1. Evolving and Dynamic Enrollment Management Plan
- Increase awareness of and support for excellence on campus, including the arts program, student research, athletic programs, and student organizations and clubs.
- Continue the improvements to shared governance and transparency with faculty, staff, and students.
- Continually review resource allocations to meet the changing needs of the current student populations.
- Decrease the deficit mindset among faculty with regard to students.
- Create and execute specific professional development opportunities for employees that engender a “students first” culture.
- Provide opportunities for students to engage with staff, administration, and Trustees in order to continue to operationalize feedback from students.
- Review the annual student feedback assessment and address the areas students feel the College could be more responsive (career prep, reading skills, internships)
- Creatively address the barriers to student success, including federal financial aid challenges, mental health, academic preparedness, financial and family obligations, and food/housing insecurity.
2. Capturing the Adult Market
- Offer new programs and certificates that lead to gainful employment and/or offer career advancement, higher pay, and future opportunities.
- Develop and implement an improved process for awarding Credit for Prior Learning.
- Implement marketing that reaches and speaks to the adult population.
- Develop more partnerships with business and industry, particularly by utilizing our division on workforce programs.
- Market to the Collar Communities.
- Leverage our partnership with Achieving the Dream to change our practices and policies to better understand and meet the adult market population.
3. Community Outreach and Relationship Building
- Continue to partner with and explore new opportunities with the OCVTS.
- Develop a relationship with the homeschool market.
- Continue to develop educational partnerships, including with Kean’s expanding presence in Ocean County and Princeton’s opportunities for faculty and students.
- Partnership with local non-profits, to include joint programming with the Ocean County Library, the YMCA, Ocean’s Harbor House, and others.
- Expand OCC’s relationships with local business and industry, including Netflix and the county Workforce Development Board.
4. Academic Initiatives
- Using data, develop and implement new programs and short-term learning certificates that are tied to labor demands.
- Deliberately and intentionally cut programs that are under enrolled, do not lead to successful transfer to four-year programs, and/or cannot provide evidence of leading to personal and community vitality.
- Expand the portfolio of experiential learning opportunities, including internships, entrepreneurship, service learning, community engagement, study away, apprenticeships, and research opportunities but without increased financial obligations for the college.
- Increase the number of 2+2, 3+1, and 3+2 articulations.
- Strengthen the Kean Ocean Partnership by exploring joint marketing, shared academic calendar, collaboration of clubs, and greater faculty connections.
- Develop and implement a process to award Credit for Prior Learning.
- Increase OCC’s engagement with and outreach to Middle Schools.
- Continue our Hispanic Outreach through the convening and other community-based approaches.
- Develop the process and metrics to determine the impact of Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) professional development for faculty to better learning engagement.
- Increase the connections with the Lakewood Community and better serve the community’s educational needs.
- Explore the opportunities to accelerate learning based on demonstration of competency instead of time in seat.
- Engage with faculty on the ways in which AI can be meaningfully incorporated into the student experience as a career readiness tool.
- Engage faculty with meaning and intentionality in decision-making, using feedback, and expanding outreach to faculty.
- Continue to engage students and listen to feedback.
5. Financial Stability
- Increase the pursuit of grant funding.
- Continue to restructure and realign OCC schools and divisions to maximize operational efficiencies and support the College’s strategic success.
- Implement plan of program reduction.
- Continue to review college structure, hiring practices, and efficiencies to address personnel needs and operational efficiencies.
- Continue to explore joint purchasing agreements.
6. Strategic Planning
- Implement the Strategic Plan to support the goals as outlined.
- Use Achieving the Dream to provide the framework to realize the goals of the Strategic Plan.
- Use the Strategic Plan to build community and improve communication.
- Continue to demonstrate compliance with accreditation standards.
- Continue to respond to the ever-changing environment by adhering to the mission, vision, and values of the College.