Responses to Draft Statement April 25, 2006 - Surveys & Forums - Mission Initiative Committee

Draft Statement April 25, 2006

Responses

The following responses were compiled following the release of the Statement generated on 4/25/06.

The statement is reflective of a contemporary community college serving A diverse audience. Well done!
Nicely done but the phrase regarding the # of campuses seems superfluous and dates the statement should the number of campuses change.
Consider adding to the last line: ...our state and nation's economic...and educates internationally competitive graduates. Well done!
Unfortunately it reads like an advertisement not a document of mission.
I like it. It's a good summary. I feel like the school was a lot of those things for me personally.
I know you have worked very hard on this, but now it looks like an advertisement. I think it has lost its punch.
Mission of the Community College of Rhode Island - The Community College of Rhode Island is the state's only public comprehensive associate degree-granting institution and (as such or thus?) is the initial point of entry to higher education for many Rhode Islanders. Responding to the varied educational needs of a diverse community of learners, CCRI offers an array of career, transfer and lifelong learning programs at four campuses throughout the state. (Do we have career programs and transfer programs? Do you mean that if you plan on taking some courses and then transfer we can do that, and if you want to take courses so you can have a career instead of just a job we can do that?) Building on its tradition of teaching excellence and student support, the College is committed to (the success of all students?) student success. The Community College of Rhode Island promotes academic excellence, fosters service learning, embraces diversity, responds to community needs, contributes to our state's economic development and builds our region's workforce. (Revised 4/25/06)
I wish it said something about providing a chance for all students to achieve their goals - whether it is to improve their academic skills, to transfer, to begin a career, or to exercise their brains throughout life. That is one thing that we do well - give a chance to all who enter (sometimes not just a first chance, but a second or third). It doesn't sound very "open doorish." I know you cannot please everyone, so please take my comments as helpful suggestions.
I think you should include the word academic when describing the learning programs being offered at CCRI. "CCRI offers an array of academic, career, transfer and lifelong learning programs" The College was created to provide academic programs back in 1964. Define service learning. It means different things to different people. How do we promote service learning ? Is it a major activity of CCRI?
The committee has done a great job in developing the revised mission statement. I have only one suggestion. In the last sentence I would insert the word "helps" before the phrase "builds our region's work force." We are not the only organization that builds the regions workforce.
I think that the phrase 'access to, or opportunity for, all who wish to pursue a postsecondary, or higher education' needs to be addressed.
What about the one satellite, in Westerly?
Sounds good to me.
This is so much better. It supports what we do here. Thank you for your work.
I loved the mission statement. I just question the "embrace diversity." I think we need to replace "embrace".......encourage...support....?????
Excellent! It is concise and easily understood by everyone. Thank you for your dedication.
It sounds good. Nice job.
I think the mission statement looks really fine, except for the line, "Building on the tradition of teaching excellence and student support..." I believe that this line needs to be connected to the last sentence, omitting the students’ success part of the sentence because that one sentence break weakens the statement. It is obvious that we support student success based on everything else said, and the statement would be much stronger reading something like, Building on the tradition of teaching excellence and student support, the Community College of Rhode Island promotes academic excellence (synonym needed), etc.....otherwise, I think it looks great and reflects very much who we are...thank you to all involved in the mission to develop the mission statement...it is well-crafted and unpretentious...
I suggest it be much shorter and to the point. A non-profit mission statement is an essentialization of what we do and nothing else. There are plenty of opportunities to go in to more detail about how we operationalize our mission. But a mission statement - an organization's tag line- only suffers under the weight of explanation. Fortunately, it's possible to be succinct and direct and still address all NEACS's criteria. For example: "The Community College of Rhode Island offers an initial entry point to higher education and provides excellent career, transfer and lifelong learning programs that address both regional workforce development needs and the educational aspirations of Rhode Island's diverse citizenry." As it was emailed out, there's a lot of verbiage and, unfortunately, a lot of it comes across as pat. Shortening it would force a focus on our core activities and - rubber meets the road here - help the reader finish reading it. Thanks for asking.
Overall the statement seems ok to me. It would read less like a commercial, however, if it said that CCRI strives for, is responsible for, or is committed to the various things mentioned in the draft statement. One suggestion (not related to the above): Remove the word "initial" from the phrase "is the initial point of entry" in the first sentence. It doesn’t appear to be needed. Other possibilities could be: . . . provides the point of entry or . . . is the provider of entry or . . . provides entry. Putting the word "affordable" in front of the word "entry" would further help to state the College’s mission.
Thank you for your work on the newly-proposed mission statement! I find the new statement to be an accurate description of our institution and to be in accordance with the criteria outlined by NEASC. I'd like to offer a little constructive criticism though, if I may... 1) I find the statement to be a bit bland & uninspiring. While I realize that NEASC does not require an inspirational mission statement, I think we (the entire CCRI community) could use a little inspiration in these difficult times. Would you consider adding such a statement - one that we could use as a mantra to guide us as we attempt to achieve our goals? I don't have a particular one in mind, but I'm thinking of something along the lines of one of the following: "seeking a better world through education", building foundations for brighter futures", "opening minds to greater possibilities", "promoting better citizenry through education", etc. - a slogan that we can promote on the web page, paint above the entry doors, & use to open every meeting/class so that everyone stays motivated & focused. Just a thought...& 2) I think you might need a comma or two separating the adjectives "public comprehensive associate degree-granting" that modify the noun "institution" in the first sentence. Again, I find the new statement much improved from previous versions. Thank you.
How about "celebrate" diversity to add to the possible replacement list for embrace?
I have to commend everyone for their hard and diligent work. I was unable to respond yesterday and hope my comments can still be considered. I have read the mission statement and have a couple comments. I looked at the former mission statement and thought the essence of Mission IV and V are critically important and somehow lost in this version. Below are these two elements from the previous statement followed by my suggestions:
- MISSION IV Community College of Rhode Island will provide such student services as may be necessary to a student's academic progress and as are feasible. COMMENT The proposed statement implies the support services but I do not believe it is strong in this area as it is only as strong as what was delivered in the past. "Building on its tradition of teaching excellence and student support, the College is committed to student success." What does this say if traditionally we have not provided the level of student support for students to succeed, but more importantly student needs change, therefore this part >of the statement should be more proactive and forward thinking. We should explicitly commit to providing support services to students' ever-changing needs.
- MISSION V Community College of Rhode Island will provide adult residents of Rhode Island with open access to post-secondary education. COMMENT Although the proposed statement may imply it, I believe it is essential to keep and specifically mention that the institution is open access. The general sense is that while strive to 'upgrade our image' in the community we are losing sight of the fact that this is a "Community" College and that CCRI should and must remain open to the "Community".
Contributes to our state's economic development and fosters opportunities to encourage the growth of our regions workforce.
I would have liked to have seen something about CCRI's accessibility in serving all Rhode Islander's academic or educational needs"
I was once told that a really good mission statement can be readily recited by all employees and be succinct enough to fit on a business card. Addressing 8 distinct NEASC criteria in a concise, vibrant and widely understood manner certainly is quite a challenge! For the most part I can see how the 8 criteria have been addressed. However: The current draft does not clearly identify to me the students we serve. WHO are our students? It also seems as if our institutional tradition, vision and intent to provide meaningful access to higher education to all R.I. citizens has been lost. The current draft speaks to a commitment to student success once students happen to somehow arrive...but it doesn't speak to our purpose of making h.e. accessible, affordable, etc. to Rhode Islanders. I'd like to think that this is equally at the heart of our existence as is providing excellent support services and instruction. I like the direction inherent in the final sentence...these are actionable words that provide strategic direction. I appreciate the opportunity to comment and look forward to your future work.
I believe the Mission Statement revised 4/25/06 has properly addressed what CCRI does, how it does it and whom it does it for.
Congratulations! And thank you for your hard work!
If you could include a statement about affordability and accessibility, it would be good.
My suggestion would be to include a phrase about financial accessibility and open access in helping students optimize their educational experience.
The only criticism of the mission statement would be instead of just putting "Responding to the varied educational needs..." would be to write something that sounds that CCRI does not wait for problems to occur and then respond. I would write "Responding proactively to the varied educational needs..".