July 2023 The Strategic Planning Chairs developed a conceptual framework and timeline, which was presented to Dr. Felder for review and feedback. In August 2023, the framework was presented to the President's Cabinet, followed by a kick-off at Convocation that included a survey to collect feedback on the College’s values. After a review of key inputs, the Strategic Planning Chairs drafted a preliminary list of possible strategic directions the College might pursue under the strategic plan.

September 2023 Dr. Felder facilitated work session with the Board of Trustees to share the framework, clarify the goals of the planning process, outline the Board’s role, and engage in some initial discussions about the mission and vision. Dr. Karen Stout (CEO, Achieving the Dream) was on sight to provide context about national trends in the community college sector. The Board had an opportunity to review the values feedback from Convocation, and shared their insights about the tentative list of strategic directions.

Later that month, Dr. Felder facilitated another work session with the President’s Cabinet. At that meeting, the group discussed feedback about the mission, vision, and values. Special attention was given to reviewing the values feedback. In addition, the group further refined the draft strategic directions.

October 2023 Dr. Felder hosted a half-day work session with the President’s Cabinet and representatives from Collegial Governance. Feedback on strategic directions and values was collected using guiding questions.

November 2023 The College hosted a work session with over 100 external partners, including representatives from local business and industry. Harford County Government and the Greater Baltimore Committee provided regional context about future regional employment needs. External partners worked in groups to identify obstacles to Harford County’s employment and economic landscape.

November/December 2023 The President's Cabinet continued to refine the strategic directions and revise the proposed values based on feedback from the campus community. President's Cabinet also identified potential chairs for the Strategic Planning Workgroups (SPW) that would be tasked with drafting goals for each of the strategic directions during the spring semester.

December 2023  The Board of Trustees met to review and approve the updated mission and vision. Employees also received a survey to rank the proposed values.

January 2024 Dr. Felder hosted a Strategic Planning Open Forum to introduce the SPW co-chairs. She shared the approved mission and vision, as well as the strategic directions. During the meeting, she also revealed the five values that had been selected via the values survey. 

February 2024 SPWs convened meetings to draft goals. The goals were shared with the President's Cabinet and the Strategic Leadership Group for feedback. The SPWs continued to refine their goals through mid-March, when they presented them to the President's Cabinet and Strategic Leadership Group during a work session. 

April 2024 Dr. Felder hosted a campus-wide open forum at which the SPWs presented their goals to the campus community for feedback. Following the open forum, the President's Cabinet and Strategic Leadership Group and the SPWs met to further refine the goals. In May, the Board of Trustees received a substantive update on the draft strategic plan, providing input on the proposed metrics and KPIs.

June 2024 The Board of Trustees received a final presentation outlining the strategic plan and associated KPIs. During the meeting, the Board voted to approve Vision 2030.

 

PRIORITY 1:
Student Access

Enrollment Outreach: Develop outreach initiatives to underserved populations to promote their discovery of pathways that connect to the diverse programs and continuing education and training offered at Harford Community College.

Financial Support: Foster financial literacy and reduce students’ financial barriers to credential and goal completion.

Partnerships: Partner with local educational agencies to create joint sustainable initiatives and programs designed to help students become college and career-ready.

Prospect Conversion: Grow enrollment among key demographics and underserved populations to increase credential attainment within low socioeconomic communities throughout Harford County.

PRIORITY 2: 
Student Success

Completion Support: Design strategies to encourage academic immersion, career exploration and networking, transferability, and employment opportunities.

First Year: Develop an intentional focus on the first year to improve retention and boost success.

Pathways: Expand transfer partnerships and articulation opportunities to develop intentional academic plans and pathways.

Progression: Maximize utilization of comprehensive, holistic supports to increase persistence and goal attainment.

PRIORITY 3: 
Teaching & Learning

Belonging: Enhance student engagement and sense of belonging through best practices of diversity, equity, and inclusion within courses.

Learning Assessment: Improve teaching and student learning by employing consistent, systematic program-level and general education assessment processes.

Pedagogy: Implement dynamic educational experiences and high impact, culturally responsive, evidence-based teaching in all environments to enhance student learning.

Professional Development: Encourage an innovative, reflective, and inclusive culture of professional development regarding how to respond to students’ immediate and long-term needs.

PRIORITY 4: 
Organizational Effectiveness & Sustainability

Communication: Optimize communication and collaboration that promotes transparency throughout the organization.

Continuous Improvement : Establish and implement data-informed assessment processes to regularly evaluate the effectiveness of organizational strategies, programs, and services.

Employee Recruitment & Retention: Cultivate a diverse, thriving, and sustainable organizational culture that attracts, retains, nurtures, and rewards top talent.

Planning: Develop and implement long-range planning processes to anticipate and address the evolving needs of our students, employees, and the community.

Technology: Leverage technology to advance the College’s strategic priorities and navigate changing academic and digital landscapes.

PRIORITY 5: 
Community Engagement & Partnerships

Community Engagement: Strengthen Harford Community College’s position as a major pillar of culture, artistic, intellectual, and sports programming to promote lifelong learning and enhance the visibility of the College.

Employment Pathways: Forge strong partnerships between HCC and industry stakeholders to create employment pathways leading to living wages.

Financial Resources: Collaborate with community partners to fund educational opportunities in a way that expands financial resources for all Harford Community College students with an emphasis on areas of focus within Harford County.

Work Experience: Increase and enhance relationships with external partners to provide workplace learning opportunities, professional networking, and career experiences, meeting the needs of today’s students.