Hello and welcome to the 2015 SMCC Strategic Planning page!

We're excited to have a place on the portal to connect with you around the process of the strategic plan. This page will be an important part of the process going forward - we'll be using it to gather feedback from our SMCC community, to post updates and to share our 'wins' along the way. We invite you to participate at any level you choose. 

The strategic planning process being undertaken by SMCC is different from many you may have witnessed or of which you've been a part.  This process is designed to be highly participatory from as diverse a set of stakeholders as possible; every ‘idea nugget’ is valued and incorporated into the process; those nuggets are synthesized into values and goals and objectives, and – eventually -- action plans and budget lines. This process is very bottom-up and future-focused.  

Here’s a brief overview of the phases:

• Phase I of the SP process was called the SMCC Community Café - an innovative campus-wide bottom up meeting of the minds of nearly 300 stakeholders (students, faculty, staff, administrators, advisory committee members, alumni, employers, etc.) to gather their input (their nuggets!). 
• Phase II, led by the 30-member Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) (also a diverse group of college and community stakeholders) and executive team focused on distilling the cafe input of more than 2000 separate ideas. Each nugget has been examined, categorized, discussed, and rolled into draft goals/objectives/actions. The College's Vision/Mission/Values are also being revisited and revised.
• Phase III, a collaborative effort of the SPC, executive team, division chairs and management team (which includes SMCC’s “middle managers”), focuses on synthesizing the draft goals/objectives/actions into our highest level, aspirational vision of the next five years, while weaving in the NEASC standards and budgetary realities.
• Phase IV will involve the entire community once again, beginning with Convocation 2015, to review the working draft and comment on the plan prior to its "final draft" stage. Phase IV will be concluded by final edits and adoption of the plan.
• Phase V is implementation, including ongoing assessment of progress to goals, and celebration of achievements!

We are honored to be on this journey with you and thankful for all of you who have given of their time, energy and expertise! We welcome your continued participation and feedback!

Best, Michelle & Steve

Michelle Neujahr and Steve Willis

Strategic Planning Committee Co-Chairs