Library Orientation Course (D2L) - how to access

1R6. How do your results for the performance of your processes in Helping Students Learn compare with the results of other higher education institutions and, where appropriate, with results of organizations outside of higher education? The MnSCU System Office has a Board of Trustees Accountability Dashboard for Institutional and System Performance metrics, which are based on the System’s Strategic Framework (*Table 1.15). For more details and comparisons, see http://www.MnSCU.edu/board/accountability/index.html and category 8.

Table 1.15 MnSCU Institutional and System Performance Metrics - Century College and MnSCU Comparison Metric Century College MnSCU Colleges Student Persistence and Completion FY2010: 66.2% FY2010: 67.7% (includes retention, transfer and graduation) Retention Rate FY2011: 50.4% FY2011: 49.7% Transfer Rate FY2011: 10.9% FY2011: 10.6% Graduation Rate FY2011: 4.9% FY2011: 7.4% Under-represented Student Pesistence and FY2010: 66.8% FY2010: 64.9% Completion Completion Rate (Time to Degree) FY2009: 40.8% FY2009: 53.6% Completion Rate for Diverse Populations FY2009: 35.6% FY2009: 49.2% Related Employment of Graduates FY2010: 79.0% FY2010: 80.4% Licensure Exams Pass Rate CY2010: 88.6% CY2010: 88.5%

Improvement (I) 1I1. What recent improvements have you made in this category? How systematic and comprehensive are your processes and performance results for Helping Students Learn? The College joined the HLC’s Academy for the Assessment of Student Learning in 2011, created and is implementing a 4-year assessment plan (1P1 and 1P18), which is also an AQIP action project: Show What You Know. The College joined the Academy in order to develop and improve processes for assessing student attainment of learning outcomes.

After examining course completion rates over the past several years, the academic departments developed Student Success Action Plans in order to improve pass rates and progress to credential completion. Several of the College’s key initiatives focus on success in development education. The College is piloting an accelerated developmental English program which pairs developmental English with College Level English composition class, allowing students to complete both courses in the same term. The Math department is also piloting accelerated mathematic courses to help student complete their developmental math sequence in fewer semesters. The College also implemented a Bridge to Success program (a recently closed AQIP action project) which consisted of Learning Communities, Tutors Linked to Classes, Intrusive Advising and New Student

30 Category One: HELPING STUDENTS LEARN century college June 2013

Seminar. The Bridge to Success program has developed into the backbone of Century College’s Achieving the Dream (AtD) plan and is aimed at improving student success, primarily in developmental reading, but also in college-level courses. The English department conducted a curricular review of creative writing courses with the aim of creating an AFA degree similar to those of peer schools in MnSCU.

An example of recent improvements made in the occupational and career programs, are changes in the Dental Assisting program. In response to the need for up-to-date dental technology, the Dental Assisting program, in conjunction with the Dental Hygiene program received a large grant that included funds for technology. Because of the grant, the department has computers/monitors at each dental unit, big screen TV’s in the clinic for demonstrations, and capabilities for videotaping those demonstrations for students to access on D2L. The department also received funds for smart boards and document cameras, along with the internet in the classroom to support our curriculum. These departments require performance evaluation checklists that are comprehensive of the skills taught, and they continue to evaluate activities to ensure students are learning. The dental radiology instructor has further implemented the Mosby Review book in two radiology courses by using them in each unit of each semester and framed the courses around taking the licensure and certification exams. Medical Assisting program has developed a program called “Rx for Success”. This program is based on teaching students techniques to help them during classes and to assist them with achieving employment upon completion of the program. They monitor the effectiveness of this program by surveying the students, class completion and externship partner feedback. Cosmetology program has begun a pre- and post-program assessment test in Fall 2012. This assessment will be given to students at the start of their program and again during their last term in the program. First set of test results will be available in 2-3 years when this fall’s cohort graduates.

1I2. How do your culture and infrastructure help you to select specific processes to improve and to set targets for improved performance results in Helping Students Learn? Century College has become an Achieving the Dream (AtD) College. The College’s participation in this initiative requires a deep and ongoing commitment to the use of data in decision-making and problem-solving. As a member college of Achieving the Dream, we participate in an ongoing conversation about data-informed decisions and focus on national best practices for addressing the needs of historically underserved and underperforming student populations. Examples of innovations that have arisen as a direct result of this kind of data-informed decision-making include Quick Stop counseling during high-demand periods, the development of the New Student Seminar using On-Course principles, and the growth of Tutors Linked to Classes (TLC) to support student learning in high-enrollment, high-attrition courses. The structure of the AtD initiative includes the standard Core and Data teams, but Century College has designed the Core team to be the chairs of the Advancement teams. The Data Team consisted of a dozen faculty, staff and administrators from across the institution with skills in data analysis and interpretation, including three members of the Assessment Committee. The Advancement teams are the teams charged with implementing the College’s main student success initiatives, also known as the Bridge to Success. Currently the nine teams are: • Academic and Graduation Pathways • Assessment of Student Learning • Equity and Diversity • Financial Planning and Advising • Innovation and Acceleration of Developmental Education • Learning Communities • New Student Seminar/Faculty Advising • Professional and Organizational Development • Tutors Linked to Classes

Category One: HELPING STUDENTS LEARN 31 century college June 2013

Category Two, ACCOMPLISHING OTHER DISTINCTIVE OBJECTIVES

Category Summary The College is moving from reactive to systematic in its processes for accomplishing other distinctive objectives. There are established goals for determining activities and relationships with external stakeholders that support and promote the College’s mission, but the plans for meeting those goals have only recently been developed. Historically, these activities have been viewed as isolated tasks by specific departments and the College has been responsive to immediate community needs without clear prioritization. Recent improvements in this area are moving the College forward in being more systematic. The College recently developed a Public Relations Plan with input from key internal and external stakeholders in collaboration with the Marketing Department and College Foundation. This plan aligns with the College’s Strategic Action Plan and is helping to prioritize activities, identify key relationships, and reduce duplication of efforts. The Resource Development Department assesses funding opportunities in relation to the Strategic Plan. The Military GPSLifePlan is not well aligned internally, but its processes are systematic with its external partners. The College has an opportunity to integrate this distinctive objective more seamlessly into the College.

The priorities for this category are to further implement the Public Relations Plan, continue to align and assess the value of other distinctive objectives with respect to the goals of the Strategic Plan, and improve communication between departments to reduce duplication of efforts. New leadership and reorganization in Marketing, Foundation and Resource Developments will encourage and facilitate movement to a systematic level of maturity.

Processes (P)

2P1. How do you design and operate the key non-instructional processes (e.g., athletics, research, community enrichment, economic development, alumni affairs, etc.) through which you serve significant stakeholder groups? The College’s main distinctive objective is to be the community’s college. In order to do that, the College needs to respect what the community wants, such as becoming the intellectual hub of the northeast metro. To achieve that goal, the College has recently developed a public relations plan, with four specific goals, strategies, and measurements (Figure 2.1). The objective is cultivating those community relationships that will help us be the community’s college.

32 Category Two, ACCOMPLISHING OTHER DISTINCTIVE OBJECTIVES century college June 2013

Figure 2.1 Public Relations Plan

Century College Public Relations Plan Objectives Strategies Audience Purpose/Message Measurement Position Century as a leader in Student Success innovation and initiatives.

Regular Bulletin stories about Century employees, Foundation board Century is dedicated to moving each Survey of employee successful students members, alumni board members, MnSCU student forward satisfaction public affairs personnel Connections newsletter Community members, opinion leaders, Century is a vital community asset Return postcard elected officials, potenital donors, potenial students and families Press releases Community members, opinion leaders, Reputation management: Community awareness survey; elected officials, potential donors, potenial demonstrating to the community that enrollment totals students and families Century is a place of hope and opportunity Host Outstanding Student event and Students, faculty, staff, potential students, Show that Century is a place where Student satisfaction survey post photo boards across campus visitors to campus students succeed and achieve their goals Position Century as an accessible, diverse and supportive community.

Host events that celebrate our First-‐generation students, their families Century provides the support that Attendance, club diversity and friends students need to be successful memberships and completion rates Graduation Students, alumni, family and friends Demonstrate that Century is the Attendance place to attain degrees, certificates and diplomas Host student visits to campus Potential students and their teachers Give students the chance to Number of visitors and experience Century first-‐hand evaluation results Position Century as an institution of academic excellence, innovation and workforce education.

Offer a full range of courses (credit Prospective students and families; Century provides quality education Number of degrees, and non-‐credit) and promote these in employers and workers seeking to that produces results certificates and diplomas the community enhance their skills earned Offer customized training for workers Workers and employers Century provides quality education Attendance and enrollment; and employers that is customized to the needs of the repeat business workers and employers Host open houses, tech preview Prospective students and families Century provides quality education Attendance and enrollment nights, information sessions, campus that produces results visits

To accomplish these goals, the College brings in speakers and invites the community to attend free of charge to attend. Examples of events are: luncheon series and discussion between the K-12 community and the Century College leaders, jazz festival, choir concerts, orchestra concerts, and plays. College personnel reach out to the community by attending stakeholders’ events, such as the Chamber of Commerce luncheons and rotary fundraisers to raise money for scholarships. The College tries to have representatives on the boards of the different service clubs in the area and become engaged in community affairs, such as participation on curriculum committees for different school districts. The College invites legislators and opinion leaders to come to4/23/13 campus, and hosts more formal community conversations with the PresidentMacintosh . HD:Users:Roberta:Dropbox:SYSTEM PORT:Public Relations image PP34.xlsx

The GPS LifePlan program is another distinctive objective of the College which is focused on both internal and external stakeholders and serves as an example of effort toward being the community’s college. It is a program where students and other stakeholders can design plans and goals for success. The program promotes career, education, finance, leadership and life planning. After being approached by the MnSCU System Office, the College expanded the program to meet the needs of veterans and active service military personnel. The Military GPS LifePlan expands the traditional GPS portal to include reintegration for returning service men and women. The design and daily operation for this program is collaboration between the College, MnSCU System Office, MN National Guard, and Veterans Affairs Higher Education Veterans Program. College personnel are on a veterans’ advisory group which helps determine the goals and directions of the Military GPS LifePlan program. The College also engages in outreach to the state’s Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) to promote the interest of veterans.

Category Two, ACCOMPLISHING OTHER DISTINCTIVE OBJECTIVES 33 century college June 2013

Another distinctive objective for the College is resource development. When funding agencies put out solicitations for proposals, the objectives and activities they are looking to fund are clearly defined. The Resource Development office examines those solicitations and agencies for clear alignment with the College’s strategic plan and priorities in addition to an assessment as to whether the College has the capacity to accomplish what the agencies would like to see happen. If it’s a good match with the College’s Strategic Plan, capacity and needs, then the College will develop a Letter of Intent which is a preliminary step to developing a full process for funding. The Resource Development office works with key college departments who have expertise in the proposed project area as well as Institutional Effectiveness (IE) for determination of feasibility, including background or supporting data. If the College decides to move forward with the proposal, the details of the project, including an evaluation plan are developed in conjunction with potential program personnel and IE staff.

2P2. How do you determine your institution’s major non-instructional objectives for your external stakeholders, and whom do you involve in setting these objectives? The institution’s major non-instructional objectives originate with the College’s strategic priorities and are reflected in the Public Relation Plan’s goals (See Figure 2.1). The current objectives related specifically to external stakeholders are: to position Century College as an accessible, diverse, and supportive community and to position the College as an initiator of strategic partnerships and community relationships. The College’s Cabinet, Planning Committee, and external stakeholders are involved in setting these objectives. The College involves key external stakeholders in setting objectives via regular communication with them at advisory board meetings, College events, and informal conversations. The Directors of Public Relations, Marketing, and Foundation, in consultation with the President, develope detailed strategies, audiences, purpose/message and measurements of the current Public Relations Plan.

The Resource Development office’s objectives are to identify sources and secure resources and funds from external sources other than the typical sources that come to the college that support and align to the College’s strategic priorities. The College also determines objectives by paying attention to trends and issues in the community, collecting information and being open to ideas from campus leaders, community leaders, and researching best practices at other institutions.

2P3. How do you communicate your expectations regarding these objectives? The College actively communicates internally and externally as events and activities are scheduled to encourage participation and promote the College. The College communicates these objectives via an electronic weekly bulletin, which is sent to the campus community, Northeast Metro 916 Intermediate School District, the Foundation Board, the Alumni Board, and the MnSCU System Office. In addition, the Public Relations office sends out the Connection Newsletter twice a year: a publication that is aimed at alumni and community members. The Marketing department sends a newsletter to students and the neighboring community as a recruitment tool. The students in the Visual Communication Technology program do a cable TV show called Century Today. This program consists of news packages and segments highlighting the campus and campus issues. The College also issues press releases to local newspapers and TV news shows to communicate externally. These publications communicate the College’s objectives by having short accessible stories about campus life and activities and people.

The Resource Development office follows a more ad hoc process due to the nature and timing of funding opportunities. Once an agency announces an opportunity, the office reacts to agencies’ solicitations for proposals that the College may be interested in by first notifying the Cabinet and/or specific College leaders who may have a project related to the agencies objectives and asks for those interested to contact him. In addition, if someone at the College knows of a resource or grant, they approach the director through their supervisor to start the process of determining alignment with College’s priorities.

34 Category Two, ACCOMPLISHING OTHER DISTINCTIVE OBJECTIVES century college June 2013

2P4. How do you assess and review the appropriateness and value of these objectives, and whom do you involve in these reviews? The appropriateness and value to the College of these objectives are assessed to determine the degree to which they are aligned with the College’s Strategic Plan. All activities and events are assessed based upon whether they align with one of those goals in addition to a feasibility assessment, such as does the College have appropriate facilities, and resources for a given event or activity. One example is the partnership that the College has with the East Metro Women’s Council, the White Bear Center for the Arts, Lakeshore Players Theatre, and the White Bear Area Food shelf. This partnership highlights equity issues and aligns with strategic goal 2 of both the Strategic and Public Relation plans. The first collaboration of this partnership focused on homelessness. This partnership serves the whole community and fits in with the President’s priorities and with the College’s strategic plan.

Since the College has seen an increase in enrollment of veterans, it has developed programming and allocated resources to assist this population, such as the veterans’ resource fair, an expanded the veterans’ center, National Guard Yellow Ribbon campaign, forums on returning military personnel and suicide prevention and the expansion of GPS LifePlan to Veterans. Many of these other objectives are weighed against the academic plan and the demands on the facilities and other logistical concerns. An example of an activity the College decided to discontinue was hosting and renting the theatre to several dance companies. These were very high maintenance, labor intensive clients and after evaluation, the College decided they no longer align with the College’s strategic goals.

2P5. How do you determine faculty and staff needs relative to these objectives and operations? The College’s processes to determine faculty and staff needs in relation to these objectives is ad hoc, relying on communication with employees and their expressions of interest and participation. Resources are available but employees need to proactively seek them out. The College works with program instructors, such as Interior Design, and Visual Communications Technology in keeping their alumni connected with the College to support the programs and share job opportunities. Instructors and staff are encouraged to participate and attend events hosted by the College.

Staff and faculty needs related to Military GPS LifePlan are determined by best practice information related to veterans as well as informal inquires by employees on how to work with student veterans. The goal is for employees to understand the difference between the politics of war and those who serve. An additional goal of the Military GPS LifePlan program is to provide access to a suite of resources for all employees to assist students so that no one individual employee needs to be an expert in everything. The resources are available in one location. Employees can access this information and direct students and other stakeholders to resources that will best meet their needs.

Faculty and staff needs related to external funding are determined by assessing the parameters of a given project and whether the College has both human resources and facilities to accomplish the project. If it is determined that the College doesn’t currently have the capacity to adequately adopt a new project, the project is not pursued or, if it is a high enough priority, the project proposal is written to reflect the need and support for additional human or facilities resources. If it is determined that the College has the capacity, the project is pursued and resources are reallocated to support the project.

2P6. How do you incorporate information on faculty and staff needs in readjusting these objectives or the processes that support them? Faculty and Staff are involved in the Planning Committee and give input on the strategic plan. In addition, the Marketing, Foundation, and Public Relations departments hosted affinity groups for staff to help develop their public relations plan.

Employees responsible for the Military GPS LifePlan program actively solicit feedback from college employees and external stakeholders and adjust objectives and/or processes based upon these changing needs. For

Category Two, ACCOMPLISHING OTHER DISTINCTIVE OBJECTIVES 35 century college June 2013 example, they are working with local VFW chapters to work on career development and develop stronger partnerships between older and younger veterans.

As the College’s Strategic Plan or distinctive objectives related to student access and success change, the process for determining whether to pursue external funding and what types of funding is modified to incorporate the new priorities. For instance, in 2011 the College hired a new President and the MnSCU system hired a new Chancellor. Both leaders had priorities that the College needed to address and adapt to. These new priorities became part of the guidelines used by the Director of Resource Development in seeking out external funding.

Results (R)

2R1. What measures of accomplishing your major non-instructional objectives and activities do you collect and analyze regularly? • Marketing Department’s Image and Awareness Survey • Informal feedback, and attendance records from Public Relations, CECT and Military GPS LifePlan activities • After Action Review for participants in Military GPS LifePlan workshops. • Veterans Re-Entry Education Program evaluation (not for public distribution) • Resource Development Office collects number of solicitations responded to (proposals submitted), dollar amount of proposals, success rate (% of submitted proposals that were funded), and the average amount of money awarded by agencies to Century College compared to other Institutions of Higher Education and number of years of repeat funding by a given agency.

2R2. What are your performance results in accomplishing your other distinctive objectives? Results of 2011 Image and Awareness Survey indicate that Century College ranked highest of all metro college listed by respondents in terms of involvement with the community (Table 2.1).

Table 2.1 Results of Image and Awareness Survey 2011 Characteristics CC UM UST ARCC CSC MSU SCSU UWR SPC Involved within 4.18 3.70 3.78 4.00 3.60 3.86 3.67 2.50 3.67 the community

Key: CC=Century College, UM=University of Minnesota, UST=University of St Thomas, ARCC=Anoka Ramsey Community College, CSC=College of St Catherine, MSU=Minnesota State University-Mankato, SCSU=St Cloud State University, WRF=University of Wisconsin-River Falls, SPC=St Paul College. N=352

Evaluations from middle school visits indicated that students want to learn more about financial aid, visit the bookstore, and see more classroom spaces. Based upon this feedback, the College added to the visits information on financial aid, a trip to the bookstore, and a tour of classrooms and labs. Feedback from speakers and other events have generated ideas for additional speakers and topics.

For the past 2 fiscal years, the College has received $2 Million in grant funding and has a success rate of submitted to funded proposals of just over 50%. The average award to institutions of higher education in 2010 by the top three foundations was $131,840. The average amount Century College received was $39,604. For the past 7 years, the College has received repeat funding from 3 local foundations.

2R3. How do your results for the performance of these processes compare with the performance results of other higher education institutions and, if appropriate, of organizations outside of higher education? Since many of the measures the College regularly collects are specific to the programing and goals of the strategic and public relations plans, there are limited comparative results. See 2R2 for comparative information

36 Category Two, ACCOMPLISHING OTHER DISTINCTIVE OBJECTIVES century college June 2013 on how Century College compares to other Minnesota institutions of higher education in terms of involvement within the community.

In general, information from individual colleges about the amount of grants received is not commonly shared, although the MnSCU System Office is developing a metric to meet the Chancellor’s goal in this area. From 990 Forms of given foundations, the average amount awarded to institutions of higher education can be calculated and compared to average amount the College received. In 2010 (latest year available), Century College’s average award was less than the average awarded to other institutions of higher education, however, this figure includes many 4 year institutions (see 2R2).

2R4. How do your performance results of your processes for Accomplishing Other Distinctive Objectives strengthen your overall institution? How do they enhance your relationships with the communities and regions you serve? The performance results of the College’s processes strengthen the institution by providing feedback on what it is doing and helps provide direction for future events, activities and outreach efforts. Being responsive to the community enhances the College’s relationships with the community and region. The results of the Image and Awareness survey described above indicate that the College’s relationship to its external stakeholders is enhanced by these distinctive objectives.

Acquiring external funding for key strategic priorities helps the institution innovate and develop additional projects to test their impact on improving student success. The Resource Development Office has a good success rate for getting external funding and many of the College’s innovative programs are supported several years, which helps evaluate their overall success. The long-term funding history with three local foundations enhances the College’s relationship with the communities as it shows a mutual commitment and satisfaction with desired outcomes.

Improvement (I)

2I1. What recent improvements have you made in this category? How systematic and comprehensive are your processes and performance results for Accomplishing Other Distinctive Objectives? The College has recently developed and implemented a Public Relations Plan with the goals of: • Position Century College as a leader in Student Success innovation and initiatives. • Position Century College as an accessible, diverse, and supportive community. • Position Century College as an institution of academic excellence, innovation and workforce education. • Position Century College as an initiator of strategic partnerships and community relationships. See Figure 2.1 for details of the plan. This plan helps focus the College’s outreach efforts and allows us to become the community’s College. The plan is aligned with the College’s Strategic Plan, further strengthening the institution and improving its relationships and reputation in the community.

One improvement put in place by the Resource Development office is to streamline the approval process for submitting requests to the Executive Cabinet. The new process requires only one form while still maintaining proper oversight. Another recent improvement is to realign where Resource Development sits in the organizational chart of the college. This office now reports to the Chief Academic Officer to more efficiently acquire resources for academic areas. The Resource Development and Institutional Effectiveness offices have recently piloted a process for data requests in support of grant proposals and evaluation support for funded initiatives. This process is too new for evaluation.

2I2. How do your culture and infrastructure help you to select specific processes to improve and to set targets for improved performance results in Accomplishing Other Distinctive Objectives? The leadership of the College conveys the message that student success is a priority and motivates staff to see themselves as playing a service role for students and the community. The College’s leadership gathers

Category Two, ACCOMPLISHING OTHER DISTINCTIVE OBJECTIVES 37 century college June 2013 regularly at Cabinet meetings and shares people’s good works. This sharing motivates leadership to continue to serve students. Listening to students and hearing their stories is also motivational. It reaffirms the College’s mission. The College is open to learning more about special populations in order to better serve them. For example, College leadership is willing to work with the System Office to maintain the Military GPS LifePlan program and allows release time for counseling staff to pursue this collaboration. The Counseling office is willing to alter their workload to allow this reallocation of staff time to support this special population across the state.

Category Three, UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS

Category Summary Processes for understanding students’ and other stakeholders’ needs exhibit a range of maturity from reactive to aligned. The institution groups operations for entering students into stable, consciously managed processes that are regularly evaluated for improvement. There is a clear flow for students from admissions to registration, including mandatory orientation, welcome days, assessment of academic preparedness and registration for classes. The College also has good coordination among and between units in Student Services and developmental education departments: Reading, English, Student Success, Math and English for Speakers of Other Languages, to facilitate students being placed correctly based upon their assessment levels. Student Services regularly gathers formal and informal feedback on entering student processes and improves them as needed. The recently closed Bridge to Success AQIP Action Project, referenced in category one, focused on identifying the needs of and supporting new-entering students. That project contributed to this more mature state. The College has an opportunity to move from reactive to systematic in processes for continuing and returning students. The College has a variety of services and programs for these students but often relies on students to seek out these services and has informal, varying processes for referring students to services and evaluating the value of these services.

Priorities for this category are to implement an enrollment management program, co-led by the Vice Presidents of Academic Affairs and Student Services with broad stakeholders from across campus. This will facilitate process improvement with regards to understanding students’ and other stakeholders’ needs.

Processes (P) 3P1. How do you identify the changing needs of your student groups? How do you analyze and select a course of action regarding these needs? There are several means by which the College identifies the changing needs of student groups; from review of national trends, environmental scans of the community, systematically sampling the student body, review of IPEDS and MnSCU Student Persistence metrics to individual student contact. Employees across multiple areas of the College remain current in trends impacting higher education, such as recent changes in regulations to research reports on factors impacting student success.

The System Office has developed a set of metrics for measuring student success, Student Persistence, which includes student retention, graduation and/or transfer of first time to institution, full time, degree seeking students. The College has the ability, through password –protected analytic tools, to track student cohorts based upon set demographic criteria: gender, age, race/ethnicity, part-time, in addition to tracking ad hoc cohorts as needed. These measures are tracked by the College and are used as benchmarks for student success initiatives on campus, such as Achieving the Dream (AtD). Initiatives aimed at improving success of at-risk students are evaluated with the following metrics: attaining grade of C or higher in course, credit completion rate, re-enrollment in subsequent terms, fall-fall retention rate, focus group and interviews, formal student engagement/satisfaction surveys and informal student and faculty feedback. This information is used to determine success of the initiative and modifications needed. For example, the College, through its AtD initiative, identified a significant achievement gap among male students of color from quantitative data and then proceeded to collect qualitative data via focus groups and interviews from the targeted population to determine what barriers they have and how they overcome them. Along with this, we examined the research literature

38 Category Three, UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS century college June 2013 for supporting evidence and best practices to design interventions to increase success of this student group. One action the College has taken is to start a Brother-to-Brother student group for African American males and Latinos to assist with their adjustment to college.

Student Course Completion Reports are used to determine student success at the course level. Academic departments develop Student Success Action plans to improve student success at the course level after review of this and other data, such as Criteria for Program Review. Non-academic departments use operational and demographic data, surveys, and informal feedback to determine changing needs of students and develop action plans to improve student success.

Student Services offices, such as Admissions, examine student demographic data regularly through reports generated by the Institutional Effectiveness office to understand changing student demographics and how they may impact enrollment patterns. One report is the Fall Student Characteristics report that lists student demographic trend data for past the10 years, including feeder high school and number of students testing into developmental education. This report is used by the College to identify demographic shifts in student population. Offices generate reports on students at various times to determine barriers to success. For example, Financial Aid will determine who has not completed the FAFSA application and will contact them with the necessary steps to finish it. Academic Affairs offices examine student success data disaggregated by demographic variable to determine achievement gaps. See 1P4, 1P13 and 1R1 for information on how academic departments use program completion data as part of their program review.

The College administers nationally normed surveys regularly to determine student satisfaction, engagement, and changing needs. For example, every other year, the College administers the CCSSE survey and administers the SENSE, and Noel-Levitz SSI surveys periodically to gauge changing needs of students. Informal surveys are administered to students who attend events, meetings with Admissions Advisors, and Counselors, to find out about their experiences with student services. The Marketing department conducts media use and communication surveys to determine changes in how students are using social media and the best ways to disseminate information to them.

Student feedback is also collected via the Student Senate, which provides a structured voice of the student body. The Student Senate appoints students to various committees on campus, such as the Planning Committee so that student opinions can inform those committees. Informally, or on a more day-to-day operational level, students’ changing needs are identified directly from the students; whether it is from phone calls, being at the service counter, or asking for assistance. Employees pay attention to recurrent themes or issues and then try to address them. Employees work through the issue with that individual student but in doing so, systemic problems are occasionally identified that are forwarded to the appropriate area to address, whether it is a process or technology problem.

Information collected from these various sources is shared at debriefing meetings within and between offices to address operational issues. For issues where a more systemic solution is needed, the issue and evidence are presented to the System Office if it impacts multiple institutions or the College’s Cabinet for discussion and determination of next steps.

The Continuing Education and Customized Training (CECT) division of the College participates in various community events in order to promote short-term, workforce ready training across many industries. Customized training needs are identified from strong relationships with state workforce centers and workforce development boards, local businesses and industry events. Short term training offerings are frequently revised to ensure stakeholder needs are met. (See category 9 for more details.)

3P2. How do you build and maintain a relationship with your students? Building and maintaining relationships with students is a combination of proactive and reactive approaches. The College tries to maintain a balance between anticipating changes and being proactive in addressing them

Category Three, UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS 39 century college June 2013 and communicating changes to students but acknowledges that not all changes can be predicted and that students will have to take the initiative in seeking out information and services to meet their needs.

Proactively we reach out to students and communicate to them about the College, but in many respects, we rely on students to seek out the resources we provide. For instance, students are informed that we have counselors available to assist students with a variety of issues, but students need to be proactive and make an appointment to meet with them. Employees direct students to appropriate offices, staff, and services and try to resolve issues for students regardless of which office a student initially approaches. The College attempts to reduce the need for students having to go to multiple areas and search for solutions.

Relationships are built with prospective students through mass media marketing like newspapers, radio, TV, and billboards. Admissions also recruits students through many outreach efforts into the surrounding community: high school visits, college fairs, career fairs, Work Force Centers. Prospective students are also invited to campus to participate in events such as campus tours, Discover Century information sessions, Open House, Post-Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) information sessions, Financial Aid Night and others. Once a student becomes a prospect, they are put through a communication funnel in which they are encouraged to progress through the enrollment process.

Once prospective students are admitted, Student Services proactively reaches out to engage them in a variety of activities aimed at promoting student success and integration into the college environment. This process begins with orientation, registration, and Welcome Week activities. The College has a variety of programming, student clubs and organizations, career and academic workshops, and advisors and counselors to actively engage and assist students in the College.

Senior administration of the College meets monthly with the Student Senate to consult on a broad range of issues and address emerging student concerns. Relationships with students are further built and maintained through courteous, direct, personal interaction whether it is through participation in class, clubs, and events or through interactions with offices, appointments with Counselors, and so on. The College values creating a high-touch environment for students where their unique needs can be met while helping students learn to be self-sufficient and active, lifelong learners.

After graduation, students are contacted to provide follow-up information about employment and satisfaction with their college experience. The Alumni Affairs office contacts graduates and invites them to continue their relationship with the College as alumni.

3P3. How do you analyze the changing needs of your key stakeholder groups and select courses of action regarding these needs? The College contracts with a management consulting and market research firm to conduct an Image Awareness Survey. The survey has been conducted in 2006 and 2011 and asked respondents about their awareness of Century College as an institution of higher education and their perception of the institution. The results from the 2006 survey were used as a baseline to compare with the 2011 results. See results section for details.

The Marketing department conducts a media habits survey which helps provide information on how individual marketing pieces are performing.

Various offices, such as CECT, Public Relations, Resource Development, Marketing, and Foundation analyze the changing needs of the College’s key stakeholder groups. These offices collect surveys directly from their stakeholders, conduct environmental scans, and develop professional relationships with their stakeholders to stay informed on their changing needs. The Foundation works to appoint board members from the school districts where the College’s students come from, business areas that overlap with our programming, and representatives of our student population.

40 Category Three, UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS century college June 2013

Student Services has recently initiated a project to identify the needs of students’ parents and other family members. Their goal is to have a website and/or newsletter for the parents of new students to keep them informed of what is happening on campus and how the College can support them. The College has made changes to Welcome Day and encourages family members to participate. The College also looks at numbers of applications and website statistics to see how people are using the website.

3P4. How do you build and maintain relationships with your key stakeholders? The College builds and maintains relationships with its key stakeholders by regular interactions, Advisory Board meetings, invitations to events, sending promotional materials to them, and informal conversations with donors and community members. See Categories Two and Nine for more information.

The College receives federal grants from USDE, primarily Trio programs: Upward Bound, Talent Search, and Student Support Services. The directors of those programs attend both workshops conducted by Department of Education as well as workshops conducted by professional associations that support those programs. The College’s Director of Resource Development regularly attends conferences to keep current on issues related to federal grants for education. More locally, the Director of Resource Development maintains good relationships with foundations in the east metro area of the Twin Cities. For the past seven years, we have developed a successful relationship with administrators and program officers of these foundations and have been able to secure funding from them to reach out to the K-12 community.

3P5. How do you determine if you should target new student and stakeholder groups with your educational offerings and services? The College identifies new student groups in a similar manner for identifying current student needs: from review of national trends, environmental scans of the community, systematically sampling the student body, to individual student contact. For example, the growing numbers of developmental learners prompted the development of the New Student Seminar, which helps students increase study skills, academic planning and motivation levels in order to become successful college learners. The College has also developed new educational offerings, such as ASL and Translating and Interpreting programs to meet new student groups.

In addition, after the economic crisis in 2008, the College saw an increase in dislocated workers and in 2011 Minnesota reservists returned from deployment. Knowing these actions could result in an increase in enrollment of these student groups, the College altered communication strategies and services to meet their unique needs. In the case of dislocated workers, the College formed a team to collect information from them about their needs, put in place services to meet those needs, and connected with the System Office to share in their initiatives.

Often Admissions will become aware of a new student population through analysis of their recruiting trends and the Counseling Center will identify new needs from sessions with students. The College then works with other student service departments in further defining this new population of students, what their needs are, and how to accommodate them. After the formal strategy or process is developed, it is communicated to the rest of the college community.

Data from events are analyzed. How many students attended the event? What was the yield from that event? What were the demographics of the students that attended the event? Decisions are made to either continue or cease participation in individual events. In 2009, the decision was made to expand into other areas of the metropolitan area after application and prospect data was analyzed. This type of review of application and prospect data is done annually. When students contact the Admissions Office about programs that Century College does not currently have, a list is compiled and shared with Academic Affairs.

Student Life is very adaptive. Counseling conducts an internal assessment of issues seen in appointments with students which they bring to department meetings to determine trends. For example, they recently started seeing an increase in students with Asperger’s and conducted awareness training on Asperger’s for the

Category Three, UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS 41 century college June 2013 community. Concurrently, a group of faculty met to learn more information about autism spectrum. New student orientation changes regularly to meet a broad spectrum of student needs. Orientation feedback is collected each term. The results are analyzed to determine what changes are needed to future orientation sessions. For example, feedback indicated that students would like more student-to-student interaction. Welcome Day activities were changed to provide that opportunity.

3P6. How do you collect complaint information from students and other stakeholders? How do you analyze this feedback and select courses of action? How do you communicate these actions to your students and stakeholders? The College is committed to helping students with concerns. The link to the Online Student Concern Process in the MyCentury Portal is found in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in the Ask Century database. The process is located under “My Tools” and is called “Student Concerns.” This online resource navigates students, as well as faculty and staff members, through Century College’s process for handling student concerns

In general, students are referred to specific units of the College i.e. Academic Affairs, Student Services, Business Office, or other offices where consultation occurs. The student initiates the informal complaint process by completing a concern form. The Concern Form is reviewed by the area supervisor and/or dean. The supervisor/dean talks with the student and the involved parties in an attempt to resolve the concern. The resolution is recorded on the form and the student is contacted regarding the decision. If the student is not satisfied with the supervisor’s decision, the student may go to the next step in the process. The next step may be a meeting with a supervising administrator or the initialization of the Formal Grievance Process (Figure 3.1).

42 Category Three, UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS century college June 2013

Figure 3.1 Student Concern/Grievance Process

The Formal Grievance Process begins with the student’s completion of the Formal Grievance Form, following the process outlined in Century College’s Student Complaint and Grievance Policy and Procedure (3.8.0.1). The appropriate Vice President reviews the formal grievance and related evidence and makes a decision. If the issue is still not resolved at that level, the student may appeal it to the College President. A presidential decision is the final step unless a MnSCU System Board policy has been violated. If the latter, a student takes the grievance to the System Office for review and a decision. That decision is final and binding. All Formal Grievances are confidential and are documented in a spreadsheet that only Executive Cabinet members and their assistants may access.

Student concerns are regularly voiced and addressed at the monthly meetings of the Administration and Student Senate. The College also maintains a public Suggestion Box on its website where students and internal and external stakeholders can submit suggestions, comments, and/or complaints. Submissions are reviewed and directed to the appropriate department for resolution and response to the individual who submitted the comment/complaint. Submissions are reviewed biannually and reported to the Cabinet for identification of trends and issues.

Students may also call, email, or come to any office on campus and discuss issues of concern. Employees work with students to resolve the issue at that time. As employees notice trends in these concerns, they come together either within the department or across affected departments to discuss the issue and improve the process to reduce student concerns.

Category Three, UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS 43 century college June 2013

As warranted and as privacy issues are involved, students are notified of the College’s action either through personal communication, all-student email, updates at Student Senate, updates to the yearly planner, catalog, and notices on campus, depending upon the nature of the issue and its resolution.

Results (R)

3R1. How do you determine the satisfaction of your students and other stakeholders? What measures of student and other stakeholder satisfaction do you collect and analyze regularly? The College collects a variety of measures from its students and stakeholders to determine their needs. • Nationally normed surveys of student engagement: Community College Survey of Entering Student Engagement (CCSSE), SENSE • Image Awareness Survey • Marketing surveys on Communication and Media use • Hispanic student survey, • Informal surveys and feedback collected at major college event such as: Student Success Day, Coun- seling survey, • Student Senate hosts tables in student center four times a year to get student input • Client Satisfaction Survey in CECT area • Stakeholder Meetings (Donors, Advisory Board, etc.)

3R2. What are your performance results for student satisfaction? Century College is required by the MnSCU System Office to administer the CCSSE every two years. After the initial results in 2007, the College made some changes in several areas of student support services, such as revisions to new student orientation, creation of a taskforce to look at issues surrounding affordability and financial aid, and the various components of the Bridge to Success program mentioned in Category One. Since making these changes, the College has begun to see changes in its score on the CCSSE benchmarks and related questions. Tables 3.1 and 3.2 show improvements in student responses to questions related to the Support for Learners Benchmark from 2009 and 2011.

Figure 3.2 2011 CCSSE Benchmark – Support for Learners

44 Category Three, UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS century college June 2013

Table 3.1 CCSSE 2009 & 2011 Frequency, Satisfaction and Importance of Services Service Frequency of Use Satisfaction (Some- Importance (Somewhat & (Sometimes & what & Very) Very) Often) (% All Students) 2009 2011 2009 2011 2009 2011 Academic advising/planning 46% 52% 63% 67% 88% 88% Career counseling 28% 34% 46% 52% 80% 82% Job placement assistance 8% 13% 19% 21% 65% 69% Peer or other tutoring 18% 29% 34% 43% 66% 74% Child care 4% 4% 11% 9% 39% 43% Financial aid advising 38% 50% 51% 57% 77% 82% Student organizations 15% 22% 31% 35% 59% 63% Transfer credit assistance 29% 29% 41% 42% 75% 74% Services for people with 6% 10% 18% 19% 54% 58% disabilities 2009 n= 960; 2011 N=888

Table 3.2 CCSSE 2009 & 2011 Questions related to Feeling Supported How much does this college emphasize each of the following? (% Quite a bit & Very Much) 2009 2011 Providing the support you need to help you succeed at this college 73% 75% Encouraging contact among students from different economic, 53% 56% social, and racial or ethnic backgrounds Helping you cope with your non-academic responsibilities (work, 26% 28% family, etc.) Providing the support you need to thrive socially 33% 38% Providing the financial support you need to afford your education 37% 53% 2009 n= 960; 2011 N=888

3R3. What are your performance results for building relationships with your students? In 2010, the College administered the SENSE survey to incoming students to get baseline information concerning how we build relationships with our new students. Figure 3.3 shows the results of that survey. The College will re-administer this survey in fall 2013 to determine if there has been a change.

Category Three, UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS 45 century college June 2013

Figure 3.3 .SENSE 2010 Benchmark Scores

*Top-performing colleges are those that scored in the top ten percent by benchmark. (n=573)

Century College regularly surveys students who visit the Counseling center to determine satisfaction with their interactions with counselors. Figures 3.4 and 3.5 show selected results from the 2011 survey which indicates a high level of satisfaction with availability of counselors and students’ perceptions of counselors level of caring about them.

Figure 3.4 and 3.5 2011 Counselors’ Survey Summary, select questions

N=266

46 Category Three, UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS century college June 2013

N=266

Results from the CCSSE survey indicate that students believe that college personnel are supportive, helpful, and available. These results further indicate that the College has improved on this measure since 2009.

Table 3.3 CCSSE 2009 and 2011 Relationships with College Student Relationship with: Ranking % of All % of All Students 2009 Students 2011 Instructors Unavailable,unhelpful, <1% <1% unsympathetic 2 2% 2%

3 4% 4%

4 13% 12%

5 22% 19%

6 37% 37%

Available,helpful, 23% 26% sympathetic

Category Three, UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS 47 century college June 2013

Administrative personnel and Unhelpful, inconsiderate, 4% 3% offices rigid 2 5% 6% 3 9% 9% 4 22% 20% 5 25% 26% 6 23% 22% Helpful, considerate, 13% 15% flexible 2009 n= 960; 2011 N=888

The Marketing Department has conducted several surveys of students and other stakeholders to determine their media habits, web use habits, and how they would like the College to communicate with them. The results of these surveys and actions taken are shown in Tables 3.4-3.6.

Table 3.4 Media Habit Survey Highlights Item Results Actions Taken Top 3 ways student see/hear 1. Billboards 1. Development of direct mail about Century College 2. Direct mail postcard promotional piece 3. Direct mail CECT 2. Increase in amount of funding for catalog direct mail Top 3 influencers on current 1. Current or former 3. Increase amount of advertising students’ decision to attend Century College student outdoor and online Century College 2. Family/parents 4. Reduced amount of print 3. Friends advertising; change focus to local papers The top 3 identified most 1. Direct mail 5. Eliminated sponsorships of sports effective methods of 2. Outdoor advertisements teams and at sports centers advertising according to our 3. Internet advertisements current students The survey also highlighted the radio stations that Determination of key channels/stations to current students are listening, cable television stations being be used for watched, websites being visited and print publications being promotional campaigns and read. allocation of funds N= 1829

48 Category Three, UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS century college June 2013

Table 3.5 Web Survey Highlights Results n=336 Actions Taken Current students agree that the Century • Overall, the current students seem to agree that the website is easy to use, attractive, current and College website is effective; however, with a rating of engaging, easy to understand and follow and 4.0, improvement is necessary. Also, the Web clear and logical. The average overall rating Oversight Committee has recently been reviewing a across all the categories was 4.0 out of 5. potential mobile application, based on the data that Students most frequently visit the College almost half of our current students are visiting website from their home computer or laptop • mobile. If the mobile at 97.6%. 44.8% have visited from a mobile • application is purchased, we will use the data from the and 14.0% from a tablet/iPad. web survey to inform what types of information students would like to have The top five areas that students would like to • available on the mobile app. see on a mobile site include class • The rating of the College website will serve as a cancellations, Desire2Learn, calendar of benchmark going forward as we continue to events/important dates, financial aid/payment • analyze user experience. information and campus directory/contact information.

Table 3.6 Student Communication Survey Highlights Results (N=905) Actions Taken The top five ways in which current students are 1. Redesign of the “all-student” email to make it currently receiving information regarding critical more attractive and organized. Century information include student email, College 2. Development of “master” calendar that can website, D2L, “all-student” email, and on-campus feed into communication channels, including signage. web, monitors and potential mobile app. Students rated the effectiveness of the communication 3. Purchase of a mobile application as an of critical information at 3.78 out of 5. additional student communication channel. 4. Currently researching MnSCU’s text The top five ways in which students would like to messaging tool. receive critical information include student email, D2L, 5. Working with committee potentially College website, personal email and text message. purchasing campus CRM tool. The top five ways in which current students are 6. Developmentment of a social media policy currently receiving information regarding Century 7. Reviewing current signage policy and student resources and student life opportunities doing an inventory of bulletin board usage include student email, College website, “all-student” on campus. email, on-campus signage and D2L. 8. Digital Signage committee was developed Students rated the effectiveness of the communication to create process for the system, as well as of student resources and student life opportunities at launch the system campus-wide 3.60 out of 5. 9. Media Production Coordinator position was The top five ways in which students would like to developed and hired to manage the digital receive information regarding Century student signage system, among other resources and student life opportunities include responsibilities. student email, D2L, College website, “all-student” 10. Restructured Marketing process to work email, personal email and on-campus signage. and meet more regularly with individual Students indicated that the top five most effectives department areas to streamline communication tools include student email, college communication tactics to students. website, instructor announcement in class, personal email and on-campus signage.

Category Three, UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS 49 century college June 2013

3R4. What are your performance results for stakeholder satisfaction? Respondents to the Image Awareness survey (n=352) read a series of characteristics that may or may not describe the last college or institution beyond high school that they attended. The scale used was 1 to 5 with 1 representing “does not fit description at all” and 5 representing “fits description very well.” Compared to the 2006 administration of the survey, the community’s perception of the College increased on all measures. See Figure 3.6.

Figure 3.6 Community Perception of Century College

3R5. What are your performance results for building relationships with your key stakeholders? Respondents to the 2011 Image and Awareness Survey (n=352) were asked to rate the characteristics of the last college or institution beyond high school that they attended or had taken a class. Responses were ranked on a 1-5 point scale with 1 being low and 5 being high. Century College ranked highest (of 9 local institutions) in involvement with the community compared to other schools mentioned.

3R6. How do your results for the performance of your processes for Understanding Students’ and Other Stakeholders’ Needs compare with the performance results of other higher education institutions and, if appropriate, of organizations outside of higher education? Century College is comparable in levels of student engagement and satisfaction to similarly sized institutions nationally and other institutions within the MnSCU system. Tables 3.7-3.10 show comparative data from the CCSSE and Image Awareness Surveys.

Century students expressed higher satisfaction with career services, peer tutoring, financial aid advising and student organizations than their peers at other institutions. However, they expressed slightly less satisfaction with academic advising and child care.

50 Category Three, UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS century college June 2013

Table 3.7 2011 CCSSE Frequency, Satisfaction and Importance of Services, Comparative Data Service Frequency of Use Satisfaction (Somewhat Importance (Somewhat & (Sometimes & Often) & Very) Very) (% All Students) 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 Large MnSCU Large MnSCU Large MnSCU Cohort Cohort Cohort Academic advising/ 52% 56% 55% 67% 70% 72% 88% 91% 90% planning Career counseling 34% 28% 27% 52% 44% 46% 82% 80% 81% Job placement as- 13% 11% 14% 21% 21% 27% 69% 68% 73% sistance Peer or other tutor- 29% 28% 26% 43% 42% 42% 74% 73% 73% ing Child care 4% 5% 5% 9% 11% 12% 43% 46% 45% Financial aid advis- 50% 46% 54% 57% 52% 62% 82% 80% 84% ing Student organiza- 22% 16% 19% 35% 29% 34% 63% 61% 61% tions Transfer credit assis- 29% 27% 31% 42% 37% 42% 74% 48% 74% tance Services for people 10% 8% 9% 19% 17% 18% 58% 60% 59% with disabilities 2011 N=888

Students at Century College ranked their relationships with college personnel equivalently to their peers both within the MnSCU system and nationally.

Table 3.8 2011 CCSSE Relationships with College, Comparative Data Student Relationship with: Ranking 2011 Century 2011 Cohort MNSCU 2011 College Cohort Instructors Unavailable,unhelpful, <1% <1% <1% unsympathetic 2 2% 2% 2%

3 4% 4% 4%

4 12% 12% 11%

5 19% 21% 20%

6 37% 32% 34%

Available,helpful, 26% 29% 29% sympathetic

Category Three, UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS 51 century college June 2013

Administrative personnel Unhelpful, inconsiderate, 3% 4% 2% and offices rigid 2 6% 6% 4% 3 9% 9% 7% 4 20% 21% 18% 5 26% 22% 22% 6 22% 21% 26% Helpful, considerate, 15% 17% 20% flexible 2011 N=888

Students at Century College expressed similar levels of feeling supported compared to their peers at other institutions both within the system and nationally. Century College students do feel that the College encourages contact among students from different economic, social and racial or ethnic backgrounds more than their peers within MnSCU and at other large community colleges nationally.

Table 3.9 2011 CCSSE Questions related to Feeling Supported, Comparative Data How much does this college emphasize each of the following? (% Quite a bit & Very Much) Century College MNSCU Cohort 2011 Large Colleges Providing the support you need to help you 75% 73% 71% succeed at this college Encouraging contact among students from 56% 49% 51% different economic, social, and racial or ethnic backgrounds Helping you cope with your non-academic 28% 25% 26% responsibilities (work, family, etc.) Providing the support you need to thrive 38% 33% 33% socially Providing the financial support you need to 53% 54% 48% afford your education 2011 N=888

Table 3.10 Image Awareness Survey 2011, Comparative Data Characteristics Century UM UST ARCC CSC MSU SCSU UW-RF SPC College Respondents N= 27 57 11 14 7 8 6 6 6 Friendly 4.26 3.47 4.18 4.79 4.29 4.88 4 4.67 4.5 Convenient location 4.44 3.84 4.45 4.57 4.43 4.25 3.83 4.17 4.17 High quality education 4.22 4.28 4.55 4.43 4.29 4.63 4.17 4.33 4.5 Good value for money 4.33 3.95 4.4 4.5 3.57 4.63 4.33 4.83 4.67 Variety of programs/ 4.35 4.53 3.9 4.83 4 4.63 4.6 4.33 4.83 courses Variety of course s 4.04 3.93 3.64 4.67 4 4.38 4 4.33 4.17 cheduling options

52 Category Three, UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS century college June 2013

Involved within the 4.18 3.7 3.78 4 3.6 3.86 3.67 2.5 3.67 community

Improvement (I)

3I1. What recent improvements have you made in this category? How systematic and comprehensive are your processes and performance results for Understanding Students’ and Other Stakeholders’ Needs? The College has made several improvements in this category. The list below details a sampling of the recent changes made by Student Services area: Financial Aid • Increased staffing capacity in Financial Aid in response to survey data indicating that new entering students did not meet with Financial Aid advisor. • Revised Financial Aid Appeal process to improve efficiencies in staff time and advising of students • Developed more proactive communication to new and continuing students about status of their FAFSA • Monitored progress of aid applicants using key dates to “push” students to the next step. • Developed instructional forms to better help students with step by step directions to improve their success rate doing financial aid tasks. • Created Return to Title IV FAQ and training materials for cross training Business Office and Financial Aid staff. • Improved communication with faculty on financial aid concerns and changes • Trained Counselors on SAP appeals, changes in federal policy, and other changes • Revised and improved processes with Bookstore on Textbook Deferments (book vouchers) • Create training/presentation to be used in all New Student Seminars and Welcome Day Events

Counseling/Student Life/Orientation • Acquired grant and developed program to address student mental health issues • Developed parent and other family members orientation sessions • English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Advocate • Posted assessment advising • Created of GPS LifePlan Achievement Program and expansion throughout MnSCU system, Veterans Affairs and secondary schools

Tutoring • Reallocated resources from Tutoring Center to Tutors-linked-to-classes program because of under- utilization of Center

Marketing • Developed of student communication, web and media use surveys and associated changes, see 3R3

Our processes are departmentally-focused with some alignment between departments, but mostly process changes are communicated to other departments after they are changed. The College’s performance results are comprehensive and used to guide change, but there is room for improvement in aligning departments.

3I2. How do your culture and infrastructure help you to select specific processes to improve and to set targets for improved performance results in Understanding Students’ and Other Stakeholders’ Needs? In general the culture is very supportive to allow change and for improvements. People are empowered to determine what’s not working, how to fix it, and collaborate to solve problems. Century College has a dynamic, changing culture, constantly trying to keep up with the needs of students. The College puts the needs of the students first and wants them to have a good experience. If students are not having a good experience,

Category Three, UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS’ AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS’ NEEDS 53 century college June 2013 the College knows it needs to try something different. Support for change and improvement comes from Administration. Employees are given the tools and the encouragement to figure out what the issues are and meet those needs. However, silos still exist and communication of changes and cross-training to better serve students would improve the College’s ability to meet their changing needs.

Category Four, VALUING PEOPLE

Category Summary

The College’s processes for valuing people exhibit a range of maturity from aligned to reactive. Hiring practices follow MnSCU standard procedures and are in line with the various bargaining unit contracts and as such are aligned with the recruiting processes which are handled via an electronic workflow application and System Office mandated trainings. These are stable, managed processes with coordination between affected departments, HR and the MnSCU System Office. Processes for orienting new employees are not fully aligned but are more at the systematic level. The College has a proactive employee orientation process but does not stress coordination among units or a rigorous evaluation process. Evaluation of employees is also more systematic than aligned. Staff, Administrators, and probationary faculty are evaluated annually, but the College recognizes an opportunity to develop a more systematic process for evaluating full-time faculty. Employee professional development has historically been more reactive but is becoming systematic. The College is contractually obligated to provide opportunities to faculty and voluntarily offers opportunities to staff, but there are informal, various processes and procedures for accessing these opportunities; it is more self-directed and employees typically seek out opportunities. Processes for trainings not mandated by MnSCU are also reactive: departments are responsible to ensure that staff receive needed training.

One priority for this category is reviewing and redesigning the employee evaluation process, which is a current AQIP Action Project. This action project will review and revise current practices to develop a set of comprehensive employee evaluation processes that take into account the unique categories of employees on campus: staff, faculty and supervisors. A second AQIP Action Project, Creating a culture of data-based decision making, addresses a second priority for this category: organizational development as a means of creating cultural change. Part of this project is actively focused on supporting the Achieving the Dream (AtD) student success initiative and Strategic Action Plan goal 1: ensure success for all students.

Developing the capacity and opportunities to meet these needs is the priority of the College moving forward. New leadership and reorganization of professional development with HR will facilitate this priority.

Processes (P)

4P1. How do you identify the specific credentials, skills, and values required for faculty, staff, and administrators? Minimum qualifications for all faculty have been established by MnSCU’s Academic Affairs College Faculty Credentialing Committee and are based on education and experience. The Human Resources Office at Century College, along with the faculty association, monitors the College to ensure we are hiring only qualified instructors. Transcripts and/or required licenses are reviewed for currency and validity.

For classified staff, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the State of Minnesota created a list of minimum qualifications. Qualifications are chosen from this list based on position type. The State provides class specifications that indicate the typical knowledge and skills required for the position. The qualifications for mid-managers (represented by the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees – MAPE) and for supervisors (represented by the Middle Management Association – MMA) are position-based and determined by the supervisor/manager of the position. Administrative positions at the level of dean and above require a master’s degree. Resumes and transcripts are reviewed to ensure the applicant has the appropriate educational background and experience to be successful in the specific position. Testing

54 Category Four, VALUING PEOPLE century college June 2013 is conducted for various positions in AFSCME and MAPE to determine specific levels of knowledge. These tests include accounting, coding, customer service, data entry, filing, grammar, letter setup, math, proofreading, receptionist skills, secretarial skills, spelling, telephone skills, ten key, typing, vocabulary, and Microsoft Office applications. Background checks are also conducted for specific positions, including those individuals who may handle money or work with under-age students.

4P2. How do your hiring processes make certain that the people you employ possess the credentials, skills, and values you require? Qualifications for staff and administration positions are based upon the Minnesota state bargaining units’ contracts for hiring (AFSCME, MAPE, MMA, MNA, Commissioner’s Plan and MnSCU’s Administrators Plan), common practices within the MnSCU system, and in higher education more generally. Faculty hires must meet credentialing requirements as outlined between MnSCU and the Minnesota State College Faculty Association (MSCF). In addition to credentialing requirements, the faculty union contract outlines faculty roles in teaching, shared governance, non-teaching responsibilities, calendar, workload, office hours, oversight of curriculum, ratio of permanent to temporary instructors, class size, professional development, and academic freedom. The College uses these requirements as the basis for faculty hiring decisions.

The College has a search committee handbook with guidelines, procedures, and sample questions, which search committees are encouraged to review. The College requires training for all members of the search committee prior to them reviewing applications. The HR office works with search committees to ensure they are reviewing the applications appropriately and are asking appropriate interview questions. The College uses testing for some positions as a guide for training possibilities, Official transcripts are reviewed when necessary. Search committees review applicants for minimum qualifications as defined by the department, as well as specific additional skills needed to be successful in a particular position. Interview questions are open-ended, position-based, and designed to determine the skills and strengths and weaknesses of the applicant. Search committees for faculty positions also require a teaching demonstration. Teaching and other professional positions may require submission of work samples. Reference checks are also conducted by the search committee.

In many cases, second interviews are conducted by the next level of management. One priority in this meeting will be to underscore for candidates the important mission statement of Century College and ensure that employees hired share the commitment to this mission and to student success.

4P3. How do you recruit, hire, and retain employees? Recruiting: Positions are posted according to policy, procedure, supervisor request, and contractual obligations. Specifically, Century College recruits employees in the following ways: Full-Time Faculty/Administrators • Advertise in newspapers and on academic websites (Chronicle of Higher Education, local newspapers, HigherEdJobs.com, Minnesota Diversity, Midwest Higher Education Resource Consortium, etc.) • Notify professional organizations related to the program • Contact community organizations • Communicate with diverse higher education networks • Contact colleges and universities whose programs match the needs • Publish information in the MnSCU Job Opportunities Bulletin • Post on the Century College website • Request internal recommendations from faculty Part-Time Faculty • Recommendations from current faculty • Connections with other MnSCU institutions • Advertising in local newspapers • Publish information in the MnSCU Job Opportunities Bulletin • Post on the Century College website

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• Review unsolicited resumes • Participate in job fairs Staff/Unclassified Professional • If appropriate, newspapers and other publications • Civil service list (applicants place their resume into the state Resumx system and a list is created from those applicants meeting some or all of the qualifications) • MnSCU Job Opportunities Bulletin (based on position) • Post on the Century College website • Participate in job fairs Hiring is done through the search process detailed in 4P2 above for most positions. Supervisors are empowered to hire temporary and emergency staff positions as well as temporary part-time and adjunct positions.

To retain employees, the College is committed to professional development and evaluation (see 4P8 and 4P9). The College has a Center for Learning and Development. Supervisors are required to evaluate all staff each year. The current evaluation process includes a supervisor performance evaluation, an employee self- evaluation and professional development plan. The College provides the employees with many opportunities for professional development (Figure 4.1)

Figure 4.1 Professional Development Opportunities Available to Employees Center for Learning and Development Leadership Development Programs- Luoma Academy Best Practices awards Achievement awards Performance awards Service awards Acting/Interim and work-out-of-class assignments Promotions, Tuition waiver and reimbursement programs

The State of Minnesota pays competitive wages and offers excellent health and dental insurance, optional insurances, and retirement benefits including a 457 deferred compensation plan. MnSCU also has additional retirement options: supplemental retirement, a 403b plan, and a Roth IRA plan.

4P4. How do you orient all employees to your institution’s history, mission, and values? New employees go through orientation that is conducted through a blended delivery of face-to-face meetings and online orientations with the human resources staff. Faculty and staff receive a handbook and a guide book to orient them to the College. After orientation, supervisors will meet with staff and administrators to go over key information about the College and their job, which includes providing a background in the values and culture of the department. There is also a system-wide administrator and president orientation for senior- level employees new to the MnSCU system. We have all-college meetings to discuss the mission, vision, and values. The College’s Mission, Vision and Values are posted on the College’s Website, and official campus documents, such as the Strategic Action Plan. New employees are introduced at the opening of college professional development day each fall. Organizational charts, a history of the College, and other key information are maintained on a common computer drive shared by all College employees.

All new faculty hires including part-time and adjunct faculty are invited to participate in a two-day orientation. This Faculty Institute provides an overview of Century College’s mission, history, policies, and procedures and introduces key administrators and staff to discuss what it means to be a community college. Perhaps the most important part of the Faculty Institute is that new and part-time faculty can meet each other and begin to develop a supportive network of colleagues. The goal of the Faculty Institute is to help the new and part-time faculty feel comfortable at Century College and be the best instructors they can be. MnSCU also offers an online faculty orientation through the Center for Teaching and Learning.

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4P5. How do you plan for changes in personnel? Staffing is based on program needs and student enrollment. Academic departments annually review enrollment growth and new program development to determine the need for additional faculty. In relation to staff, the College offers work-out-of-class and interim/acting positions to provide opportunities for employees to develop new skills for higher-level positions. The College has historically been reactive in this area and has identified that a more proactive approach is needed. The College has begun using workforce planning data to determine the retirement eligibility of its workforce and will use succession planning efforts within departments to plan for retirements and other separations.

4P6. How do you design your work processes and activities so they contribute both to organizational productivity and employee satisfaction? The College has policies and procedures to maintain a safe and productive work environment. Departments regularly look at streamlining processes for continuous improvement. HR conducts supervisor meetings monthly to provide updates and discuss issues and concerns. The College administers employee surveys to gauge satisfaction and then uses that data to drive future improvements. We have mandatory trainings which provide more information and education to employees.

The College provides timely communication to the campus community via email, the Bulletin, and all-college meetings to provide its employees the information they need to be productive, in addition to any changes in policy and procedures. The College has college development days each term which allow employees to take some time away from their work areas to network and become more involved in the entire college community and stay current with College initiatives, updates and changes. These days also provide personal development to increase their satisfaction.

4P7. How do you ensure the ethical practices of all of your employees? There are policies in place at the state, system, and college level to ensure the ethical practices of all employees. New employees are made aware of these polices at point of hire. In addition, the MnSCU system has mandatory training on data security (FERPA and MN Data Practices Act) and sexual harassment awareness. Issues are discussed at supervisor meetings to ensure ethical standards are being communicated to employees. Managers and supervisors are further required to attend supervisor training sponsored by the System Office within 9 months of hire, which includes sections on policies, regulations, and ethics. Staff whose job responsibilities require access to student and employee information systems have security profiles to include only those data elements needed for their job duties. They are restricted in viewing other data. The College has a FERPA officer on campus to consult on all student data privacy issues, and HR is available for employee private data issues. Evaluations include items related to ethics and integrity.

The College undergoes an annual financial audit by an outside auditing firm in addition to regular financial aid audits by both the System Office and USDE. Student Right to Know Data is posted on the website yearly by Office of Public Safety and the College is also regularly monitored by MN OSHA and MN Department of Pollution Control. All bargaining units’ contracts have a grievance process agreed upon by the union and the System to handle all employee grievances. In addition, the System Office has a General Counsel that is available to all College personnel to consult with on legal and ethical issues.

4P8. How do you determine training needs? How do you align employee training with short- and long-range organizational plans, and how does it strengthen your instructional and non- instructional programs and services? The College has mandatory training based upon position responsibilities and associated risks, such as Employee Right to Know and the ethical practices training referenced in 4P7. Some of this mandatory training is given through HR. Employee Right to Know training is given through the College’s Safety Officer. Public Safety tracks training and notifies supervisors of their employees’ attendance at training. The department proactively informs employees and supervisors when they are coming due for their training; employees are

Category Four, VALUING PEOPLE 57 century college June 2013 notified 30 days prior to their due date, at their due date and after their due dates have past. If they are past the deadline for their training, their supervisor is notified.

Most individual and departmental training needs are determined through an examination of employee evaluations or individual employee request. There is a section in the performance evaluation where an employee or supervisor can make notes and recommendations on training needs. HR reviews that and forwards information regarding what type of training is needed to the Employee Development Specialist and copies the supervisor. The Employee Development Specialist coordinates the necessary training directly with the supervisor. A supervisor can initiate training requests for individuals or the entire department. Examples of this have been Customer Service, Closing the Sale, and Strengths Finder training. Individuals can approach the Employee Development Specialist directly for training and can request staff development funds if the request is job related or use a tuition waiver as appropriate.

Additional training needs are identified from new college initiatives. For example, as part of one of the College’s current AQIP Action project’s, Creating a Culture of Data-based Decision Making, and in alignment with the Achieving the Dream (AtD) project, the College has examined issues around organizational and professional development focused on student success. This team first documented activities that the College is already doing for professional development. These activities include: • SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity), Intercultural Passport Program (diversity awareness raising programs) • Teaching Circles/Learning Exchanges • Training in numerous areas (customer service, Strengths Quest, computer applications, technology tools, active learning techniques) • Workshops for programs, departments, chairs, and supervisors on how to use and interpret data for decision-making at the program, department, and unit level • All College Professional Development days The team then determined priorities in alignment with the AtD goals of increasing student success, such as: • Creation of employee development opportunities for faculty and staff that link to the needs identified by other AtD Advancement Teams • Articulate the relationship between organizational and professional development, and develop complementary plans for each • Develop an approach for disseminating information about the professional development opportunities available and framing them within the context of AtD Based upon feedback from the other AtD Advancement Teams, the Professional and Organizational Advancement Team decided that some of the needs for professional and organizational development are: • General curriculum improvements, especially curricular issues surrounding diversity • How to work more effectively with diverse students • How to manage and improve processes • How to understand and make decisions based on data The resulting matrix, excerpted below (Figure 4.2), details types of training, workshops, and cost, where applicable, needed to meet the goals of the AtD Advancement Teams.

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Figure 4.2 Matrix of Current Organizational and Professional Development Activities

Organizational Development/College-wide College-wide activity Seek opportunities to utilize the IDI feedback – learning experiences Create a Tool Kit regarding equity and diversity (educational resources) to increase cultural competency college-wide Preparing for what will be happening with the assessment of student learning should be part of the fall duty days every year. Process Improvements Some initiatives can be fairly inexpensive or free, just need time to do it. Time will be a large factor to allow for research and development of improvements. Communication/Workshops Information about TLC Program overview and department specific TLC results Offer local training for LCOMs, e.g. Brown bags and/or panels of LCOM teachers sharing their promising practices Educate college community of the plan, need, and rationale for equity initiatives Suggest making email official form of communication for faculty and students and educate the campus on this. Hopefully, will help with timely communication for students. Educating importance of ‘sticking to’ what faculty say they are going to offer and when. Best Practices “Faculty Roundtable of Best Practices” related to TLC Bring in consultants from Kingsborough? Evergreen? Best practice visits to LaGuardia or Kingsborough Community College or other exemplary institutions.

4P9. How do you train and develop all faculty, staff, and administrators to contribute fully and effectively throughout their careers with your institution? How do you reinforce this training? The College determines training needs in a variety of ways. The System and the College determine training needs from surveys of employees and through input from the Staff and Leadership Development Committee and Center for Learning and Development. The Staff and Leadership Development Committee has members from all bargaining units and different departments across campus, which creates an opportunity for all to be involved in long-range planning for staff and leadership development on campus.

The College makes every attempt to align employee training with short- and long-range organizational plans. See 4P8 for more information on the alignment of professional development with AtD planning. The chair of the Staff and Leadership Development Committee is a member of the College Cabinet and is thereby able to relay information between the committee and the president’s Cabinet. This communication helps the committee recommend and promote training and development opportunities to align with the College Strategic Action Plan and goals of the system.

Throughout the year, the Staff and Leadership Development Committee also provides employee training and development needs with a wide variety of classes, such as CPR, computer applications and eFolios, supervisory management, and communication. The center provides training opportunities in-house or coordinates with the Employee Development Specialist and/or Continuing Education and Customized Training division (CECT).

The College has a vital Center for Learning and Development focused on Faculty development. The center’s programming is broad and responsive and based on requests from various constituencies at the College. The center works closely with administration and various Student Success initiatives within the College when

Category Four, VALUING PEOPLE 59 century college June 2013 developing the agenda for the Fall Opening Days. In addition to campus-wide professional development days, the Center organizes: • Pathways for Adult Learners Summer Teaching Practicum • New Faculty Institute • Sabbatical discussion roundtable • Tech Talks • Digilit Conference - conference program focused on digital literacy in higher education • Program Review/Data workshops • Webinars • Learning Exchanges • Peer Consultation

4P10. How do you design and use your personnel evaluation system? How do you align this system with your objectives for both instructional and non-instructional programs and services? The College has accurate position descriptions on file for all employees. The performance evaluations are tied to the position descriptions. The current process is to provide spreadsheets to all the supervisors listing when their employee evaluations are due. The paper evaluation forms are located on the common drive for them to access when doing the reviews. Employees have individual development plans which are linked to department/college goals. The evaluations are used to make changes in programming or recommend new areas of training, as detailed in 4P8. Probationary and adjunct faculty are evaluated by their deans with classroom visits, professional development plans, and student opinion forms. All faculty may request student opinion forms to evaluate their teaching. As described in 4P9, the College provides faculty with professional development opportunities through a Center for Learning and Development, sabbaticals, and professional development funds to attend conferences, classes, and workshops in order to remain current in their respective fields.

The College recognized that the current process to evaluate employees was an opportunity for improvement and declared an AQIP project on employee evaluation in 2012. This action project will review and revise current practices to develop a set of comprehensive employee evaluation processes that take into account the unique categories of employees on campus: staff, faculty and supervisors. This evaluation process embeds qualities of continuous improvement and professional development is more transparent and collaborative. The project includes an examination of best practices both within the state system and externally. The electronic evaluation system for staff is scheduled to begin at the end of spring 2013 and training for supervisors has already been scheduled.

The scope of this project is to develop employee evaluation processes to meet the needs of all employees regardless of bargaining unit or position that is flexible to accommodate all employees and straight-forward enough to not overly burden supervisors or employee being evaluated. The evaluations will be linked to individual’s position description and professional development plan, embed principles of Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), College’s values, and be linked to College’s Mission, Vision, and Values, and/or Strategic Goals.

4P11. How do you design your employee recognition, reward, compensation, and benefit systems to align with your objectives for both instructional and non-instructional programs and services? Century College uses a variety of mechanisms to recognize and reward employees for their accomplishments and contributions toward meeting institutional goals and objectives. Bargaining agreements for many employee groups provide for merit increases and outstanding achievement awards in the form of additional financial compensation.

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In terms of recognitions, the College has a variety of awards: • Outstanding Faculty Awards, • MnSCU Board of Trustees’ Excellence in teaching award • National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) Excellence Awards • Staff Recognition Award for individual and teams developed by the Staff and Leadership Development Committee.

A sub-committee of the Staff and Leadership Development Committee looks over the nominations and recommends staff that have gone above and beyond in their work at the College. The Criteria for nomination and selection include, but are not limited to: • Exceptional service to students, faculty, staff, or external constituents • Continually going “above and beyond the call of duty” • Exceptional performance on a special project or assignment • Contributing to the improved morale and/or work environment of the college/department • Significant contributions to the college • Actions that distinguish employees outside their professional realm The College also displays a list of people who were nominated but didn’t receive the award to let people know how valued they are. Awards are given out at Celebrate Century in the spring along with recognitions for years of service, retirement, and diversity training.

4P12. How do you determine key issues related to the motivation of your faculty, staff, and administrators? How do you analyze these issues and select courses of action? Key issues related to employee motivation are identified in a number of ways, including the following ongoing mechanisms: • Employee selection process – although not uniformly asked, many search committees include questions related to values and motivation • Employee exiting process – through exit interviews with employees, Human Resources staff and/or supervisors learn of gaps between motivational factors desired and those present within the environment • Performance evaluation – during the annual evaluation process, employees and supervisors discuss issues of motivation as they relate to performance • Contractually required meet-and-confer meetings and all-college meetings – provide an opportunity to identify and discuss common issues surrounding employees’ experience, motivation, and general concerns • Online suggestion box – provides a venue for expressing concerns and questions

The issues identified through the various processes outlined above are reviewed by the Executive Cabinet, where responsibility for developing responses is assigned to the appropriate vice president. Each vice president is then charged with addressing the issues falling within his or her areas of supervision and communicating the results of their actions to the Executive Cabinet. These results are then summarized and distributed across the College.

The College has periodically conducted employee engagement and climate surveys. In Spring 2012, the College administered the PACE survey to provide a baseline employee satisfaction level and to provide direction and guidance for improvement. The data is analyzed by a committee or the HR Director and other administrators to determine a course of action. After each professional development day and training, feedback is gathered and changes to programming are made based upon feedback as appropriate.

4P13. How do you provide for and evaluate employee satisfaction, health and safety, and well- being? The College has policies and procedures to maintain a safe and productive work environment. The College conducts full evacuation and lock down drills each semester followed up by campus survey to collect feedback on areas of improvement. Climate surveys, such as PACE and Communication Survey developed by a prior

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AQIP Action Project, helps the College evaluate employee satisfaction, health, safety and well-being. The results of these surveys are reviewed by HR and/or IE and improvements are planned based upon the results. The College has a Wellness Committee on campus which coorinates an annual Wellness Fair with vendors, speakers, and information for employees to encourage healthy behaviors and activities. They administer a survey regularly to employees.

Results (R)

4R1. What measures of valuing people do you collect and analyze regularly? As part of an AQIP Action Project, the College developed and administered a Communication survey to employees to determine how employees receive information about the College and determine ways to improve internal communication. The survey was administered three times: in the 2006, 2008 and 2010 academic years. Starting in 2012, the College administered the NILIE PACE survey in order to compare its employees to other institutions of Higher Education.

The College uses an online registration system to have employees register for classes/sessions. At the end of the fiscal year we gather information from the system on number of people that participated and in what training areas. In addition, the College collects feedback from individuals on the training and other professional development opportunities, but participation is voluntary. Each year, the Employee Development Specialist puts together a summary of the trainings and other professional development opportunities and compares the information from year to year, (Table 4.4).

Century College also participated in National Community Benchmark Project (2008 and 2010) and has data on development/training expenditures/FTE employee and Retirements/Departures Rate. The College also tracks tuition reimbursement fund use.

4R2. What are your performance results in valuing people? Below are selected results of the Communication Survey Summary, focusing on questions specific to valuing people.

Table 4.1 Results of Communication Survey 2006-2010 Question % Strongly Agree/Agree 2006 2008 2010 I know where to get the information that I need to 82% 84% 87% do my job. I have all of the necessary materials and equip- 65% 67% 74% ment to perform my job. I know the primary goals of my department. 87% 90% 90%

Opportunities are available to communicate freely 72% 82% 82% with my supervisor about work.

My supervisor cares about me. 66% 81% 77% My supervisor values my input. 68% 80% 77% I receive regular performance feedback on how I 49% 60% 64% do my job. I am adequately recognized for my work. 51% 58% 60%

I feel appreciated at Century College. 57% 67% 68%

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Most supervisors do a good job communicating 45% 48% 60% about changes or decisions that affect employees.

Most supervisors encourage creative and innova- 54% 55% 63% tive ideas. Most supervisors treat employees with fairness 61% 64% 67% and respect. Employee input is utilized in decision-making at 47% 53% 52% Century College. Most administrators hold employees accountable 54% 61% 61% for the work that they do.

Most administrators are accountable for the work 43% 53% 59% that they do.

The College nurtures positive working relation- 58% 68% 67% ships among employees.

n=364

Results from the 2012 administration of the PACE survey (n=305) indicates that overall Century College has a healthy campus climate, yielding an overall 3.88 mean score or high Consultative system. The Student Focus category received the highest mean score (4.14), whereas the Institutional Structure category received the lowest mean score (3.70). When respondents were classified according to Personnel Classification at Century College, the composite ratings were as follows: Faculty (3.96), Administrator/Supervisor (3.94), and Staff (3.79). Table 4.2 details the top mean scores identified at Century College by the PACE survey. See Category 5 for more information on the PACE Survey.

Table 4.2 PACE Survey Top Mean Score Questions The extent to which I feel my job is relevant to this institution’s mission, 4.53 (#8) The extent to which student needs are central to what we do, 4.26 (#7) The extent to which this institution prepares students for further learning, 4.26 (#37) The extent to which student ethnic and cultural diversity are important at this institution, 4.24 (#18) The extent to which this institution prepares students for a career, 4.14 (#35) The extent to which students receive an excellent education at this institution, 4.13 (#31) The extent to which the actions of this institution reflect its mission, 4.12 (#1) The extent to which my supervisor expresses confidence in my work, 4.12 (#2) The extent to which professional development and training opportunities are available, 4.12 (#46) The extent to which my supervisor is open to the ideas, opinions, and beliefs of everyone, 4.11 (#9)

Table 4.3 below details the bottom mean scores have been identified at Century College by the PACE survey.

Table 4.3 PACE Survey Bottom Mean Score Questions The extent to which I have the opportunity for advancement within this institution 3.20 (#38) The extent to which I am able to appropriately influence the direction of this institution 3.34 (#15) The extent to which this institution has been successful in positively motivating my performance 3.56 (#22)

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The extent to which institutional teams use problem-solving techniques 3.56 (#11) The extent to which decisions are made at the appropriate level at this institution 3.56 (#4) The extent to which my work is guided by clearly defined administrative processes 3.57 (#44) The extent to which this institution is appropriately organized 3.61 (#32) The extent to which information is shared within this institution 3.61 (#10) The extent to which I receive timely feedback for my work 3.62 (#20) The extent to which I receive appropriate feedback for my work 3.65 (#21)

Tabe 4.4. Staff Professional Development 2011-2012 Summary Department specific training: 56 employees CECT classes: 22 Employees Conferences: 29 Employees Non-Credit Courses (not CECT) – 9 Employees System Office Supervisory Classes – 5 Employees Webinars: 2 employees Development/Training Expenditures per FTE employee (FY2010) with an expenditure of $811/ FTE College used maximum tuition reimbursement funds available for 2011-2012 academic year. Increase in number of employees using tuition reimbursement funds from 2006-07 to 2011-12 academic years from 14 to 22. Increase in participation in staff professional development opportunities 3.5% increase in participation in 2011-12 10% decrease in participation in 2010-11 73% increase in participation in 2009-10 58% increase in participation in 2008-09

What is your overall rating of this Staff Appreciation Day? 2011 98.8% good to excellent 2010 95.5% good to excellent 2009 98.2% good to excellent

Did you feel the day was relevant to your work at the college? 2012 67.8% yes, 17.5% neutral/no opinion 2011 78.4% yes 2010 89.9% yes

4R3. What evidence indicates the productivity and effectiveness of your faculty, staff, and administrators in helping your achieve your goals? The College currently has no reportable evidence related to this question. The College recently declared an AQIP Action Project, Employee evaluation process, to examine and redesign the process for employee evaluations, which is more fully described under 4P10.

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4R4. How do your results for the performance of your processes for Valuing People compare with the performance results of other higher education institutions and, if appropriate, of organizations outside of higher education? The College struggles to find an institution within or outside of higher education to provide comparative data on employee performance, productivity, satisfaction, and professional development. In a recent survey conducted by Insider Higher Ed of HR officers just 41.1 percent of respondents said they believed their institutions have good data on employee performance, productivity, and satisfaction and just 29.3 percent said their colleges made good use of the data they do have (2012). Therefore, Century College is not unique in the struggle to identify comparative data in this category.

Improvement (I)

4I1. What recent improvements have you made in this category? How systematic and comprehensive are your processes and performance results for Valuing People? One recent improvement in this category has been the evolution of professional development, which began with individual faculty and staff development, expanded to include department development and now includes institutional development in alignment with the College’s Achieving the Dream (AtD) initiative. The documentation, prioritization, and alignment of professional development opportunities with the AtD plan has enabled and ensured that the AtD plans receive full and active support of the College. This alignment has also given the staff and leadership development staff focus and guidance on the direction they should take with regards to providing professional development opportunities to the College. The alignment has continued the evolution of professional development from one of individual interest and initiation to more departmental and institutional focus in support of the College’s goals.

Additional improvements in this category include the AQIP action project to improve the employee evaluation process detailed under 5P10 and implementation of an Employee and Supervisor notification system on when Employee Right to Know Training is due. The College has also developed a tuition reimbursement policy. Finally, the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning has merged with Staff and Leadership Development and Instructional Design units and is housed in a common space: the Center for Learning and Development.

4I2. How do your culture and infrastructure help you to select specific processes to improve and to set targets for improved performance results in Valuing People? The College leadership is devoted to the professional development of its employees. The President chairs the AtD Advancement Team on Professional and Organizational Development. Professional and organizational development is considered a crucial part of the College’s AQIP action project to build a culture of data driven decision making. The College is aware that in order to increase the use of data in decision making, people need to have the necessary skills to evaluate and make meaning of data.

There is high awareness of the importance of valuing employees among supervisors. Supervisors serve on the Staff and Leadership Development Committee that developed the staff recognition award and reviews nominations for the award. In addition, supervisors frequently recommend staff for this award. The College has dedicated personnel and resources for professional development. The College considers it an important part of its culture that employee professional development began as individual development and then expanded to the whole institution. It was a grass roots initiative that evolved to encompass the entire college and is now an integral part of the College’s strategic plan, as evidenced by its placement within the AtD project. Another important feature of the culture and infrastructure at Century College is the ability to collaborate and network with the CECT division of the College.

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Category Five, LEADING AND COMMUNICATING

Category Summary The College’s processes for Leading and Communicating are in a range of maturity from systematic to aligned. The College groups operations into processes that are stable, consciously managed and regularly evaluated for improvement. The shared governance model ensures that communication and learning is shared among institutional units, as suggested by the ranking of the College in high Consultative scale on the NILIE PACE survey. Employees see the big picture of how what they do relates to improving student success. The processes under leading and communicating address the key goals and strategies as described in the Strategic Action Plan. However, the culture of grassroots empowerment can lead to slow implementation and ambiguity about who is responsible for follow-up on a decision.

Current priorities for the College in this category are the AQIP Action Project on employee evaluation mentioned in Category 4, I3 innovation fund, and the implementation of a process redesign/improvement project, Century Quality Improvement Program (CQIP). The Innovation Initiatives Investments (I3) fund was created to help meet goal three of the College’s Strategic Action Plan “Create a culture of excellence.” The initiative will help us identify innovative activities within the College to move us successfully forward in the future. The third priority of the College that relates to Leading and Communicating is the implementation of a process redesign/improvement project, Century Quality Improvement Program (CQIP), to meet goal 6 of the College’s Strategic Action Plan “Promote responsible stewardship of our human, physical, technological and financial resources to support student success.” CQIP is described more fully in category six.

Processes (P)

5P1. How are your institution’s mission and values defined and reviewed? When and by whom? The Minnesota State Colleges and University System (MnSCU) Board policy 3.24 requires all institutions within the system to review and update its mission, vision and purposes at least once every regional accreditation cycle. Procedure 3.24.1 states that a college or university shall submit its mission, vision, and purposes to the Senior Vice Chancellor of Academic and Student Services (Figure 5.1).

Figure 5.1 Minnesota State Colleges and University System (MnSCU) Board procedure 3.24 The college or university analysis shall: 1. Describe how its mission, vision, and purposes align with Policy 3.24; 2. Articulate the extent to which the college or university will meet expectations of law, how it relates to other institutions of higher education, and how its mission, vision, and purposes support fulfillment of the system mission and vision; 3. Describe the array of awards it offers; 4. Indicate if the college or university mission is compliant with statute, policy, and regional accreditation requirements; and 5. Describe consultation with faculty, students, employers and other essential stakeholders. The Senior Vice Chancellor shall provide an analysis of the college or university submission. The Chancellor may approve minor revisions or reaffirm a college or university mission, vision, and purposes. A college or university must submit a review of its mission at least once every regional accreditation cycle. Requests for a mission change and analysis shall be submitted to the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Services. The college or university analysis shall: 1.1. Describe how the new mission, vision, and purposes support the mission and vision of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system; 2. Describe the market demand for the award authority leading to the mission change; 3. Describe and document the comprehensive planning process undertaken to address the need; 4. Describe partnership opportunities and options and related risks that were explored as an alternative to the mission change;

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5. Articulate the current and future capacity to provide for the proposed change in award authority; and 6. Describe consultation with faculty, students, employers and other essential stakeholders.

Century College completed its last review and revision of its mission, vision, and values in 2009. The College followed an iterative process to review and revise its mission, vision, and values statements. The revision began with a campus-wide conversation at the all-college development day in April 2008. Over 400 employees attended this event and participated in a day of activities that were focused on topics related to improving the quality of learning at Century College, as well as improving the environment for all stakeholders (e.g., students, alumni, employees, the workforce, donors, volunteers). Following this session, the mission, vision, and values statements were developed after a series of small- and large-group meetings, focus groups, working sessions with consultants, and review and voting by various committees and at all-college meetings. The resulting mission, vision and values statements were forwarded to the MnSCU Board of Trustees and approved in January 2009.

5P2. How do your leaders set directions in alignment with your mission, vision, values, and commitment to high performance? Minnesota Statutes Chapter 136F created the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system (MnSCU) and mandated it be governed by a 15-member Board of Trustees appointed by the governor. The Board has policy responsibility for system planning, academic programs, fiscal management, personnel, admissions requirements, tuition and fees, and rules and regulations for all institutions within the System. The mission of the Board is to provide programs of study that meet the needs of students for occupational, general, baccalaureate, and graduate education. The state universities, community colleges, and technical colleges shall have distinct missions as provided in section 135A.052, subdivision 1. Within that statutory definition and subject to the approval of the Board, each community college, state university, and technical college may develop its own distinct campus mission (5P1). The Board of Trustees hires a Chancellor for the entire system. Each College and University in the system is headed by a President who serves as chief executive officer. The President reports to the system’s Chancellor. The President hires the leadership of the College who set directions and communicates those directions through annual student success action plans, which are tied in to Strategic Action Plan and aligned with the College’s mission. Century College aligns its direction to the Chancellor’s Strategic Framework for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities and uses system wide metrics to measure progress on achieving its strategic goals. The framework’s three goals are: to ensure access to an extraordinary education for all Minnesotans, be the partner of choice to meet Minnesota’s workforce and community needs, and deliver to students, employers, communities, and taxpayers the highest value/most affordable option for higher education.

The College’s Planning Committee is comprised of faculty leadership, representatives from staff and students, along with the Executive Cabinet, composed of the President, Vice Presidents, and Associate Vice President. The Planning Committee develops the College’s Strategic Action Plan, including the integration of other College plans into the Strategic Action Plan, and ensures linkages between all planning efforts at the College. The Administrative Finance Committee, which is comprised of the Director of Finance and the Executive Cabinet (members of the Planning Committee), ensures linkages between the plan and the College budget development. The planning process involves gathering and considering the perspectives of the entire college community, environmental scans and consideration of both internal and external stakeholders’ needs. The Planning Committee also develops and promotes the tracking of progress on planning efforts, including indicators and outcome measures, and reviews progress on implementation of the strategic plan. Strategies requiring additional funding are forwarded to the College’s Administrative Finance Committee for evaluation and prioritization of funding. Budgeting levels are determined by the State Appropriation allocation, tuition rates, enrollment levels, and external sources of funding; grants and donations; and infrastructure needs, personnel costs, and program costs. The College uses the MnSCU System’s Institutional and System Performance Metrics as performance targets and benchmarks for its Strategic Plan. In addition, strategies under each goal

Category Five, LEADING AND COMMUNICATING 67 century college June 2013 have specific measures that relate to that strategy which roll up to impact the system-wide metric. See 8P1, 8P2, 8P6, and 8P7 for more information on the College’s planning processes.

The Executive Cabinet communicates to supervisors the priorities and goals of the College and charges them with building and developing the specific plans and action steps to achieve the goals of the Strategic Action Plan, within the framework of the College’s mission, enrollment profile and current departmental budgets. Supervisors also meet regularly with their direct reports to discuss issues and concerns. These meetings are opportunities for two way communication on alignment between daily operations and the College’s strategic directions. As needed, committees are formed to address cross-departmental action steps to achieve goals. Faculty are a key partner of the College’s leadership. The faculty bargaining unit’s contract describes faculty roles and responsibilities for oversight of academic matters. Through the Academic Affairs and Standards Council (AASC), Shared Governance, representation on other contractually obligated College committees, and regular program and course review, faculty ensure that academic programs meet current and emerging student needs. See 1P1, 1P2, 1P3, 1P4,1P13, and 1P14 for information on faculty oversight on academic matters.

5P3. How do these directions take into account the needs and expectations of current and potential students and key stakeholder groups? The mission, vision, and values are publically articulated through the strategic plan, student success action plans, academic programs, and services provided to our students and other stakeholders. The College’s leadership consistently stresses the centrality of student success. The College’s website displays and explains our mission, vision, values as seen in Figure 5.2.

Figure 5.2 Mission Statement Century College inspires, prepares, and empowers students to succeed in a changing world. This means: • We inspire students to learn and to develop as whole people: intellectually, physically, and emotionally • We inspire students to continue learning throughout life • We prepare and empower students to be successful by helping them develop the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to enter or progress within the work force or to transfer to a four-year institution, and to adapt and thrive in our increasingly diverse and ever-changing world. Vision Statement To be a national leader in transforming lives through an innovative, rigorous, and compassionate approach to education. This means: • We continually strive to strengthen and improve the positive impact we have on our students and community: transforming their lives, as well as our own, through our work • We will become known nationally as an institution that “makes a difference” • We continually strive to innovate – finding new and more effective ways to educate and serve students • We sustain rigor in our work – holding high standards and expectations for both our students and for ourselves • We approach our work with compassion – acknowledging the whole person, working with integrity and caring, accepting people where they are and moving them forward without sacrificing standards or expectations; bringing joy, honesty, and understanding to our work.

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Values Statement The Century College community values: • inspiring learning • broadening perspectives • pursuing excellence • responding to community needs • achieving goals • transforming lives • celebrating achievement

Revised and Adopted December 2008. Approved by the Minnesota State College and Universities Board of Trustees January 2009.

Through consultation and engagement with faculty elected representatives, the College’s Shared Governance process uses data taken from trends in education, environmental scans, student demographics, surveys, focus groups, and feedback gathered from students and other stakeholders to help inform their decision making and take into account the needs and expectations of the College’s diverse stakeholders. The Faculty contract requires faculty representation on designated standing committees. The Faculty union designates faculty representatives for those committees. Faculty and staff are encouraged and requested to be members of other committees and taskforces as interest and expertise warrant. The College includes perspectives from faculty and staff, including front line offices as appropriate and pertinent to the decision being made. Students are included in the membership of standing committees. The College reviews the list of standing committees with the Student Senate and requests that they appoint student representatives to each committee. The Student Senate decides which ones they want representation on and students are added to those committees for that academic year. Academic programs have advisory boards with community and industry leaders to consult with on direction of programs that take into account student, community, and business needs.

5P4. How do your leaders guide your institution in seeking future opportunities while enhancing a strong focus on students and learning? The message leadership has been articulating over the last five years is that students are central to what we do: focusing on student success and improving it. The College joined the Achieving the Dream (AtD) program in 2011 in order to support this goal. The centrality of student success is conveyed at the All College Development days that kick off the academic year and continues across different events that occur throughout the year. This consistent message creates a common theme and articulates how student success aligns with the College’s mission and its commitment to improve. Future opportunities are assessed in relation to whether they have the potential to improve student success and their alignment with the College’s Strategic Plan, in addition to a feasibility assessment, including whether the College has appropriate facilities, and resources for a given event or activity. There are greater demands being put on the College at a time when state support and the ability to increase tuition are declining. The College needs to find innovative ways to improve its operations and improve student success. To address the current climate, the College recently initiated an internal grant program to encourage innovation and improvement. The Innovation Initiatives Investments (I3) fund was created to help meet goal three of the College’s Strategic Action Plan “Create a culture of excellence.” The initiative will help us identify innovative activities within the College to move us successfully forward in the future. Another recent improvement is the implementation of a process redesign/improvement project, Century Quality Improvement Program (CQIP), discussed more fully in category six.

Cabinet members are active participants in national, state, and local organizations to maintain a positive presence in the community and respond to external stakeholder needs. See Figure 5.3. See 2P4 for details on the process for determining selection of other distinctive objectives.

Category Five, LEADING AND COMMUNICATING 69 century college June 2013

Figure 5.3 Organizations with active participation from Century College Cabinet

National: Council for Resource Development Council on Foundations (national) National Council of University Research Administrators American Evaluation Association Achieving the Dream Association for Institutional Research American Association of Community Colleges American Association of University Women American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment Council for Higher Education (CHEA) Council for Opportunity in Education League for Innovation National Council for Workforce Education North American Council for Staff Program and Organizational Development (NCSPOD) National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) Society for College and University Planning (SCUPS) National Association of President’s Assistants Multi-state Collaborative on Assessment Women in Trucking Association National Association of Publicly Funded Truck Driving Schools CUPA – national level college and university professional association SHRM – national Society for Human Resource Management National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) Health Educator and Industry Partnership (HEIP) Regional, State, and Local: Minnesota Council on Foundations North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale School District Board North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale Rotary Club Stillwater Area Foundation Board of Directors, Chairperson Wilder Foundation Shannon Institute for Leadership, Campus Compact Board of Directors HealthForce Minnesota Executive Alliance Future of Higher Education Workgroup Minnesota Safety Council MnCUPA- HR– Vice President, Board of Directors Minnesota College Personnel Association (MCPA) Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA) East Metro Women’s Council Board MnSCU: Finance User Group Metro Alliance Business Managers Campus Service Cooperative Presidents Leadership Council and Metro Alliance MnSCU IT Finance & Personnel Committee MnSCU CHRO group

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5P5. How do you make decisions in your institution? How do you use teams, task forces, groups, or committees to recommend or make decisions, and to carry them out? The College has a distributed decision-making process. Decision making is built by consensus with faculty and student leaders, especially with regards to standing committees. See Figure 5.4. Committees are charged with making decisions within the scope of their charter. Some committees have very detailed charters and scope of authority, especially committees that are contractually obligated to have representation from faculty union and/or students. Faculty leadership are prominent members and are actively involved in Shared Governance, AASC, Planning Committee and other committees as required by contract and agreed upon by faculty and administration. As stated in 5P3, students are included in the membership of several standing committees. The College reviews the list of standing committees with the Student Senate and requests that they appoint student representatives to the appropriate committees. Students then decide which ones they want representation on and students are added to those committees for that academic year. College leadership uses information and recommendations from task forces and committees, to inform their decisions. Once the decision is made, it is the responsibility of departments under the facilitation and guidance of their division Vice President to implement those decisions.

Figure 5.4 Standing Committees COLLEGE COMMITTEES THAT INCLUDE STUDENT PARTICIPATION Committee Achieve the Dream, Core Team Auxiliary Services Advisory Budget Advisory Task Force Campus Wide Planning Communications Enrollment Management Facilities Advisory Information Technology Services Advisory Judicial Board of Review Marketing Advisory Safety & Parking Student Life Student Senate Executive & College Administration Student Success Day(s) Sustainability (Climate) Web Oversight Graduation CONTRACTUAL-BARGAINING UNIT COMMITTEES AFSCME Meet and Confer Faculty Shared Governance/Meet and Confer ADMINISTRATIVE Group Administrative Finance Cabinet, Executive Cabinet, Full Planning & Institutional Effectiveness

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OTHERS Committees/Task Forces/Work Groups Academic Affairs & Standards Council Academic Assessment Alumni Century College Campus Conf., Common Book D.R.E.A.M.S. Campaign (Foundation) Employee Wellness Enrollment Management GPS LifePlan Landscape Mental Health Staff & Leadership Development Women of Distinction

In addition, the College uses teams and empowers individual employees to make day-to-day decisions, with the option to elevate an issue to supervisors. Often teams across several offices will work together to find a solution to a cross-departmental issue, such as the Financial Aid, Records, and Business offices working together to improve the book voucher process.

The College has an opportunity to more clearly define the boundaries and parameters for committee decision making authority and criteria to be used for determining when a decision must seek approval from the Executive Cabinet to make the final decision. This opportunity is most clearly seen in barriers to implementation, slow communication to Executive Cabinet on committees’ decisions/recommendations, and lack of follow-up on a decision due to ambiguity about who is ultimately making the final decision. To address this opportunity several members of the Executive Cabinet have reinforced the need for their staff to communicate decisions to them, to think about what other areas might be affected by their decisions, and to include those areas in the conversation prior to creating recommendations. The College can also address this opportunity by examining and redesigning the committee charter process to be sure it is current and accurately reflects scope and decision making authority.

5P6. How do you use data, information, and your own performance results in your decision- making processes? Supervisors are empowered to determine the best way for achieving goals through their expertise, knowledge of their respective fields, best practice research and using institutional data to the extent possible to develop their student success action plans. Data is a key part of the decision-making process at Century College. The College is focused on improving its use of data in decision making and has declared an AQIP action project: Creating a Culture of Data-based Decision Making, which focusses on building organizational capacity around data use. Category seven describes this action project in more detail.

A second AQIP Action Project, Show What You Know, focuses on the College’s assessment plan to ensure that students are acquiring the core competencies needed to complete the College’s degree programs. This project is included in the Strategic Plan and has been allocated resources, including faculty release time, to lead the assessment efforts on campus. Career and technical degree programs also have faculty release time for program coordinators to provide oversight for assessment and program accreditation.

5P7. How does communication occur between and among the levels and units of your institution? Bidirectional communication happens through supervisors to employees via meetings, emails, and

72 Category Five, LEADING AND COMMUNICATING century college June 2013 conversations. Information is also passed from level to level through departmental meetings, unit meetings and all college meetings, the college newsletter, handouts, emails, and conversations. The College has an opportunity to examine processes related to communication between and among levels within the College, specifically with regards to interoffice communication between staff through integration of related processes.

5P8. How do your leaders communicate a shared mission, vision, and values that deepen and reinforce the characteristics of high performance organizations? College leadership weaves the mission, vision, and value statements into communications and actions whenever possible. The College has been giving a consistent message that improving student success is central to what we do. Communication happens mostly through supervisors to employees through unit and individual meetings. The information is also passed from level to level through departmental meetings, unit meetings and all college meetings, the college newsletter, emails, and conversations. While the College is hearing a consistent message of the centrality of student success, there is an opportunity to link the messaging across activities and events in order to clarify how these activities contribute to improving student success. This alignment could help reduce the multiplicity of interpretations or definitions of what student success means to different areas of the College. The College also has an opportunity to examine processes by which information and decisions made by committees are communicated back to leadership.

5P9. How are leadership abilities encouraged, developed and strengthened among your faculty, staff, and administrators? How do you communicate and share leadership knowledge, skills, and best practices throughout your institution? All employees are encouraged to pursue professional development opportunities as time, interest, supervisory approval, and funding allow. Supervisors have opportunities at the system level for supervisory and leadership development, such as an Art of Supervision course. In addition, the System Office has a leadership development program, the Luoma Leadership Academy, to develop future leaders within the MnSCU system. Leaders within the System have regular meetings and conferences to communicate and share knowledge, skills, and best practices throughout the System.

At the College level, there are regular supervisor meetings for updates and trainings, Cabinet retreats, and opportunities to lead committees and taskforces. The College encourages faculty to pursue leadership opportunities and often names faculty as interim deans and directors during leadership transitions. Faculty are further encouraged in leadership abilities by being assigned release credits to pursue non-teaching responsibilities, such as program directors or chairing committees. The College has an active Staff and Leadership Development program, which has been described more fully in category 4. The College recognizes an opportunity to improve communication on employee development opportunities and funding available to staff. The recent re-organization of staff development under Human Resources was done, in part, to address this opportunity. The College has an additional opportunity to improve leadership development for part time faculty and staff by exploring a mentoring program and more clearly articulating career pathways internally.

5P10. How do your leaders and board members ensure that your institution maintains and preserves its mission, vision, values, and commitment to high performance during leadership succession? How do you develop and implement your leadership succession plans? The College often names existing faculty and deans as interims for key leadership positions during leadership succession; however, this is an opportunity for improvement. Being a public institution limits what the College can do in succession planning. To address this opportunity the MnSCU System has developed the Luoma Leadership Academy to facilitate the development of leaders within the system. Graduates of this program add to the pool of potential leaders for the entire system not only their home institutions. The College has an opportunity to develop an orientation plan for new administrators to both the System and to the institution. There is an additional opportunity to better document existing processes, committee structure, and membership to assist interim and new leaders during times of transitions.

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Results (R)

5R1. What performance measures of Leading and Communicating do you collect and analyze regularly? • NILIE PACE survey • Communication survey • Annual Administrator Evaluations

5R2. What are your results for leading and communicating processes and systems? Results from the 2012 administration of the NILIE PACE survey indicate that overall Century College has a healthy campus climate, yielding an overall mean score of 3.88 or Highly Consultative system (n=305, response rate 35.6%). See 4R2 for more details on the results of the NILIE PACE survey, areas of strength and opportunities for improvement. Figure 5.5 shows mean climate scores as rated by personnel classifications at Century College.

Figure 5.5 NILIE PACE Survey results by Employee Classification

The results of the Communication Survey from 2006 to 2010 indicate improvement in employees’ perception of their work environment and communication of the College. This survey was discontinued after the decision to participate in the PACE survey was made. See Table 4.1 for results from the Com- munication Survey.

5R3. How do your results for the performance of your processes for Leading and Communicating compare with the performance results of other higher education institutions and, if appropriate, of organizations outside of higher education? According to the NILIE PACE survey comparative analysis, Century College exceeds the norm base for matched institutions. Figure 5.6 shows how Century College compares to other institutions administering the PACE survey nationally.

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Figure 5.6 2012 NILIE PACE Leadership Scale compared to Norm Base

Ten other MnSCU institutions participated in the PACE survey in 2012. Century College had the third highest overall mean score. See Table 5.1 for comparative results.

Table 5.1 Overall Mean Scores for PACE Results 2012

Overall MnSCU Institution Mean Score System Rating Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College 4.04 Low Collaborative MN West Community & Technical College 3.98 High Consultative Century College (n=305) 3.88 High Consultative Ridgewater College 3.78 High Consultative Dakota County Technical College 3.75 High Consultative Northland Community & Technical College 3.65 High Consultative MN State Community & Technical College 3.61 Middle Consultative South Central College 3.60 Middle Consultative Central Lakes College 3.59 Middle Consultative St. Cloud Technical & Community College 3.58 Middle Consultative

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Improvement (I)

5I1. What recent improvements have you made in this category? How systematic and comprehensive are your processes and performance results for Leading and Communicating? All three current AQIP Action Projects are recent improvements that align with this category. The College has recently created committee pages in its intranet portal, MyCentury, to share information, agendas, minutes and discussions among committee members as part of its Creating a Culture of Data-Based Decision Making action project. This portal is also where employees access the MyData page where static and dynamic reports are housed. The Employee Evaluation Action project reviews and revises existing processes for employee evaluation, including supervisors, and discusses the inclusion of MnSCU leadership competencies as the basis for supervisory evaluation. The action project focused on assessment of student learning, Show What You Know, is aligned with the Strategic Action Plan and budget which demonstrates the institution’s commitment to helping students learn.

5I2. How do your culture and infrastructure help you to select specific processes to improve and to set targets for improved performance results in Leading and Communicating? The College’s leadership has consistently conveyed the message that student success is central to the mission of the institution. This message, along with a culture of empowering people to determine the best way for achieving success is one of Century College’s key strengths. However, the distributed decision-making culture and committee structure, while reducing silos, also creates an opportunity to improve communication flow between leadership and management. The College has a strong commitment to building up a culture of data-informed decision making as documented in the AQIP Action Project: Creating a Culture of Data-Based Decision Making. The practice of using data to drive decision making is starting to permeate throughout the institution.

Category Six, SUPPORTING INSTITUTIONAL OPERATIONS

Category Summary The College is at the systematic to aligned level of maturity for supporting institutional operations. Units that are highly transactional have well aligned processes, which are stable, consciously managed and regularly evaluated for improvement. The Finance area, in particular, has made numerous process improvements in the last few years and is leading the process redesign project (CQIP) for the College. These units are committed to streamlining transactional processes in order for staff to have more time to help students and work at the high end of their skills. Units that are less strictly transactional in nature, such as Marketing, have systematic processes and workflow to meet internal stakeholder needs and promote collaboration between departments within the College. These processes are evaluated when they do not work effectively and are then improved. The key priority for the College is the recent process redesign program, Century Quality Improvement Program (CQIP). This project expands the process redesign work that began in the Finance division across the institution. The College sent employees to a mini Master’s program in process improvement at a local university. Following that, a dozen employees were asked to take part in an Education LEAN program to learn about process improvement specifically adapted for educational institutions. Employees also attended a 2-day training session on LEAN offered by the State of Minnesota. After completion of these programs, this process redesign team will proactively facilitate process improvement across the institution. CQIP is led by a CQIP Steering Committee composed of the Vice Presidents, Chief Human Resource officer, Finance Director, and Dean of Institutional Effectiveness. This steering committee will guide and support CQIP.

Processes (P)

6P1. How do you identify the support service needs of your students and other key stakeholder groups (e.g., oversight board, alumni, etc.)? Many support service needs are identified through existing regulations, policies, and changing industry

76 Category Six, SUPPORTING INSTITUTIONAL OPERATIONS century college June 2013 standards. For example, the Finance area is a highly transactional area and many of their processes are dictated by external agencies and technology constraints, such as payroll, financial aid disbursement, etc. The Clery Act is another example of identified support service needs that are considered as applying to all students, and the College has processes in place to meet those needs as a regular part of its business processes. The regular and systematic improvement of these processes allows those areas to focus resources on communication with key stakeholders and identify unique support service needs. See 6P4-5 for process descriptions.

To identify other support service needs, the College follows an iterative process whereby an existing situation is identified as not working through formal and/or informal means. Employees gather information about the situation, often putting in a quick fix until a more permanent solution can be developed. The process is changed to improve the situation and a check is done formally or informally to see if the situation has improved. The College has formal and informal ways of getting input from its students and other key stakeholders to identify their needs. The main formal way of identifying support service needs are through committees set up to address issues related to that service area or cross service areas, for example, the Cabinet, Joint Academic and Student Services Deans meeting, ITS Advisory Committee, and Health and Safety Committee. The committee meetings provide formal and informal opportunities for discussion of current concerns and future needs. Committees meet regularly throughout the school year as per their charters. The ITS Advisory Committee is composed of representatives from each division of the campus as well as students and is responsible for drafting and approving the College’s Technology Master Plan. The Health and Safety Committee is composed of a broad representation of the campus. Other formal means of identifying support service needs are through regular review of helpdesk tickets, work orders, web analytics on electronic FAQ site, and suggestion box entries. Results from these communications are examined for patterns and trends. Informally, the College collects input in the form of messages, phone calls, emails, and personal conversations from employees and students. Based on those results the College adjusts services and processes accordingly. The check on whether the change in process worked is mostly informal and ad hoc: are we still getting similar comments from students, have helpdesk tickets on this issue reduced? Additionally, some departments conduct feedback surveys of students and other stakeholders to see if there is an improvement in services. For example, the Bookstore recently had customer service training for its employees. They surveyed students before and after the training to see if student perception of service improved.

The Foundation helps support students’ education through scholarships and fundraising. Through working with individual donors and advisory board members, criteria for awarding scholarships and/or use of funds are determined. The applications are reviewed by a team of people who, based upon established criteria, decide who should receive a scholarship. This information is conveyed to students and the Business Office to disburse the funds to the students. The Foundation has a “donor toolkit” comprised of key information to communicate with donors about why contributing to the College Foundation is important and how their donations are used. The information contained in this toolkit is organized into themes that resonate with donors, such as community service and the power of scholarships, and is linked to the College’s Strategic Plan.

The Marketing department has been recently moved under the VP for Student Services and is responsible for student communication and College branding. The Director of Marketing chairs the committee to manage student communication and through use of data, proposes changes to communication channels that are working and elimination of those that aren’t. The Committee also uses data to guide requestors on the best ways to communicate with various student populations.

6P2. How do you identify the administrative support service needs of your faculty, staff, and administrators? As with identifying student and other stakeholders’ needs, as described in 6P1, the College identifies the administrative support needs of employees through formal and informal means. Committees, especially those that require union representation, such as Shared Governance, Meet and Confers, Health and

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Safety Committee, and ITS Advisory Committee, are the primary vehicles by which the College gathers information about issues and needs of its employees. In addition, the College periodically administers surveys of employees to gauge campus climate and communication (Communication Survey, PACE). Several departments, such as ITS, Facilities, Marketing, and IE have request processes in place, such as helpdesk requests, and work orders, that are reviewed regularly. The Finance areas review their processes regularly and identify employee needs through that review. Employee evaluations are an additional mechanism by which the College identifies support service needs of employees. As the College’s primary focus is on student success, determination of employee needs is often discovered informally through issues arising in the services provided to students. Informally, the College identifies administrative support service needs of employees through conversations, emails, and suggestion box entries which are directed to appropriate parties to address and then trends are reviewed by the Executive Cabinet throughout the year. Below are examples highlighting some of the processes.

Marketing is working with departments on campus to proactively determine their recurring needs and establish a workflow to better plan and support other departments on campus. This change allows the department to plan out their entire year and allocate staff time and resources more efficiently. When requests come in, a staff member is responsible for working with the requestor to determine the scope of the project and assigning it to others in the department to develop the detailed, concrete plan. These staff members act as project managers for the project and collaborate with the requestor.

The College has implemented a new process for web projects. Requests for non-routine changes, modifications, or additions to the external website are submitted to the Marketing department and reviewed and prioritized by the Web Oversight Committee. This Committee serves to provide direction to Century College’s external-facing website efforts, including the development, planning, and execution of projects and initiatives that ensure the College’s external-facing website is customer-centric and follows current website best practices and design. This committee serves to ensure that Century College’s mission, vision, and values are represented and consistent with Century College’s strategic goals. Membership on the committee includes broad representation of staff, faculty, and administration to ensure that multiple voices and perspectives are represented. The committee meets monthly to determine website vision, set timelines for navigational, functional reviews and branding reviews, discuss projects, provide updates, and revise the web schedule as needed.

6P3. How do you design, maintain, and communicate the key support processes that contribute to everyone’s physical safety and security? The design and maintenance of processes related to safety and security are on-going. Safety and Security test existing systems regularly and then update them as needed. The College evaluates where there are weak spots in the systems; surveying what we have and looking at what activity we have had in different areas and adding as needed. In the last eight years, the College has totally replaced the fire alarm system on the entire campus. By tying the buildings together using a fiber network connection, the College has the ability to make live and prerecorded emergency messaging throughout the entire campus. The College also upgrades its safety and security systems when it remodels existing buildings. As remodels and new additions are built, the College budgets for security and public safety. The College conducts emergency preparedness drills (both full evacuation and lock down) each Fall and Spring term, designates managers and supervisors as responsible parties to assist students and employees in the event of emergencies, and provides training to help employees feel more confident that they know what to do in an emergency. Information about drills is communicated to the college community prior to the event. After drills, feedback from the campus is collected and reviewed for areas of improvement. Public Safety personnel regularly tour campus to monitor physical safety and security as well as be a resource for students, employees, and other stakeholders as needed.

Designing, maintaining and communicating processes around information security is more challenging in part because several policies are decided at the State, Federal, or System Office and individual institutions do not have complete autonomy. The College complies with Minnesota State requirements and MNSCU board policy

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5.13. In terms of maintenance, the ITS department does bimonthly updates to all of the College’s servers to maintain their security and even more frequent updates to end users’ desktops to maintain their security. When ITS discovers problems, they address them and communicate with appropriate parties regarding security guidelines.

The communication about information security has been less proactive and more reactive. ITS gives guidance on where and how to store information securely and all employees are required to take a MnSCU data privacy and practices training, but the College does not have the capacity to be more proactive.

The College maintains an electronic FAQ site, Ask Century, where both internal and external stakeholders can go to get information about the College, including processes and information related to physical safety and security.

6P4. How do you manage your key student, administrative and institutional support service processes on a day-to-day basis to ensure that they are addressing the needs you intended them to meet? The Finance areas regularly audit and run reports on their day-to-day processes to ensure they are working properly. As technology and procedures change, they review existing practices to match. The offices systematically review existing processes to determine areas of improvement, including adopting new technology, departmental trainings, process mapping, and redesign as appropriate. As indicated in 6P1- 2, most processes are industry standard and are revised as those standards change. In terms of contact/ communication with students and other stakeholders, the departments of the College disseminate information in multiple modes, formats, and frequencies. For example, employees in the Finance area attend and host workshops at Student Success Day, have handouts available, use signage at the Business Office, place posters around campus, maintain websites, and conduct phone or email blasts to students with key information, such as payment deadlines. Faculty are informed of changes to regulations and processes, such as Last Date of Attendance (LDA) and possible implications to students as needed. The Bookstore runs a report of classes without books adopted and contacts the appropriate academic areas several times prior to the federally mandated due dates for posting this information for students. The informal feedback from students and other stakeholders is considered as part of the process to determine how well we are meeting their needs.

Management of these key processes is often an intensive, hands-on approach, whether it is Public Safety personnel or supervisors. The ITS department has the benefit of the help desk software ticketing system to monitor their processes on a day to day basis. Facilities, Public Safety, and ITS also have radios by which they can quickly communicate issues and concerns and address any problems with processes or emergencies as they arise. Department leaders meet regularly with their staff to discuss priorities and barriers to meeting them, review processes and concerns and determine areas for improvement. In addition, the ITS and Student Services departments have a comprehensive FAQ site that is on both the College’s public and private websites. The departments regularly review use of FAQ sites and ITS reviews helpdesk tickets quarterly. If the Helpdesk ticket review process indicates there is a new issue, the ITS department puts new documents on its FAQ knowledge management tool to provide all stakeholders with the information. Public Safety maintains databases for tracking required safety training, parking citations, and incident reports. Reports from these databases are sent to appropriate offices, such as supervisors for updating training records or Conduct Officer for issues involving student discipline.

6P5. How do you document your support processes to encourage knowledge sharing, innovation, and empowerment? The College maintains an electronic FAQ site (Ask Century) which provides documentation to students and other stakeholders, both internal and external. There is regular email communication, updates at committee meetings, messages in the College Bulletin, notices to supervisors to pass on to staff, and MnSCU System Office Updates sent out via email, listservs, or newsletters. There is the expectation that this information will be disseminated to others internally. See Category 5.

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Information is put into Student and Faculty Handbooks and available online, which includes information on building hours, classroom security, lost and found procedures, duplicating services, parking, first aid emergencies, and other emergencies. Emergency posters are in each classroom indicating emergency procedures, including escape routes. The College also has a safety website and is expanding its web presence to include security, such as emergency training information.

Knowledge sharing is part of every Cabinet meeting and emails are regularly sent to supervisors and all employees about changes and updates. The expectation is that Cabinet members and supervisors are sharing this information with their employees. For many areas communication is done on an ad hoc, need-to-know basis without a formal process. The College is expanding its use of the College intranet, MyCentury, and has set up several home pages for committees and groups to collaborate and share information, such as Planning Committee, Cabinet, AASC, and Academic Affairs. This portal facilitates communication, knowledge sharing, and knowledge management, as it is completely searchable.

The College has security awareness and Employee Right to Know trainings, some of which are online. All employees are all required by the System Office to complete data privacy, data practices training. Employee Right to Know training completion is based upon work responsibilities and risks.

The Finance area has recently documented and/or revised many processes as staffing or regulations governing the process have changed. For example, recent changes in federal regulations regarding notifying students by a certain date what books are needed for a course prompted the Bookstore to examine its book adoption process and change the timing of when faculty finalized book adoptions. This further led to the creation of a report on which courses did not have books adopted by a certain date, which uncovered duplication and redundancy in how that information was collected and stored. The Finance areas have dedicated time and resources to documenting processes and have a priority list of key processes to review and improve. They are committed to streamlining transactional processes in order for staff to have more time to help students and work at the high end of their skills.

Results (R)

6R1. What measures of student, administrative, and institutional support service processes do you collect and analyze regularly? • (Clery Report for Safety and Security (Student Right to Know) • Survey of Students on Communication, Media Habits, and Website use • Image Awareness Survey 2008, 2011. • TechQual survey • Suggestion Box review • Employee Right to Know training records • Data Practices and Security training records for new employees • Faculty technology in classroom survey • Other survey feedback, such as Emergency Preparedness Drill Feedback Survey • Audit reports and inspection records

6R2. What are your performance results for student support service processes? See Category 3 for Survey results on Media Habits, Student Communication, and Website use and Image Awareness Survey 2008 and 2011. Table 6.1 shows the results of the latest review of suggestion box submissions. Issues related to student support services are referred to the appropriate supervisor who investigates and takes required actions.

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Table 6.1 Suggestion box review 2012-2013 Category Count of submissions Admissions inquiry 3 Alumni relations 1 Book voucher 1 Children in workplace 2 College Partnerships 1 Communication to Students 1 Customer Service 7 Directory Information 2 Efolio 1 Electronic Signage 1 Facilities 9 Faculty 5 Mailing List 5 Public Health 5 Registration/scheduling 3 Sustainability 3

6R3. What are your performance results for administrative support service processes? Results from the TechQual survey indicated that although there were no areas where students perceived gaps between the level of service and their desired level of service, there were perceived gaps among employees. Table 6.2 details areas and specific questions within areas where employees indicated there were gaps in service. In general, faculty and administrators perceived more gaps in the level of technology services they wanted the College to provide compared to what was provided, than staff.

Table 6.2 2012 TechQual Survey Perceived Gaps in Service Area Gap between perceived level of service and desired level of service – Employees Connectivity and Access • Having adequate capacity (speed, bandwidth) when using the wired network • Having adequate capacity (speed, bandwidth) when using the wireless network • Having wireless network coverage in all the areas that are important to me as a faculty, student, or staff member • Having a university network that is reliable, available, and performs in an acceptable manner • Having access to important university provided technology services from my mobile device Technology and Technology Services • Having a university web site that provides timely and relevant information • Having university information systems (finance, HR, student, library, or portal) that are easy to use and are helpful to me End User Experience • Getting timely resolution to problems I am experiencing with technology services at my university N=862 (16% response rate)

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Prior to administration of the TechQual survey, the College administered a survey to faculty only to determine satisfaction with the condition of classrooms and ITS support at the beginning of the term. This survey was administered for two years. Table 6.3 depicts the results. Based upon the results, ITS implemented several improvements; see 6R4.

Table 6.3 Faculty Satisfaction with ITS Service during start of Term Survey (% responding agree/strongly agree) Question Spring 2012 (n=117) Spring 2011 (n=110) My Help Desk requests have been responded to 77.6% 60.9% promptly this semester Communication about the status of Help Desk 43.1% 36.3% requests has improved this semester My Help Desk requests have been fully resolved 64.3% 60.9% I am satisfied with the level of customer service 70.2% 62.4% that I have received from our Help Desk this semester The technology in my classrooms was fully 67.8% 67.9% functional at the start of this semester I am satisfied with how the technology in my 62.3% 59.6% classrooms work I regularly read the technology update emails 79.3% 79.1% sent by our ITS department I would like more regular communication about 31.1% 34.6% campus technology changes and issues I am satisfied with the level of technology 63.4% 59.1% support I am receiving from our ITS department during this semester I believe that our College is making progress in 63.4% 47.3% addressing ITS issues related to teaching and learning.

Each term, the College holds emergency preparedness drills and asks for feedback from both students and employees. Table 6.4 shows a sample of the 2012 feedback. Public safety reviews this feedback and makes changes to the drills as needed.

Table 6.4 2012 Survey results from Emergency Drill Feedback (n=932) Nearly 60% of participants agreed/strongly agreed that they were prepared for Lockdown/Shelter in Place Drill 68% of participants agreed/strongly agreed that they were prepared for Fire/Evacuation Drill For Lockdown/Shelter in Place Drill, nearly 60% of respondents felt that others seemed prepared for Drill For Fire/Evacuation Drill, nearly 62% of respondents felt that others seemed prepared Over 86% knew when the drills ended and over 70% could hear the alarm and instructions for both drills Nearly 50% of employees responding to survey participated in training held by Public Safety Over 59% of employees responded indicated that their supervisors shared emergency planning information with them Over 88% of respondents felt confident they knew what to do in the event of an emergency at Century College

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6R4. How do your key student, administrative, and institutional support areas use information and results to improve their services? As stated in 6P1 above, based on specific results listed above, the College adjusts services and processes accordingly. For example, ITS changed its process for getting classroom computers ready at the start of term based upon the results of the Faculty Technology in Classroom Survey. They have decreased boot up time on computers, and have a standard operating procedure for checking each classroom at the beginning of every term to insure all equipment is there and in good working order. ITS staff now carry extra devices to replace classroom items that are missing or not working. That way, they can do the fixes right then and there and save time. This process results in a better situation for the faculty that use those rooms. Through the start-of-term room checks, ITS found that the College loses about 25-30% of clickers every term. ITS changed its process and now purchases replacement equipment in advance and budgets for large quantity purchases. Faculty satisfaction with state of the classroom at the beginning of the term has improved as a result.

6R5. How do your results for the performance of your processes for Supporting Institutional Operations compare with the performance results of other higher education institutions and, if appropriate, of organizations outside of higher education? The College has limited comparative results for this category. Many of the feedback surveys done are internally only and lack comparative data. This is an opportunity for the College. To address the lack of comparative data, the College administered the TechQual survey. Although data from other institutions are available for the TechQual, there were no comparable institutions present for the College during the last 3 years of the survey. A different survey tool may need to be found.

Improvement (I)

6I1. What recent improvements have you made in this category? How systematic and comprehensive are your processes and performance results for Supporting Institutional Operations? All departments systematically review and revise their processes on a regular basis; however, alignment of processes across departments is an area for improvement as is communication of process changes to the broader campus. The College communicates changes via emails, committee meetings, and informal communications. Examples of recent improvements are: • Employee Right to Know Notification system to employees and supervisors • HigherOne Implementation (to disburse financial aid to students) • Financial Aid Book Voucher Process redesign • Book Adoption Process redesign • Revision of the scholarship award process: application available online and applications reviewed twice a year to better align with student enrollment patterns • Streamline the processes in the business office. For example, using multiple methods to communicate with students: email, voice blasts, text messages, posters and newsletters, to communicate more often with students at key points in the tuition billing cycle. • Marketing working with departments on campus to proactively determine their recurring needs and establish a workflow to better plan for the year and support other departments on campus. This change allows the department to plan out their entire year and allocate staff time and resources more efficiently

In addition to the above, the College has recently committed to a process redesign project where employees have received training in process redesign and facilitation. The goal of this project is to build a corps of experts in process redesign to work with all departments to examine and redesign processes. This program, Century Quality Improvement Program (CQIP), will meet goal 6 of the College’s Strategic Action Plan “Promote responsible stewardship of our human, physical, technological and financial resources to support student success.” In March 2013, the College successfully held 4 process improvement events, on campus: emergency hires, graduation application, relocation of an employee and dropping students for non-payment of tuition.

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6I2. How do your culture and infrastructure help you to select specific processes to improve and to set targets for improved performance results in Supporting Institutional Operations? There is a strong culture of responsiveness and agility. However, the College has to work to overcome the physical distance between the two sections of the College (East and West Campus) Since we are a large institution divided by a busy highway, it can be challenging to make connections. The College’s existing committee approach could be strengthened to bring departments together. Departments still often operate in silos in terms of processes, although the committee structure does facilitate and encourage communication that could lead to process alignment. Supervisors and managers actively participate in these cross-area committees and engage in candid, honest conversations. There is a need for engaging front-line staff in an iterative process whereby they meet regularly with other areas to map out, align and integrate cross-functional processes.

An additional feature of the College’s culture is that some process improvement opportunities are only identified when personnel changes and the department needs to document their work processes after they leave. This is a more reactive way of identifying improvements and often results in cumbersome, ineffective processes that are unmanageable. In recognition of this, the College implemented CQIP, discussed in 6I1 above.

Category Seven, MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS

Category Summary The College’ processes for measuring effectiveness are systematic. Both ITS and Institutional Effectiveness (IE) have repeatable processes with clear, explicit goals and attempt to be proactive in development of processes. The existence of helpdesk ticketing system allows ITS to monitor and evaluate their processes for improvement. The regular collection of feedback, both from the TechQual Survey and Faculty Start of Term Survey, provide valuable information for process improvement. The IE office tracks requests and proactively creates standardized reports from recurring themes in ad hoc requests. The AQIP Action Project, Creating a Culture of Data-Driven Decision Making, the interdepartmental Data Management Team and ITS taskforce promote close collaboration among units.

The priority for this category is to continue implementing the MyData portal with dynamic reports that the College community can access at will. This portal will also allow the College community to provide feedback on the information provided which will help guide future improvements. In addition to the MyData portal, the AQIP action project includes a strong professional development component to assist with building knowledge on data use and interpretation among the employee base.

Processes (P)

7P1. How do you select, manage, and distribute data and performance information to support your instructional and non-instructional programs and services? The MnSCU Board of Trustees (BOT) has an Accountability Dashboard with select performance measures on which each institution is measured. In addition, the Chancellor has recently announced his new Strategic Framework which has performance measures associated with it. System IR professionals consult regularly to define these metrics and communicate them to their campuses and public. The College makes available the information from these sources as well as federally required Student Right to Know and IPEDS data and special initiatives, such as Achieving the Dream. The College is mandated by the System Office to administer the CCSSE survey once every two years. Results of this student engagement survey are used to improve instructional and non-instructional programs and services with the aim to increase student engagement. The parameters of these data sets are determined by external stakeholders and in the case of the MnSCU system metrics, by collaboration of all institutions’ IR staff with System Office Research staff.

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Overall performance measures are collected and distributed via the BOT Accountability Dashboard, are measures defined locally by the College and listed in its Annual Strategic Plan, or are measures required by the College’s participation in Achieving the Dream (AtD). System-wide performance measures are shared annually via the BOT Accountability Dashboard website updates and emails from the System Office personnel to the College President and IE director. AtD measures are submitted annually to AtD and are available at their website.

Additional data and performance information to support instructional and non-instructional programs and services are selected through an iterative process with the program leaders and IE staff. The College community can request data from the IE office via a form available on the College’s common drive. The form is reviewed by the Dean of IE who assigns the request to a staff member to complete. Either during initial review by the Dean and/or when assigned to a research analyst, the details of the request are discussed with the program or services leaders to determine what data or other information is available and relevant to measure the success of the programs and services. After the evaluation plan is finalized, IE staff collects, analyzes and distributes the data in the form of a report to the key internal stakeholders for review. The program leaders are encouraged to contact the IE staff to consult on the data and its interpretation. The leaders then use the data to support decision making and future directions for the program as warranted.

On the instructional level, the IE office produces Criteria for Program Review annually and distributes it to Academic Affairs for distribution to the academic departments. This data is incorporated into the Program Health Indicators Process whereby departments evaluate their department’s enrollments, determine assessments, and plan for the future. Since 2010, Course Completion Data has also been collected and distributed to all instructional areas to inform their Student Success Action Planning.

ITS has created databases for some departments to help meet their informational needs, such as databases to track student use of resource centers: writing, tutoring, math, and others. ITS recently developed and released an interface for departments to more easily access this data and use the information to make scheduling and staffing decisions and otherwise support their instructional programs. Operational areas, such as Records, Admissions, Financial Aid and Business Office have databases, reports, queries, and staff to manage and analyze their transactions and use the information to support their services.

There is an on-going AQIP action project to create a culture of data-based decision making. To support that, the College developed an online, intranet portal where standardized institutional and system-level data is available in the form of static reports. Selection of which information to post on this site is done by the action project team based upon current data requests and ease of conversion to the new application. Currently static reports are available on the MyData portal with dynamic reports due by the end of fiscal year 2013.

7P2. How do you select, manage, and distribute data and performance information to support your planning and improvement efforts? The College uses the MnSCU System’s Institutional and System Performance metrics to drive planning. See Category 8 for more information on these metrics and their use in College planning.

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Figure 7.1 MnSCU Institutional and System Performance Metrics Goal 1: Provide Access to Extraordinary Education for All Minnesotans Area: Quality of Graduates 1.1. Program Learning Outcomes 1.2. Licensure Exams Pass Rate 1.3. Learning Assessment Area: Student Success 1.4. Student Persistence and Completion 1.5. Completion Rate (Time to Degree)

Area: Affordability 1.6.A. Affordability – Net Tuition and Fees 1.6.B. Affordability – Trajectory of Tuition and Fees Area: Diversity 1.7. Employee Diversity 1.8. Student Diversity 1.9.A. Student Success of Diverse Populations 1.9.B. Completion Rate for Diverse Populations 1.10. Campus Climate Goal 2: Be the Partner of Choice to Meet Workforce and Community Needs 2.1. Certificates and Degrees Awarded 2.2. Related Employment of Graduates 2.3. Align Academic Programs with Workforce Needs 2.4. Customized Training/Continuing Education Enrollment Goal 3: Provide Highest value / Most Cost-Effective Higher Education Option Area: Efficient Use of Resources 3.1. Institutional Support Area: Steward Financial and Physical Resources 3.2. Composite Financial Index (CFI) 3.3. Reserve Ratio 3.4. Facilities Condition Index (FCI) Area: Develop New Resources 3.5. Private Giving 3.6. Grants 3.7. Customized Training & Continuing Education Revenue Goal 4: Collective Success of the MnSCU System in Serving the State and Regions 4.1.A. Transfer Credits Accepted: Receiving Institutions 4.1.B. Transfer Credits Accepted: Sending Institutions 4.2. Curricular Collaboration 4.3. System Market Share of Awards Conferred 4.4 System Share of Higher Education Enrollment

In addition to these institutional-level metrics, the specific action steps within each strategy may have unique metrics dependent upon the specifics of the tactics, such as in course completion rates disaggregated based upon gender, race/ethnicity, age and first-generation in college status.

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The College’s participation in Achieving the Dream (AtD) has led to additional levels of metrics based upon the five AtD outcomes: • Developmental Education Completion • Gateway Course Completion • Overall Course Completion • Fall-Spring Retention Rate • Graduation Rates

All student level data is managed in the MnSCU centralized student information system (ISRS) from which the System Office and IE office have created query applications to gather information on these metrics. ISRS is managed at the system level with communication to each institution on data storage, maintenance, and use. See 7P3 for more information.

7P3. How do you determine the needs of your departments and units related to the collection, storage, and accessibility of data and performance information? Area supervisors will determine the access needs of employees in their areas based upon job responsibilities and will request access to the College and System Information systems based upon that need. The System and College have security profiles set up in the student and employee information system which it assigns to employees based upon supervisor request. Only designated personnel on campus have the ability to approve access, which is then granted by ITS at the System Office. The System Office has initiated standard operating guidelines for handling data designated as Student Core Data and has a set of documentation and training to ensure all system employees are entering data consistently. Data integrity is the responsibility of each individual campus, although system-wide standards were developed for all institutions to follow.

At Century College, the Data Management Committee meets monthly to discuss collection, storage, and accessibility of data and hardware performance. This committee is composed of power users from ITS, IE, Admissions Records, CECT, and Finance who discuss the data needs of the College, departments and units, specifically in relation to the College’s data warehouse. Updates on changes to technology and data needs are disseminated at this meeting, and committee members share that information with staff in their areas. Several members of this committee are also on the ITS Advisory Group, which allows for information and concern sharing on ITS and data management issues. The Data Management Committee also advises the campus on data security and access. The MyData team charged with developing the MyData portal is composed of ITS and IE staff and is co-led by the CIO and Dean of Institutional Effectiveness.

7P4. How, at the institutional level, do you analyze data and information regarding overall performance? How are these analyses shared throughout the institution? AtD measures are submitted annually to AtD and are available at their website. College specific measures are shared annually via the Strategic Plan updates and at All College Professional Development Days, College Bulletin and Cabinet meetings. Cabinet members then share this information with their units. Each fall, the Director of IR creates and disseminates student and institutional profile data to the campus via email and placement of reports on the newly developed MyData portal.

For instructional areas, the Criteria for Program Review data is systematic data for all academic programs provided each year to Academic Affairs to understand programs’ enrollment and success and, with the Student Success Action Plans, forms the basis for program and discipline planning.

The College is in the middle of an AQIP Action Project to address building a culture of data-based decision making on campus. The goal of this project is to create a culture and practice of inquiry and data-based decision making, driving this behavior deeper into the institution with a focus on program and unit-level engagement and behavioral change. This project has proceeded along two parallel tracks: one focusing on professional and organizational development as a means of creating cultural change, and one focusing on technology infrastructure in support of data-based decision making. This dual approach allows the College to build capacity in terms of data accessibility and skills in use and interpretation of data.

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Beginning in 2010, each instructional unit was provided three years of course-level success data for every course within its curriculum, disaggregated by gender, race, age, and first generation status. All units (both instructional and non-instructional) were provided additional quantitative student success data, as well as survey data related to engagement with the College, and overall satisfaction. Each unit was then directed to review and discuss this data, and develop a “student success action plan” that outlined specific activities that each area would undertake to improve student success. These plans drew upon a common planning template, were data-based, and required measurement and goal setting. As part of this process, the Vice President and Chief Academic Officer met with each academic program and discipline group individually to reinforce the importance of this work and to engage faculty conversations about the data, what it told them about the success of their students, and what implications it had for improvement. During spring semester, the entire college once again convened for a day of professional development focused on continued conversations about student success and data-based decision making. In small groups, individuals shared strategies from their program/department/unit action plan and discussed what they had learned thus far and how it was informing their practices.

As part of the College’s Achieving the Dream (AtD) initiative, an Advancement team was created within the Core Team to address institution-wide issues around organizational and professional development focused on student success. This team documented activities that the College is already doing for professional development related to data-based decision making. These activities include: • Departmental student success action plans • Workshops for programs departments, chairs, and supervisors on how to use and interpret data for decision-making at the program, department, and unit level The team then determined priorities in alignment with the AtD goals of increasing student success, and decided that some of the needs for professional and organizational development related to this area are • How to manage and improve processes • How to understand and make decisions based on data

In addition, the IE office held 2 two-day faculty workshops to help faculty understand and use the data regularly provided to them as part of their student success action plans and program review. The Center for Learning and Development also provided numerous individual development opportunities for employees across a wide array of topic areas.

On the technology infrastructure side, a new data taskforce was developed with members from Academic Affairs, Administration/Finance, Institutional Effectiveness, Information Technology and Student Services. A project charter was developed with a goal to develop MyData, an online tool for employees to manage and retrieve data for informed decision making. The first phase of the project was to develop a MyData tab on the employee portal with static reports deemed important to the overall institution and academic affairs, such as enrollment and demographic profiles, student success measures, and links to key system and state data sources on Higher Education, including the MN State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees’ Dashboard. This phase finished in Fall 2012. The second phase of the project involves more interactive reports and assessment of student learning.

Since the College joined Achieving the Dream, it has developed a process of data evaluation and dissemination of evaluation between the Data, Core, and Advancement Teams.

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Figure 7.2 Information Flow between AtD Core, Data and Advancement Teams Core Team Data Team � Listen to ideas brought forth by both Advancement and Data Teams � Seek additional information as needed Data Flow between � Offer suggestions for revision of 2 recommendations as needed Functions: � Develop recommendations based upon data, � Evaluate Advancement Teams Initiatives as needed � Analyze Student Success on institutional � Approve or disapprove recommendations level (including demographic breakdown, and forward as needed developmental, college, gateway, etc..) � Make recommendations to Core team based upon analysis � Develop Evaluation Plans in conjunction with Advancement Teams Advancement Teams � Membership on Advancement teams to facilitate/encourage data-informed � Collect Century history for this area decision making Data Flow � Use Evaluation of Century data provided between 2 by Data Team to determine effectiveness of initiative and/or suggest modifications � Create communication plan for team and implement plan � Determine additional data needs (internal, national, literature review, etc) � Suggest next steps to Core Team � Develop Evaluation Plan in conjunction with DATA team

Recommendations of the Data Team are forwarded to the Core Team for final decisions on interventions and activities aimed at improved student success. The Core Team discusses and evaluates the recommendations and forwards them to the Executive Cabinet for approval and implementation based upon alignment with the College’s Strategic Plan, resources and stage of planning process.

In February 2013, the College held an all-college Data Day. Academic units examined course and program level data to develop student success action plans for the next fiscal year. Non-academic units examined operational data to develop their unit-level action plans for the next fiscal year. The day was facilitated by department chairs and supervisors. Preliminary observations about the data are stored on the MyData portal and will form the basis for final drafts of the actions plans, which will be finalized at the April all-college development day.

7P5. How do you determine the needs and priorities for comparative data and information? What are your criteria and methods for selecting sources of comparative data and information with in and outside the higher education community? The main comparative group for the College is the other two year schools in the MnSCU systems. This comparative group is decided by the System Office. In consultation with institution IR staff, the System Office’s research staff developed key performance indicators to compare institutions within the MnSCU system. Within the MnSCU system, the metropolitan area two year schools are a comparison group regularly used. Following these local comparison groups, IPEDS, CCSSE, AtD, TechQual, and PACE peer groups are also used as appropriate. The criteria used to construct comparison groups for each of these surveys and AtD is based upon the College’s enrollment profile, Carnegie classification and/or mission.

7P6. How do you ensure department and unit analysis of data and information aligns with your institutional goals for instructional and non-instructional programs and services? How is this analysis shared? The Planning Committee has designated the Institutional and System Performance Metrics as the overarching

Category Seven, MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS 89 century college June 2013 metrics to determine success of the College’s Strategic Action Plan. The next steps are to align departmental and unit action items with the overarching measure for each goal. Each action step to achieve a goal is intended to filter back up to support the institutional-level metric.

The reports created and posted on the MyData site are produced by the Institutional Effectiveness Office using a standard, commonly agreed upon set of metrics that are identical or comparable across institutions or departments as applicable. The standardization of metrics helps facilitate department and unit-level analysis and use of data.

The College has instituted department and unit level Student Success Action Plans that align with institutional goals of ensuring student success. The main measures for these plans are course completion rates. Measures are disaggregated by gender, race/ethnicity, age, low income and first generation. Departments are instructed to design plans to address gaps in these measures. Course completion data reports are produced by the Office of IE using a common set of definitions and distributed to Academic Affairs for distribution to the academic departments.

The professional and organizational component of this AQIP action plan is aimed at increasing capacity of employees to analyze, and feel confident in their ability to use data to inform their decisions (See 7P4 and category Four for more information).

7P7. How do you ensure the timeliness, accuracy, reliability, and security of your information system(s) and related processes? ITS does a regular overnight data pull from the student information system to the College’s data warehouse. Security is entirely managed through individual level security, as described in 7P3. Accuracy and reliability is checked by IE on an ad hoc basis. In the past, IE participated in a major initiative with the System Office on data integrity and there are currently standards for entering student core data. As described in 7P3, the Data Management Committee also works to ensure data timeliness, accuracy, reliability, and security through their regular meetings and actions taken based upon the issues raised at those meetings.

In addition the MyData project’s creation and development had its origin because of the need for timely, accurate, and reliable data delivered securely to the appropriate staff. ITS staff implemented required upgrades to the online portal. Staff from both ITS and IE offices have gone to training on the new applications and have met to determine scope, portal structure, and security, phases for implementation and appropriate reports to house on the portal. Initial reports that will be housed in this portal are those deemed important to the overall institution and academic affairs, such as enrollment and demographic profiles, student success measures, and program review data. The standardization of training, reports, and definitions will help ensure that the data are clean and useable.

A recent improvement in this area is the ability of institutions within the system to manage the security of personnel access to the student information system and an annual audit on access. These two changes have resulted in a dramatic improvement in security of the College’s information systems.

Results (R)

7R1. What measures of the performance and effectiveness of your system for information and knowledge management do you collect and analyze regularly? The IE Office collects and codes the number of ad hoc data and survey requests it receives and tracks time to completion and categorization of request. The majority of ad hoc requests are completed within one month of request (80%), with over 50% being completed within 2 weeks. The ITS department has created an interface for writing, math and reading resource centers to assist with scheduling, timing, and staffing decisions. The ITS department also collects web analytics from the MyData portal to determine use of site. This information will help drive improvements and development of reports.

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7R2. What is the evidence that your system for Measuring Effectiveness meets your institution’s needs in accomplishing its mission and goals? The College is just beginning to collect metrics for this category. It is an area for improvement. It has limited evidence in the form of lab use by students (Figure 7.3),TechQual survey mentioned in category six (Table 6.2) and web analytics (Figure 7.4).

Figure 7.3 displays the number of student visits by course in the reading lab during the Fall 2012 term. This data is used by Student Success Department to determine how often the lab is used and when. Student level data is also gathered and use of labs can be compared to students’ grade to determine correlation between use of centers and grade in course. This interface was created in Fall 2012 and departments are just beginning to make use of the data available.

Figure 7.3 Screen shot of Reading Lab Use by Week, Fall 2012

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Figure 7.4 MyData Web Analytics 4th Quarter 2012

7R3. How do your results for the performance of your processes for Measuring Effectiveness compare with the results of other higher education institutions and, if appropriate, of organizations outside of higher education? The College’s processes are institution-specific and it is challenging to find comparable information. The College administered the TechQual Survey in Spring 2012 in order to obtain comparative data for ITS services, but there were no comparable institutions available during the time the College administered the survey. The College has an opportunity to find appropriate metrics and institutions to compare itself to.

Improvement (I)

7I1. What recent improvements have you made in this category? How systematic and comprehensive are your processes and performance results for Measuring Effectiveness? The ITS department has created an Interface for the resource centers to assist with scheduling, timing, and staffing decisions. Student level data is available and there is the ability to link student performance to use of resource centers. Currently, the interface is available at the following eight centers:

Figure 7.5 List of Resource and Support Centers with Tracking Interface East Student Support Center West Student Support Center Mathematics Resource Center Writing Center Reading and Student Success Center ESOL Center Language Center Science Resource Center

The ITS and Institutional Effectiveness offices continue to collaborate on the development of the MyData portal within the College’s MyCentury internal website. ITS staff implemented required upgrades to the online portal and completed some staffing changes that will allow this project to proceed. Staff from both offices have gone to training on the new applications and have met to determine scope, portal structure and security, phases for implementation, and appropriate reports to house on the portal. Initial reports that will be housed in this portal are those deemed important to the overall institution and academic affairs, such as enrollment and demographic profiles, student success measures and program review data. Future phases will involve more interactive reports and assessment of student learning.

Another recent improvement is the creation of the Achieving the Dream (AtD) Data team, with cross-functional

92 Category Seven, MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS century college June 2013 representation of staff, administrators, and faculty who are skilled in data use and interpretation. This team was newly formed in 2011 and evaluates all AtD initiatives to determine impact on student success. The College has adapted the traditional AtD structure of Core Team and Data Team to include area-specific advancement teams to focus on a specific aspect of student success. The Data Team works with the advancement teams on developing evaluations of their initiatives. This collaboration will help improve the College’s capacity to use and interpret information to measure its effectiveness. Figure 7.2 above depicts the flow of information between the Data, Core and Advancement Teams.

7I2. How do your culture and infrastructure help you to select specific processes to improve and to set targets for improved performance results in Measuring Effectiveness? There is leadership support for improving the College’s use of data in decision making, as seen in the current AQIP action project and participation in AtD. The College is devoting resources to building capacity around data use, and through action projects focusing on technology upgrades, training, and professional and organizational development. The relationship between the AtD Data, Advancement and Core teams facilitate data analysis and use.

However, there are still challenges. One major challenge is that the ITS and IE staff often cannot take the time to stop producing long enough to improve their processes. Along with that is the inability to follow up with requestors in a timely fashion to determine whether or not areas are using the data. The College relies on supervisors to determine whether their staff is using data to make decisions. This is not a part of roles and responsibilities of the ITS or IE departments. There is a culture of openness and willingness to use data, but gaps in capacity to effectively translate data use into decision making in some areas. The current action project’s focus on professional and organizational development has potential to dramatically improve this.

Under the current leadership, the College is more clearly communicating what the College’s goals are and how metrics align with the strategic directions the College is moving towards. There have also been improvements in the College’s understanding of the scope of the work ITS and IE does, allowing them to better prioritize their work.

Category Eight, PLANNING CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Category Summary The College processes for this category are integrated. The Planning Committee is a representative body which collaboratively determines the strategic goals of the College. These goals are aligned with the College’s budgeting process and MnSCU System’s Strategic Framework. The College further uses the MnSCU Institutional and System Performance Metrics to track progress on goals. Strategies are developed locally in alignment with the goals and can have locally derived metrics appropriate to the scale of the strategy. Resources are allocated based upon determination of priorities by the Administrative Finance Committee, taking into account resources, revenue projections, and risk assessment. The planning process is managed by the Vice President of Finance and Administration, who regularly communicates updates to the College, collects feedback, and improves the processes in collaboration with faculty leadership and Executive Cabinet. The process and measures are tracked regularly throughout the year.

Processes (P)

8P1. What are your key planning processes? The College has a Planning Committee with broad representation of administration, faculty, staff and students which meets monthly throughout the academic year. The Committee makes decisions on college wide planning on a consensus basis. The Committee will create working groups, subcommittees, task forces, or other ad hoc groups as necessary. The Committee is co-chaired by the Vice President of Finance and Administration and the Vice President of Academic Affairs. Additional membership includes the Executive Cabinet of the College, faculty leadership, staff, and students. The Century College Planning Committee provides direction for overall

Category Eight, PLANNING CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT 93 century college June 2013 planning at the College and ensures coordination integration and communication among various college planning efforts. In particular, the Committee: • Develops the College Strategic Action Plan, including the integration of other College plans into the Strategic Action Plan • Ensures linkages between College planning efforts and College budget development • Reviews progress of college-wide Master Plans (i.e., Academic, Enrollment Management, Facilities, Technology, and Financial) and ensure coordination and integration of college-wide plans with overall planning efforts • Provides development, oversight, coordination and reporting on AQIP activities, including AQIP Action Projects • Promotes tracking of progress on planning efforts, including indicators and measures • Promotes a culture of evidence in developing Strategies • Completes other responsibilities as requested by the President and/or the Executive Cabinet

The Strategic Action Plan is comprised of Goals, Strategies, and Action Steps. The Goals are intended to be a relatively constant, long-term element of the plan, intended to last at least five years. The Strategies, which are the broad activities designed to help meet the Goals, may change over the course of the plan, but are meant to last at least three to five years. The Goals and Strategies are aligned with the System’s Strategic Framework and use the Institutional and System Performance Metrics (Table 8.1) as indicators of progress. The Action Steps are shorter term activities created to carry out the broader Strategy. The Action Steps are developed in continuous, overlapping two year cycles. Specific Action Steps requiring funding are funded through the annual operating budget process. The College is also developing a set of local performance metrics to help determine whether or not it is meeting the strategies within each goal.

In the fall term, the Plan’s Goals, Strategies, and Action Steps are reviewed by the Planning Committee in light of the prior year’s Plan and performance metrics. In December or January, the Planning Committee recommends changes to the Goals and Strategies for the upcoming planning cycle. In January, the recommended changes are shared with the College for comment. In February, the final recommendations are forwarded to the Executive Cabinet, who are also members of the Planning Committee, for final approval.

Each Strategy is assigned to one or more Vice Presidents to ensure they are being carried out. Beginning in February, the Vice Presidents, in consultation with their divisions’ employees, review and make changes to the Action Steps to carry out the Strategies. The Vice Presidents also identify the Action Steps that will require funding in the upcoming fiscal year. These Action Steps are included in the budget development and review process. This budget process begins in January and concludes with the approval of the annual operating budget in May or June.

8P2. How do you select short- and long-term strategies? Short and long-term strategies are selected based upon the goals of the strategic action plan. Each year, the Planning Committee reviews the prior year’s plan to determine if the current strategies and action steps are helping the College meet its goals. The Planning Committee discusses the strategies in light of the agreed to performance measures, as well as any other significant events that may alter short-term strategies or actions steps. As noted above (8P1), the Vice Presidents review the Action Steps to determine if other actions are required to carry out the strategies. Action Steps requiring additional funding are forwarded to the College’s Administrative Finance Committee for determination of level of resource allocation possible.

8P3. How do you develop key action plans to support your organizational strategies? Each department and unit is charged with developing action plans to support the strategic plan of the College. These action plans are referred to as student success action plans. If funding is required to carry out the action step, the request is included in the annual budget development process, which is overseen by the Administrative Finance Committee. Data on student success is provided to all academic departments each

94 Category Eight, PLANNING CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT century college June 2013 fall term to use in the development of their student success action plans. In addition, academic departments review their programs as part of the Program Health Indicators process described in category One. For cross- divisional action plans, key members form committees to discuss and develop plans for how to achieve the goals collaboratively.

8P4. How do you coordinate and align your planning processes, organizational strategies, and action plans across your institution’s various levels? Coordination and alignment of planning, strategies and action plans across the institution is done primarily through communication on committees, emails, campus updates and communications between different units at the college. The Planning Committee and the Executive Cabinet ensure that plans are carried out at the unit level. See category Five for more information on coordination across units. If the action plan is also an AQIP project, the AQIP Liaison coordinates communication and updates between the campus, team leaders and the Higher Learning Commission. Additional information is provided in 8P1 above.

8P5. How you define objectives, select measures, and set performance targets for your organizational strategies and action plans? The MnSCU System’s Institutional and System Performance Metrics are used as the performance targets and benchmarks for the goals of the College’s Strategic Action Plan. The specific strategies under each goal have specific measures that relate to that strategy which roll up to impact the system-wide metric. Not all strategies will have a one-to-one correspondence, but measures for strategies are created with attention to what is appropriate to that strategy and relationship to the goal. Table 8.1 shows the alignment of the Chancellor’s metrics with the College’s Strategic Goals.

Table 8.1 FY13-14 Strategic Plan Goals Measure Matrix Century College Strategic Goals MnSCU System Current Prior Strategic Framework Year Year Metrics Goal 1: Ensure Success for All Students 1.1 Innovate to provide guided and directed opportunities to 1.4. Student 66.2% 67.7% ensure success for all students – new, returning and Persistence and transfer -- from their point of initial connection through Completion program completion.

1.1 Innovate to provide guided and directed opportunities to 1.5. Completion Rate 40.8% 39.9% ensure success for all students – new, returning and (Time to Degree) transfer -- from their point of initial connection through program completion. 1.2 Deepen Commections with K-12 Partners and Local Metric to be prospective students to improve college readiness and determined transition to college

Goal 2: Create a Diverse, Inclusive and Supportive Community that Embraces Equity for All 2.1 Implement proven interventions to reduce achievement 1.9.A. Student Success 60.7% 58.7% gap between student groups; of Diverse Populations

2.1 Implement proven interventions to reduce achievement 1.9.B. Completion Rate 35.6% 34.2% gap between student groups for Diverse Populations 2.2 Increase campus connectedness, diversity, inclusion and 1.10. Campus Climate in development equity;

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2.3 Expand our shared understanding of equity; Implement AtD Equity in development and Data Team Recom- mendations 2.4 Provide a safe, welcoming and respectful environment Local Metric to be deter- in development mined 2.5 Expand access and deepen the College’s engagement 1.8. Student Diversity 60.7% 58.7% with under-represented local communities

Goal 3: Create a Culture of Excellence and Innovation 3.1 Assess student learning to improve teaching, learning 1.1. Program Learning in development and student success Outcomes 3.1 Assess student learning to improve teaching, learning 1.3. Learning in development and student success Assessment 3.2 Hire, develop and retain outstanding faculty, staff and 1.7. Employee Diversity 10.2% 9.1% administrators who bring current knowledge, professional skills and cultural competence to educate students

3.3 Encourage, acknowledge and reward innovation that Local Metric to be in development supports student success and improves college operations determined

Goal 4: Strengthen our Strategic Partnerships and Community Relationships to Meet the College’s Mission 4.1 Expand partnerships with baccalaureate institutions to 4.1.A. Transfer Credits in development give students a clear path to a bachelor’s degree Accepted: Receiving Institutions Percent Credits Accepted in Transfer 4.1 Expand partnerships with baccalaureate institutions to 4.1.B. Transfer in development give students a clear path to a bachelor’s degree Credits Accepted: Sending Institutions Percent Credits Accepted in Transfer 4.1 Expand partnerships with baccalaureate institutions to 4.2. Curricular in development give students a clear path to a bachelor’s degree; Collaboration

4.2 Expand K-12 partnerships aimed at improving college Local Metric to be in development readiness and transition to college; determined

4.3 Enhance the College’s value to the community Local Metric to be in development determined Goal 5: Expand Workforce Education and Training in Cooperation with our Partners so that Individuals Develop the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Needed for Gainful Employment

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5.1 Develop and offer both credit and non-credit programs, 1.2. Licensure Exams 88.6% 90.1% awards and services which respond to the workforce Pass Rate development needs of local and state employers and meet the training needs of workers in transition

5.1 Develop and offer both credit and non-credit programs, 2.1. Certificates and in development awards and services which respond to the workforce Degrees Awarded development needs of local and state employers and meet the training needs of workers in transition

5.1 Develop and offer both credit and non-credit programs, 2.2. Related 79% 77% awards and services which respond to the workforce Employment of development needs of local and state employers and meet Graduates the training needs of workers in transition.

5.1 Develop and offer both credit and non-credit programs, 2.3. Align Academic in development awards and services which respond to the workforce Programs with development needs of local and state employers and meet Workforce Needs the training needs of workers in transition;

5.1 Develop and offer both credit and non-credit programs, 2.4. Customized in development awards and services which respond to the workforce Training/Continuing development needs of local and state employers and meet Education Enrollment the training needs of workers in transition;

5.2 Develop and enhance partnerships with businesses, Local Metric to be deter- in development workforce centers, colleges and others to meet workforce mined needs Goal 6: Promote Responsible Stewardship of our Human, Physical, Technological and Financial Re- sources to Support Student Success 6.1 Develop and support a culture of evidence and data Local Metric to be in development informed decision-making determined

6.2 Provide exceptional college support services by Local Metric to be in development systematically reviewing, assessing and improving services determined and processes

6.3 Create a systematic and holistic approach to employee Local Metric to be in development development determined

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6.4 Continue to effectively align budget processes with Local Metric to be deter- in development planning processes to ensure priorities are being met mined

6.5 Create and support a culture of sustainability and Local Metric to be in development conversation determined Other System Office measures tracked but not directly linked to Century College Strategic Goals 1.6.A. Affordability – Net Tuition and Fees $5,201 $4,934

1.6.B. Affordability – Trajectory of Tuition and Fees in development

3.1. Institutional Support 10.6% 10.2%

3.2. Composite Financial Index (CFI) 1.78 3.94

3.3. Reserve Ratio in development

3.4. Facilities Condition Index (FCI) 0.23 0.23

3.5. Private Giving in development

3.6. Grants in development

3.7. Customized Training & Continuing Education Revenue in development

4.3. System Market Share of Awards Conferred in development

Note: Time Frame for year could be fiscal or calendar year, depending upon metric

8P6. How do you link strategy selection and action plans, taking into account levels of current resources and future needs? The timeline of the Planning Committee is aligned to the Administrative Finance Committee’s timeline to finalize the budget in concordance with the State’s biennium. The procedure follows MnSCU Board Policy 5.9, Biennial and Annual Operating Budget Planning and Approval. The Chancellor develops a system-wide biennial operating budget appropriation request for submission to the governor and the legislature after consultation with constituency groups, which must be approved by the Board of Trustees. The Chancellor provides a financial outlook and issues guidelines for preparation of an operating budget to be developed by each college or university. The colleges, universities, and the system office prepare balanced budgets consistent with Board policies and system procedures. The Board approves the system-wide annual all-funds operating budget. The College President is responsible for monitoring the college or university budget to ensure accuracy and a balanced budget. The College budget development is subject to student consultation requirements as defined by Board Policy 2.3, Student Involvement in Decision Making.

The Vice Presidents of each division identify the Action Steps under their areas of responsibilities that will require new funding in the upcoming fiscal year, as noted in 8P1. Requests are submitted to the Administrative Finance Committee, which reviews requests beginning in January and concludes with the approval of the annual operating budget in May, including forecasted enrollment, tuition level, and projected state appropriation

98 Category Eight, PLANNING CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT century college June 2013 allocation. See 8P1 and 8P2 for more details. The Director of Finance and the Chief Finance Officer meet with all supervisors granted budgetary authority semi-annually to review expenditures for the current fiscal year and discuss budget development for next fiscal year. The Chief Financial Officer sends out guidelines (Figure 8.1) for creating yearly budgets, and hosts training on entering budget information into the College’s budgeting software, in March. All operational budgets need to be submitted by May to align with the scheduled end of the MN State Legislature. Figure 8.2 depicts the timeline for budget development for FY2014. The MnSCU System budget is approved in May, following which each institution in the system is given their state appropriation allocation for the fiscal year. The President approves the budget, including funding for new initiatives.

The College President, as per Board Procedure 1A.2.2 Delegation of Authority, is accountable for assuring proper delegation of authority to employees of his or her institution. Delegations of authority are limited both in scope and number and require ongoing compliance with applicable statutes, rules, and board policies. State law prohibits persons who receive delegations of authority from incurring obligations which result in the system office or institution exceeding its fiscal year allocation. The College complies with this procedure.

Figure 8.1 Budget Guidelines General Guidelines 1. Century College will prepare an all-funds budget, inclusive of the general fund, auxiliary fund, student life fund, student technology fund, and all grant funds for FY2014. 2. Century College will have balanced general, student life, student technology fund, and grant fund budgets. 3. Operating revenues will fund operating expenditures. 4. A portion of FY2013 carry forward will be used to fund selective one-time-only expenditures and will not be treated as an ongoing revenue source. 5. The College reserve of 6% will be maintained in compliance with MnSCU policy, and utilized only in the event of a substantial, unanticipated budget shortfall. 6. Faculty and staff will participate in the budget development process. 7. New and expanded partnerships with industry, community agencies and groups, and other educational institutions will be actively pursued. 8. The College’s Strategic Action Plan will help guide decisions on the FY2014 budget and the budget will support the Strategic Action Plan and the MnSCU System Strategic Framework. 9. The Administrative Finance Committee will undertake a complete review of the entire budget each financial quarter to ensure that expenditures are aligned with revenue expectations, and to make any needed adjustments. Revenue Assumptions(as of 2-21-13)* 1. The state appropriation allocation is anticipated to remain unchanged from the FY2013 level. 2. General tuition will increase no more than $145 for a full year equivalent student contingent upon the funding of MnSCU biennial budget request. 3. Differential program tuition will be charged for the following technical programs: Dental Assistant, Dental Hygiene, Orthotics and Prosthetics Technician, Orthotics and Prosthetics Practitioner, and Nursing. 4. Differential course tuition will be charged for online courses. 5. The parking fee will remain at $4.00 per credit. 6. The Student Life Fee is under discussion by the Student Life Budget Committee. 7. The Student Technology Fee is under discussion by the Student Technology Committee. 8. The Student Association fee will not change this year. 9. The College’s enrollment goal will be to maintain or increase enrollment for FY2014 relative to final FY2013 FYE levels. The FY2014 budget will be based on an enrollment decrease of 3% relative to final FY2013 FYE levels. As a result, the budget will be built on the assumption that student FYE will be 7,181.

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10. Continuing Education and Customized Training will continue to serve as a revenue center for the College. The CE/CT contribution to the College’s general operating fund will be used to offset the cost of the Transportation Training Center site for FY2014. 11. The College will continue to seek outside grant opportunities to fund special programs and initiatives. The FY2014 target for grants and gifts is $1.25 million. (Note: While these funds supplement ongoing college operations and programming, they do not supplant operating budget expenses.) 12. All assumptions are based on the best available information at the time that the guidelines were developed and may change prior to final FY2014 budget adoption, due to decisions made by the Governor, the Legislature or Board of Trustees. Expenditure Assumptions(as of 2-20-13)* 1. A 3% increase will be assumed for salaries and a 7.3% increase for will be assumed for benefits. 2. A 0% increase will be assumed for non-personnel expenditures. 3. Targeted personnel increases may be needed to address adjusted FY2014 base salaries. 4. Targeted non-personnel increases may be needed to address required increases in non-personnel budgets. *Note: These assumptions may change as we obtain additional information about the budget parameters.

Table 8.2 FY2014 Budget Development Timeline Activity Complete 1. Budget: Administrative Finance Committee reviews and adopts budget development pro- January 31 cess, timelines, and guidelines. 2. Planning Committee endorses “FY2014 and FY2015 Strategic Action Plan” February 3. Budget: (a) BMS open for cost center managers to enter initial budgets and (b) BMS March 1 training provided to cost center managers 4. Budget: Student Life fee budget recommendations will be completed and forwarded to March the President for review and approval. 5. Budget: Student Technology fee budget recommendations will be completed and for- March warded to the President for review and approval. 6. Vice Presidents identify Action Steps from Strategic Action Plan needing funding March 7. Budget: Administrative Finance reviews preliminary budget parameters March 22 8. Budget: Administrative Finance reviews initial base budget load and reviews final budget April 1 parameters 9. Administrative Finance conducts “budget reviews” with each cost center manager to gain April 8 - a better understanding of College budgets and functions. April 18 10. Budget: Administrative Finance approves final budget parameters April 15 11. Budget: BMS closed to cost center managers April 22 12. Budget: Administrative Finance reviews preliminary final budget May 6 13. Legislative session ends May 20 14. MnSCU Board approves FY2014 System Operating Budget May 21 15. Budget: Administrative Finance finalizes FY2014 base budget May 23 16. Budget: Final FY2014 Budget approved by the President May 31

8P7. How do you assess and address risk in your planning processes? The College conducts regular audits and assesses its risks as part of its planning process. In addition, the System Office maintains an Office of Internal Auditing. Internal Auditing helps the Board of Trustees, Chancellor, presidents, and all other levels of management accomplish their objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control,

100 Category Eight, PLANNING CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT century college June 2013 and governance processes. Internal Auditing activities are conducted in compliance with the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities policies and procedures Board policy 1D.1 as well as with the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing and the Code of Ethics promulgated by the Institute of Internal Auditors. Annually, an audit plan is presented to the Audit Committee based on a system-wide audit risk assessment. The College conducts environmental scans and regularly collects informal feedback from its external stakeholders to determine trends, risks, and opportunities. In addition to the MnSCU Internal Auditing processes, the College hires an external independent auditor to conduct an annual audit of the College’s finances.

8P8. How do you ensure that you will develop and nurture faculty, staff, and administrator capabilities to address changing requirements demanded by your organizational strategies and action plans? As part of the College’s Achieving the Dream (AtD) initiative, an Advancement Team was created to address institution-wide issues around organizational and professional development focused on student success. The work of this team describes how the College develops and nurtures employees to address changing requirements demanded by our planning efforts.(4P3, 4P7, 4P8 and 4P9). See categories Four and Five for more information on professional development and leadership.

Results (R)

8R1. What measures of the effectiveness of your planning processes and systems do you collect and analyze regularly? The College collects feedback from the College community throughout the process in the form of all-college listening sessions and all-college emails asking for feedback. The membership of the Planning Committee is representative of key campus constituents (administrators, staff, faculty, and students), as per faculty contract and MnSCU Policy 2.3 on student involvement in decision making. See Category 5 for more information on the College’s committee structure and use of committees in decision making. These members are expected to be communicating regularly with their constituents about the planning process and raise the concerns of their constituents at Planning Committee meetings. These concerns are addressed in meetings and appropriate actions are taken based upon the consensus of the committee.

The College also uses the MnSCU System’s Strategic Framework measures as benchmarks and locally developed metrics specific to the initiative. By participating in AtD, the College has access to its Dashboard for measuring progress on achieving AtD’s goals of improving student success.

8R2. What are your performance results for accomplishing your organizational strategies and action plans? See Table 8.1 for current and prior year performance results for accomplishing the College’s organizational strategies and action plans.

8R3. What are your projections or targets for performance of your strategies and action plans over the next 1-3 years? Each of the MnSCU System’s Institutional and System Performance Metrics has a target and/or desired direction of growth. The College’s action steps use that target for its strategies and action plans. In addition, each action step has proposed outcomes assigned to them. Figure 8.2 is an excerpt of the action steps for the FY13-14 Strategic Action Plan Goal 1: Strategy 1: Innovate to provide guided and directed opportunities to ensure success for all students – new, returning and transfer -- from their point of initial connection through program completion. The table includes information related to funding as well.

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Figure 8.2 Preliminary Action Steps for FY2013 and FY2014 Strategic Action Plan

Preliminary Action Steps for the FY2013 and FY2014 Strategic Action Plan 1) Goal: Ensure success for all students.

Goal 1; Strategy 1. Innovate to provide guided and directed opportunities to ensure success for all students – new, returning and transfer -- from their point of initial connection through program completion.

VP Primarily Date Funding Position How does the action help meet goal Action Steps (Description) Outcome Rationale for Funding/ ROI Res pons ible Complete Request (Ye s ?) (or affect outcome measure)?

· Offer at least 65 learning communities during FY13, enrolling at least 1500 students. Successful completion of the learning community courses will exceed baseline success rates for those same courses by 2%.

1. Implement the Achieving the Dream · At least 1,000 new entering students will enroll in the New Student Academic Affairs scaling plan for three key interventions: Seminar and a developmental reading course. 75% of enrolled students 1. Increase successful course completion. (AA) and Student ATD The New Student Seminar, Learning will successfully complete the seminar, 65% will re-enroll the following Services (SS) 2. Increase retention to second term. Communities, and Tutors-linked-to-classes. term. · At least 250 course sections will have a tutor assigned during FY13, and the success rate of those students utilizing the tutoring services will exceed the success rate of students in non-tutored sections of the same courses by 5%. ·At least 70% of the men enrolled in the B2B program will obtain a 2. Pilot new interventions aimed at cumulative GPA of 2.5, exceeding that of non-participant peers. reducing the achievement gap and · At least 70% of the B2B student leaders will obtain a cumulative improving student success, including the GPA of 3.0, exceeding that of their non-leader peers. 1. Increase successful progression implementation of a Brother-to-Brother · At least two accelerated and/or innovative developmental education AA and SS ATD through developmental education courses. program for men of color, and the creation opportunities will be offered. 2. Increase fall-to-fall retention. and offering of innovative and/or · Fall-to-fall retention rates for new entering students in the fall of 2012 accelerated developmental education will exceed the existing 2-year average rate. opportunities. · Fall-to-fall retention rates for under-represented students and students of color will exceed the existing 2-year average rate.

2a. Pilot accelerated developmental education opportunities.(separate AA action step from above)

3 Provide students extended access to · At least 80 employers will be brought to campus for student 1. Increase related placement rates of SS jobs and employer connections. networking and/or interviewing. graduates.

8R4. How do your results for the performance of your processes for Planning Continuous Im provement compare with the performance results of other higher education institutions and, if appropriate, of organizations outside of higher education? The MnSCU System’s Institutional and System Performance Metrics and the Institutional Profile comparison provided by the System Office to all MnSCU colleges allow for the comparison of Century College with its peers in the state on a common set of metrics. These metrics allow for the comparison of how well we are meeting the Chancellor’s and the College’s goals, but they are not a direct measure or comparison with the planning processes of peer institutions. The planning processes are unique to each institution and there is an opportunity to develop common planning processes and measures of effectiveness of planning. Figure 8.3 provides an overview of where all colleges within the MnSCU system are for all current metrics. The dynamic dashboard has the functionality for users to drill down to an individual institution’s progress on each metric.

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Figure 8.3 Overview of MnSCU institutions progress on Board of Trustees’ Accountability Dashboard

8R5. What is the evidence that your system for Planning Continuous Improvement is effective? How do you measure and evaluate your planning processes and activities? See 8R1 for information concerning evidence that the College’s system for planning continuous improvement is effective.

Improvement (I)

8I1. What recent improvements have you made in this category? How systematic and comprehensive are your processes and performance results for Planning Continuous Improvement? The College recently moved Planning under Finance division and moved Institutional Effectiveness under Finance in the organizational chart. This shift was done to align planning, data use, and evaluation more closely with the budgeting process. A second recent improvement in this category is the development by Public Relations and Marketing departments of a planning document aligned with Strategic Goals. See Category 2 for examples.

8I2. How do your culture and infrastructure help you to select specific processes to improve and to set targets for improved performance results in Planning Continuous Improvement? The Chancellor’s strategic framework helps guide the College in setting its institutional goals. Helping students succeed is the predominant theme motivating Century College employees. The College’s AQIP action projects have tackled assessment of student learning, improvement of services to students to help them succeed, and creating interventions to help at-risk students succeed. This commitment is further demonstrated by the College’s participation in Achieving the Dream (AtD). The College is aware that to improve student success it

Category Eight, PLANNING CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT 103 century college June 2013 needs to know more about who is currently successful, identify what strategies work to improve success, and be able to measure progress to achieve its goals. This awareness motivated the College to create a culture of data-based decision making and declared an AQIP action project to transform the culture of the College.

Category Nine, BUILDING COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS

Category Summary The College’s processes for building collaborative relationships exhibit a range of maturity from systematic to integrated. The College has regular, long-term relationships with several organizations in the community. These relationships are consciously managed by units responsible for building and maintaining the relationships and works to share information about the relationships across different units of the College. Silos do exist, but the College does encourage coordination among units, departments and individuals. Relationships are regularly assessed based upon the College’s strategic action plan goals and strategies. Relationships with organizations that provide services to the College and/or students are integrated. Processes are managed by the finance area in accordance with MnSCU policies and procedures and State law. Key processes are monitored and improved in collaboration with other areas, including the System Office. The System’s Collaborative Sourcing Team is an example of system-level integration of processes for purchasing services that involves collaboration by multiple institutions within the System in alignment with System policies and procedures.

Priorities for this category are process redesign and strengthening our strategic partnerships and community relations (Strategic Goal 4) to meet the College’s mission. Strategies are to expand partnerships with baccalaureate institutions to give students a clear path to a bachelor’s degree, expand K-12 partnerships aimed at improving college readiness and transition to college and enhance the College’s value to the community.

Processes (P)

9P1. How do you create, prioritize, and build relationships with the educational institutions and other organizations from which you receive your students? The College receives traditional-aged students from the local K-12 districts and nontraditional-age students either through marketing campaigns, word-of-mouth, an active and vibrant continuing education and customized training division, and relationship building in different communities. The College believes that it is important to be present and build relationships over time. Maintaining the relationship takes time and effort: therefore, it is an ongoing challenge, but one that speaks to the College’s commitment to its mission. Century College has a long history of working with local high school districts and high school consortia. Two very important examples of these relationships include Northeast Metro/916 Career Tech Education Center, and the College’s Access and Opportunity partners. The Northeast Metro/916 consortium has been in place for over 25 years. Its programs mirror programs offered by the College, and the College has detailed articulation agreements in place to ensure students are well prepared for technical fields and to foster smooth transition to Century College. The College recently concluded a partnership with Inver Hills Community College and local high schools as an Access and Opportunity Center of Excellence to increase high school graduation rates, college readiness, and college success. The Center of Excellence focused on the following strategies: • Innovative student initiatives, such as Scholars Program • Teacher collaborations, • Parents/family engagement, and • Evaluation research and dissemination The College engages in extensive outreach to the K-12 community: partnering with local school districts to help ensure that students are well prepared for college, encouraging more students to consider college as an option, showing careers, and helping first-generation and under-represented populations. These college readiness/college transitions programs focus on building relationships with students to identify what some of their challenges and goals are. For example, the Scholars Program holds a series of check-ins with students throughout the year, and the initial meeting is about identifying what the student considers as road blocks

104 Category Nine, BUILDING COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS century college June 2013 or challenges that s/he wants to work on throughout their participation in the program. When students are admitted to the program, they respond to a questionnaire to identify a list of needs that they have, whether it is study skills, preparing for ACT test, or improving their academic skills proficiency.

The College also has several programs aimed at outreach to the school districts from which we get students: Trio Upward Bound program that serves low-income-first-generation middle and high school students in the St. Paul Public school district and the new On Ramp program that targets middle and high school students. These programs work closely with both school partners and community partners to identify and serve middle quartile students, students that are transitioning out of high school into college as well as culturally specific groups from historically under-served populations, and help them transition to college. The College builds trust with these partners by working with them and focusing on what both parties jointly agree is realistic based upon staffing, resources, and needs of all stakeholders: college, school district, students, and external funders.

The process for forming new partnerships is to determine where there are students in need and reach out to school districts or community groups in those areas to determine how the College can effectively partner with them and then seek out funding to support the programming. After the relationship is formed, the College proactively builds the relationship through regular communication and interactions. Some partnerships are stronger than others in part due to the nature of the partner organizations and its stability in leadership and staff. Recently, the College has expanded its outreach to charter schools and Adult Basic Education Centers because there are many students or parents of students who are new immigrants and come to Century College by way of that connection. The College is also more actively building relationships with Native American and Hispanic American communities with the ultimate goal of having a visible, long-standing presence in those communities. In addition Century College has collaborated and continues to partner with high schools through many different programs, such as campus tours and student use of the GPS Life Plan (see category 2) to help them begin to plan for college education and career.

The Continuing Education and Customized Training (CECT) division of the College handles non-credit educational programs. The CECT division of the College uses a variety of methods to build relationships and ensure they are meeting the noncredit needs of their students. Administrators and staff are members of a variety of state and local boards including Workforce Investment Boards (WIBS), chambers of commerce, Rotary clubs, and other civic groups. They attend community events as representatives of the College to help build and maintain relationships with the community. This division has five cornerstone areas that they focus on for determining what areas to pursue for these educational opportunities: • Health care • Trades and Industry • Transportation • Business computer/Information Technology • Fire and Public Safety More information on course and program development in CECT is described under 1P3. CECT regularly contacts their partners to gauge needs, problems, and issues that the College could assist them with. Since they are revenue driven, they need to determine ROI on training. They also partner with workforce centers for opportunities for dislocated workers. The CECT division has advisory boards for each of their cornerstone areas with whom they consult, which allows them to respond quickly to the changing training needs of the community and their clients.

9P2. How do you create, prioritize, and build relationships with the educational institutions and employers that depend on the supply of your students and graduates that meet those organizations’ requirements? The College maintains and updates articulation agreements with four year colleges within the MnSCU system on a regular basis. The System Office requires all AS degrees to articulate with a Bachelor’s degree at a MnSCU University. The College may also develop articulation agreements with other four year institutions. The process is initiated by Academic Affairs of the institutions in question and the specifics are agreed upon after

Category Nine, BUILDING COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS 105 century college June 2013 discussion of course equivalencies, program requirements and needs of the students. The College’s current Strategic Plan has a goal of expanding partnerships with baccalaureate institutions to give students a clear path to a bachelor’s degree. To meet this goal, the College President has initiated conversations with two of theSystem’s Universities. Following the initial meetings between Presidents, personnel from Academic Affairs and Student Services of both institutions were requested to develop detailed plans of what the collaboration would look like. Programs with national accreditation or approvals regularly meet with advisory boards and gather information from employees of the College’s graduates to ensure that the program’s goals are aligned with workforce needs (See category One).

See 9P1 for information about how CECT builds relationships with organizations that depend upon the College’s students. The CECT division partners with other MnSCU schools depending upon capacity and shared interest. For example, the College partnered with a sister institution to share material for a joint Nursing Assistant online program.

9P3. How do you create, prioritize, and build relationships with the organizations that provide services to your students? The process for creating, prioritizing and building a relationship with an organization that provides services to students is to first identify the need, research organizations to determine who can meet the need, and follow state and MnSCU guidelines for establishing thresholds for services used to determine quotes. Following that initial stage, the relationship is established through the Request for Proposal (RFP) process or open negotiations, based upon on how well a given organization can meet the College’s specific needs. Contracts with organizations, such as food service, are negotiated through the RFP process and the State requires that the contract be valid for no more than for five years. The College creates three year contracts with organizations and extends them for up to two years, after which time they open it up for open bidding. During the extension period, the College can make changes to the original contract and require these to be part of the next open bidding cycle.

9P4. How do you create, prioritize, and build relationships with the organizations that supply materials and services to your institution? The process for creating, prioritizing, and building relationships with organizations that supply materials and services to the College is similar to that for organizations providing services to students, which is outlined in 9P3. The key criteria used for evaluating relationships are: proximity to college, existence of a long-standing relationship, and sustainability/green concerns. The College follows MnSCU and State guidelines, but there is some leeway to build relationships. Some departments have established relationships over the years with specific vendors, such as Trades’ faculty, which are typically local organizations. These relationships are service driven instead of price driven, especially for local vendors. Additionally, for some departments, there is only one vendor available because of proprietary or patent issues. The College does not need to go through the RFP process for those but can use the State’s sole source/no substitution waiver process. If the waiver is used, the College researches whether the waiver still applies each time the item is ordered. The College will also use contracts with vendors that have already been negotiated by the state, MnSCU or nationally bid to take advantage of that pricing instead of doing separate contracts. The College examines these contracts to see if they are a benefit to the College, otherwise the College will negotiate its own.

9P5. How do you create, prioritize, and build relationships with the education associations, external agencies, consortia partners, and the general community with whom you interact? Information on how the College builds relationships with other education associations, external agencies, consortia partners, and the general community is described under 9P1. Category Two provides additional information from Public Relations on building relationships with the general community. Directors of programs that receive external funding support, especially from Federal and State agencies, develop relationships with their program officers over the time of the grants. In addition the Director of Resource Development is a member of the Council for Resource Development’s Federal funding taskforce. The Director maintains relationships with local foundations by regular contact and communications surrounding shared work and

106 Category Nine, BUILDING COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS century college June 2013 pursues relationships with local government officials within our service area to promote the College. 9P6. How do you ensure that your partnership relationships are meeting the varying needs of those involved? The College ensures that its partnership relationships are meeting the varying needs of those involved by gathering feedback and evaluation from both internal and external stakeholders in the form of surveys, focus groups, interviews, meetings, and ad hoc conversations. Based upon this feedback, the College makes changes in the structure and content of their programs, as feasible and appropriate. For example, Continuing Education and Customized Training regularly gathers feedback and evaluations of all classes they offer. This feedback is shared with the client. Student evaluations and client feedback are used to determine whether their needs have been met and changes are made based upon this feedback. In Resource Development, this is done on a rather ad hoc basis. People talk about their experiences as being good or bad, productive or not. In Academic Affairs, articulation agreements are reviewed regularly by both institutions and the decision to update is made jointly. The College also looks at informal feedback from students and employees at partner institutions to gauge the effectiveness of the partnerships.

9P7. How do you create and build relationships between and among departments and units within your institution? How do you assure integration and communication across these relationships? College leadership fosters opportunities for creating and building relationships between and among units. Student and Academic Affairs have joint Vice President/Deans meetings monthly where common issues and concerns are raised. Within divisions, there are regular meetings and scheduled departmental retreats, The Cabinet also has a yearly retreat to discuss broad strategic issues and have training. Supervisors meet as a unit for updates on management and labor issues. Interdepartmental relationships among faculty and staff are more ad hoc, although joint committee work and inter-related processes help foster relationships. AASC has a requirement for cross-departmental discussions when departments are planning curricular changes to determine the impact proposed changes could have on other departments. Communication is done primarily at meetings but also via email, and in-person conversations. Silos exist between credit and non-credit divisions of the College, but the recent appointment of a Vice President of CECT, who was an Academic Dean on the credit side, has helped improve the relationship and understanding between these two areas of the College.

Results (R)

9R1. What measures of building collaborative relationships, external and internal, do you collect and analyze regularly? K-12 outreach • Surveys, interviews, focus groups and informal feedback with students, parents, school district staff and other external stakeholders based upon requirements of external funding agencies • Database to track interactions with K-12 students • Resource Development • Number of years of repeat funding by a given agency CECT • Client satisfaction data • Number of return contracts from existing clients • Number of new clients • Number of trainings offered • Registrations for courses Purchasing • Compare pricing among vendors that provide services and products to the College • Spend analysis on recurring items

• Regular audits

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9R2. What are your performance results in building your key collaborative relationships, external and internal? Feedback from students participating in the K-12 outreach programs indicates that students are actively engaged in the program but that there are opportunities to improve in the area of encouraging students to speak with instructors after class, meet with counselors, and feeling connected to their high school after participating in the program. Students do report that they are often or very often building relationships with fellow students and working collaboratively with them. Table 9.1 shows results from one K-12 outreach program, PACE.

Table 9.1 K-12 Student Survey 2009-2010 Spring Summer Summer 2009 2009 (n=69) 2010 (n=54) (n=37) Talked to instructor outside of class 2.08 1.98 1.94 Talked to SLAs, peer tutors or other PACE staff 2.43 2.11 2.43 Met with PACE Counselor NA 1.69 1.58 Studied with other PACE students 2.65 2.05 2.89 Developed friendships with PACE students 3.32 3.22 3.46 Worked Collaboratively with PACE Classmates 3.22 3.14 3.45 Contacted PACE classmates for info outside of class 3.14 2.51 2.93 Managed my time better because of my participation in 2.92 2.94 3.04 the PACE program Would encourage new students to participate in the 3.73 3.51 3.59 PACE program. My parents and/or family supported my participation in 3.59 3.54 3.42 the PACE program Feel less connected to my high school after participat- 1.78 1.98 2.04 ing in the PACE program 1= Never, 2= Sometimes, 3= Often, 4= Very Often

Resource Development College has had repeat funding from East Metro Foundations for the past 7 years. See Category Two for more information.

CECT Feedback collected from Continuing Education and Customized Training (CECT) students and clients indicate they are very satisfied with the training they receive from Century College (Table 9.2).

Table 9.2 CECT Student and Client Satisfaction Feedback CECT 2012 Satisfaction Duplicated Headcount/ Survey Favorable Satisfaction Survey Record Count Responses Responses Percentage Student 17,155 5,935 5,863 99% Contractor Client 266 75 75 100%

9R3. How do your results for the performance of your processes for Building Collaborative Relationships compare with the performance results of other higher education institutions

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and, if appropriate, of organizations outside of higher education? Due to the individual nature of relationship building, finding collaborative data is difficult and this information is not commonly shared. The MnSCU System Office does provide limited comparative information for this division. Tables 9.3 and 9.4 show comparative data on student and client satisfaction for FY2012. Century College is comparable to its peers for these measures.

Table 9.3 Student Satisfaction Survey 2012 Student Satisfaction Survey Duplicated Survey Respons- Favorable Re- Satisfaction (CECT) 2012 Headcount es sponses Percentage Century College 17,155 5,935 5,863 99% System wide 275,655 71,558 70,890 99%

Table 9.4 Client Satisfaction Survey 2012 Client Satisfaction Survey Record Survey Favorable Satisfaction (CECT) 2012 Count Responses Responses Percentage Century College 266 75 75 100% System wide 4426 1709 1695 99%

Improvement (I)

9I1. What recent improvements have you made in this category? How systematic and comprehensive are your processes and performance results for Building Collaborative Relationships? The College has acquired three new grants to support K-12 partnerships and collaboration around College readiness. These grants will support working with middle and high school students from area school districts to determine whether or not the students are on track to be college ready by high school graduation. If they are not ready, the program will provide resources and support to those students to help them be college ready in time for graduation.

The MnSCU System’s new strategic framework has focused on the imperative to have more baccalaureate degrees in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. This priority has prompted the College to pursue partnerships with two MnSCU Baccalaureate institutions.

CECT division has made the following improvements: • Due to the increase in under-prepared students taking non-credit courses, they have shifted to providing help with pre-work, for example, using work study to provide a math tutor for non-credit students • Free Information sessions about courses and time frame to completion to assist students in planning for the career before they register for courses • D2L orientation for online course for CECT courses • New technology application for online registration

There is a new MnSCU effort to leverage buying power as a system called the Collaborative Sourcing Team (CST). The CST’s goal is to encourage institutions to work with the CST to see who else might also be buying similar products and consider going into the contract as a unit instead of as individual institutions. The combined purchasing power should result in stronger leverage and better pricing. This improvement is related to the System’s strategic framework goal of shared services within the system.

9I2. How do your culture and infrastructure help you to select specific processes to improve and to set targets for improved performance results in Building Collaborative Relationships?

Category Nine, BUILDING COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS 109 century college June 2013

In terms of the relationships with K-12 partners, having Northeast Metro/916 on-site is a key factor to building and maintaining strong K-12 partnerships. The College also has a strong Perkins program and foundations’ grants to reach high school and middle school students. This structure is a strength that the College has leveraged to build and maintain its relationships. The existing infrastructure of articulation agreements through MnSCU institutions facilitates collaboration and, along with Minnesota Transfer Curriculum (MnTC), ensures that the MnSCU two-year colleges’ lower division courses articulate with all the MnSCU four-year universities’ baccalaureate programs so the pathways are relatively seamless for students. Through these cultural attributes, the Chancellor’s goal to develop shared baccalaureate degree programs across the entire metro area is possible.

Public Relations, Marketing, and Foundation work closely together on developing the Public Relations Plan, as discussed in Category Two. These departments also collaborate on communication with external stakeholders and events that benefit the college.

The College has an opportunity to more closely align the credit and non-credit divisions of the College. There are barriers to non-credit students having access to the same services that credit students have. Some advisory committees are separate between credit and non-credit sides even when there is overlap in programs. Currently the College has limited knowledge of student flow between the credit and non-credit sides of the College. The College has an opportunity to bridge this gap because there are faculty teaching classes for both divisions who could act as conduits to developing stronger ties between the two divisions. With changing economic climate, things have changed dramatically and addressing this opportunity is increasing in importance as the Continuing Education/Customized Training division has not yet settled into their New Normal and still needs to reposition themselves to the constantly changing economic conditions.

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