2018-2019 Year in Review

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Dr. Ty A. Stone
President

The 2018-2019 Academic Year was one with significant achievements at Jefferson Community College (JCC). In my second year as President, I led campus initiatives to support student success, ensure operational effectiveness, strengthen connections with business and industry, and enhance the visibility of the College. At the same time, a solid foundation for the future has been paved through the creation of the College’s next strategic plan.

This year, the College has focused on increasing student access to higher education and student success. In January 2019, the College opened the Lewis County Education Center in the neighboring community of Lowville. The opening of the 22,000 square foot facility provides greater accessibility for the residents of Lewis County to gain the job skills, education and career training needed for the jobs of today and tomorrow. The College has partnered with BOCES and the Cornell Cooperative Extension to offer comprehensive educational programming at the Center.

As with all community colleges in the nation, JCC is sensitive to needs of low-income students and carefully reviews tuition rates. This year, the College’s administration focused on strategic hiring practices to maintain a high-quality student experience, while being responsible stewards of public funds. Over the coming months, we will explore student-focused partnerships to enhance learning and sustain wrap-around services.

Beginning in August 2018, the faculty, staff, administration, and Board engaged the broader community in a comprehensive strategic planning process to set the College’s direction for 2020 – 2025. Over 500 individuals were engaged in the creation of the plan, which was approved in September 2019.

In the coming months, the College will be rolling out the strategic plan and beginning the transformational work of Guided Pathways. This is an exciting time at JCC, and our campus community is prepared for the opportunities and challenges the 2020 academic year will bring.

STRATEGIC PRIORITIES 2018-2019

The Board of Trustees endorsed the 2018-2019 Strategic Priorities of the President (Res. 200-18) on November 7, 2018 as follows:

1. Fostering Student Success
2. Ensuring Operational Excellence
3. Strengthening Connections with Business and Industry
4. Increasing the Visibility of the College

As an institution of higher learning, our primary business is about educating our students. These strategic priorities were grounded in that core focus, as student Instruction is what we do and our sole purpose for existence. The following summarizes progress made to meet each of the strategic priorities and also includes new academic initiatives, grants/funding awards and College recognition.

2018-2019 Year in Review by Strategic Priority

The College was accepted to join the SUNY Guided Pathways learning cohort and received $20k to support this transformative effort. The campus hosted workshops and nationally-recognized leaders on the topic, including Dr. Michael Baston, President of SUNY Rockland Community College. A Guided Pathways Workgroup has been tasked to begin implementation planning.
The College has streamlined High School EDGE (concurrent enrollment) offerings to support program pathways. The Mathematics Department has produced and shared a document that aligns students from junior high school through high school on the appropriate math courses to take in their respective fields of interest (ensuring that high school students are taking the right math for their intended majors before attending JCC).

We are proud to serve over 25 local area high schools

More than 25 EDGE partner high schools are located across Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties.

A new enrollment and advisement staffing model was implemented to reduce redundancy, streamline services, and align with the best practices endorsed by the Guided Pathways model.
Articulation agreements were established with BOCES in Criminal Justice, Engineering, and Hospitality to create a clear pathway from high school to JCC programs.

Dashboards were implemented for department-level metrics to assess their efforts and support continuous improvement.
- Retention dashboard allowed users to explore trends in continuing student enrollment.
- Dynamic applicant dashboard informed targeted recruitment efforts.
- For the first time ever, academic leadership was provided with disaggregated student-learning outcomes by race and ethnicity to assess courses for optimal effectiveness.
Fundraising Assessment was completed to assess opportunities to sustain and expand fundraising efforts.
Developed a new report that identifies targets for enrollment based on trends in enrollment by student type, applications, high school graduating class size, the Fort Drum population, unemployment rates, and Jefferson County demographics.
Designed a new weekly report that tracks enrollment to targeted enrollment goals and is shared broadly across the campus on a weekly basis. The report provides both point-in-time and projected progress in meeting budgeted enrollment targets.

In January 2019, JCC opened the Lewis County Jefferson Community College Education Center in Lowville, New York. Over spring and summer, the Education Center offered 133 professional training certificates including several in the Construction Trades and Allied Health.
The Business Department has developed and revised several programs to better align with business and industry and introduced a Social Media CertificThe College hosted 70 teachers from four (4) counties for the Annual EDGE Professional Development Day.
The College hosted 70 teachers from four (4) counties for the Annual EDGE Professional Development Day.
The Leadership and Business Symposium was held in April with more than 500 current and prospective students and community members.
The Lewis County Education Center trained a cohort of 27 un- and under-employed individuals for a nationally-recognized general carpentry program, with 73% of students employed within 60 days of course completion.
The College hosted its first ever Future Summit in March 2019, bringing thought leaders to the College to discuss issues that need to be addressed in the upcoming strategic plan. Over 170 community members and staff attended this

Launched a new recruitment-focused and mobile device-driven website on October 25, 2018. Since the site became live, the number of visitors to the website has increased overall by 32% with a 54% increase among mobile users and a 67% increase among tablet users.
The College’s social media presence was increased by expanding and enhancing content.
- Increased videos from last year by 65% (from 85 to 140)
- Increased Facebook followers by 12% (from 8,247 to 9,210)
Earned national recognition for the outstanding personal support services offered to students that help reduce barriers to degree completion. The Health & Wellness Center / Jefferson Community School was featured in the New York Times, Chronicle of Higher Education and in a special report of the American Council on Education.
Launched a unique new course, Dialogues on the Experience of War, with funding awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The course was featured in the nationally distributed NEH magazine, Humanities.

Academic Initiatives

Launched the new A.S. Homeland Security degree in Spring with an initial 29 students enrolled in the fall.
Utilized Teach Northern New York grant (SUNY PIF funding) to increase awareness locally of the opportunity to earn an Associate’s through Master’s degree on the JCC campus with the College’s partnership with SUNY Potsdam. As a result, the A.A./B.A. Childhood Education program grew 158% from Fall 2017 to Fall 2018 (from 12 to 31 students).
Worked with Fort Drum to develop a one-year certificate in Early Childhood Education that would utilize prior learning assessment for job training that has occurred in Fort Drum early childhood centers. The program was approved in August and will be rolled out to other area childcare providers in the fall.
Analyzed the Paramedic degree and certificate programs, along with the energy technology certificate for operational profitability, community demand, and viability in the future.

Jefferson’s 3-year graduation rate has increased by 3.6% over the last 5 years.

Grant/Funding Awards

Downtown Revitalization Initiative: Additional $1.3 million for TechSpace building
NYS Department of Labor: $100,000 for Construction Training Program
NYS Environmental Facilities Corporation: $880,000 for Green Innovation Grant Program
Funding secured for campus capital improvements to support student safety, campus aesthetics, and environmental sustainability.

Awards & Recognition

Ranked 51^st in the nation – of 710 community colleges rated - for Best Community Colleges by WalletHub.
Ranked as #2 Nursing Program in New York, and #1 among community colleges, by RegisteredNursing.org.
Earned placement on Military Times Best Colleges 2018
- One of 218 schools that made the list; one of only three New York community colleges recognized.
Earned 2019 Military Friendly School designation by VIQTORY