Strategic Plan

Introduction

The Bellevue College (BC) Strategic Plan, updated in 2017, organizes priority initiatives for the next five years around the college’s established four core themes. This revised plan honors many of the priority initiatives from the 2014 Strategic Plan, while maintaining the commitments of the original plan: delivering high quality educational opportunities, educating students to be global citizens, promoting social justice in all we do, interacting with the community, rebuilding our foundations, and cultivating our human potential.

Student Success Core Theme

BC supports the success of all students in meeting their educational goals through its commitments to open access learning; to offer a portfolio of appropriate and well-chosen educational programs, services, and activities; and to its ongoing attention to student persistence and educational attainment. Key concepts: access, persistence, completions, success initiatives, demographics.

Student Success Priority Initiatives

A. Develop and implement a strategic enrollment management plan that promotes the success of all student populations.

B. Provide academic support and other services to ensure that students are able to set and meet their goals.

C. Offer equitable opportunities: affordability; programs to support success and retention for all student populations; and efforts to close the gap.

D. Provide equitable services through universal design, accessible facilities, and multi-lingual communication.

E. Adopt data-informed strategies to increase persistence and completion.

F. Promote efficient transitions into and through BC, supporting the complete pre-K-20 continuum.

Teaching and Learning Excellence Core Theme

BC prepares and enables excellence in teaching and learning through its commitments to ensure relevance, responsiveness, and inclusiveness of curriculum; to maintain an effective teaching environment by supporting the teaching and professional achievement of all faculty; to provide for the accessibility of quality learning support services; and to monitor the academic and professional success of all students. Key concepts: curriculum, program design, faculty professional development, learning outcomes assessment.

Teaching and Learning Excellence Priority Initiatives

A. Develop and support new initiatives, certificates, credentialing models, and degrees—such as expanded baccalaureate programs—that meet the needs of the region.

B. Encourage faculty, staff, and student leadership in regional, state-wide, national, and international conversations about the future of higher education.
C. Incorporate undergraduate research and experiential learning into the curriculum.

D. Incorporate personal effectiveness—communication, team-building, and leadership—skills throughout the curriculum.

E. Prepare students to succeed in an interconnected and interdependent world through interdisciplinary learning, focused on economic, social, and environmental sustainability.

F. Foster disciplinary and pedagogical currency and innovation through faculty professional development.

College Life and Culture Core Theme

BC values a learning and working environment through its commitments to support a campus environment that is diverse, inclusive, open, safe, and accessible; to model a college community that affirms and embodies pluralism and values collaboration and shared decision making; and to honor and practice sustainability, creativity and innovation. Key concepts: equitable practices, decision-making, efficiency, quality of work life, safety.

College Life and Culture Priority Initiatives

A. Integrate social justice into everyday college operations, providing an equitable environment of non-discrimination, universal design, and accessibility.

B. Support the college’s governance system and improve operational decision-making structures.

C. Create uniform and efficient processes based on higher education best practices, including areas such as sustainable planning and change management, onboarding and ongoing training, emergency preparedness, and succession planning.

D. Improve the systems for sharing information.

E. Be the region’s college of choice for employment—providing employees with an engaging climate, competitive compensation, and shared value system.

F. Support professional development, advancement, work-life balance, and wellness for all employees.

G. Mitigate inequities experienced by part-time faculty and staff.

Community Engagement and Enrichment Core Theme

BC strives to be a leader and partner in building a strong and vibrant region through its commitments to collaborate with businesses, industries, local school districts, primary transfer institutions, alumni, donors, and governmental and social services organizations to develop and refine educational programs that prepare individuals for academic success, employment, and lifelong learning; and to provide programs and space for use by the community at large. Key concepts: continuing education, funding, community partnerships, alumni engagement, and college identity.

Community Engagement and Enrichment Priority Initiatives

A. Develop an educational atmosphere that creates lifelong learning experiences for informed and engaged citizenship.

B. Forge strong relationships with community partners—employers, pre-K-12, higher education institutions, community organizations, service groups, businesses, neighbors—to build and sustain relevant programs.

C. Communicate our identity.

D. Develop and implement a process to listen carefully and respond to community and regional needs.

E. Develop a broad network of engaged alumni.

F. Pursue funding opportunities to mitigate decreased state support.