Cape Cod Community College

NEASC Self Study

Cape Cod Community College Mission Statement
The students’ education is the first priority at Cape Cod Community College. As a learning-centered community, we value the contributions of a diverse population, welcome open inquiry, and promote mutual respect. The College offers a strong educational foundation of critical and creative thinking, communication competency, and a global, multicultural perspective that prepares students for life and work in the 21st Century. Our liberal arts, sciences, and career programs provide educational pathways that serve the varied social, economic, and demographic characteristics of our community with a distinctive focus on sustainability. We honor our past, celebrate our present, and imagine our future.
Description
The basic mission of Cape Cod Community College has remained the same since its founding. Student education is the center of our existence. The first mission statement in 1961 stated the following:
Cape Cod Community College is based on the assumption that higher education in a democratic society is a public responsibility and its ultimate goal is to awaken the intellectual and spiritual capacities of the individual to the end that he may live a richer life, bring his maximum power to bear in his chosen career and apply an enlightened understanding to civic responsibilities.
Over the past 45 years the essence of this mission has not changed; however, there have been some new threads introduced to the mission as time has passed. In 1978 the words "diversity" and "social responsibility" were introduced into the college mission. The 1988 mission statement reflected the greatest changes since our founding, including developmental education, concern for the environment, adult basic education and literacy, cooperative education, and international education.
In 1998 there were two mission statements: The Board of Higher Education (BHE) statement describing the mission of all community colleges in Massachusetts and the focused mission specific to the individual community college. In the 1998 mission statement appear the phrases "rapidly changing" and "socially diverse global economy." For the first time Information Technology and Distance Learning are mentioned. Developmental Education and English for Speakers of Other Languages became priorities. In addition, the focused mission of 1998 introduced the development of partnerships with other institutions to bring baccalaureate and advanced degrees to the region.
The 1998 mission statement was cumbersome, constrained by mandates from the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education requiring a "priorities" statement appended to the mission statement. BHE also directed colleges to publish a Sector Mission in catalogues and other public documents. Further, BHE said each community college should have an institutional mission statement that identified only those areas that were unique to its particular service region and activity.
The complexity of this earlier mission was most apparent when an attempt was made in the spring of 2005 to reorganize the College’s administrative structure. The question arose, "Does this reorganization support the mission?" As a result of this and our impending accreditation self-study, the president appointed a committee in the summer of 2006 to examine the mission and its applicability to the present, possibly creating a new mission statement. This committee, which also served as the NEASC Standard One committee, consisted of representatives from administration, full time and adjunct faculty, student services, support staff, information technology, and the student body.
Committee members began by researching current thinking on mission development. A concise, focused statement, easily read and remembered by all, general enough to allow for change, yet structured enough to use as a guide, was recommended. After receiving College-wide comments, the committee developed a single paragraph that it felt embodied our mission. This again was sent out for final comments, which were incorporated as appropriate. In October 2006 the mission statement was approved by College Meeting, followed by the Board of Trustees’ approval in November. The Board of Higher Education and the Chancellor approved our new mission statement in January 2007. The mission is consistent with the Massachusetts Public Higher Education system mission statement and the State’s Community College mission statement. (The new mission statement is at the beginning of this chapter.)
The new mission statement, because of its brevity, easily replaces the lengthy 1998 mission in nearly all official college publications, even making an appearance in the 2007 Commencement Program.
Our college is unique because of the region we serve: a 413 square mile peninsula that stretches 75 miles and serves as the mainland connection for two islands. Over a third of all jobs in the region are related to tourism and retail sales, which depend on our attractiveness as a touristdestination. We have a thriving arts community that draws many visitors and an active technology council committed to developing cutting edge technology programs that minimally impact our fragile environment. After the tourism and hospitality industry, the healthcare industry is the second largest employer in our region.
We are also challenged to meet the needs of a varied demographic. Twenty-three percent of the region’s population is over 65, while those aged 20-54 account for about 29%. Fifty-seven percent of the population have not attained a college degree. The median earnings of male full time workers are just over $41,000, and the median earnings for full time female workers are approximately $30,000. Due to high property values, the seasonal nature and the low wage scale of much of the local economy, many residents of the region have trouble making ends meet and look to the college for new opportunities and job retraining.
In addition, advances in technology and significant shifts in labor force deployment have motivated us to prepare students for a global economy. We foster multiple opportunities for students to participate in international education experiences and welcome international students and educators to study and share their expertise at our campus.
The college is a driving partner in the economic growth of the area and a strong advocate for the development of sustainable industry for the Cape and Islands. For example, we have enjoyed the financial backing of the business community, which, with matched state funding, allowed us to build our first new building in 35 years. Built with consideration for the Cape’s sensitive ecosystem, this "green building" is the first LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) approved state structure.
Other activities on the CCCC campus also serve our mission to meet the needs of our distinct community. Our large population of elders is served through Computers for Seniors and the Academy for Lifelong Learning, which serves 500-600 elders per semester with a variety of mini-courses. The Higgins Art Gallery provides a showcase for student and local artists. The Workforce Education Resource Center is designed to meet the educational needs of local employers. Each year the college hosts a multi-cultural festival, the Lowell Lecture series, and a foreign film series, all attracting participants from every segment of the community. Our art and theater offerings provide opportunities for participation from students and community members. Our annual health fair and career fair reach out to provide valued services as well. The Life Fitness Center and athletic fields are used by the College and community groups.
Since our last accreditation, our "multicultural perspective" has expanded to include students who represent the Cape’s unprecedented growth of populations from Brazil, Haiti, Jamaica, Eastern Europe, Mexico, South America, and the Middle East. The College provides the majority of for-credit and noncredit ESOL training for the region. In January of 2006, an ESOL taskforce was formed to address the issue of maximizing offerings while preparing students for work and life.
The College community highly values this institution, which is evident in the way we honor our past. The college library features a unique collection of historical Cape Cod documents and records, including books written by faculty on college history. Each year, the college hosts retiree and emeriti luncheons and includes them in all college emails.
CCCC also makes every effort to celebrate our present: multicultural gatherings, holiday parties that include students, many graduations (GED, individual certificate program), student scholarship awards, recognition of employee excellence, achievement awards, recognition of exemplary programs, College Meeting acknowledgments, and publication of our successes.
Currently, CCCC is in the process of developing a new general education curriculum, aimed at providing our students with a versatile educational foundation that will ready them for lifelong learning. We are developing green practices and environmentally friendly solutions that will protect our fragile ecosystem. No doubt we will encounter new challenges yet to be discerned, but our core mission will remain the education of our students.
Appraisal
The College was not altogether successful in its efforts to satisfy Board of Higher Education requirements for the mission statement in 1998, since faculty and staff wanted their mission statement to reflect the comprehensive mission of the College, not just the specialized aspects of it. Community colleges tend to try to be everything to everybody, often spreading themselves too thin. Still, our community expects much of us because we are the only comprehensive higher education institution on Cape Cod.
The 1998 statement provided extensive detail about our programs and services, but failed to convey a clear sense of direction and purpose for the institution. After soliciting feedback from the faculty and staff, we identified the most important role of the college as facilitating learning. Our newly revised and approved mission statement reflects that realization. As the main post-secondary educational institution in the area, we are called upon to serve a variety of student needs, including preparation for transfer to other colleges, career training, professional development, opportunities to study abroad, and personal enrichment. Our new mission allows us the flexibility to meet those varied needs. In all of these endeavors, we strongly identify ourselves as "learning-centered," and we expect that all members of the college community participate in open inquiry. We are committed to a climate that values the contributions of all, and we strive to interact courteously and collegially; several faculty and staff have offered workshops designed by the National Coalition-Building Institute, modeling professional standards of discourse and behavior.
As a consequence of the rapid growth in populations from Brazil, Haiti, Jamaica, Eastern Europe, Mexico, South America, and the Middle East, the College has struggled to find resources to meet the demand for ESOL instruction.
An historical perspective on the mission of Cape Cod Community College demonstrates that its mission, while consistent in its basic goals, has been fluid enough to adapt to the changing needs of our service community. In researching the history of the mission, we learned that changes were made approximately every ten years. If this means that the mission was reviewed for efficacy only every ten years, clearly this is unacceptable. With rapidly changing needs in contemporary society, the mission needs to be examined annually by every stakeholder.
While we recognize that it is important that each person in the College community understand our mission, we need to formalize a process through which the mission statement guides every activity and provides a framework to assess our effectiveness at delivery of this mission. In order for this to happen, a mission statement must be widely understood and accessible to everyone on campus. If asked, many of us could point out the page in the catalogue where the mission statement is located; however, was it an active part of our decision making? Many would say "no."
Institutional Effectiveness
The College re-examines its mission and purposes occasionally but not regularly, seeking input from the entire college community. As the basis for strategic planning, the mission statement provides guidance for administrative and academic decision-making, for planning for the future, and for resource allocation. More frequent and regular evaluation of our mission and purposes and their importance in planning would improve the institution's effectiveness.

Projections – Standard One – Mission and Purposes

Projections	Responsible Staff	Completion Date
Initiated by the President’s office, the entire College community will conduct a review of the mission every March, assessing how each commit-tee and department’s work is guided by the mission. The Deans will review the minutes of those March meetings, bringing any concerns raised to the attention of the President. The Deans will review the minutes of those March meetings, bringing any concerns raised to the attention of the President.	President Deans	FY 2008 Ongoing every March thereafter
The building of budget will be inclusive and directed by the mission. The Vice-President of Finance and Administration will report budgetary decisions to the College Meeting annually, including how those decisions relate to the priorities in the mission and strategic plan.	VP Admin. and Finance	FY 2008 Every Spring thereafter
All new programs and courses are submitted to the Curriculum and Programs committee. By the fall of 2008, this committee will develop new forms for submission of new programs and courses which will include a question as to how the course or program relates to the mission of the College..	Chair of Curriculum and Programs Committee	FY 2008

Planning – Description
The Cape Cod Community College Board of Trustees approves a Strategic Plan every five years. The Strategic Plan is part of the Mission, Planning, Resource Allocation, Evaluation model that the College uses to ensure institutional effectiveness. The College's planning process is based on the Harvard Business School model of analyzing Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT). This SWOT analysis underlies most planning at the College. The College contracted with the Institute for Higher Education Policy to assist in the development of the 2003-2008 Strategic Plan. For the time period of this self-study the 2003-2008 Strategic Plan was linked to the "old" mission statement of the college. In November 2006 the College modified its Mission Statement; consequently, in this self-study the College is looking at the link between the 2003-2008 Strategic Plan and the Mission Statement that was in place at the time. The 2008-2013 Strategic Plan will be linked to the new 2007 Mission Statement.
Using the Strategic Plan as a starting point, the College develops a number of plans for specific areas of its activities. The Academic Master Plan, the Facilities Master Plan, and the Information Technology Plan are all linked to the needs identified in the Strategic Plan. The 2003-2008 Strategic Plan posits seven major priorities: (1) Focusing and Strengthening the Core Mission; (2) Fiscal and Enrollment Stability; (3) Enhancing student success for all students; (4) Nurturing and Improving campus life; (5) Strengthening linkages to the employment community, and improve workforce development; (6) Improving campus communication and marketing at every level; and (7) Strengthening the use of data to improve internal and external accountability.
While the Strategic Plan is developed on a local level, the Facilities Master Plan is developed on a regional level. Through the efforts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Board of Higher Education and the Commonwealth's Division of Capital Asset Management, the College participates in regional planning processes to determine facilities' needs. The Facilities Master Plan includes a space utilization report that was completed by Sisake Associates. As a result of this analysis of facilities needs, the Governor has recently proposed a major capital improvements initiative for public higher education in Massachusetts. Through this plan the Commonwealth would support the construction of a new $36 million health and science building and other capital improvements.
The College Meeting's Institutional Research and Planning Committee has been charged with assisting in the overall planning function at the College. From September 2004 until February 2006, the faculty and professional staff were on "work-to-rule" because the state government did not properly fund a collective bargaining agreement. This action by the Massachusetts Community College Council (MCCC) had a major impact on the College governance process as the College Meeting committees did not meet during this period. The College's Administrative Council performed much of the work of the Institutional Research and Planning Committee during that time. Since "work-to rule" has ended, the Institutional Planning and Research Committee has resumed meeting and reviewing the College's planning process.
It should also be noted that the College has had several challenges that have impacted not only planning and evaluation efforts, but many other efforts to improve the College. The Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Board of Higher Education and the Massachusetts Community College Council (Day Contract) increased teaching loads of full-time faculty by 25%. The advising loads for full-time faculty were reduced from 25 students to 18 students. Between FY 2001 and FY 2004, the legislature and governor reduced the state appropriation to the College by 22%. In 2002 and 2003 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts offered an Early Retirement Incentive Program (ERIP).
The number of full-time faculty declined from roughly 75 to 55. College wide, more than 40 individuals participated in the ERIP. Moreover,the ERIP mandated that the College could not use more than 20% of the salary savings for replacement personnel. These developments made planning and evaluation more difficult, but also impacted many other aspects of the college as well.
In response to all the staffing reductions, the College developed a plan for replacing faculty and staff. The plan was developed using data on numbers of sections offered in different disciplines and enrollments. Every effort was made to assure that resources were allocated to those areas that demonstrated the greatest need.
Because CCCC is part of the state community college system operating under the auspices of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, it is also responsible for carrying out the goals established for the entire system, including affordability, access, and student success. These statewide goals are measured through the state system's Key Performance Indicators (KPI). At CCCC particular attention is paid to the College's performance on those indicators.
In 2005 College Meeting created an ad-hoc Committee to study the feasibility of student housing. As a result of the work of this committee, the college received an appropriation to hire a consultant to conduct a more formal study of the feasibility of student housing.
Also through College Meeting in 2006, the College established an ad-hoc Committee on the Schedule Template, which reviewed the effectiveness of the current class schedule template and proposed a revised schedule that was adopted by the College Meeting in September, 2006.
Planning – Appraisal
The College uses the Strategic Plan to guide decision-making and resource allocation at the College. For example, to address the priority of "enhancing student success for all students," the Strategic Plan calls for improvements in academic advising and retention. There were ample data to support the lack of student satisfaction with academic advising. The College increased the allocation of resources for advising by establishing the position of Director of Advising and Counseling Services in 2003 and subsequently increasing the funding for that area in order to hire more part-time advisors. The most recent Noel Levitz Student Satisfaction Survey indicates increased student satisfaction with academic advising.
The Strategic Plan also addresses the goal of "curriculum review grounded in learning outcomes." The College has made curriculum review and the identification of desirable student learning outcomes a priority by allocating professional development time and reassigned time to work on curriculum review. This has been a major area of improvement for the College since the 1998 accreditation visit, at which time the College had identified no student learning outcomes. Currently, the College has developed student learning outcomes for approximately 60% of its courses.
In 2003 College Meeting created the Ad Hoc Committee on General Education to reexamine the College's General Education requirements. This committee has created a proposed revision of the General Education requirements.
Probably the most significant area of use of planning involves "nurturing and improving campus life." This priority highlighted the College's lack of adequate space for its activities. The new Lorusso Applied Technology Building has provided more classroom and faculty meeting space. Again the College has used the Strategic Plan to guide resource allocation. In this case, the College was able to raise nearly two million dollars to pay for the new building. One illustration of how the College has addressed the strategic priority of "nurturing and improving campus life" is by providing the upper floor of the Grossman Commons area with a ping-pong table and a television for student use.
The College has addressed many aspects of the strategic priority of "fiscal and enrollment stability." Enrollment has been very stable with a slight increase in the last few years. Also with respect to this priority, the Strategic Plan indicates that "special efforts need to be paid to the needs of low-income students, members of ethnic minorities, and students who are first generation." In 2004, the College's TRIO Student Support Services proposal for the ADVANTAGE Program was funded for another four years at about $250,000 per year, which will guarantee services to low-income and first generation students. The Coaches and Mentors support program has also been funded annually during this period with Perkins Vocational funds of about $200,000.
To address the strategic priority to "improve campus communication and marketing" in 2005 the College hired the marketing consultants Golden Associates to help the College create a successful marketing plan. One of the findings of the consultants' marketing study was that the College needed to improve its web presence. In response to this advice, a new website was launched in May 2007. In addition, following the new marketing plan, the College increased the number of early morning courses and increased options for students to learn on-line through the introduction of the Blackboard instructional management system.
In response to the strategic priority to "strengthen the use of data," the College has converted from an unsatisfactory information system to the robust Jenzabar Student Information System. Having this new system has enabled the College to successfully respond to reporting requirements and data needs for the College. The College has also increased the number of Information Technology staff to better support users. Moreover, the College has created a new position of Director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness to improve the availability of data to the campus to evaluate effectiveness and improve planning.
At the division, department, program, and unit level, those entities contribute to annual operational plans that connect all activities at the College to the Strategic Plan and the budget process. However, more coordination of planning activities among the various areas of activity within the College needs to be achieved. The College will also benefit from longer-term planning. In some areas it seems that five years is not long-term enough.
In addition, the College needs to improve its system of establishing strategic goals, connecting those goals to more focused annual operational plans and then making sure that the budgetary resources are allocated to the priorities identified in the operational plans.

Projections – Standard Two – Planning

Projections	Responsible Staff	Completion Date
Prepare a Five year Strategic Plan for 2008-2013 using the new mission statement as a guide as well as information from the Facilities Master Plan and the Technology Strategic Plan.	President Strategic Planning Committee	FY 2008
Prepare a budget that will allocate resources using the priorities identified in the Strategic Plan.	Cabinet VP Admin. and Finance	FY 2008 Annually thereafter
Supplement the Facilities Master Plan with a comprehensive campus Facilities Improvement Plan that identifies the priority and cost of all needed physical plant infrastructure improvements, using the DCAM list of required maintenance and any additional requirements identified.	VP Admin. and Finance	FY 2008
Hire a Director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness.	President	FY 2008
Prepare and complete a Technology Strategic Plan update.	Exec. Dir. of Info Tech.	FY 2008
Formally establish a Campus Utilization Advisory Committee (CUAC), which exists only informally now.	VP Admin. and Finance	FY 2008
Prepare and complete an Information Security Plan and submit updates annually for approval to the Administrative Council each June.	Exec. Dir. of Info Tech.	FY 2008 Annually thereafter

Evaluation - Description
Cape Cod Community College has a systematic plan for evaluating its activities. At the Strategic Plan level, the Board of Trustees, College Meeting, and more frequently the Institutional Research and Planning Committee periodically discuss reports on the implementation of the Strategic Plan (J. Fraser, D. Burlin, J. Grant).
Additionally, the College considers the Key Performance Indicators and uses the analysis performance to help guide activity at the College. For example, in 2004 the KPI indicated that there was a decline in the number of degrees and certificates being awarded at CCCC. Members of the Institutional Research and Planning Committee met with each academic department and several Student Affairs areas to discuss the issue and to develop strategies for increasing the numbers of graduates. The 2006 Linear Trends Report from BHE indicates that in FY 2003 the College awarded 371 degrees and certificates. In FY 2006 the College awarded 488. Please see chart below. Also, the College has developed an Academic Program Review Process, an Academic Discipline Review Process, and a Student Affairs Review Process.
Through these reviews the College regularly evaluates the quality of the services that it is providing and makes changes to improve those areas where needed. For instance, in a recent program review of the Early Childhood Program, one of the findings was that the program needed to improve its curriculum and facilities. As a result, a classroom has been improved to allow for Early Childhood activities, an administrative office related to Early Childhood Education has been improved, and the curriculum for Early Childhood Education has been completely revised. Further, the Early Childhood Education Program has received accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Similar reviews are done in the Student Affairs area. Most recently, Academic Support Services and Admissions (including the ACCCESS program) completed their self-studies and reviews.
All reviews include the provision of external consultants, who review self-studies and provide analyses of department or program strengths and weaknesses, along with recommendations for improvement. These reviews include the use of both quantitative and qualitative data. For example, Academic Program Reviews ask for the analysis of graduation numbers, course enrollments, course completion rates, and methodology for evaluating textbooks.
The College also regularly administers the Noel Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory and the Community College Survey of Student Engagement to assess its effectiveness in a variety of areas. The results of these surveys are used to make improvements at the College.
The Board of Trustees has been systematically evaluating its effectiveness since 2005. The Board uses the results of the evaluation to improve its effectiveness from year to year.
As part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the College has a systematic way of evaluating all faculty and professional staff performance. As part of the faculty evaluation process described in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, students are provided an opportunity to evaluate their instructors.
Members of College Meeting also annually complete an evaluation of the effectiveness of College Meeting and that aspect of the governance process.
Number of Annual Degrees and Certificates Awarded

Degree Level	FY1999	FY2000	FY2001	FY2002	FY2003	FY2004	FY2005	FY2006
Certificate	177	114	127	96	66	109	85	103
Associate	272	281	307	325	305	316	345	385
Total	449	395	434	421	371	425	430	488

Appraisal

The College has developed a systematic approach for evaluating its services and uses external perspectives. It relies on the Institutional Planning and Research Committee to look at the overall evaluation process. The College has begun a systematic process for evaluating programs, disciplines, and student affairs areas. Through the program review process, the College can identify strengths and weaknesses and has made changes to programs to improve curriculum and the quality of its services. The Early Childhood Education Program, for instance, as part of the program review process, completely revised its curriculum to include program outcomes and student learning outcomes for all the courses in the program. The College has begun to implement many of the recommendations that come from program review processes. For example, the College has collected ten years of data from the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Survey, which it has used to improve academic advising. The College has data that demonstrate a higher level of student satisfaction with academic advising in 2006 than was the case in 1997. Although the College collects the Noel-Levitz data in a systematic way, we have not developed a systematic way of disseminating the results of the survey so that the College community can work with it more effectively to effect improvement in more areas.
In addition to the Noel-Levitz Survey, the College also uses the Community College Survey of Student Engagement biennially to evaluate its effectiveness. As is the case with the Noel-Levitz Survey, the College has collected CCSSE data regularly and systematically since 2005, but is still lacking a comprehensive plan for using the data to improve its programs and services. Further, until very recently, the College did not allocate resources in a systematic way that used the information from these data sources.
The College has a very good system of personnel evaluation, as is prescribed in the Collective Bargaining agreements. Employee evaluations are on file in the Human Resources Office.
The College does not have a systematic method for evaluating the administrative areas of the College.
Institutional Effectiveness
The College has begun to move toward systematic evaluation of its planning and evaluation activities. At many levels, including Cabinet, Administrative Council, and especially through the Institutional Research and Planning Committee, the College regularly discusses planning. In Spring 2005 the College devoted a Collegewide Professional Day to examining the 2003-2008 Strategic Plan, evaluating progress made, and identifying further areas of focus and those needing improvement. With respect to evaluation the College regularly engages in the Academic, Discipline and Student Affairs program review processes.

Projections – Standard Two – Evaluation

Projections	Responsible Staff	Completion Date
Create a system for connection program review/evaluation results tooperational planning and annual resource allocation.	Admin. Council and Departmental and Divisional units	FY 2009 Annually thereafter
Improve the systematic evaluation of college operations.	Cabinet	FY 2009
Improve the use of data from the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory and the Community College Survey of Student Engagement in the annual budgeting process.	Cabinet Institutional Research and Planning Committee	FY 2008 Annually thereafter

Description

Board of Higher Education and the College Board of Trustees
Cape Cod Community College is one of 15 public community colleges in the Commonwealth operating under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education (BHE). The system, coordinated by the BHE, governs three levels of higher education: university, state college, and community college. These 29 public institutions are geographically dispersed throughout the state. There are currently 10 voting members on the BHE, including two ex-officio members and one student. All are appointed by the Governor, except the student member, who is elected from one of the three sectors on a rotating basis.
The College is governed by the Board of Trustees (BOT), which receives its authority from the Commonwealth's Board of Higher Education. The BOT, in turn, delegates the authority for the regular operation of the College to the President and her administration. The BOT has nine members appointed by the governor, one student elected annually by the student body, and one member elected by the Alumni Association. Except for the student representative, all appointments are subject to five-year terms, renewable for one additional term. Trustees are not compensated, except for travel expenses for attendance at conferences, and none of the Trustees has any significant financial or business interest in the College.
Although the responsibility for the regular operation of the College rests with the President, the Trustees provide advice and oversight to the President and her staff. The BOT operates within the guidelines established by Chapter 15A of the Massachusetts General Laws and its own by-laws as contained in the Board Policy Manual.
General Board of Trustees meetings and Finance and Personnel Subcommittee meetings are held monthly during the academic year. The Evaluation Subcommittee and the Audit Subcommittee convene two to four times a year. All Board of Trustees meetings and Board Subcommittees meetings are subject to the state's Open Meeting Law. At their monthly meetings the BOT hears reports from the President, the two Vice-Presidents, and the Student Trustee, as well as any other reports of current and particular interest. The Board, in turn, discusses issues and offers advice to the President, and approves and disapproves recommendations made by the President regarding College policies, personnel matters and budget. The Board of Trustees annually evaluates the performance of the President. The BOT evaluates its own effectiveness through an annual self-assessment and uses those results as the basis for their annual retreat.
Administration
The President is the chief executive officer of the College. Kathleen Schatzberg has been at the helm of CCCC since 1997, and this document will reflect President Schatzberg's entire tenure.
The President administers the College through two main divisions, each headed by a Vice President: Academic and Student Affairs, and Administration and Finance. The President has established a Cabinet of seven members: the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs, Vice President of Administration and Finance, Director of the Office of College Communications, Director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness, Dean of Human Resources and Administration, and the Staff Associate to the President. The Cabinet meets bimonthly to discuss and recommend to the President matters of proposed policy, policy implementation, institutional rules and regulations, personnel actions, budget items, and other matters of common interest.
In addition, the President meets bimonthly with the Administrative Council to discuss matters of interest and make recommendations related to the operation of the College. Agenda items are submitted by members of the Council from all constituencies of the College. The Administrative Council consists of the seven Cabinet members, plus fourteen additional administrators. Most report directly to the President or either of the two Vice Presidents. Following discussions and recommendations at the Cabinet and Administrative Council meetings, budget and policy decisions are recommended to the BOT for approval.
With the expansion of information technology, reporting requirements and the implementation of Jenzabar, the President established three new decision-making groups. In the fall of 2005, the Chief Information Officer reinvigorated these operational tools by revising their charters. The Information Strategy Group (ISG) is responsible for the information strategy of Cape Cod Community College. The Administrative Users Group (AUG) implements Information Strategy Group (ISG) guidance. It is responsible for policy development and decision-making regarding the implementation of Jenzabar within the context of operations. Finally, the Operations Group (OPS) implements policies established by AUG, and establishes procedures, identifies and resolves data conflicts, and nominates enhancements for the Jenzabar application.
The Vice President of Administration and Finance is charged with leading and managing all areas within this division. Eight staff members report directly to this Vice President. The Administrative team meets monthly and as needed if issues arise.
In 2002, the College underwent an extensive academic and administrative reorganization. The Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs currently supervises the following two academic divisions: Business, Health Sciences, Social Sciences, and Human Services, and Arts and Sciences.
Each division is overseen by a Dean and is further divided into Academic Departments, headed by a chairperson and including, when required, program coordinators. Deans review faculty material, prepare course schedules each semester, and evaluate faculty in accordance with existing collective bargaining agreements.
Two Deans supervise the Student Services operation, which includes Enrollment Management and Student Development, and Learning Support Services and Advanced Studies. Additionally, the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs supervises the operations of the following areas, each overseen by a director: the Library and Office of Distance and Learning Technologies, the Workforce Education Resource Center, and the Cape Cod Technology Council.
The Deans and Directors constitute the Vice President's Staff. This group meets bimonthly to discuss important issues in academic and student affairs as well as to identify short-term and long-range goals. Committee minutes are posted in public folders via the College's email system. Additionally, the Vice President meets regularly with Department Chairs and Coordinators, and attends other Unit, Department, and Division meetings. The Hyannis Center, located in downtown Hyannis, is also overseen by the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs.
Faculty
College policies for full-time and part-time faculty and professional staff are prescribed by a collective bargaining agreement between the BHE and the Massachusetts Community College Council (MCCC). The Management/Association Committee for Employee Relations (MACER), created by the agreement, is made up of an equal number of administrators and CCCCA unit members. The CCCCA Chapter President appoints two unit members to serve on this committee, which works to resolve problems of a contractual nature before resorting to the more formal grievance process.
The faculty play a strong role in assuring the academic integrity of the College's educational programs through their participation in College-wide meetings, departmental and divisional meetings, and through their representation on various committees, including search committees. The Curriculum and Programs Committee (C & P) and the Academic Policy and Standards Committee (AP & S) Committee provide two particular fora where the Faculty voice is heard in a substantive way.
The Faculty Professional Committee (FPC) plays an important role at the College by ensuring that the faculty voice is heard regarding institutional policy and academic programming. FPC performs three major functions: the appointment of full-time faculty to College standing committees, the enlistment of volunteers from the adjunct faculty to the standing committees, and scheduling College or faculty fora. These fora provide a vehicle for Faculty and Professional Staff to discuss and debate academic issues. Five full-time faculty serve staggered 3-year terms on FPC.
College Meeting
Within the scope of CCCC's Mission Statement are broad participation and collaboration in the development of educational policy through a shared process of governance. Central to this process is the College Meeting, which is a strong and important aspect of the College's governance and decision-making system. The voting membership of College Meeting consists of full-time faculty, full-time professional and administrative staff, the five executive Officers of the Student Senate, one student from each College Meeting Standing Committee, the three executive officers of the Support Staff Association, one support staff member from each College Meeting Standing Committee, two members-at-large from the part-time faculty and staff, and one part-time faculty and staff member from each Standing Committee.
College Meeting convenes monthly during the academic year to discuss, formulate, and recommend to the President issues concerning academic matters and to communicate about issues of common interest to the various constituencies of College Meeting. The President of the College has the final responsibility and authority for all phases of the College's operations, including educational policy. Motions passed at College Meeting are forwarded to the President for approval. The President seriously considers each motion and rarely disapproves them.
College Meeting follows traditional parliamentary procedure, Roberts Rules of Order, and the College Meeting Governance Document. The Chairperson of College Meeting is elected annually at the last regularly scheduled meeting of the academic year; nominations are made at the preceding meeting.
Fourteen Standing Committees have been formed by College Meeting to help carry out its business. There are two categories of standing committees: Business Committees, which review and recommend business to College Meeting, and Advisory Committees, which act in an advisory capacity with specific, limited charges. Business Committees report monthly to the College Meeting, and Advisory Committees report to the College Meeting as needed. Reports are posted electronically in public folders prior to the meetings.
The establishment of the College Meeting Steering Committee, consisting of the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs, the Chairperson of College Meeting, the College Meeting Parliamentarian, the Chairperson of the Support Staff Association, the Chairperson of FPC, and the President of Student Senate, is a direct result of the College's 1998 Self-Study. In addition to setting each semester's agenda and advising elements of the governance structure on how best to handle academic matters efficiently, the Steering Committee is also responsible for the annual evaluation of the effectiveness of the governance process.
Any member of College Meeting, or of any Standing Committee, may move the establishment of an ad hoc committee. That motion must include a statement of purpose for the committee, length of time for the committee to exist, schedule for and method of reporting to College Meeting, evidence that the ad hoc committee will be different from or complementary to the purpose and work of any Standing Committee, and the number of committee members to be appointed.
From September 2004 to April 2006, the College Meeting governance system was not in operation due to work-to-rule. MCCC members made the motion to adjourn every College Meeting and Standing Committee meeting until MCCC contractual issues were settled. During that time, the Administrative Council made the necessary policy decisions. When work-to-rule ended, all such decisions were re-examined, as appropriate, by the various Standing Committees.
Faculty/Professional Staff Meeting
Graduating students are approved as graduates by a special vote of the faculty, administrative and professional staff at a duly called meeting three times a year. In May, the committee approves certification of May graduates and potential August graduates as submitted by the Registrar. In September, the committee accepts the Registrar's certification of the August graduates, and in January, the committee accepts the Registrar's certification of December graduates.
Students
The students are represented by the Student Senate, whose membership is elected annually by the entire student body. Overseen by the Coordinator of Student Life and Co-Curricular Activities, the Student Senate's primary purpose is to represent the needs and best interests of students, and to encourage and provide for the participation of all students in considering the issues and policies that affect their rights and responsibilities.
Students participate in academic governance through participation in College Meeting Standing Committees, at monthly College Meetings, on ad hoc committees, and through their Member of the Board of Trustees. The Student Trustee is elected by the student body and is a full voting member of the BOT. The Student Trustee is also a full voting member of the Student Senate and is expected to maintain communication between the two groups.
Appraisal
Board of Higher Education and the College Board of Trustees
The College works cooperatively with the BHE in maintaining productive levels of communication; however, there is room for improvement. It is not uncommon for the College to find out about higher educational policies and critical issues in the newspapers rather than directly from the Board of Higher Education. Because of this problem, BHE relationships have been strained, not just with CCCC, but with most institutions of public higher education across the state.
The BOT consists of representatives from throughout the College's service area (and beyond), members from a variety of business and professional disciplines, and has, through the years, reflected the ethnic diversity of the region. For the last three years, the BOT has completed self-assessment surveys, indicating that they are functioning very well, with a few weaknesses. This is a significant improvement since the last Self-Study. At that time the BOT was doing very little to examine its own functioning.
Overall, self-evaluations report that the BOT is functioning well. Among the particular strengths cited by the BOT in their May 2005 self-evaluation are the ability to act independently of the State and the College President; the honesty and integrity of the Board; and the Board's choice, evaluation and guidance of the College President. Although there were no negative findings in these evaluations, in 2005, the Board felt that it could improve in understanding the Mission of the College (n.b. a new, more concise Mission Statement has recently been adopted); in advocating for the College with government officials; in fostering partnerships in the surrounding community and supporting CCCC Foundation work and fund-raising efforts; in monitoring the progress of the College toward stated goals; and in holding the College's administration accountable for student achievement.
The data collected from the BOT 2005 Self-Evaluation assist Trustees in developing strategic ways to improve their effectiveness as a Governing Board. In regard to understanding the College's Mission, the BOT will participate in Mission Monday. Developed by President Schatzberg, Mission Monday is a new initiative on campus that encourages all staff to learn the new Mission Statement. By knowing our mission, the BOT will be better able to assess if new initiatives put forth by different constituencies at the College are in line with the College's mission and purpose.
The BOT has actively reviewed the NEASC Self-Study, attended NEASC Forums, and will be actively participating in focus groups for the 2008-2013 Strategic Plan. As part of the strategic planning process, our January 2008 Professional Day will focus on community outreach, bringing different groups of people on campus to tell us what they think the College's role should be in future years. BOT members will participate in and help plan this Professional Day event. Finally, for the past three years, the BOT has achieved and maintained a 100% giving rate to the Educational Foundation for all members. Connections have been made and communication has improved between members of the College's Educational Foundation Board and the BOT. To support the Educational Foundation, Trustees will strive in the next year to attend more foundation-sponsored fund-raising events.
The BOT communicates with the rest of the College community through the President. A member of the Faculty Professional Committee independently observes Board Meetings and then reports back to the College Meeting. In addition, BOT meeting times are posted in the Administration Building, and the Board Minutes are available in the Library and near the President's Office. This communication could be enhanced by taking advantage of the electronic resources available, including public folders in the College's email system.
Administration
Kathleen Schatzberg has proven herself to be an effective executive leader. In the first year of her presidency, Dr. Schatzberg revamped the College's administrative structure. The decanal structure of four Deans reporting to the President was replaced by a new organizational model, the Cabinet. The positions of Dean of Academic Affairs and Dean of Student Services were combined into one position, the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs. The positions of Dean of Planning, Research and Development; Dean of Administration; and Dean of Finance were eliminated, with duties redistributed. The new model provided for the position of Vice President of Administration and Finance. This model, suggested in response to challenges identified by the BOT, is based on three principles: team-building among administrative staff; integrating rather than separating the divisions of Academic Affairs and Student Services; and fiscal responsibility, given the limited resources of a relatively small educational institution.
The BOT annually reviews the performance of President Schatzberg to assess her effectiveness as the College's Chief Executive Officer. In her last presidential evaluation in 2006, the Board noted that many points in the College's strategic plan, including diversity, online courses, and the Facilities Master Plan, have been successfully addressed by the President. The Board also commended the President on her strengths as a coalition-builder with the surrounding business community, as evidenced by her efforts to create Curriculum Advisory Boards, the Zammer Institute, and the Cotton Center for Real Estate Studies. The Cape Cod Technology Council became a partner with the College at the request of Dr. Schatzberg. A smooth transition after the retirement of the former Vice President of Administration and Finance retired was also noted. President Schatzberg's contract was renewed for 3 years, continuing until 2009, following this evaluation.
Each year the President prepares her own self-evaluation and a Proposed Goals Report for the BOT Evaluation Subcommittee. This report outlines goals attained in the previous year, a summary of the College's achievements in regard to the BHE's Performance Measurement System, and proposed goals for the next year. The President also prepares a Mid-Term Status Report for the BOT.
The College's 1997 Self-Study cited a serious communication gap between the administration and the rest of the College community. President Schatzberg has made progress in narrowing that gap. In an effort to provide College staff with direct access to administrative proceedings, the President emails Cabinet and Administrative Council notes to the entire College community on a regular basis. She continues to encourage open dialogue and communication.
A need for more cross evaluations of Administrative Staff has been suggested. As a result, College staff have been provided with opportunities to evaluate the President. This process was initiated in 2004 at College Meeting and will occur again in Spring 2008. The current evaluation process does not allow for formal evaluations of the two Vice Presidents by faculty or staff. Faculty and Professional Staff would also like the opportunity to evaluate their respective Deans or direct supervisors. This feedback (also known as a "360") would provide supervisors with valuable decision-making input, which can only improve communication between Management and Staff. This 360-degree feedback system may include direct reports, peers, superiors, students and self-evaluation.
Published in the President's job description is the ultimate responsibility for the preparation of the Academic Policies and Procedures Manual, and the Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual. It is critical that these comprehensive documents be updated on an annual basis and posted electronically in public folders.
This President stepped into an institution that was running in accordance with established institutional procedures, but upon her arrival much of the College felt excluded from decision making and open communication. Since the last NEASC Self-Study, the system of organization and governance has become far more transparent. President Schatzberg is to be commended for her fund-raising abilities, her advocacy for establishing a green campus, and her outreach to the community at large.
During the seven-year tenure of the previous Chief Academic Officer, the College integrated service-learning opportunities, honors courses and honors options into the academic curriculum. On-time registration was explored, outcomes assessment became a required activity in both academic and administrative areas, and a course schedule template to meet the needs of community college students was coordinated. The enforcement of course prerequisite requirements was strengthened, and a regular schedule for academic and administrative annual departmental and programmatic planning cycles was implemented.
In addition to these curricular achievements, the College has made great strides to ensure that all academic programming is administered through the same organization and governance structure. Off-campus, distance learning, evening classes, international, and weekend programs are clearly integrated into the College's policy formation, as is academic oversight, and the overall evaluation system of the institution. Each Academic Dean is responsible for the entire faculty in each Division, including full-time and adjunct faculty, whether instruction is delivered in the evening, off-campus (including international studies), online, or on weekends.
The registration system is common to all classes. Registrations for all credit and noncredit-bearing courses are handled through the Registrar's Office.
With the increasing reliance on adjunct faculty, the institution has made significant efforts toward integrating them into the College. Adjunct faculty have access to computers, office space, and voice and email accounts. Adjunct faculty also have representation on College Meeting Standing Committees. In the academic year 2006-2007, three professional development seminars were designed specifically for adjunct faculty to better prepare them for success in the classroom.
Our strengthened commitment to the One College Concept is evidenced in improved academic support delivery systems. The Division of Learning Support Services has increased their hours of operation to provide support to evening students and online learners. Both the Tutoring Center and the Advising and Counseling Center are open 4 nights a week. In Fall 2006, students not able to come in for direct service were able to access online tutoring through www.eTutoring.org, a collaborative program sponsored by the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium. An online academic advising system was implemented in the spring of 2007.
On Wednesday nights, most enrollment management offices are open until 7:00pm. In 2002, the part-time position of Evening Administrator was created to provide support for evening activities at the College. The responsibilities of weekend administration, added in 2004, are shared among Administrative Council staff.
Although the College has made great gains in the integration of the One College Concept, evening and weekend coverage by an on-call administrator should be improved. Currently, a part-time Evening Administrator works from 4:30 to 7:00 pm; however, the fact that evening classes end at 9:30 leaves a two-and-a-half hour gap during which no one is in charge. In Fall 2006, an accident in a science lab after the Evening Administrator had left for the night was an unsettling experience for both students and the faculty member.
Another area of concern is the lack of some College services in the evening. For the most part, administrative assistants leave work at 3:30 pm. An improvement in services to evening students occurred in the fall of 2007 when the Office of Health Services expanded their day hours to include three nights a week during the month of September. Allied Health students were then able to bring their required health documentation to Health Services or make health care appointments during evening hours.
Since the last Self-Study, improvements have been made by the College to link the Hyannis Center to the rest of the College. The College Transition Programs (e.g. Project Success, PACT) were permanently relocated to the West Barnstable campus in Fall 2007. Students from these transition programs now have greater access to academic tutoring and advising support at the College's main campus.
The College has made a greater effort to familiarize faculty and staff with the many important programs offered at the Hyannis Center. College Meeting has been convened at the Hyannis Center, and professional development training seminars for faculty and staff are often held at this Center. Staff members from the Hyannis Center attend College Meeting and are Standing Committee members.
Hyannis Center staff have individual email accounts. However, they do not have individual voice mail accounts, and there is only one direct extension number to the Hyannis Center. The College is exploring options to upgrade the Hyannis Center phone system to include voicemail options. However, due to technical and financial barriers, there will continue to be two different telephone systems. Communication would be further improved if the Hyannis Center had a stronger presence on the College website.
The College does not often use the Hyannis Center to house its credit-bearing classes; in fact, for Spring 2007, only one academic class ran there. Past attempts to run day classes in Hyannis have not met with much success. The Hyannis Center could be better used for evening and weekend classes.
The Hyannis Center serves many of our disenfranchised groups on Cape Cod, who are taking their first steps toward higher education. At the Hyannis Center students gain academic skills and the confidence to succeed. Over the course of seven years, 91% of PACT students (n=246) and 80% of Project Success Students (n=130) have transitioned from Hyannis to the main campus to enroll in credit-bearing classes, and they continue to thrive here and graduate.
Faculty
Full-time faculty are able to adequately express their views on institutional policy and academic integrity through the current institutional structures. Faculty participate actively in College Meeting and are also engaged in many search committees and other committees.
There are a few areas of concern, however. When faculty wish to raise an issue, they have two choices provided by the contract: pursuing a formal grievance, or pursuing a less formal channel by involving MACER. MACER offers very little transparency to the outside observer, as the meetings take no minutes; however, the grievance process is inflexible and can turn unnecessarily adversarial. Perhaps having a mechanism by which faculty would have access to administrative leadership on an individual or group level could offer a satisfying third alternative. Additionally, while faculty opinions and comments are solicited on policy decisions, faculty are sometimes left with the impression that their opinions concerning these issues will have no effect on the decisions taken.
Adjunct faculty participation in College governance is minimal at best. Attendance by adjunct faculty at College Meeting is poor, perhaps because College Meetings are held at an inconvenient time for many adjuncts, and consequently their perspective is not heard when the College is making policy decisions. Additionally, while adjunct faculty are encouraged to participate in committees, they are not compensated for their time; in fact, they are not compensated for any meeting time. The end result is that adjunct faculty rarely participate in College Meeting or serve on committees. One solution would be to implement the existing provision as authorized in the MCCC Contract which grants the administration the authority to provide adjunct faculty with hourly compensation for their time.
Another concern is that, with fewer full-time faculty, the faculty voice at College Meeting has been reduced. This means that academic decisions that directly affect the work of faculty are made by a body in which the majority are not active in the classroom. In fact, of the current 169 College Meeting members, only 65 are full-time faculty. In 1997, there were 85 full-time staff faculty members at College Meeting.
One final note relates to grant-funded employees who serve in a peripheral academic role. Many of these employees work full-time directly with students, but they are not as clearly integrated into the College's organization and governance system as they could be.
College Meeting and Governance
College Meeting is inclusive of the College community and handles academic and educational policy issues appropriately in an effective format. Business, Advisory and Ad Hoc Committees serve a useful purpose in our governance structure, allowing for ongoing communication and involvement in issues by all constituents of the College.
To assess how our governance system is working, the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness recently compiled the results of the Annual Evaluation of College Meeting and Governance Effectiveness Surveys for December 2002, May 2004, and May 2007. In earlier years, the instrument was not standardized, so analysis was impossible. A survey was not conducted in May 2005 or May 2006 because of work-to-rule.
Overall, there has been general satisfaction with the effectiveness, efficiency and participation of our governance system shown in the three College surveys evaluated. The survey used a five point scale of "Strongly Agree," "Agree," "Neither Agree nor Disagree," "Disagree" and "Strongly Disagree." The "Strongly Agree" and "Agree" categories were merged to provide a summary number which is reflected in the data below.
The following questions had a change of ten or more percentage points between 2002 to 2007: "Committee meetings were well attended" (88% to 69%), "The College meeting meets at appropriate intervals" (85% to 73%), "Adequate time is available for debate on motions" (69% to 47%), " Pre-meeting communications are sufficient to adequately inform me on agenda items" (74% to 62%), "I have adequate say on issues raised at College Meeting" (79% to 69%), and "There are adequate communications to and from the administration" (52% to 42%). When asked about their overall satisfaction with the governance system, 54% answered "very satisfied" or "satisfied" in 2002; 63% answered that way in May 2004, and in May 2007, the overall satisfaction rate dipped to 52%.
Because of the relatively small number of respondents, fewer than 100, statistical analysis for this survey has limited value. However, the observed dip in College Meeting and Governance satisfaction could be attributed to the Vice President's announced retirement and subsequent feeling of uncertainty for most College Meeting members during the 2006-2007 transition year. The 50% increase in response rate from 2002 (54 respondents) to 2007 (76) is another significant factor. In the future, the College's ability to collect and analyze data obtained from this annual survey will significantly improve and be more consistent under the guidance of the newly developed Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness.
Students
In the 2006-2007 academic year, only 12 of the 20 Student Senate seats were filled. Despite these small numbers, the Student Senate is a vibrant group that has a real presence on campus. The consideration of student views is embedded in the governance of College Meeting, and students can contribute up to 19 votes. The quality of CCCC student internal governance depends on the level of student participation. As with many other community colleges, it is difficult to recruit students to serve on College Standing Committees. The Student Senate needs to take primary responsibility for ensuring that there is a student representative on each Standing Committee.
Significant progress has been made in recruiting students to serve on standing committees. As of October 2007, all 14 College Meeting Committees include student representatives. During the 2006-2007 academic year, only two students served on a College Meeting Standing Committee.
In closing, perhaps we are not as student-centered as we would like to be. Decisions need to be driven by student needs. If that were more the case, there might be more student interest and participation in College governance.
Institutional Effectiveness
The College has implemented two major evaluation systems to assess the effectiveness of our organizational structure and governance system. The Board of Trustees Self-Assessment Survey requires Board Members to evaluate the Board’s effectiveness as a whole, as well as their individual strengths and weaknesses. The Board uses the results of this evaluation at their annual retreat to improve their overall functioning. The other tool used to measure the College's governance structure is "The Annual Evaluation of College Meeting and Governance Effectiveness Survey." The College Meeting Steering Committee has been circulating this questionnaire to College Meeting members since Spring 2000. College Meeting members provide input on the overall effectiveness of College Meeting, and the Administrative Committees, and Standing Committees on which they serve. Of the eighteen questions on this survey, six questions directly ask College Meeting members to evaluate the effectiveness of College Meeting Standing Committees. When the questionnaire revealed that the College was disillusioned with the amount of time spent on reporting, committee chairs were advised to post minutes in public folders before the meeting. When survey responses suggested that more students needed to be represented at College Meeting, a template was adopted that scheduled College Meeting during a time when classes were not in session. Using data collected from both these evaluative tools, the institution continuously strives to improve upon its organization and governance system.

Projections – Standard Three – Organization & Governance

Projections	Responsible Staff	Completion Date
Administration will use more effective ways to involve faculty and staff when major organizational and policy changes in academic and student service areas are proposed.	President, Vice Presidents Deans & Dept. Chairs	FY 2009
The 360-degree evaluation process will be further explored for all administrators.	President Dean of Human Resources	FY 2009
The Faculty Professional Committee will schedule at least one faculty forum each semester to discuss academic issues and more if issues arise.	Faculty Professional Committee	FY 2008
Organizational charts and both the Academic and Administrative Policies and Procedures Manuals will be updated as changes occur and posted in public folders within the College’s email system and/or website.	President VP Admin. and Finance VP Ac. & Student Affairs	FY 2009
Board of Trustees Minutes, Cabinet Notes, Administrative Council Minutes, and records from other administrative meetings will be posted in public folders with the College’s email system and/or website.	President VP Admin. and Finance VP Ac. & Student Affairs	FY 2009
To ensure better representation on College Meeting Standing Committees, administration will compensate adjunct faculty for their service on committees according to the MCCC Contract.	President VP Admin. and Finance VP Ac. & Student Affairs	Spring 2009
The Student Senate will strive to improve representation of students on College Meeting Business and Advisory Committees.	Student Senate Coordinator of Student Life and Co-Curricular Activities	Fall 2008
Grant-funded employees will become a more integral part of our organization and governance structure, and their positions will be reviewed to see if they are unit eligible.	College Meeting Steering Committee	Fall 2008
Administrative coverage during the evening hours will be extended to 9:30 pm., as resources will permit.	President VP Admin. and Finance	FY 2009
Office personnel will be available to provide administrative support to faculty during the academic year.	President VP Admin. and Finance	FY 2009

Description
Programs
Cape Cod Community College (CCCC) offers 2 degrees, Associate in Arts (AA) and Associate in Science (AS). In addition, CCCC offers 36 certificates, requiring from 7 to 29 credits. These degrees and certificates are consistent with the College's mission to meet the diverse educational needs of the residents within its service area.
AA degrees are designed to meet the General Education requirements of the first two years of most baccalaureate programs and to fulfill the Commonwealth Transfer Compact requirements. Students may refer to the College Catalog, where they will find faculty-prepared lists of suggested courses, called Concentrations, in a wide variety of subject areas to guide their programs of study. The catalog suggests the sequence of Associate in Arts courses by semester for each concentration. AS degrees are awarded in career and technical programs in many fields of study that meet the workforce needs of the Cape Cod community. All AS Degree Programs include at least 21 credits of General Education requirements. For the AA Degree 38 General Education credits are required. To graduate students must maintain at least a 2.0 Grade Point Average over at least 60 non-developmental credits of study. Selected programs leading to the Associate in Science require more than 60 credits. Courses specified for each degree and certificate are published in the College Catalog.
Cape Cod Community College follows the practice of numerical sequencing and prerequisite courses to ensure coherence in its degree and certificate programs. This task is performed by the faculty, the division deans, and the Curriculum and Programs Committee to ensure proper depth, continuity, and sequential progression.
Coherence in the nature, quality, and extent of student learning and achievement is ensured by ongoing review and revision of the course syllabi. Syllabi must follow the 10-point department syllabus template and are regularly reviewed to ensure appropriateness of course material, teaching methods, and evaluation strategies. Any substantive changes in courses are subject to the process of department review, Curriculum and Programs Committee approval, and College Meeting approval, before they can be approved by the President and the Board of Trustees and implemented.
All courses and instructional programs are proposed and developed by faculty, approved by program and department faculty, and then reviewed by the Curriculum and Programs Committee. Courses and programs approved by this standing committee are then recommended to College Meeting. All courses and programs approved by College Meeting progress to the President for final approval. New programs must be approved by the Cape Cod Community College Board of Trustees. New programs and certificates with credit requirements of greater than 30 credits must be approved by the Board of Higher Education.
The removal of instructional offerings at CCCC has followed the procedures outlined in the Academic Policy and Procedures Manual with approval of the Board of Trustees. Removal occurs when there has been a serious decline in enrollments or employment opportunities for graduates. When removal occurs, students are notified and given a reasonable time-frame to complete their studies. Usually this includes the expected time for degree or certificate completion as published in the College Catalog. The Registrar evaluates students for graduation using the catalog in place when students first matriculated.
Cape Cod Community College offers courses at several sites both for the convenience of students and to fulfill program requirements. These courses are offered at Wareham H.S., Upper Cape Regional Tech, Cape Cod Tech, Provincetown Art Association and Museum School (PAAM), and other locations. Courses that require clinical learning experiences use contracts that specify obligations from each party involved, and are reviewed on a predetermined regular cycle. Allied health programs such as Dental Hygiene and Nursing have contracts with hospitals and professional offices so that students may complete clinical requirements.
Academic Credit
The Massachusetts Community Colleges have traditionally used an Academic Program Review process to ensure program quality and relevancy. This process also affords the opportunity to provide the best possible educational offerings to the communities that the College serves, and to ensure that the highest standards of teaching and learning are met.
Educational programs at Cape Cod Community College undergo an internal program review as well as external accreditation in selected cases. Internal Academic Review proceeds on a 5-year program review cycle required by the Board of Higher Education. Internal Review is developed for the purpose of evaluation of a discipline or program's procedures for managing, maintaining, and enhancing the quality of teaching and learning. It involves a self-evaluation by the discipline or instructional program concerned, followed by review of the self-evaluation by a panel comprising members of the College and external subject specialists from other higher education institutions or from relevant professions. Internal Review is a reflective process in which faculty, staff, and students identify and validate good practice and provide specific recommendations to improve academic quality and assess program outcomes. Information Technology and Environmental Technology completed Internal Reviews during the 2006-2007 academic year.
Program advisory committees composed of area professionals and faculty meet with program coordinators and faculty at least annually to discuss graduate performance in the workplace as well as trends in the workplace and community needs. The recommendations of advisory committees are discussed at program and department meetings.
In addition to Internal Review, CCCC uses external national and state accreditation reports, which are conducted on established review cycles for degree programs which have such external accreditation (e.g. Nursing, Criminal Justice, Early Childhood Education). In 2006, Early Childhood Education received initial accreditation by the National Association for Education of Young Children. The Dental Hygiene program received continuing accreditation from the American Dental Association. The following list indicates recently completed reviews, along with those proposed for completion within the next three years:
2004 – 2005: Business Administration, AS and Certificates

2005 – 2006: Dental Hygiene, AS; Early Childhood Education, AS and Certificates; Fire Science, AS and Certificates

2006 – 2007: Information Technology, AS and Certificates; Environmental Technology, AS and Certificates

2007 – 2008: Behavioral Sciences, Transfer; Allied Health, Certificates

2008 – 2009: Nursing, AS; Criminal Justice, AS

2009 – 2010: Early Childhood Education, AS and Certificates; Business Administration, AS and Certificates.

During the reviews completed for Fire Science, Business, Early Childhood Education, and Dental Hygiene, outside consultants reviewed each program or department, including the Academic Program Review document, and met with faculty, students, and employers. The consultants' final reports are living documents that the departments and the College are using to implement improvements in curricula and to better allocate resources.
Admission to Cape Cod Community College is based on the "open door" philosophy required by the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education. In order to be eligible for matriculation, applicants must have graduated or will graduate prior to enrollment from an approved secondary school or possess a GED. Students who lack approved secondary school diplomas or GEDs, such as those who are home-schooled, may meet Ability-to-Benefit criteria. Acceptances are issued on a space-available basis. Programs that require additional admission requirements publish these requirements in the College Catalog and the Admissions Bulletin. In order to assure that incoming students are placed into appropriate courses, a computerbased assessment with cut scores for Reading, Sentence Skills, and Mathematics is required by state mandate for all matriculated students. Students are offered counseling from the Advising Center, and given review materials prior to testing in order to assure accuracy of placement test results. As a result of this testing, students are placed in the appropriate College English and mathematics courses or assigned to developmental courses in those subjects. Developmental and pre-collegiate course work at Cape Cod Community College is awarded institutional credit but not graduation credit. Institutional credit can also be used to calculate course load for financial aid purposes. Assessment scores are maintained in the Jenzabar database, which is accessible to advisors, who help students plan their courses of study. Academic advisors help students choose the correct sequence of courses for Associate degrees and for the certificates.
Student retention is always important at Cape Cod Community College. The College Institutional Research and Planning Committee (IRPC) review of data shows that the College's enrollment has remained stable at approximately 4,200 for the last 6 years. Data from the BHE Key Performance Indicators of 2005 show that for the Fall 2005 cohort, the Fall to Spring persistence rate was 90.4 %.
Student Learning/General Education
Over the last 5 years a significant effort to develop and publish institutional, program, and course student learning outcomes has taken place. Currently, the AS Programs have published student learning outcomes in the College Catalog, while some AA Concentrations and Certificate programs are still developing student learning outcomes. Course descriptions and syllabi increasingly indicate the student learning outcomes to be achieved by participation in CCCC courses. On March 19, 2007 the College Meeting accepted Institutional Learning Outcomes that we hope accurately describe the Cape Cod Community College graduate. The institutional outcomes are as follows:
Communication skills: The community college graduate will demonstrate the ability to express ideas clearly and cogently, and to read, write, speak, and listen using Standard American English.
Critical and creative thinking skills: The community college graduate will demonstrate the ability to locate and use information for the purpose of examining underlying assumptions and interpreting and evaluating arguments, will create deliberately and independently using skills and knowledge acquired in our classrooms.
Ethical and Civic Engagement Practices: The community college graduate will demonstrate a broad-based knowledge and understanding of ethical concepts and principles, decisionmaking, and behaviors and will understand the meaning and responsibilities associated with citizenship in the USA and world community.
Multicultural and Global Awareness: The community college graduate will demonstrate the ability to appreciate, analyze and deal constructively with historical or contemporary experiences of diversity in the USA and the world, enabling the student to participate effectively in an increasingly complex and diverse world.
Quantitative and Computational Skills: The community college graduate will demonstrate the ability to apply computational methods, generate problem-solving strategies, interpret equations and numerical data from tables, charts, and graphs, and organize, analyze, and present quantitative information.
Technological literacy: The community college graduate will demonstrate the ability to use current technology to improve his/her creativity, productivity, communication skills, research skills, and information management skills.
As of October 2007, of 538 active courses, 224 include student learning outcomes in their departmental syllabi, and approximately another 100 courses that include new student learning outcomes are awaiting approval from the Curriculum and Programs Committee. Outcomes are published for all AS degrees and for an increasing number of courses in AA disciplines. Vigorous work is moving ahead to write student learning outcomes for all courses. The College has supported this work through professional development workshops and reassigned time. Assessments of program and course outcomes are identified in instructor syllabi and selected program assessment documents.
Cape Cod Community College adopts the General Education standards identified by the BHE. Program advisory committees provide industry validation for course selection. The College conducts student surveys of student engagement and satisfaction each year, alternating CESSE and Noel Levitz. This practice affords students the opportunity to provide feedback on their experiences at Cape Cod Community College. The most recent (2005) CESSE results indicate that the students' view of their college experience is on average, across the 5 benchmark scores, very similar to the perception of students from other colleges. The greatest score achieved of 51.2 occurred in the Student-Faculty Interaction benchmark, while the lowest score of 48.2 occurred in the Active and Collaborative Learning benchmark (both measures are standardized so that the weighted mean across all students is 50). This latter measure, which is of concern, prompted the recent strong support from the College for active and collaborative learning initiatives. The College has begun further review of this data in order to use the information most effectively.
The College also uses yearly Student Evaluations to assess the efficacy of specific courses. These evaluations are subjected to Decanal review and, when necessary, appropriate suggestions aimed at improving teaching and learning are provided to the instructor. Interactions with CONNECT, a consortium of southeastern Massachusetts public higher education institutions, including CCCC, Bristol CC, Massasoit CC, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Bridgewater State College, and University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, allow for ongoing and creative review of outcomes at member institutions, and provide a forum for teaching and learning discussions.
Transfer
Graduates of Cape Cod Community College have successfully transferred to a large number of four-year institutions, as can be seen in the Graduate Report. Cape Cod Community College participates in the Commonwealth Transfer Compact and the Commonwealth's Joint Admissions program. The College has formal articulation programs and educational partnerships with both public and private institutions to facilitate transfer. Each semester the Advising and Counseling Office holds several campus events that encourage students to meet and discuss transfer to institutions offering baccalaureate degrees.
The College Registrar oversees all credit evaluations for transfer into Cape Cod Community College. Developmental courses and precollegiate course work are not eligible for transfer credit into Cape Cod Community College or into another institution. The transfer policy is outlined in the Academic Policy Manual and explained in the College Catalog, on the College website, the Student Handbook and in the Admissions Bulletin in both printed and electronic form, and is specified in articulation agreements and transfer compacts. Transfer credit policies are recommended by the Academic Policies and Standards committee, approved by College Meeting, and recommended to the President for approval. Faculty are often contacted by the Registrar to review professional course work from other colleges, military course work and specialized training, or course work completed in another country to determine equivalency to course work at Cape Cod Community College. International students are required to have prior collegiate course work evaluated by a recognized agency which also identifies the US-equivalent course. The military provides guides approximately every year with their specific course titles and descriptions. The number of incoming transfer students has increased over the last several years.
The following table, taken from the annual Admission Report, represents the number of students during the last 4 years that applied for, and received transfer credits:

	F06	F05	F04	F03
Applied	353	334	330	329
Accepted	310	264	229	260
Registered	217	207	186	203

Further details about transfer can be found in the college website at Extended Study.
Information Technology
Beginning with orientation, new students are encouraged to use state-of-the-art information technology at CCCC. All students receive the Student Information Technology Handbook at orientation. Copies are also available throughout the campus, especially in the open computer labs. Included are instructions on the use of technology and access to offices and individuals who are available to provide assistance. All students at Cape Cod Community College are provided with email accounts as well as access to a network drive folder for storage of their data.
Cape Cod Community College has been offering online courses since 2002, first using the Top Class learning management system, and then moving to Blackboard in 2004. Courses are in online and hybrid formats with hybrid referring to substantially online content along with scheduled class meetings on campus. The number of on-campus meetings for hybrid courses ranges from a minimum of one three-hour session a month to approximately 50% online and 50% on-campus meetings. The course development process begins with the VP of Academic and Student Affairs requesting individual online course development plans from the academic departments. These plans include priorities for online course development for a given year. Course development funds are available according to a compensation schedule and are administered by the Director of the Wilkens Library and Distance Learning & Technologies. In May 2007 the College approved a new online course development application form and a revised set of procedures for the delivery of online courses. It also approved a new Distance Education Agreement which complements the system-wide MCCC Distance Education Memorandum Agreement. All online or hybrid courses are subject to the same course approval policies and procedures required of all new courses and are scheduled by the Academic Division Dean. During the Spring 2007 semester, the College offered 27 fully online courses and 3 hybrid courses: Human Anatomy and Physiology with a weekly lab on campus, Elementary Algebra, and Drawing. There are many more courses at various stages of development; however, at this time there are no degrees offered totally in the online format, although 16 online courses (48 credits) satisfy the General Education distribution requirements for the AS and AA degrees.
Special Initiatives
In addition to offering degrees and certificates, Cape Cod Community College serves the diverse needs of its community through special initiatives, including the following:
The Academy for Life Long Learning, serving the substantial senior-citizen population on Cape Cod.

ACCCESS, the Adult Collaborative of Cape Cod for Education and Support Services, which offers ESOL, GED preparation, family literacy, and college transition programs for adults over the age of 16.

The MCAS Academy at Cape Cod Community College, addressing the growing need for academic options for at-risk youth who have yet to meet the competency requirements for their high school diplomas.

The Cape Cod College Bound Project, geared to help eligible students prepare for college at an early age. College Bound serves 30 educationally and economically disadvantaged middle school students each year.

The Dual Enrollment option, allowing qualified high school juniors and seniors students to enroll at CCCC to enrich their high school experience.

Tech Prep, a US. Department of Education program that allows qualified high school students to begin their post-secondary education while still in high school. Students take academic courses that prepare them for college, as well as elective college courses.

Project Forward, a vocational training program for students with significant learning difficulties.

Diploma Plus, a program designed to assist high school students prepare for education at the College level by allowing high school students to take courses at the College during their senior year.

The Workforce Education Resource Center (WERC). Working with the businesses and industries on the Cape, WERC assesses needs and then designs and delivers custom training for employees of companies and organizations within its service area.

The Cotton Center for Real Estate Studies, dedicated to the education and continued professional development of real estate professionals.

The Zammer Hospitality Institute, providing a pathway for students into culinary and hospitality careers as well as economic development in the hospitality sector.
College membership in the College Consortium for International Studies, and the Massachusetts Council for International Studies, offering many opportunities for students to study abroad.

College membership in Massachusetts Colleges Online, a consortium of 15 community colleges and 9 state colleges that allow students to take online courses from schools around the country.

The Cape Cod Community College Honors Program.

The Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.

CONNECT, which addresses curricular issues common to all three levels of public higher education: community college, state college, and university.
Appraisal
Programs
Cape Cod Community College offers Associate in Science Degrees (AS) in eight professional areas, several of which offer specialty concentrations appropriate to individual professions. Clearly stated Student Learning Outcomes are based upon professional and industry standards and feedback from program advisory committees and employers of our graduates. All courses within AS programs include measurable student learning outcomes that map back to the Program outcomes and to the College's Mission Statement.
An Associate in Arts degree affords a liberal arts program of study based on a General Education requirement of 38 credits with a distribution that includes courses in English Composition, Mathematics, Communications, Language Arts, Social and Behavioral Science, Natural Science, and Fine and Performing Arts. This degree adheres to the Commonwealth Transfer Compact among the public colleges and universities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The disciplines have identified a variety of Associate in Arts Concentrations. These Concentrations are used as a tool to advise students who are interested in a particular discipline and further study at the baccalaureate level. These aspects of the CCCC academic program demonstrate that the College provides appropriate high quality educational offerings to meet the needs of our students and our community.
The current General Education requirements can be met through a number of courses selected across departments and disciplines. However, it is currently unclear as to why some courses meet the criteria for general education while others do not. There has also been some concern about the rigor of each degree and in particular about the fact that there is no quantitative skills requirement for Associate in Science degree programs. Another area of concern is the fact that credits for courses in which students received a final grade of D- are counted towards graduation. It is also of concern that a student pursuing an AA degree can complete a degree by finishing 60 credit hours of 100 level courses. While appropriate advising makes this a rare occurrence, it does challenge us to determine methods to guarantee the depth and breadth of student learning prior to graduation.
The Academic Program at Cape Cod Community College is regularly reviewed and revised in order to meet the educational needs of its service area. One especially successful component of Cape Cod Community College's Associate in Science degree over the last several years has been the Nursing Program. This program graduated 69 students during the 2004-2005 academic year, and of the 50 students responding to a Graduate Report survey, 48 were able to land jobs in fields related to their academic preparation. Helping students build their careers in Nursing not only allows them to take advantage of many employment opportunities, but also provides our community, which has one of the largest proportions of senior citizens in the country, with greatly needed skilled healthcare workers. In the Spring 2007, the Nursing campus lab area was moved to a larger space and was modernized. Dental Hygiene has been another successful program within the AS degree. Data from the last Graduate Report available indicate that of 20 students who graduated, 19 responded to a survey that indicated 18 were hired as Dental Hygienists. New educational offerings are continuously being developed to accommodate the needs of our students and our community. In the fall of 2006 the College graduated the first students from the Massage Therapy Certificate Program.
The BHE Key Performance Indicators report of 2005 indicates that the number of Associate Degrees completed rose from 305 in FY 2003 to 345 in FY 2005, while during the same time period, the number of Certificates awarded rose from 66 to 85. In order to complete an Associate's Degree within the two year time line, a student would need to take 15 credits of college level courses for 4 semesters without any developmental course work. However, this is problematic since the latest data indicate that approximately 81% of the students who enroll at Cape Cod Community College need at least one course in developmental Mathematics.
Low enrollment, defined as enrollment of less than 15 students, may cause some required courses to be cancelled. Factors such as number of sections offered, timing, and proximity to graduation are weighed in course cancellation decisions. This has been particularly problematic in 200-level Information Technology courses. Careful advising has allowed students to meet requirements through Massachusetts Colleges Online (MCO). However, the courses are not always an exact match and the process for syllabus review is not well defined. There is ongoing work in this area, but these concerns limit the use of MCO offered courses to assist students when Cape Cod Community College courses are cancelled. Students are also given the opportunity to challenge a required course, have an alternate course substituted for the required course, or, if the student can demonstrate sufficient knowledge in a subject area, waive the required course. Students are required to complete additional courses to earn enough credits to complete the program if they have a course waived or substituted.
The Physical Therapy Assistant program was put on hold for two years after the last class graduated and finally closed in November 2004. The lack of insurance company reimbursements for Associate degree graduates, a serious job evaporation locally, and a decline in projected enrollments led to the final decision to delete the program. The AS Information Technology Program – Administrative Assistant Concentration – Legal Track, as well as the Information Technology Administration Assistant Certificate – Legal Office Administration, were closed in Fall 2005. The students enrolled were assisted to change their programs to General Office Administration Assistant and Paralegal Certificate. The Gerontology Certificate was also put on hold during the Fall 2006 semester and is in the process of being revised. Cape Cod has a large number of elderly residents compared to the rest of the country; however, the Gerontology Certificate was consistently under-enrolled, possibly because there were no immediately evident benefits for students. In the Fall 2007 semester, the WERC office organized a noncredit Gerontology Intensive Certificate, a set of workshops designed to help professionals assist the elderly.
The Hyannis campus offers mostly noncredit and developmental courses. Even though it provides easy access for residents of Hyannis, it remains quite isolated from the main campus, and interaction between the two campuses is difficult. The courses offered at Wareham H.S., Upper Cape Regional Tech, Cape Cod Tech and PAAM are for the convenience of the students. These classes include English Composition and art courses.
Academic Credit
Cape Cod Community College supports open admission; therefore, testing and placement take place after admission. Placement testing ensures that students have the requisite reading comprehension, sentence skills and math skills to take advantage of the content included in the general education requirements.
Students in academic need are prepared for college level courses through a system of sequential prerequisites designed to build skills necessary for college level work. These aspects of the CCCC academic program ensure that under-prepared students do not waste time and money taking courses in which they have little chance of success. Conversely, placement testing maximizes the probability that students will succeed in their college-level course work once they have completed the appropriate developmental courses. However, the cut scores for the placement tests have not been analyzed or revised in recent years.
The degrees and certificates cover a wide range of disciplines for students to receive their degree/certificate and enter the work force or transfer to a baccalaureate program. The Registrar's Office ensures that applicable courses are transferred into the student's record. Faculty input on credit evaluation of professional course work and course work completed via the military and overseas currently operates smoothly. Transfer credit appeals by students can also utilize this process.
Unfortunately, in recent years Massachusetts has under-funded higher education and at present ranks almost last in the nation with respect to support for public higher education. State funding continues at levels last seen in the late 1990's. In the FY 2005 the college received $9.8M in state appropriation, while in FY 2001 it was 11.5 M. In FY 06 state appropriation accounted only for 45% of the operating budget. This has resulted in a great strain on College resources. Nonetheless, Cape Cod Community College has been able to sustain the high level of academic performance expected by the community. This has been achieved through vigorous fund-raising, intensive grant-writing and generous support from the community. Scholarships awarded by the College in 2007 hit a record high of over $300,000.
Student Learning/General Education
Cape Cod Community College continues to work to fulfill its mission as described in Standard One. A significant number of General Education courses have defined student learning outcomes with designated means of student evaluation delineated in the course syllabi. The academic departments continue to make progress toward this goal. Competence in oral and written communication, reasoning, critical analysis and logical thinking are implied but not always explicitly stated in the written learning outcomes for all general education courses.
Technology challenges around registration and records have made the effort to offer paired courses and learning communities difficult. These challenges have been resolved, and CCCC is actively working to increase the number of paired courses. In addition to many other benefits, these pairings help to promote the understanding of relationships between disciplines. These pairings are expected to frequently include General Education courses. In the Fall 2007 semester, the first set of Learning Communities that consisted of General Education requirements linking different departments and disciplines were established.
The General Education requirements in their current form reflect a balanced regard for the areas of knowledge traditionally referred to as Arts and Humanities, the Sciences, Mathematics, and the Social Sciences. They provide a strong foundation to facilitate higher learning, and accurately reflect the requirements of the Commonwealth Transfer Compact and the General Education requirements of most baccalaureate institutions.
However, the General Education requirements as they currently exist are dated, and do not always achieve stated goals. For example, we strive to promote better citizenship, as indicated in the Institutional Outcomes, yet do not specifically require either history or government across the curriculum. While General Education requirements address the domains of arts and humanities, the sciences, mathematics, and social sciences, it is possible for CCCC students to graduate without taking courses that specifically address all four subject areas. Also, in some disciplines virtually all of our courses are listed as satisfying General Education requirements, yet in other disciplines (e.g. Business) none of the classes meet these requirements. Determinations related to General Education have been on a department by department basis.
The Ad Hoc General Education Committee was established several years ago for the purposes of revising the General Education requirements to reflect our changing society. Some specific examples of concern include information fluency and multiculturalism. It has been a slow and politicized process, which was interrupted by an eighteen-month period of work-to-rule. This committee has developed Institutional Student Outcomes that clearly reflect our Mission Statement. Their acceptance at College Meeting was an important step in providing a framework for continuing the important work of revising our General Education requirements. There are ongoing discussions and open forums regarding the General Education requirements for both the Associate in Arts and Associate in Science degrees. The list of courses entitled "Courses Which Satisfy General Education Requirements" attests to the breadth of courses available and required as part of the degree.
The work of the General Education Committee on the development of Institutional Student Learning Outcomes will allow for a better integration of Student Learning Outcomes from individual courses into a more comprehensive design. The next challenge will be for the faculty to identify ways to assess the stated outcomes. However, early retirement incentive programs offered by the Commonwealth have affected the College dramatically. Since 1997, 48 full time faculty have left or retired, while only 26 positions have been added. This has brought the total number of full time faculty from 85 in 1997 to 65 in 2007. At the same time there has been a greater dependence on adjunct faculty, increasing from 129 in 1997 to 223 in Fall of 2006. Adjunct faculty are not required to participate in course development or improvement.
Courses offered at CCCC require collegiate level skills in the English language, demonstrated by written reports or final papers relating to the content of the course. These require knowledge of the rules of grammar and expression, as well as an ability to summarize information. Syllabus review of student learning outcomes indicates that all students who successfully complete ENL 101 demonstrate competence in writing a formal academic essay and academic documents. They further demonstrate the use accepted rules of logic and ethical interpretation of data. The final essay examination is department wide, and the statement of evaluation is detailed enough to assure consistency in course grades. Students in ENL 101 and ENL 102 use information technology and demonstrate information literacy through exercises done at the Wilkens Library as well as using research and proper citations in the assigned writing experiences in the required language courses as well as in other disciplines and learning opportunities. These courses effectively prepare students to succeed in composing the required writing in all the courses they take, regardless of subject matter.
In order to better serve its students Cape Cod Community College is participating in the six campus CONNECT First-Year Writing Group. Since the Summer of 2004, this group of English faculty from UMASS Dartmouth, Bridgewater State College, and Bristol, Cape Cod and Massasoit Community Colleges has met monthly to establish lines of communication among collaborating institutions and to act as an advocacy group around issues relating to the teaching of writing. Accomplishments include a comparison of the schools' first and second semester English Composition courses and the development of a rubric of learning outcomes for First-Year Composition. This rubric now is used as a basis of instruction at all five CONNECT schools. The CONNECT First Year Writing Group has greatly improved communication about writing instruction among regional higher education institutions. The College is committed to continuing the work with the CONNECT partnership. One project being developed through this partnership is the holistic scoring of student writing to ensure that students demonstrate appropriate collegiate level skills in the English language across the five institutions of CONNECT.
The College employs a number of academic support services, including the Advising and Counseling Center, the Tutoring Center, the Math Lab, the Writing Center, and supplemental instruction for nursing and dental hygiene students. The TRIO/SSS/Advantage Program, the O'Neill Center for Disability Services, Coaches and Mentors, and Career Planning and Placement also are successful in helping students to meet their educational goals.
In general, the results of the CCSSE and Noel- Levitz questionnaires from 2005 indicate that Cape Cod Community College students' perceptions of how the College affects their ability to acquire a broad general education, including writing and speaking clearly and effectively, are at or above the national average.
Despite our successes, over the last 10 years CCCC has to deal with a number of adversities: unpredictable budget cuts, faculty retiring and not being replaced, and challenges emerging from the fact that approximately 81% of our students are not academically prepared for college-level work, and require at least one developmental course upon admission. Course completion rates for FY2006 were 74%, one percent lower than the community college benchmark.
Transfer
For those students who wish to transfer to a baccalaureate degree granting institution, the Associate in Arts degree offers many concentrations for students to pursue their interests. The A.S. degrees can also lead to transfer opportunities. Transfer is encouraged and facilitated effectively through Joint Admission, CONNECT, the Commonwealth Transfer Compact, a number of articulation agreements with other Colleges and Universities and the efforts of the Transfer Office.
Joint Admissions, a transfer partnership involving Massachusetts Community Colleges, the University of Massachusetts, and Massachusetts State Colleges, has been very successful. Further information concerning this program can be found on the College website at Joint Admission.
Currently, we do not have detailed transfer data for all programs, but the office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness is beginning to develop a plan to effectively use transfer information, including that from the National Student Clearinghouse. These data will help the College in assessing trends regarding student transfer and should provide a better measure of the College's success, since many of our students transfer to baccalaureate institutions before receiving their degrees locally. According to the limited data available in the 2005 Graduate Report, 97% of AA graduates and 81% of AS graduates transferred successfully to baccalaureate institutions or were employed.
Information Technology
In 2006 the College opened the new Lyndon P. Lorusso Applied Technology Building. The College has added smart technology to many classrooms and improved facilities as evidenced in the Nursing Learning Resource Center. Information Literacy instruction and support are two highly effective services of the Wilkens Library. Instruction through scheduled workshops is provided for English Composition, ESOL, Oral Communications, Business, Sociology, History, Psychology and Health Science. An instructional CD was created for Nursing, Dental Hygiene and CNA students. The Library staff have created a useful matrix of first-year literacy skills. Instructional information is also available in the Library and through the library website regarding how to use the Blackboard platform, how to use software, how to do research and use research databases, and how to properly cite sources in academic essays. Additional training materials are located on the College website within the Distance Learning page under Student Help and Frequently Asked Questions. All of these achievements by the Library staff have greatly enhanced the effectiveness of Cape Cod Community College.
Every course offered at Cape Cod Community College has a Blackboard site available for it. This site may be used as determined by instructors for course information, announcements and email, or for the presentation of course content. The IT Help Desk staff and Distance Learning staff provide training to students on Blackboard through direct assistance. These recent changes have enhanced the effectiveness of the College. Additional training materials are located on the College website at T&LT Student Help.
All students enrolled in ENL 101 (English Composition I), a graduation requirement for both the AA and the AS degrees, are required to use information technology for course requirements. Furthermore, nearly every course at the College requires students to use information technology in one way or another. The use and demand for electronic information sources, such as online indexes and specialized databases continues to grow.
More than 350 flat screened Dell computers are available for student use throughout campus. They can be found in the cafeteria, in the library, and in the open computer labs. Wireless network access is provided throughout the main campus. Additional information about information technology available for students can be found on the website at Academic Computing at 4C's. All of these developments ensure that graduates of CCCC are functionally literate in terms of information technology.
The Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory of 2006 indicates that Cape Cod Community College students rate their satisfaction with the Academic Services provided by the College at a statistically significant higher level than the national average. The Academic Services scale of the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory includes the ratings of library resources as well as the adequacy and accessibility of computer labs.
Workshops for faculty are frequently presented to introduce new electronic resources, to clarify the use of Blackboard, to aid in the development of online courses, and to demonstrate particular research techniques. Nursing and Dental Hygiene accreditation now requires that faculty and students be familiar with Evidence Based Practice. New techniques in this emerging literature have been taught to both students and faculty members, increasing the level of IT literacy at the College.
Development of online courses is a labor-intensive process and the management of these courses is also time-intensive, particularly when faculty engage students in active discussions and virtual group activities and projects. Nevertheless, many instructors have added online supplements to their courses and are using online management systems as a significant part of their instructional technique, bringing the College more in line with state-of-the- art instructional delivery modalities.
The College has been working with the Distance Learning Committee, a joint union and administration committee, to develop agreement on a course-development process and criteria for assessing when a course is technically ready for online use. All issues relative to evaluation of course materials, decanal classroom observation, and student evaluation are subject to the MCCC collective bargaining agreement. This work will allow the College to move forward with efforts to increase the availability of online educational offerings.
The College participates in Massachusetts Colleges Online, a multi-public-college consortium, to post online courses on a common portal. Participating colleges may also "broker" seats in MCO-sponsored courses by reserving a number of seats in the sending college's course. These courses are labeled with the receiving college's course numbers and titles and the students register through their home campus. This arrangement allows revenue-sharing between the sending and receiving schools, but more important, the instructor communicates grades directly with the Registrar of the receiving school, so that there is no need for students to transfer credits back to Cape Cod Community College.
There is support on campus to build an online course catalog to the point that both within the college and through brokering with colleagues in the MCO partnership, students will have the opportunity to complete entire certificates and degrees using the online format. This will be especially beneficial students living on the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, who would no longer have to commute to the main campus.
The developments presented above all attest to the fact that CCCC has put forward a significant effort to make information technology an integral part of its activities as it effectively and successfully pursues the realization of its mission.
Institutional Effectiveness
Cape Cod Community College is committed to a schedule of rigorous self study aimed at improving the outcomes of its academic program. By 2010 all professional, academic, and student service departments, will be engaging in continuing self- study and review.
The General Education Committee will build upon the Institutional Learning Outcomes that were approved by College Meeting during the Spring of 2007, and many of our course syllabi now include the Student Learning Outcomes. The College is continuing its work on the development and approval of a revised General Education Core, as well as a clearer definition of the requirements that would make a course part of the General Education requirements. This work is expected to improve not only our overall academic program, but also the level and quality of our graduates' education.

Projections – Standard Four – The Academic Program

Projections	Responsible Staff	Completion Date
Review and continue to develop the new General Education requirements.	Gen. Ed. Committee	Spring 2008
Implement the Institutional Student Learning Outcomes.	The College	Spring 2008
Measure institutional outcomes and define discipline-specific knowledge that has the breadth and depth appropriate for the Associate Degree.	VP Ac. & Student Affairs Deans, Dept. Chairs Faculty	Spring 2009
Make themselves available for developing a new General Education core for the AA and AS degrees.	General Education Committee	Spring 2008
Promote a process for reviewing the way in which Institutional Student Outcomes inform general education requirements.	Standing Committees of College Meeting	Spring 2008
Engage in a discussion about catalouge listing of concentration suggestion in order to maximize clarity.	Standing Committees of College Meeting	Spring 2008
Promote the creation of a new standing committee of College Meeting that will focus on the development of valid assessments of the Institutional Student Outcomes and General Education.	VP Ac. & Student Affairs	Fall 2008
Develop course syllabi containing statements of evaluation that reflect student learning outcomes.	Faculty	Spring 2008
Review the grading system to maximize transferability of credits, especially reviewing the appropriateness of counting a grade of D- towards graduation.	Academic Policy and Standards Committee	Spring 2008
Assess and plan for improvement of student learning at the course, certificate, and degree levels.	The process of Academic reviews	Ongoing
Publish institutional policies that define academic dishonesty and plagiarism, as well as student obligations regarding honesty in academic assignments.	The College	Ongoing
Evaluate possible differences in the achievement of students in courses taught by full-time as compared to adjunct faculty.	Dir. of Inst. Research	Spring 2009
The new version of the College web page will be updated and improved on a regular basis.	Executive Director of Information Technology	Ongoing
Discuss the implementation of new and improved advising and retention measures.	Academic Policies and Standards Committee, and the Advising Committee	Spring 2009
Review the MCO process and assess the effectiveness of this method of course delivery.	Dir. of Distance Learning, Deans and Faculty	Ongoing
Organize a Student Success Task Force.	VP Ac. & Student Affairs	Spring 2008
Develop a 2 credits Student Success Course and a 1 credit Career Exploration Course. Monitor course completion rates.	Student Success Task Force	Fall 2008
Distribute course completion rates to the appropriate Deans, for discussion in department meetings and throughout The College's governance system.	Dir. of Inst. Research	Spring 2008
Locate grants to establish a Center for Teaching and Learning.	President	Spring 2008
Increase the number of Learning Communities and Paired Courses.	Faculty and Deans	Ongoing
Define and measure student success; Evaluate Programs and Initiatives that advance student success as well as analyze and use the results of the Spring 2007 CCSSE and CCFSE surveys; Evaluate the Cape Cod Community College Strategic Plan; Develop and use Key Performance Indicators for Strategic Planning.	IRPC	Ongoing
Discuss the relationship between course and institutional outcomes and our core courses in relation to the Mission.	Generalized academic fora, Department, Standing Committees, and College Meetings	Ongoing
Constitute a new Strategic Plan Steering Committee to create the next 5-year plan.	President	Spring 2008
Promote the Mission by ensuring it has a direct influence on the development of new courses and programs.	President VP Ac. & Student Affairs Curriculum and Programs Com.	Ongoing

Description
The students' education is the top priority at Cape Cod Community College. To achieve this goal, the College is dedicated to attracting well qualified, diverse, and dedicated professional faculty. The College and its faculty are also committed to professional development, innovation in teaching, and using new technology to promote professional growth, high standards, and sound ethics.
Faculty Profile
The primary mission of the College is fulfilled by competent faculty. In the fall of 2007, the College employed 64 full-time (FT) faculty members and 213 adjunct faculty. Together they taught 4,434 students, according to the Board of Trustees Fall Enrollment Report. The FT faculty are well credentialed with 32% holding doctoral degrees, while 68% hold master's degrees in their fields. These percentages reflect an increase in doctoral degrees compared with 1997, when 27% held doctorates, 71% master's and 2% bachelor's degrees.
During the two decades between 1977 and 1997 the number of FT faculty remained relatively steady; in 1977 there were 87 faculty; in 1987, 84 faculty; and in 1997, 85 faculty. Since 1997, 47 faculty have retired or left and 28 have been hired; today there are 64 FT faculty. In 2007, 38 of the FT faculty (58%) will be 55 or older, 18 (28%) will be 60 or older, and 3 (5%) will be 65 or older. The median age of the FT faculty has continued to rise from 50 in 1997 to 55 in 2007. Sixty-four percent of the FT faculty are female and 36% are male. The average length of service for the faculty is 13 years with 40% of the faculty hired in the past ten years. Of the FT faculty 45 have achieved tenured status with the rank of Professor or Associate Professor. Untenured faculty hold ranks as follows: one Professor, one Associate Professor, 13 Assistant Professors, and four holding the rank of Instructor.
Profile of Full Time Faculty

	Fall 1997	Fall 2007
Total:	85	64
Women:	46	41
Men:	39	23
Minority:	7	11
Median Age:	50	55

Adjunct/Part-time Faculty
In Fall 2007 there were 213 adjunct faculty, reflecting a significant increase in dependence on adjunct faculty since 1987, when there were 117, and 1997, when there were 129 adjunct faculty members. Adjunct faculty now teach approximately 40% of all sections offered during the day at the College. The number of adjunct faculty varies from semester to semester, but has averaged around 220 in the last few years. Of the adjunct faculty 16% hold doctoral degrees, 55% master's degrees and 20% bachelor's degrees in their fields, while 9% hold other certifications or professional licenses. The ratio of female to male within the adjunct faculty is similar to that found within the FT faculty.
Diversity
The College values diversity and has made a concentrated effort to enhance the education it offers by increasing the diversity of our faculty, staff, and students. The percentage of FT faculty who self-identified as members of minority groups has increased over the years. In 1997, seven of 85 (8%) were within minority groups, as compared to 11 out of 64 (17%) in Fall 2007. Within the adjunct faculty 4% self-identified as members of minority groups. The percentage of female full-time faculty also has steadily risen since 1987 (44%) and 1997 (54%) to 41 of 64 (64%).
Hiring, Recruitment, Evaluation, and Promotion
Since the previous self-study, 28 new FT faculty have been hired. The College forms search committees and advertises widely to attract qualified candidates to fill faculty vacancies. Members of search committees are appointed by the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs and consist of FT faculty, professional staff, a member of the Affirmative Action Committee and an academic dean. Copies of all position vacancies for FT faculty must be sent to the Massachusetts Community College Council within three days of the posting. The Dean of Human Resources oversees the search process and meets with each search committee to explain the process in detail. Generally there are 75-100 applications for each vacancy, although this number is shrinking due to the rising cost of housing on Cape Cod. The College advertises vacant positions in special diversity-focused recruiting sites. In addition, a notice of all vacancies is distributed to the Diversity Advisory Committee and Affirmative Action Officers/Committees of other colleges. All advertisements for a position include an Affirmative Action Statement. Academic deans are responsible for hiring adjunct faculty, but department chairs and full-time faculty may assist the process by reviewing curriculum vitae, interviewing, and making recommendations.
The 1999-2002 Agreement by and between the Board of Higher Education and the Massachusetts Community College Council (MCCC) defines procedures for the evaluation of fulltime faculty (Article XIII), and procedures for the promotion in rank of full-time faculty (Article XIV).
An adjunct faculty member, also referred to as a part-time faculty member, is clearly defined under the MCCC Agreement as "a unit member whose responsibilities may include teaching credit courses during any part of the academic year. Absent exceptional circumstances, no parttime faculty member shall be assigned more than three 3-credit courses or their equivalent during any single semester" (Article I). The responsibilities and workload of adjunct (sometimes informally referred to as DCE) faculty are governed by Article XIII of the DCE Contract and consist entirely of instructional responsibilities. In addition, the College has created an adjunct faculty handbook to clarify expectations, responsibilities, and rights. Adjunct faculty who have taught over a period of three years and have received satisfactory evaluations are offered one course every semester from that time on, unless they do not teach for two academic years. In that case they forfeit seniority (Article X; section 10.05).
Adjunct faculty participate in the governance of the College through representation in College Meeting and may participate on Standing Committees of the College Meeting. However, the primary function of adjunct faculty is to teach. While adjuncts are welcome at all department and division meetings, they are not required to attend, nor are they required to maintain office hours or provide academic advising for students. They are required to attend an orientation session at the beginning of each semester.
Faculty Responsibilities, Workload, Contractual Security, and Benefits
The responsibilities and workload of the FT faculty are outlined in Article XII of the MCCC Day Contract. This contractual agreement governs much of the relationship between the College and faculty and provides the parameters for many College regulations. The Agreement defines salaries and terms of employment, promotion and tenure, workload, work assignment, working conditions, evaluation procedures, grievance procedures, and dismissal and retrenchment procedures. The Agreement also provides a clear statement regarding academic freedom, as well as the responsibilities of faculty (Article VII).
The 1999-2002 MCCC Day Contract increased the faculty instructional load from four courses to five per semester. A classification study of faculty salaries accompanied this increased work load. The study included salary surveys from 100 public two-year colleges from 10 industrial states. The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education and the State Legislature initially set salaries of full-time faculty at the 15 public community colleges at around the 75th percentile, based on the salary study. As a result, most faculty received a substantial increase in compensation. However, in recent years, salary compensation has fallen far below the 75th percentile, since this benchmark was not guaranteed by the legislature or the BHE in writing. Following the expiration of the 1999-2002 Contract, a one-year extension, including a minimal increase in pay was approved by the legislature but was not submitted by the Governor back to the legislature for funding (See Ch 150E of General Laws). This set of events led to three years without an increase in pay and three years of working without a new contract. Consequently, in September 2004, the faculty voted to start the job action called "work-to-rule." Under the work-to-rule condition, FT faculty perform only those duties that are stated in the Contract. When the new and present Contract was ratified in September 2006, the FT faculty voted to end the work-to-rule job action. This was the first contract to be agreed upon within the proper three year time frame in 17 years. The new Contract calls for a 3% salary increase for each of the three years following its ratification. Under the present Contract, instructional responsibilities make up 75% of the faculty workload. The remaining non-instructional workload includes student assistance and advisement, office hours, College service, College-recognized community service, and professional development activities.
Professional Development
The College encourages professional development of its faculty and has a standing Professional Development Committee comprised of the VP of Academic and Student Affairs, four other administrators and professional staff, two support staff, one adjunct faculty or part-time professional staff, one student, and four faculty members. This committee plans and executes social and professional activities designed to enhance College community life and to upgrade the professional skills of all those who work at the College. The Committee assists in the planning of all Professional Day activities that begin the Fall and Spring semesters, and invites requests for the disbursement of professional development funds. The maximum professional development funding per person, per fiscal year, is $700 and is given on a "first come first served" basis.
Faculty members at the College are encouraged to maintain and develop their professional skills. The College supports professional development in a number of ways. For example, it sponsors two or three Professional Days per year and has also sponsored workshops for both full-time and adjunct faculty in the use of the College's learning management system, Blackboard. The College also encourages sabbaticals for professional renewal. Faculty are eligible for sabbaticals of six months duration at full pay or of one year at half pay. The total professional development funding for 2006- 2007 was $50,000, including academic and social activities, while in 1996-1997, the funds for professional development were $60,000.
In addition to this existing funding, the Bartlett Fund is also available for faculty and staff who wish to pursue further scholarship or to improve teaching practices. The Bartlett Fund is a special endowment fund that provides substantial grants each year to approved applicants. The Bartlett Fund Awards Committee reviews applications and determines the number and size of the awards.
Categories for Professional Development
Allocations for 2006-2007

Catagory/Amount	Type/Uses	Description
I $26,000	Workshops Conferences	registration, travel, hotel & related expenses
II $3,000	Educational Assistance	tuition, books
III $14,000	College community projects	projects/events benefiting the entire College: professional days, guest speakers, consultants
IV $7,000	Other, special use, Unrestricted funds	misc. items related to professional growth and development, special equipment, hardware/software, books

Advising
Each full-time faculty member carries an advisee load of 18 students (as per MCCC Day Contract) with Nursing, Dental Hygiene, Criminal Justice, Early Childhood Education, and Information Technology faculty agreeing to take all of the students in their areas of study as advisees. During the pre-registration period, students receive letters recommending they meet with their advisors to plan a course schedule for the coming semester. Although students are encouraged to meet with their advisors at least twice a year, many students use the Academic Advising and Counseling Center instead of scheduling appointments with their faculty advisors. In addition many part-time students are not assigned an advisor and must therefore use the Advising Center. The Advising Center is open Monday through Thursday from 8:30am to 8:00pm and Fridays from 8:30am to 4:30pm. Students may "drop in" without an appointment. Some students prefer the convenience of a drop-in Advising Center over scheduling appointments with their assigned faculty advisors. Faculty are informed via email if one of their advisees has been advised at the Advising Center. Faculty can access advisees' transcripts and assessment scores online and thereby prepare ahead of time for meetings with advisees. The responsibilities for all academic decisions rest with individual students, but advisors help students plan their course schedules in order to graduate, give advice concerning transfers to other institutions, and help with career planning. Faculty advisors are responsible for posting office hours during preregistration periods and for making sure they are available during those hours. In addition, faculty advisors must understand academic requirements, prerequisites, resources and procedures, and know when and where to refer students. Faculty often advise students who, although not their assigned advisees, are current or former students in their classes.
The following quotation comes from the Academic Advising Handbook, Advising Mission Statement: "Cape Cod Community College views the advising relationship as an ongoing conversation that transcends more than course selection and attempts to assist students as they explore the breadth of the curriculum available, the challenges of college life, and the preparation for life after college."
Teaching and Learning
Instructional techniques and delivery systems are compatible and serve to carry out the mission of the College, as well as the learning outcomes of programs and individual courses. The mission statement asserts, "The students' education comes first at Cape Cod Community College. We are a learning-centered community that values the contributions of a diverse population, welcomes open inquiry, and promotes mutual respect. The College provides a strong educational foundation of critical, creative thinking, communication competencies, and a global, multicultural perspective that prepares students for life and work in the 21st Century." To this end the College endeavors to foster teaching and learning through a variety of courses and instructional approaches.
Various instructional techniques are used throughout the College. Professors can vary their techniques within classes, and students are exposed to various Professors with different instructional techniques in different settings. These instructional settings may include traditional on-site classrooms, online courses, or hybrid courses. The College has adopted Blackboard as its learning management system, and currently 27 fully online courses and 5 hybrid courses are being offered with a total enrollment of 700 students. If a course is not provided online at Cape Cod Community College, a student may take a course through Mass Colleges Online (MCO), a consortium of 15 Massachusetts Community Colleges and 9 Massachusetts State Colleges that have agreed to promote their online courses via the MCO portal and participate in course-brokering efforts between member colleges. Over the last three years, three members of our faculty, (two full-time and one adjunct) have been the recipients of Massachusetts Colleges Online Course of Distinction awards.
Along with totally online courses, faculty are supplementing in-class instruction with a wide array of online enhancements from the most basic posting of syllabi and class lecture notes to pod-casting of lectures. Technology-assisted teaching and learning is not the only technique that has been enhanced. Service-learning projects are encouraged, and the Honors Program continues to develop and to promote Honors credit. In order to enhance student retention, the College is experimenting with paired courses that will function as Learning Communities. The College encourages student creativity and scholarly achievement by displaying student art work, publishing student writing in the literary magazines Sea Change and The Write Stuff, and offering opportunities for students to perform in a variety of theater productions, to name a few. Academic achievement is also honored through nomination into the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society. Students may receive practical experience in journalism by submitting articles and becoming involved in the publication of the college newspaper, The Main Sheet. In addition, students who have completed IRS training may participate in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. In order to foster student involvement in various campus clubs and activities, the College recently reinstituted the "Activity Hour," a time frame within which courses are not offered. Increased opportunities for student involvement help to enhance leadership skills, and to promote a stronger sense of community.
Instructional techniques are designed to meet learning needs and abilities of our students. New students who matriculate into the College undertake assessment tests to ensure proper placement in classes. Professors evaluate outcomes of teaching and work to enhance learning. For students with learning difficulties, a full-time Learning Specialist is available to offer guidance to faculty to enhance student learning.
The quality of teaching and learning is important, regardless of techniques used. Effectiveness is fostered on an individual course, program, and institutional basis. Assessment of effectiveness is carried out on an institutional basis by means of the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory. These surveys have been conducted over the past ten years, and student satisfaction with "Instructional Effectiveness" has consistently scored above the national average for community colleges. Results of these surveys are disseminated through fora. "Thirty-one members of the college community participated in these forums." Furthermore, the NEASC accreditation process fosters the evaluation of teaching and learning effectiveness.
On a program level several methods are used to assess effectiveness of instruction. Programs such as Medical Assisting, Dental Hygiene, Nursing, Massage Therapy, Fire Science, Criminal Justice, and Early Childhood Education are accredited by outside agencies. Advisory committees have been revitalized, and these committees provide input to program standards, as well as assess basic needs for student preparedness in the work force. A program review process has been proposed for regular evaluation of academic programs and student learning support services. With this undertaking, academic departments and programs develop mission statements and improve library and media holdings in their disciplines. In order to gain information regarding preparation and needs in science, technology, engineering, math, and writing, the College faculty and staff are participating in the STEM and CONNECT partnerships (Academic and Student Affairs Annual Report 2005-2006).
In individual courses, a major effort to evaluate effectiveness has been undertaken in the development of Student Learning Outcomes. Currently all AS programs and approximately 40% of AA and Certificate Programs have published student learning outcomes. Additional courses are being revised this year with the goal of having student learning outcomes for all courses by Spring 2008.
Support is provided to assist faculty in evaluating and improving instructional effectiveness. Currently a full-time Director of Distance Learning and a part-time Manager in the Instructional Technology Center assist faculty in the development and use of technology for teaching. In addition a Help Desk has been developed to assist both students and faculty with technology problems. The expansion of the number of online courses has been encouraged by the provision of a stipend for their development. Several classrooms have been renovated with presentation podia that allow computer projections and internet access. The new Lorusso Applied Technology Building allows for additional use of technology in teaching and learning. Other resources that enhance instructional effectiveness include the new Nursing Learning Resource Center with its new "human patient simulators" and in-service workshops to instruct faculty in their use and operation. The increased availability of technology has helped to diversify learning opportunities for all students at Cape Cod Community College.
Appraisal
Faculty Profile
Cape Cod Community College's faculty reflect the College's mission of putting student education first. Our faculty represent a diverse population, welcome open inquiry, and promote mutual respect. A strong educational foundation of critical, creative thinking, communication competencies, and a global, multicultural perspective is provided by a faculty of whom 32% hold doctorates and 68% have master's degrees in their fields. The faculty composition of 70% tenured faculty and 40% of faculty hired within the past 10 years allow us to "honor our past, celebrate our present, and imagine our future" (2007 Mission Statement).
The number of FT faculty from 1977–1997 averaged 85, but in 2007 the number dropped to 64 FT faculty. One of the major reasons for the decline in FT faculty was the Early Retirement Incentive Programs (ERIP's) offered by the Commonwealth in 2002 and 2003. While the ERIP's encouraged 18 FT faculty to retirement it also limited the number of new faculty hires. The decrease in the number of FT faculty, an increased workload and a decreased number of advisees for faculty due to the 1999-2002 MCCC Contract has negatively affected several areas: the variety of courses offered, the number of students without an advisor, involvement of faculty in student clubs, faculty attendance at conferences, general faculty involvement in the College community as well as faculty morale. As the number of FT faculty has decreased, FT enrollment has increased from 1,792 in 1997 to 2,449 in 2007 (Board of Trustees Fall Enrollment Report). Despite this increased need for FT instructors, the number of FT faculty has declined by 24%. This has caused an increased reliance on adjunct faculty, and in order to provide students with sufficient sections, many FT faculty (51%) also teach DCE courses. The increase in the median age of the FT faculty is another concern. With 58% of the faculty reaching 55 or older in 2007 there are bound to be many retirements in the next 5 to 10 years.
In Spring 2007, the College's Board of Trustees voted to increase student fees. This increase allows the College to provide additional financial aid for needy students and to address the concern of diminished numbers of FT faculty. In Fall 2007, the VP of Academic and Student Affairs implemented a plan to hire five additional FT faculty. To determine which FT faculty positions would be filled, the VP met with academic deans, department chairs, and program coordinators, held open fora and encouraged electronic communication so that the entire College community had input into the process. This open process along with the promise of more FT faculty has had a positive impact on the morale of faculty.
Adjunct, Part-Time Faculty
Since 1987, the number of adjunct faculty has increased by 90%. When the FT faculty load was increased by 25% per Contract agreement, there should have been a decrease in dependence on adjunct faculty. This increased dependence on adjunct faculty is due partly to the administration's policy of limiting adjunct faculty to a maximum course load of two classes. It also reflects an increase in the breadth and variety of courses offered at Cape Cod Community College, along with the need to increase the number of FT faculty to reduce the heavy dependence on adjunct faculty. The adjunct faculty are, however, a flexible and skilled resource of the College. Only 71% of adjunct faculty have master's or doctoral degrees, whereas 100% of FT faculty have those credentials. Moreover, the diversity of the adjunct pool (4%) is less than that of the FT faculty (17%).
Diversity
Cape Cod Community College has actively sought to increase the diversity of its faculty by directed advertising for all positions. With 40% of our faculty hired in the past ten years, we have more than doubled the percentage of minorities from 8% to 17%, which is considerably higher than the College's surrounding counties of Barnstable, Plymouth, Dukes, and Nantucket, which reported 9.6% minorities in the 2000 US Census. It is important to note that diversity is based upon how people self-identify themselves and does not reflect the true diversity of the College.
Recruitment, Hiring, Evaluation, and Promotion
During the past ten years 28 new FT faculty have been hired. In order to attract qualified and diverse applicants the College has broadened its recruitment process to include a wide variety of diversity-focused sites. Each year academic departments are invited to create a list of positions that they desire to have filled. Academic deans bring this list before the Administrative Council and Cabinet for discussion. However, since state funding has not increased since 2001, only a limited number of positions have been filled. Once the Administrative Council and the Cabinet decide that a faculty position is to be filled, a job description is developed by the appropriate department and sent to the VP of Academic and Student Affairs for approval. Although faculty are involved, the VP of Academic and Student Affairs makes the final decision about minimum qualifications of the job description. In order to increase the pool of applicants for FT faculty, the minimum qualifications have been reduced to only 18 credits in a discipline. Academic departments consistently recommend at least a master's degree in the instructional discipline for FT faculty applicants because this higher minimum qualification is congruent with the standard for teachers hired for K-12 public schools in Massachusetts.
A factor that has and will continue to limit the pool of applicants is the high cost of housing on Cape Cod. According to the Cape Cod Commission, the median price of a home in Barnstable County in 1998 was $135,000, while in 2006 the median price had risen to $379,000. According to the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds, the median price as of September 2007 was $387,500. In the last two years the median price of a house in Barnstable County has ranged from $350,000 to almost $390,000. Since the median salary for a tenured Professor at CCCC is $60,460, it is difficult for new hires, starting at under $40,000, to find affordable housing. The Nursing Department has found it especially difficult to recruit and hire new faculty, because Nursing candidates command higher salaries than offered by the College.
The integration of newly hired faculty into the College community has improved over the last ten years. New hires receive an orientation from the VP of Academic and Student Affairs and also from HR that includes relevant College policies and procedures, benefits options, and a tour of the Library and the rest of the College. In addition, they are given the Academic Advising Handbook and receive an advisor orientation from the Advising Center during their first semester to assist them with student advisement. Each new faculty member is paired with a faculty mentor in his or her department to help with adjustment to the College. The Academic Policy and Procedures Manual has been recently updated, and this manual, along with the MCCC Contract, defines the rights and responsibilities of the faculty and also outlines procedures for evaluation, promotion, and tenure.
The process of evaluation, appointment, reappointment, tenure, and change in rank is well defined, equitable, and fairly administered. The evaluation of FT and adjunct faculty is based primarily on student evaluations and classroom observations. The appropriate academic dean performs the classroom observations and discusses areas of strength along with areas that need improvement. Student evaluation is the only component in the evaluation process that includes a standard rating scale (excellent, very good, good, fair, poor, or very poor) and these evaluations are useful in the self-assessment of teaching. Administrators and faculty use evaluation processes to support professional development for the faculty and to support improvement of skills where needed.
Faculty Responsibilities, Workload, Contractual Security, and Benefits
Contractual security is based on the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the MCCC and the BHE. Prolonged negotiations have resulted in the faculty working for five of the last ten years without a contract. Although there have been severe funding cuts by the state, the College has managed to avoid staff layoffs or retrenchments. For the purpose of maintaining a credible academic institution, the College has continued to provide contractual security.
Salaries and benefits are also determined by the Collective Bargaining Agreements. In several of the last 10 years raises in salaries did not cover the increased cost of living. The 1999-2002 Contract brought about a state wide classification study and the average faculty salary increased by approximately 31%. This was done in order to bring the salary structure more in line with other industrialized states. However, the workload was also increased by adding one course per semester to each faculty member's load, increasing the course load from four to five.
Since that time, and due to the difficulty in resolving collective bargaining, faculty salaries have once again declined below those of colleagues in other states, teaching in institutions similar to ours. It should be noted that the difficulty in bargaining rests with the state (BHE), and not the College. It is thought that the low salary structure may prevent the College from attracting young, bright instructors from other areas of the country.
Faculty workload is also determined by the Collective Bargaining Agreements. The primary responsibility of faculty members is the instruction, advising, and assessment of students. Some faculty feel that the extra course per semester has compromised the effective delivery of high quality education. The College has attempted to deal with this issue by offering faculty reassigned time if they are involved in initiatives that benefit the core mission of the College.
The job action of work-to-rule, voted by the faculty in response to the Commonwealth's refusal to cover contractual increases in pay, was in effect from September 2004 until September 2006. Work-to-rule meant that Standing Committee meetings and College Meetings were quickly adjourned, so little work was accomplished beyond instruction and advising. This had a negative impact in many areas of the College. Not surprisingly, the morale of FT faculty declined during this time.
Professional Development
Professional Development Days have provided information and training for the College community in such areas as technology advancements and campus-wide issues, including pedagogy, academic advisement, and safety issues. Encouragement for faculty professional development beyond College sponsored events has been less effective. With the increased workload, faculty have difficulty in finding time to attend conferences held during the academic year. In addition, the policy and funding for professional travel is an area in need of improvement. The funding for professional development has been reduced during the past ten-year cycle from an annual budgeted amount of $60,000 to $50,000. The budgeted amount of $50,000 is for use by the entire College community, and less than 50% was used for academic professional development. Many faculty are required to use significant funds of their own in order to attend professional meetings because approval is granted on a "first-come, first served" basis. The use of professional development funds for social activities reduces the limited funding available for faculty.
Advising
The College has made a strong effort to improve academic advising. The results from the Spring 2006 Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory indicate that these efforts have been effective. The student satisfaction score for academic advising from the Fall 2001 Noel-Levitz Survey was 4.80, which was below the national average. The same satisfaction score from Spring 2006 improved to 5.18, which is slightly above the national average for community colleges.
The Academic Advising and Counseling Center has made significant progress in supporting the relationship between students and their faculty advisors. The Academic Advising Handbook is regularly updated and distributed to all advisors, training and advisor-shadowing opportunities are provided for all new faculty advisors, and the Advising Tip of the Week is distributed by email to provide pertinent advising updates and important reminders to all faculty. The Advising Center has expanded evening hours to accommodate student needs and sponsors numerous advising-related events, such as the Transfer Fair, and visits by representatives of baccalaureate institutions to promote transfer. Over 11,000 students visited the Advising Center in 2006, and 8,487 visited by the end of September 2007.
As noted previously, the significant decrease in the number of FT faculty due to the Early Retirement Incentive Programs has resulted in a significant increase in the number of advisees assigned to the Academic Advising and Counseling Center. Fewer students have access to FT faculty advisors as a result of this shift, reducing the number of direct faculty-student relationships and mentoring opportunities that are often forged between advisors and advisees. In order to address this problem, the College hires adjunct faculty and others as advisors during pre-registration periods. In addition, FT faculty whose courses have been cut due to low enrollment may be assigned to the Advising Center to make up for the decrease in workload.
Teaching and Learning
Many of the techniques used in the teaching and learning process have undergone change at Cape Cod Community College. The College has made progress in broadening the delivery methods of instruction to meet the needs of our students. Infrastructure has improved with smart classrooms, but more classrooms need to be converted and the access to technology needs to be expanded.
The Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Survey and program reviews by outside accrediting agencies have indicated that the College has met or exceeded external standards satisfactorily and demonstrated progress. The Noel-Levitz Surveys have consistently ranked instructional effectiveness above the national average, which is significant, since students rate instructional effectiveness as the criterion of highest priority. However, the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) results, which were similar to national standards in 2005, dropped noticeably below the national standards in Spring 2007.
Good progress has been made in articulating Student Learning Outcomes for courses, programs, and disciplines. Although support is provided in assisting faculty to improve curricula and instructional effectiveness, this support is limited.
There are several opportunities for students to transfer learning from the academic classroom by participating in related activities outside the classroom. This allows for scholarly activity and creative expression. Co-curricular experiences are available to meet a wide range of interests, including discipline-specific opportunities ranging from the humanities to career-related areas.
Institutional Effectiveness
The evaluation of instructional effectiveness is an ongoing process through several avenues, including the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory, the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), program evaluation, advisory committees, yearly student evaluations, and classroom observations. Student evaluations and classroom observations by academic deans aid individual faculty in assessing their instructional effectiveness, while outside accrediting agencies and advisory committees evaluate instructional effectiveness on a program level. At the College level, the Noel-Levitz and CCSSE surveys performed on alternating years allow the College to assess and monitor its effectiveness in teaching, learning, and student success. Results of these surveys are presented in public folders and are also disseminated in forum. In the past, results from the Noel-Levitz Survey indicated a weakness in academic advising and as a result, the College focused on improving this important area. The results from the Spring 2007 CCSSE survey showed a noticeable decline in all but one of the benchmarks. The Director for Institutional Research and Planning in conjunction with the Strategic Plan Committee will address these declines in the 2008 Strategic Plan and will use future CCSSE surveys to determine if their efforts have been productive. Thus, the College has and continues to demonstrate a commitment to using results of surveys to make improvements that enhance the achievement of its mission.

Projections – Standard Five – The Faculty

Projections	Responsible Staff	Completion Date
Develop a formal hiring plan that will seek to increase the number of FT faculty and integrate this plan into the Strategic Plan and budgetary process.	VP Ac. & Student Affairs Strategic Planning Com.	FY 2008
Seek to raise sufficient funds for an endowed chair. This endowment fund will be used to pay the salary of a full professor.	President	Ongoing
Work to maintain an inclusive climate on campus for students and employees regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, or disability status.	Dir. of Equal Opportunity & Institutional Planning Affirmative Action Com.	Ongoing
Review and revamp the Professional Development budget and make recommendations to improve the process for allocation or resources to better reflect the College's mission and goals.	Dir. of Equal Opportunity & Institutional Planning Professional Dev. Com.	FY 2009
Establish a formal mentoring program and provide additional professional development opportunities for Adjunct Faculty.	Division Deans Dept. Chairs	FY 2010
Develop specific strategies to strengthen relationships between Academic Advising Center and FT faculty.	Director of Advising & Counseling Services; Advising & Counseling Advisory Com.	FY 2008
Convene a student success task force to implement recommendations for the improvement of the College's advising system.	VP of Academic & Student Affairs	FY 2010
Develop a cohesive plan to upgrade existing curriculum and to identify potential new curricular programs. The plan will include FT and Adjunct faculty and will be coordinated with the Program Advisory Groups to meet community needs and trends. The plan will incorporate new technologies, and Faculty will explore and discuss best practices in using new technology to enhance learning.	VP of Academic & Student Affairs	FY 2009

Description
Cape Cod Community College (CCCC) enrolls a representative student population from its primary four-county service area of southeastern Massachusetts. The College's Admissions Office admits applicants in accordance with the Massachusetts Board of Education's "open door" policy and follows state laws pertaining to equal access. Applicants evidencing graduation from an approved secondary school, possessing state-issued General Equivalency Diplomas (GED) or successfully completing an approved Ability to Benefit (ATB) option are admitted on a rolling, first-come, first served basis. This policy does not apply to the College's selective health science programs, which have clearly defined course prerequisites, minimum academic entry levels, and specific deadline requirements as detailed in the College Catalog, website, and Admissions Bulletin. In addition, it does not apply to international students, who also must meet specific admissions and deadline requirements.
Our student body consists of recent high school graduates just starting their educational journey, adults who enroll midway through their lives to upgrade skills and/or change careers, and older students seeking professional or personal development. Some students seek CCCC because they can complete their education close to home, and others view us as a stepping stone to their next educational institution. Some students choose CCCC because we are affordable and convenient but end up staying because they find the faculty to be professional, seasoned and caring, and they appreciate the personal support and services offered by the college.
However, there are common threads found within the student population at CCCC. Many, if not most students live on Cape Cod and have grown up with the college in their backyard and view it as "their own." Students have a familiarity and comfort level with the College. But perhaps the single most common thread woven into each student's experience at the college is that they all leave CCCC better prepared for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
The College opens its doors to all who believe, as our catch phrase states, "start here, and you can take your life anywhere."
Based on this "open door" policy, students are accepted with diverse academic abilities. A variety of identifiers and services are provided for both traditional college learners and those who require developmental education. The Assessment Center administers the College Board's ACCUPLACER CPT to measure college readiness levels in the areas of reading comprehension, sentence skills, and mathematics. As part of the basic skills assessment program, newly matriculated students answer 20 background questions in ACCUPLACER, which provide important information for the advising process and demographic analysis. Following the assessment test, all students report to the Advising Center to receive academic advising, assistance with course selection, and referrals to support services as needed. Based on scores earned, some students may be placed in developmental education courses and referred to appropriate academic support services, provided by the Division of Learning Support Services, that best meet each student's individual need. The Assessment Center also administers approximately 300 College Level Examination Program (CLEP) exams each year, as well as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) subject exams.
For students with documented disabilities, the College offers a comprehensive array of early intervention academic support services through the O'Neill Center for Disability Services. The Center seeks early identification of students with disabilities through a variety of mechanisms, including orientation, publications, letters, CPT questionnaires, access statements in course syllabi, workshops, and referrals. Each student receives a personal intake interview with the Learning Specialist to review his or her documentation and to develop an Individual Educational Plan (IEP) that ensures equal access to courses through the provision of reasonable accommodations and academic adjustments. The Center conducts early intervention outreach to high school guidance counselors, special education teachers, and vocational rehabilitation agencies.
Prior to the beginning of classes, new students are invited to participate in an orientation program. Both day and evening orientation sessions are offered by the Student Development Office. This is an opportunity for students to become familiar with the College, its facilities, resources, services, activities and policies. Each student receives the College Catalog, along with the Student Handbook, which clearly states College policies on student rights and responsibilities, including grievance procedures and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). In addition, a packet is distributed containing information regarding academic opportunities, expectations, and support services. This information is also available at the Student Information Desk during the first two weeks of school, in the College Bulletin distributed by the Admissions Office and via the College website.
Consistent with the Mission Statement assertion that the "student's education is the first priority," student services provided by the College address the diverse backgrounds, the personal and professional goals, and the academic skill levels of all student learners. Incoming first-semester students are assigned academic advisors or referred to the Advising Center to receive direction and assistance with course and program selection, and to discuss academic concerns that may affect their success. The Advising and Counseling Office is responsible for assigning student advisees to faculty (per faculty contract) and professional advisors. Advisors refer and direct students to appropriate services and resources as needed. Additionally, the Advising Center provides transfer advising and career planning and placement services to all actively enrolled students, and provides training and communicates new curricula and policy changes to all College advisors. To address the need for evening services, all support service offices are open one evening each week. The Advising Center is open four evenings a week until 8:00 pm, and the Tutoring Center is open four evenings each week until 7:00 pm.
Students seeking personal counseling are referred to Health Services on campus and/or to mental health providers in the community. Health Services is staffed by part-time registered nurses. By appointment, a physician and psychologist are available part-time during regularly scheduled hours. Health Services provides health education through health and wellness clinics, mental health clinics, and health awareness sessions, as well as through an information booth located in the Grossman Commons. In collaboration with the Student Development Office, these sessions and materials have been offered on such subjects as breast cancer, alcohol abuse, and HIV/AIDS awareness.
Students are expected to achieve and maintain minimum academic standards to remain in "good standing," determined by a student's ability to meet or exceed a minimum cumulative grade point average (CGPA) in relation to total course credits earned at the College. Specific standards and the method of calculation are identified under "Academic Standards" in the College's paper and electronic Catalog as well as the Student Handbook.
The College uses various instruments to measure student success, including the Graduation Rates Survey, state and federal reporting, the National Student Clearinghouse, the annual Graduation Survey and performance as measured through the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness. Rates of retention and graduation are separately determined for the following specifically recruited programs and populations: Program for Adult College Transition (PACT), Adult Collaborative of Cape Cod for Education and Support Services (ACCCESS), General Educational Development Diploma (GED), Students Utilizing Cape Cod Educational Support Services (SUCCESS), Tech Prep, Diploma Plus, Project Forward, international applicants, Coaches & Mentors, the O'Neill Center, and the TRIO Student Support Service Program (TSSS), formerly known as the Advantage Program. The newly created TSSS is a federally funded program that seeks to graduate and seamlessly transfer Associate degree graduates to four-year institutions. Retention rates are also calculated for the following discipline-specific programs: Nursing, Dental Hygiene, Massage Therapy, Diagnostic Tech, Tri-Level Nursing Assistant/Home Health Aid/Certified Nursing Assistant, Paramedic, and now Medical Assisting.
Cape Cod Community College offers students the opportunity to experience college in a way that expands beyond academics. The stated goals for co-curricular learning are to develop communication and decision making skills, foster working relationships, value diversity, foster self confidence, and develop leadership potential. Co-curricular activities offer a social environment that is essential for today's college students by providing a balance between educational, cultural, developmental, and social components. With approximately 20 clubs, intramural sports, a student government association and the Presidential Student Ambassador Program, each student has an opportunity to participate in student leadership. The College does not offer intercollegiate athletic programs at this time. Intramural and general recreation and fitness activities are available to all students and alumni at the College's Life Fitness Center.
The College provides a systematic approach to assist students in meeting financial obligations. Financial aid consists of scholarships, grants, loans, work-study, and employment opportunities. Each year, approximately 1750 student complete the financial aid process. Approximately 85% of those receive some type of financial assistance. Total financial aid for the College is approximately 4.5 million dollars from all sources. Financial packaging policies are updated annually to ensure equitable, impartial distribution. The GAP Fund was established by the Board of Trustees to assist students who did not meet federal or state guidelines for assistance with their college financial obligations.
Students receiving financial aid must be matriculated and must abide by the Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy as stated in the Student Handbook and the Academic Policy & Procedures Manual. All new students receive financial aid information in their Orientation Packet. The financial aid process and types of aid are explained in the Semester Course Guide, the Admissions Bulletin, and the Student Handbook. Veterans' education benefits, tuition waivers, and tuition remission vouchers are all processed through the Financial Aid Office.
Cape Cod Community College's obligation to protect the security, confidentiality, and integrity of student records is evidenced in the College's policies and procedures. Federal and state regulations and standards regarding the protection of student records drive College policies and procedures. The College observes all polices relating to FERPA guidelines. College policies ensure that student academic records are safe from unauthorized access. According to FERPA guidelines, only College employees who have a "legitimate educational or safety interest" as determined by the Registrar are granted access to student records. To safeguard student academic records, the Office of the Registrar secures all paper grade sheets in metal cabinets that are locked in the Records Room within the Office of the Registrar. Older records are maintained and digitally imaged on CD-ROMs by New England Archives. Confidential records that are no longer needed are shredded by staff in the Registrar's Office.
On the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Survey in Spring 2006, the College received a score of 4.89 with regard to students feeling safe on campus as compared to the national average score of 4.87. The Department of Security, Office of Public Safety provides 24-hour, 7- days-a-week intervention coverage for incidents of criminal activity, emergencies, harassment, as well as emergency facilities maintenance. The Office of Public Safety works directly with the Department of Health Services, the Barnstable Police, state police, and local fire and medical emergency personnel.
Student Services personnel qualifications are met by a minimum of a Bachelor's degree with a Master's degree preferred in the related area and three years of experience. Additional training is available on the College's Professional Days and through attendance at regional and national workshops and conferences, supported by institutional funding. The addition of two new IT middle-level Managers supports technology development for the Student Services area.
Student Service personnel and some faculty have completed and continue to participate as members of the Community College Leadership Academy and the Collaborative Leadership Development Program. With state appropriations remaining flat, the College continues to evaluate and prioritize new faculty and staff hires to address the needs of the college. Currently, the Student Development Office is temporarily staffed with a full-time Staff Associate and a part-time Clerk but is now seeking a full-time Director of Student Activities. In 2002, a part-time Director of Health Services was hired to replace the full-time Director's position due to retirement and a funding deficit.
Appraisal
The College recruits its targeted population through various methods of outreach, such as high school visits, on-site admissions, college fairs, on-campus information sessions and tours, an annual Open House, external community events, mass mailings, and electronic correspondence. The College is transitioning its application process to offer an online application format. Since the addition of the Multicultural Admissions Counselor position in 2003, the Admissions Office has increased diversity in enrollment, including international students, to reflect the demographics of our primary service area. Diversity enrollment increased from 9% in 2003 to 13% in 2006. In addition, during the same time period, the male population increased from 36% in 2003 to 38% in 2006. This increasing diversity is in keeping with the College's new Mission Statement.
In 2005 the College administered the ACCUPLACER placement test to approximately 1324 students. Of the students tested, approximately 18.5% placed into a developmental reading comprehension course, 30.5% placed in a developmental writing course, and 81% placed in a developmental math course. The College offers a sufficient number of sections to accommodate the number of students whose scores indicate the need for developmental level courses in math, reading, and writing Unfortunately, for ESOL students who do not place into college–level English, there are limited developmental ESL (English as a Second Language) sections. Free math and English-language refresher workshops help students prepare for placement tests.
The Enrollment Management and Learning Support Services teams have refined the flow of services for incoming students from recruitment to enrollment. This has been done by increasing the availability of hard-copy and electronic information to potential and admitted students, making personal contacts, extending business hours, and investing in technological resources. However, the flow of services from application to registration should be regularly evaluated to ensure that students move seamlessly through the system.
Student services offered by the College foster student success academically, culturally, and emotionally from the first day students are admitted. All student services support and enhance student retention and graduation rates. Students involved in co-curricular activities are offered opportunities to participate in local and national conferences and workshops, advocate for active student participation in college affairs and governance, participate in scholarship fundraising, and coordinate community-service projects. The College sets aside a specific time for student activities, athletics, and club meetings.
In Spring 2005, an evening orientation session was added to accommodate students unable to attend the day session. This strategy resulted in an overall increase of students attending orientation. The Student Development Office offered a pilot orientation program for the Spring 2007 semester, which featured smaller groups with peer-to-peer facilitation, along with additional day and time orientation options, including weekends. Evaluation results indicated an overwhelming success of the smaller orientation sessions. Peer-facilitated sessions were rated highest at 86%. In addition, several selective programs offer individual orientations to their target populations.
The O'Neill Center conducts a biennial survey of students with documented learning disabilities in order to assess their level of satisfaction with the support services provided by the Center. On average, an overall satisfaction rating of "satisfied to very satisfied" was indicated by 94% of participants in the survey completed in Spring 2005.
First-year retention rates for new first-time, fulltime degree-seeking students increased from 51 % in Fall 2001 to 58% in Fall 2004. The graduation rate of all students increased 24% from FY2003 with 371 graduates to 488 graduates in FY2006. As outlined in the Advising and Counseling Office's Report on Retention Initiatives completed in Spring 2006, sixteen new retention initiatives were launched in the past two years, resulting in a significant increase in spring-to-fall retention rates in 2005. During the 2004-2005 academic year, 11,097 student visits were recorded in the Advising Center. To ensure that the Advising Center's services were effective, a student survey was developed and administered in 2005 to assess satisfaction. Results indicated a 93% overall satisfaction rating of "very good" or "excellent." To improve student access to advising information and the management of student academic history the Advising Center launched an interactive online advising component in Summer 2007, including "live" online help sessions to complement email, telephone and personal visits.
The College regularly administers the Noel- Levitz Student Satisfaction Survey to day and evening students to assess student satisfaction with student services at CCCC. Data from the survey conducted in Spring 2006 indicate a statistically significant increase in student satisfaction with academic advising from Fall 2003 to Spring 2006. This increase in student satisfaction levels improved as a result of targeted outreach efforts to enhance communication between students and advisors. Such efforts include letters to students regarding preregistration, notification of academic status, notices concerning degree-completion status, and the bi-annual Advising Newsletter (Compass). The College also utilizes the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) to evaluate and monitor performance. With regard to Support for Learners, the College received a score of 48.9 as compared to the benchmark score of 50, suggesting a need for continued improvement.
In Fall 2006, the College launched the Academic Intervention Program, which requires all students with a semester or cumulative GPA below 2.0 to be flagged by the Registrar and placed on Academic Review. Students placed on Academic Review are then required to meet with an academic advisor prior to registering for courses. This intervention identifies students who may be showing early signs of academic struggle and allows advisors to provide the necessary support services to assist them in achieving their educational goals. Beginning in the Fall 2007 semester, the College launched the Student Success/Early Intervention Project to help identify students who may begin to exhibit significant academic difficulties. This project encourages faculty to notify the Advising and Counseling Office at the first sign of a student failing to make satisfactory academic progress. This strategy is likely to enhance student retention.
The College has worked diligently to obtain and sustain various grant-funded programs, such as the TRIO Student Support Service Program and the Coaches & Mentors Program, which provide services to targeted under-represented populations in order to facilitate their transition into the College community.
Students may receive help filling out the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) on a walk-in basis during regular weekday hours, as well as during extended Wednesday evening hours. The Financial Aid Office provides a computer for students to submit applications online in English or Spanish. Students may also use the computer to research external scholarships and to conduct searches. Award notices and missing information letters are mailed daily. Online loan counseling is available for every Federal Stafford Loan recipient. Upon request, information sessions are conducted for special programs. The national initiative, College Goal Sunday, where parents and students are assisted in filling out their financial aid application, is held on campus. The certification process for Veterans' benefits has been improved and streamlined. Staff members regularly attend conferences, training sessions, and workshops to keep current with the ever-changing state and federal regulations. The creation of the GAP Fund has helped us with our mission by increasing access to higher education.
FERPA regulations and the College's mandate to post the Notification of Student Rights are published annually in the College Catalog, the College newspaper (MainSheet), through direct student mailings, new student orientation sessions, and on the College's website. Academic and financial records may be requested in paper copy. Academic transcripts must be requested in writing from the Office of the Registrar and are mailed to the address listed on the form or picked up in person with proper photo identification. Confidential student information is released to individuals presenting proper photo identification.
There were no incidents of any Uniform Crime Report (UCR) index crimes on the Campus in 2005 as reported in the 2006 Annual Security Report, indicating a reasonably safe campus at CCCC.
The conversion to the new student information system, Jenzabar, to support and maintain student data was done in 2003. Only the Student Life Module remains to be converted. Increasingly the student interaction with the college is digital: online registration, online bill-pay, Email, Blackboard, eventually online application capabilities and more. The College is developing a web portal as a one stop entry to its digital content. The College should evaluate the students' digital interaction to ensure it is optimum in terms of its usefulness and simplicity.
Through an internal appraisal of personal counseling services offered to students, it has become apparent that the College may not be meeting the immediate need of students and staff to seek counseling on a drop-in basis. To address this problem, the College has established a relationship with Cape Cod Hospital for personal counseling services.
Institutional Effectiveness
The College regularly administers two evaluation tools to assess effectiveness and student satisfaction: the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Survey and the Community College Survey of Student Engagement. In addition, the College is currently conducting a systematic review, by program area, of all non-instructional services. Information gathered through these evaluations is presented to the College community. However, currently there is no consistent systematic approach in place to revise goals and improve services based on these evaluation tools and methods.

Projections – Standard Six – Our Students

Projections	Responsible Staff	Completion Date
Seek funding to increase staffing in the areas of Student Development, Health Services and the Assessment areas.	Dean of Enrollment Management	FY 2009
Improve the navigation process for students going between the offices of Admissions, Assessment, Advising, Registration and Business, by providing appropriate signage and directional indicators between buildings.	Dean of Enrollment Management	Fall 2008
Explore the feasibility of creating a One-Stop Shop. All Enrollment Management Staff, advising, career and transfer services, along with information regarding support programs would be available for students to access in one location. As part of this evaluation, conduct a complete and thorough review of the current system in place regarding all steps and processes new students follow from their initial point of application through registration.	Dean of Enrollment Management	FY 2010
Conduct an evaluation of the student's digital experience in interacting with the College from applying online to receipt of grades and transcripts and implement solutions that ensure the experience is effective and friendly to the broad array of students who attend the College.	Dean of Enrollment Management	TBD in connection with IT Dept.
Create a "Student Right to Know" or FERPA link on the College website which will include the Notification of Student Rights, College Policies in PDF and a downloadable form to Request to Withhold Release of Personal Information for students to access. A parent page regarding FERPA would coincide with the addition of a parent orientation.	Dean of Enrollment Management	Fall 2008
Design and institute a systematic approach to ensure that all new employees receive FERPA training and create a schedule for providing refresher training on FERPA guidelines for current employees on a regular basis.	Dean of Enrollment Management	Fall 2009
Work with the IT Department to implement the Student Life web-page module of Jenzabar to be fully functional to support the Student Services area.	Dean of Enrollment Management Student Development Office	Fall 2008
Work with the IT Department to implement and design an online component to complement the New Student Orientation program which will include information for parents and families.	Dean of Enrollment Management Student Development Office	TBD in connection with IT Dept
Work with the College Web Development Committee to design and install a Student Life Web Page to support co-curricular activities with the emphasis on collaboration and more universal student, faculty and staff participation.	Dean of Enrollment Management Student Development Office	TBD in connection with IT Dept
Work with the College Web Development Committee to create, install and maintain interactive web-based recruiting tools.	Dean of Enrollment Management Admissions Office	TBD in connection with IT Dept
Work with the IT Department to design, create and implement the processing procedures for an online application option for prospective students.	Dean of Enrollment Management Admissions Office	TBD in connection with IT Dept
Produce an Admissions information packet written in Spanish and Portuguese.	Dean of Enrollment Management Admissions Office	Spring 2008
Implement The Presidential Scholars Program through The CONNECT partnership. Applicants denied admission to the baccalaureate partners will receive a brochure describing the Scholar's program which guarantees admission to a partner community college. In the admissions process, students will be flagged for tracking purposes. The overall goal is to graduate this group and through joint admissions assist them in transitioning back to the original public college of choice.	Dean of Enrollment Management Admissions Office	Fall 2008
Work with the Information Technology Department and the Registrar's Office to finalize the Academic Advising Worksheet in Jenzabar on the student side, to clearly identify the student' program of study, document progress towards that degree and identify remaining classes to be completed.	The Advising & Counseling Office	TBD in connection with IT Dept
Seek a full-time administrative support person for the Advising Center.	Learning & Support Services The Advising & Counseling Office	FY 2009
Seek an additional full-time advisor.	Learning & Support Services The Advising & Counseling Office	FY 2009
Design and implement a two-credit student success course, a one-credit career development course and a one-credit critical thinking course.	Learning & Support Services The Advising & Counseling Office	Fall 2008
Apply for certification by the College Reading & Learning Association.	Learning & Support Services The Tutoring Center	FY 2009
Re-evaluate the need for a Peer Tutoring program.	Learning & Support Services The Tutoring Center	Spring 2009
Seek funding for a full-time administrative support person to replace two part-time positions. (FY2009)	Learning & Support Services The O'Neill Center for Disability Services	FY 2009

Description
Library Mission Statement
The Wilkens Library offers students, faculty and the community a wide variety of information resources. In keeping with the College's Mission Statement that students' education is its first priority, the Library staff dedicates itself to providing students, faculty and staff an environment for open inquiry, and the ongoing pursuit of critical thinking and information literacy.
The Library's 2007 Mission Statement informs and defines the Library's role, complementing the 2007 College Mission Statement and 2003 College Strategic Plan. The Director of the Wilkens Library and Online & Learning Technologies is advised by the Library and Learning Resources Committee as he establishes policy and plans strategies for the Library's future. The Director annually requests funding for library materials to support all programs, with special emphasis on accredited programs and purchasing titles directly requested by faculty and other high priority items in the general book and periodical collections. Appendix Chart 7a provides a 5 year summary of annual expenditures for materials and information sources, which were supplemented in 2003 and 2005 by the College's 2+2 partner institutions. Many full-text databases now support student learning and faculty research. The Library's 20 networked student workstations are in constant use and 4 additional ones are optimized for online catalog use. Librarians teach frequent and varied Information Literacy classes in the interactive Information Skills Classroom, which features individual desktop broadcast ability. Information Literacy classes are available upon request for any subject. Professional Librarians (4.56 FTE, including the Director) also attend department meetings, offer workshops and provide orientation sessions for new faculty. All Health Science and first-year English students receive targeted instruction in Information Literacy and critical thinking. Library personnel include support staff (6.7 FTE) and work study students (1.25 FTE). The Director serves as the College's Copyright Officer, advising the College community on compliance matters and academic "fair-use" guidelines. The Executive Director of the Office of Information Technology (OIT) establishes appropriate technology use standards, which appear in the Information Technology Student Handbook.
The Library's collections include 55,000 print titles, 17,000 microfilm reels and subscriptions to 175 current print periodicals as well as many thousands of online full-text journals available via web-mounted electronic indexes or through a Serials Solutions gateway. Over 6,100 audiovisuals and adaptive equipment items are available for classroom and individual onsite use. The Nickerson Room's Cape Cod Collection is the sole research library in the entire Cape and Islands region focusing on the history, environment, and culture of the area. The Nickerson Room also houses the official College Archives, as well as unique and rare deeds, over 15,000 manuscripts, works by Cape Cod artists & writers, personal papers, maps, genealogical resources, and historic images and artifacts, notably scrimshaw. The Library's website provides access to catalogs, indexes, and recommended websites for on-campus and remote users.
Consortial partners, including CLAMS (Cape Libraries Automated Materials Sharing), the local automated library network, and the regional SEMLS (Southeastern Massachusetts Library System) offer free or discounted access to internet-accessible databases and resources, as well as interlibrary delivery to the Library. Wilkens Library holdings appear in a CLAMS-administered online catalog, supported by the current integrated library system, Innovative Interfaces' Millennium, a robust platform that includes circulation, acquisitions, cataloging, serials, and course-reserve components. Statistics and data available from Millennium are used to analyze services, plan strategies, and support budget projections. Wilkens Library patrons also have access to the statewide Virtual Catalog and can independently request titles.
In 2003, the Library staff drafted a strategic plan that identified patron needs, established priorities, and proposed measurable outcomes for assessment. The Director compiles the Annual Report, using data and strategic plan elements to analyze the effectiveness of resources and services, to identify needs, and to support funding requests. In addition, he prepares the biennial Academic Library Survey (ALS) which is submitted to the National Center for Educational Statistics. The Noel Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory, administered biannually, rates student satisfaction with Library and IT resources, as does the LIBQual+ Survey, completed in April 2007. The Director evaluates collected data from reports and surveys as he plans service enhancements and establishes budgetary priorities.
Distance Learning
The primary mission of Online and Learning Technologies(OLT) is to provide the College community remote access to educational opportunities, especially distance learning courses and course components. OLT is administered by the Director, Wilkens Library and Online & Learning Technologies. Since the College serves the students on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, as well as Cape Cod and Southeastern Massachusetts, transportation logistics can make on-campus classroom attendance difficult, if not impossible. Blackboard is the College's interactive, internetaccessible learning management system platform. Blackboard's Basic version is fully implemented and available for faculty to create, develop and distribute course materials. Each course, every faculty member and student is assigned a Blackboard account. The Director of Teaching and Learning Technologies advises faculty concerning the appropriate use of copyrighted materials.
OLT staff members (1.48 FTE professional staff and 2.2 FTE support staff) provide instructional design assistance to faculty in the department's Instructional Technology Center (ITC), offer individual and group training for Blackboardrelated course development, foster faculty peersupport for Blackboard usage, and offer office support to online faculty, including exam proctoring.
Assistance in the use of Blackboard is also provided through online tutorials for both faculty and students. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are found on the Online and Learning Technologies website. Telephone, email and in-person help from support staff in OLT and via the IT Help Desk are also available.
OLT media services include video production, presentation support in the Multimedia Room, Channel 98 local access television programming, and video conferencing, allowing for instructional delivery to off-campus locations. The OLT budget includes allocations for course development stipends, training, software licenses, supplies and equipment, as well as staffing and equipment maintenance. Total funding over the last five years may be seen in Appendix document 7b (OLT Budget Allocations).
Faculty using Blackboard can access statistics measuring student activity and performance by function. In addition, a student evaluation form for each course is mandated by the MCCC Contract. OLT staff monitor the performance of the learning management system in order to make improvements as needed. OLT staff members advise the Director in preparing the department's Annual Report and budget request for the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs.
In addition, Mass Colleges Online (MCO) is available to supplement local course offerings to enhance overall distance learning options.
Information Technology
The Information Technology Strategic Plan 2003-2006 established information technology priorities for the College. The 2008-2013 Strategic Plan is currently in draft form. The Wilkens Library, OLT, and OIT share goals and services. The Information Strategy Group (ISG), the Administrative Users Group (AUG), the Operations Group (OPS), the Academic Technology Committee, and the Web Presence Committee (WPC) all advise the Executive Director, Office of Information Technology (OIT). After the last self-study, the College hired outside consultants from Collegis to plan and manage the development of information technology for 2 years, after which the College hired internal staff, now headed by an Executive Director, who serves as Chief Information Officer. The OIT has 17 full-time administrators and support staff and 12 part-time technicians who staff a Help Desk, provide audiovisual support and staff the telephone switchboard. OIT is organized into 3 divisions: Client Services, Core Services and Information Services. OIT is responsible for campus-wide communications and technology infrastructure, maintaining and supporting all computer workstations, including 40 presentation classrooms and campus-wide wireless internet access, as well as supporting faculty and staff software and media.
The College student information system, Jenzabar, is supported and maintained by OIT. Jenzabar currently supports online training for specific areas of functionality on an "as needed" basis. Jenzabar is a comprehensive student information database with modules for Admissions, Registration, Advising, Student Life, Financial Aid, General Ledger, Purchasing, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Fixed Assets, and Personnel. An online component, Campus Web, allows students to register online for courses and review their schedules. A thirdparty interface, FACTS, permits students registering for courses to immediately create a payment plan as part of the registration process. OIT also manages Ad Astra scheduling and room-assignment software, and Microsoft Exchange email with functional public folders, providing College-wide access to minutes, reports, announcements, and official electronic documents.
The Information Technology Strategic Plan guides system development and budget expenditures. High-priority instructional support areas continue to be funded and maintained. Faculty and staff requests for new software are actively solicited in late spring; hardware requests are invited at any time throughout the year. OIT provides discipline-specific software for such areas as Nursing, Environmental Technology, Music, GIS, Drafting, Graphic Design, Information Technology, and other academic programs. Technology security is provided via layered defense. The Department of Public Safety and the Facilities Maintenance Department provide physical security and OIT provides technical security measures such as firewall, virus protection, packet shaping, virtual local area network (VLAN) isolation of segments, and other means. Policies and technical measures are in place that proscribe secure network login techniques to all campus workstations. Help Desk technicians staff the large Open Computer area and the Help Desk in the Lyndon B. Lorusso Applied Technology Building daily. They provide telephone, email, and in-person support also to the Wilkens Library's Internet Research Area 7 days a week. FAQs are available via the web and in the Information Technology Student Handbook.
The College supports internal and external communication via print and electronic means. The use of electronic communication tools such as email, public folders and web–based forums for internal communication is encouraged and growing. The new MCCC/DCE Faculty Contract requires the College to use email as the official communication vehicle for contract related announcements and notifications. There is a need for a thorough review of the College's communication policies, the current tools, and how it can best use existing and future electronic communications.
Appraisal
Library
The Library Mission Statement was revised in 2007 to be compatible with the new, more succinct College Mission statement. "Students'education is the first priority" is reflected in the Library document. The Library's website provides primary access to library resources. The Library brochure and librarians onsite introduce the Library's services in person.
Over the last five years, funding for Library information resources has averaged approxi- mately $149,000 per year, but has fluctuated widely. This low level of funding does not allow the Library to adequately maintain its current collections. Furthermore, budget inconsistency challenges attempts to plan strategically for the growth in services or resources. Available funding is devoted to maintaining essential reference works, expanding access to online full-text databases and indexes, and purchasing materials for accredited academic programs. The balance of funding supports the general circulating book and media collections. Periodical price inflation has forced the Library to cancel subscriptions to print publications in order to subsidize online information resources. Consequently, the Strategic Plan's goal to replace 5% of the circulating books annually has not been met and the collection is aging. During FY2005, a private grant matched contributions from 2+2 partners, creating a pool of over $70,000 to support upper-division courses taught by those partners. Those funds have now been exhausted. Current funding is not adequate to maintain reference works bought to meet the needs of these programs.
Online information resources provide adequate access to journal articles in most disciplines. Computers and related software are updated regularly, and Help Desk support for instructional and information technology has been consistently of high quality. The Information Skills Classroom and Internet Research Area are equipped with current workstations and software. Wireless access to the internet allows for ubiquitous and growing use of laptops; however, the number of electrical outlets is not adequate to provide the requisite power.
Comments gleaned from the recent LibQual+ Survey indicate high student satisfaction with staff assistance, full-text databases and remote access to Library resources, but some dissatisfaction with noise and the number of available workstations in the Library. Internet Research Area workstations are in constant use and queues of waiting students are common.
All professional librarians possess graduate degrees in Library Science. Staff levels are in line with or exceed Massachusetts peers. For the last three years, support staff assistance in the media area has been reduced by one part-time position, and the sole full-time staff member in media services assists in covering the Reference area 10 hours weekly. Significant increases in demand for Information Literacy classes leave a deficit in professional Reference Desk coverage during those classes. From 2001 to 2006, the number of Information Literacy classes increased by 66%. For the past few years faculty workshops have been held to introduce new electronic resources and to demonstrate research techniques. The Coordinator of Library Services (Public Services) participated in a CONNECT initiative to define information literacy learning outcomes common to English Composition courses taught at selected institutions in Massachusetts. See Appendix document 7f (Library and OLT 2005-2006 Annual Report). There is currently no formal assessment of student proficiency in locating, analyzing, and using information, though English Composition faculty report improvement in written assignments as the number information literacy classes has grown. Accrediting organizations consistently give the Wilkens Library high marks for health science information literacy classes. Use of the Library's website as a portal to the online indexes and specialized databases (e.g. Micromedex) and many other resources continues to grow as a result of information literacy classes given by Library staff.
Information Literacy instruction is extremely important, but has created staffing problems. This exacerbates faculty and student frustration when they seek assistance in reference or media areas in particular. Evening reference services are now augmented by an additional support staff member whenever the librarian is teaching information literacy classes. The Library's Reference Statistics Report indicates that librarians in the Reference Office answer approximately 7,000 requests per year for assistance. In FY06, the College revised its policy and procedures concerning public performance rights. The current copyright compliance policy needs to be updated to reflect changes in the TEACH Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
The Library collection-development policy focuses on materials that complement course curricula with an emphasis on accredited programs. However, low funding levels have not provided sufficient budget to support all academic areas. Inter-library loan requests to other libraries have increased significantly, as has borrowing requests from other libraries (i.e. public library patrons are using Wilkens Library resources more). Fortunately, a daily book service is available to deliver materials borrowed from the public and academic libraries of Southeastern Massachusetts and patrons may now request many materials without staff intervention.
Although 10 new study tables were added this year, several reading and study areas also need better lighting and more soft furniture in order to be comfortable for student use. Lighting in some of the 2nd and 3rd floor book stacks is poor in the evening, making it difficult to find materials on the shelves. The library experiences mold growth in the humid summer months. Duct cleaning and water seepage repair on the 2nd floor is needed. A recent Office of Civil Rights Review of the entire campus documented the lack of appropriate Library access doors for handicapped patrons. Such repairs and improvements will require funding. Ceiling and lighting repairs to date have been made only in Library offices.
Librarians use spreadsheets to record and measure activities and expenditures, and maintain database-use statistics. The Millennium Acquisitions module records encumbrances and expenditures, and a SQL database within Millennium is available to compile use and collection statistics, which aid in the periodic weeding of high-use areas. Accredited areas are weeded annually in collaboration with faculty. The Director, Wilkens Library and Online & Learning Technologies analyzes many of these statistics as he prepares annual and biennial reports.
Distance Learning
The Director of the Wilkens Library and Online & Learning Technologies periodically reviews the College Mission and the objectives of the Online & Learning Technologies Department. Weekly meetings of the OLT staff include updates from Board of Trustees meetings, Vice Presidents' staff meetings, and progress reports on staff projects.
The rapid growth in online course development is adequately funded. The number of Blackboard online classes increased to nearly 30 over the last 2 years, and 27 online courses were offered this Fall. Blackboard is used by over 120 full or part-time faculty members. Student enrollment in distance learning classes has grown, and an increasing number of faculty members are considering "hybridizing" their courses in order to use some distance learning components.
Hybrid courses tend to outpace fully online courses, because they are easier to develop and they provide students with the advantages of both classroom and online experiences. The online component offers opportunities for student-to-student and faculty-to-student interaction.
Online tutorials and FAQs for Blackboard are reviewed and revised by the OLT staff. Workshops are well received and continue to increase in number. Faculty and professional staff receive assistance from the part-time Instructional Technology Center Manager, who is employed only 18 hours a week. Many faculty favor changing that position to full time.
Some faculty members, with OLT encouragement, have surveyed their online learning students to learn how they can improve student learning. Applications for developing new online courses are reviewed and approved as per the College/MCCC Distance Learning Agreement. Distribution of funds and training resources to support OLT activities is proportional to the number of online courses approved each year.
Information Technology
Under the leadership of College and subsequently the Executive Director, OIT, the College has improved its technology infrastructure significantly in the past four years. Administrative support for instructional and information technology has been positive and consistent over the last five years. Microsoft licensing allows College faculty and staff to install Microsoft software at home to aid in class preparation. A lease contract with the Dell Computer Corporation ensures that all computers and server environments are replaced every three to five years. The Adobe Creative Suite CS3 is purchased in adequate numbers to make it available throughout the campus and arrangements have been made for faculty and student discounted purchases.
The College provides instructional technology support for all programs and departments using technology, now including open-source software. OIT is implementing a web portal as a major component of service that will ultimately provide students a single login to all services, off-campus access to files, and a tailored dashboard experience. The web portal is currently hosting the College web site.
Results from the Noel-Levitz Survey indicate satisfaction with IT services and support personnel. With ever-changing technology there is a need for greater flexibility in Information Technology organization and staffing. Student use of the OIT Open Computer Lab is high, as evidenced by the number of student logins. Software is updated each semester, and new programs are added in response to course needs. There is concern about the lack of professional development opportunities for faculty and staff and about students being unprepared to use various information technology tools.
Guidelines and policies of defining appropriate use of technology are clear and there appear to be very few instances of inappropriate behavior by technology users. The College has in place a procedure to limit large video and audio file downloads.
In 2007, the College hired a Director of Institutional Research to conduct systematic research on outcomes and program effectiveness. The College's current ability to plan and evaluate programs and services had been hampered by inconsistent data collection. In the future, improved data collection will permit better planning and evaluation. The OIT monitors network traffic, maintains equipment inventories, records equipment failure rates, and evaluates Help Desk performance. The Executive Director, OIT analyzes data on a regular basis for the purpose of strategic planning and budget requests. A new operational plan in line with a revised IT Strategic Plan is in progress and will be reviewed by IT stakeholders each year. All of these activities will contribute to continual improvement in the College's use of information technology to achieve its Mission. In workshops for part-time faculty and in a NEASC forum, participants expressed some frustration in coping with the volume of email received and the relevance of the messages. A College-wide communications planning process could assess current policies and resources and help identify how to best meet the mission and goals of the College as well as the expectations of the College community.
Institutional Effectiveness
Advances in technology and communication over the past decade have transformed education and with it the services, resources and infrastructure offered by the Wilkens Library, the Online Learning & Technologies Office (OLT) and the Office of Information Technology (OIT) to support teaching and learning effectively at Cape Cod Community College.

Projections – Standard Seven – Library & Information Resources

Projections	Responsible Staff	Completion Date
Improve Library strategic, operational, and financial planning by identifying and collecting additional documentation of user satisfaction and program effectiveness over the three year period beginning with FY2008.	Library Director	FY 2008 - FY 2011
Advocate for increased funding and seek to ensure consistency in funding by advocating on behalf of the Library in the annual budgeting process and by seeking grants on a regular basis.	Library Director and Professional staff	FY2008 and each year thereafter
Approach 2+2 partners to contribute additional financial support Library resources as contracts come up for renewal.	Library Director and Appropriate Dean	FY 2008 - 2013
Develop a plan for workstation expansion.	Library Director, Professional staff and Executive Director, OIT	FY 2008
Review staff requirements carefully on an ongoing basis to ensure that staffing remains adequate as Library resource usage and Information Literacy instruction continue to grow.	Library Director	FY 2008 - 2013
Expand efforts to work closely with the faculty to provide Information Literacy classes and workshops as needed.	Coordinators of Library Services (Public Services and Technical Services)	FY 2008 - 2013
Update "fair use" guidelines and copyright policies in response to changes in the copyright laws on an annual basis.	Library Director	FY 2008 - 2013
Contribute to College-wide efforts aimed at improving student information literacy competence. In FY2009 explore the use of pre- and post-assessments of information literacy.	Coordinators of Library Services (Public Servicesand Technical Services)	FY 2009
Collaborate with the Facilities Director in FY2008 to develop a 2-year plan to remove mold from the Library.	Library Director	FY 2008
Advocate increased funding to upgrade lighting, furnishings and access for handicapped users.	Library Director	FY 2008 - 2013
Director's Annual Report will be reviewed at mid-year with staff to ensure that goals are being met and to make adjustments as necessary.	Library Director and staff	FY 2008 - 2013
Seek additional funding to increase the available number of hours for the Instructional Technology Center.	Director of Online and Learning Technologies	FY 2008
Over the next 3 years encourage and provide assistance to faculty interested in developing hybrid courses as a pathway toward more online learning.	Director, Online and Learning Technologies	FY 2008 - 2011
Maintain and review online tutorials and FAQ's for Blackboard to encourage further development of online learning.	Director, Teaching and Learning Technologies	FY 2008
Secure funds and training resources necessary to support future distance learning and online course development. Online courses at Mass College Online will be recommended to fill gaps in The College's own online course offerings.	Director, Online and Learning Technologies	FY 2008 - 2011
Actively explore new technologies and techniques to maintain the performance of IT support and the College's technology and communication infrastructure.	Executive Director, OIT	FY 2008 - 2013
Survey academic technology users periodically to ensure satisfaction with the technology base and level of support.	Executive Director, OIT	FY 2008 - 2013
Annually review appropriate Information technology use guidelines and policies for compliance and currency.	Executive Director, OIT	FY 2008 - 2013
Seek funds to maintain the appropriate infrastructure to support student IT activity.	Executive Director, OIT	FY 2008 - 2013
Confer with the Director of Institutional Research to capture relevant data to improve OIT planning and quality assurance.	Executive Director, OIT	FY 2008 - 2013
Organize an ad-hoc task force to review the College's electronic communications and create a College Electronic Communications Plan.	Executive Director, OIT	FY 2008
The Library, OLT, and OIT will coordinate their respective planning efforts in order to maintain a complementary and supportive teaching and learning environment for students and faculty.	Executive Director, OIT Library Director Online and Learning Technologies Director	FY 2008 - 2013

Description
Physical Resources and Facilities
Cape Cod Community College is located on 116 acres in West Barnstable, MA. The original seven-building campus was constructed in 1970. The Tilden Arts Center was constructed in 1973, and the Lyndon P. Lorusso Applied Technology Center opened in Fall 2006, increasing the number of buildings to nine and expanding the total assignable square footage to 201,602 sq. ft. A leased space satellite center is maintained in Hyannis, MA, consisting of 4,393 sq. ft.
The Office of Facilities Management (OFM) is responsible for all aspects of College facilities to include construction, repair, maintenance, and operation. OFM coordinates with state and local agencies and other appropriate organizations with regard to utility services, regulatory compliance, and sustainability issues. OFM employs 19 union and 2 non-union employees. The Facilities Director reports to the Vice President of Administration and Finance.
The Department of Public Safety has four fulltime Public Safety Officers and is responsible for safety programs and physical plant security. The Department provides an around-the-clock campus security presence. Emergencies are reported by dialing 4333 or 911 on campus. These calls are handled by a switchboard operator during business hours. Off hours these calls are forwarded to the Barnstable Police Department. There is no E911 service on campus to identify the origination point of emergency calls. The Chief of Public Safety reports to the Vice President of Administration and Finance.
There are 31 general-purpose classrooms, whose capacity ranges from 10 to 125 with a mean of 37 seats. An average of 55% of the seats are occupied when a classroom is in use. This is below the 67% target and reflects the fact that rooms, on average, have a capacity exceeding demand. On average, 84% of classrooms are in use during the day, well above the target rate of 67%, thus limiting daytime scheduling flexibility.
There are 35 specialized instructional spaces (e.g. computer labs). Room capacity ranges from 8 to 37 seats with a mean of 25 seats. An average of 66% of the specialized instructional space seats are occupied when a room is in use, which is below the 80% target. On average, 60% of the specialized instructional space is in use during the day, above the 50% target.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM) and Board of Higher Education (BHE) Facilities Master Plan, currently in draft form, recommends several major new capital projects and renovations that will address space needs and aesthetics on campus. In addition, there is an unrelated feasibility study for on-campus housing.
Space is scheduled through the Director of Facilities Use. The Director reports to the Vice President of Administration and Finance.
There are 1200 parking spaces in 12 parking lots distributed in a circular pattern around the campus.
Technological Resources
Cape Cod Community College has improved its technological infrastructure significantly in the past 3 years in accordance with its 2003-2006 Information Technology Strategic Plan.
The College has expanded its inventory of modern computers to nearly 900. The inventory is standardized on Dell computers. Nearly all computers are leased through Dell Financial Services. Recently, a decision was made to use 5-year rather than 3-year leases. This decision was based on the increased capabilities and reliability of equipment. It also permitted the expansion of inventory at no additional cost. To ensure sustainability, lease costs are a continuing line item in the operational budget.
All campus computers are connected to the local area network and Internet. The College provides approximately 60 computers in the Open Lab, Library, and Cafeteria for general student use. Nine specialized instructional spaces have presentation capability and contain 160 student-use computers for hands-on computer enabled instruction. All of the presentation- configured specialized instructional spaces are equipped with presentation systems and Vision desktop control software. Twenty-eight additional classroom spaces have presentation capabilities that include overhead LCD projectors, lectern control stations, and DVD/VCR installations. Seven of these rooms have enhanced SMART capabilities, permitting stylus direct writing to the screen.
Several additional specific purpose spaces exist. The Writing Lab has 24 student-use computers. The Math Lab has 5 computers for assisting students with math. The Nursing Lab provides 9 student-use computers for instruction. The Office of Teaching and Learning Technologies provides assistance and instruction in a lab of 16 stations. There are several other multicomputer configured rooms for specific delivery of services to students, including the Tutoring Lab, the Assessment Center, and the O'Neill Center for Disability Services. During fiscal year 2007, major renovations were made to the nursing labs, totaling $347,757, made possible by a gift from the college's foundation. The labs are all equipped with modern simulation technology mannequins and equipment, including the most recent addition to the Center, a sophisticated Laerdal SimMan human patient simulator.
All students, faculty, and staff have accounts for network access and email. Students and faculty have access to the Blackboard learning management system and Campus-Web online registration accounts. Specific staff and faculty have accounts for the Jenzabar Student Information System (SIS). Network storage space is provided to all students, faculty, and staff.
The College has a campus agreement for the Microsoft Office Professional Productivity Suite on all computers. Additional volume licenses are held for a variety of applications including Adobe Creative Suite CS3. Faculty and Staff take advantage of take home rights for the Office Suite and arrangements have been made for faculty and students to purchase the Creative Suite at heavily discounted prices.
Forty-one production servers provide network storage, email, print, student information, web, Blackboard, and other services. Faculty and staff are each provided 7Gb of data storage. Students are provided 3Gb of storage. Servers are purchased or acquired under a lease through Dell Financial Services. The College recently installed VMWare, a virtual server technology, and is in the process of implementing both production and disaster recovery storage area networks (SAN) in an ongoing effort to reduce the number of physical servers from over 40 to approximately 25 to ensure survivability.
The main campus network infrastructure consists of 50 micron fiber optics connecting all buildings. Active signal is provided by Cisco routing and switching, which was installed in the summer of 2006. Head-end services are provided from the Network Operations Center (NOC) in the Lyndon P. Lorusso Applied Technology Center. Wireless network access is provided throughout the main campus using Cisco 54Mbps access points.
Security is provided through a layered defense. Physical security of facilities and rooms is provided by the Department of Public Safety and the Facilities Department. All students, staff, and faculty are provided network login accounts. A few group accounts remain for specific purposes, such as public use in the Library, but these accounts are strictly controlled and the Library staff logs in all patrons using the generic account.
Campus segregation is performed using virtual local area networks (VLAN) technology. Wireless users are completely isolated from the internal network and routed directly to the Internet. CISCO Client Access Server and Bradford Campus are being implemented to control every port on the network. In addition, the student information system is a client-server application. The client is installed only on computers that require access. There are additional unique login requirements for the student information system and other applications that rate higher security.
The College has between 10-26.5Mbps of Internet bandwidth. A range of speed more accurately reflects the performance. Two T-1 lines (1.5mbps) are at the main campus. Three Comcast Business Class cable modems augment the T-1s on the Main Campus and an additional Business Class modem was installed at Hyannis in Spring 2007. Routing is set up in such a way that Hyannis will shift over to the Main Campus using a point-to-point T-1 should their cable modem fail.
A bandwidth-load-balancing device is used to optimize the available bandwidth. The Fatpipe WARP device directs traffic to the appropriate path based on VLAN origination. In addition, a Packetshaper is used to shape the data traffic to and from the College. This device allows throttling of traffic such as peer-to-peer music protocols, thus ensuring that the bandwidth is not wasted on non-education-related activities.
A Mitel proprietary telephone and voice mail system has been in place for over 12 years. It underwent a voicemail upgrade to maintain its serviceability in 2006. The College has one fulltime and 2 part-time switchboard operators to direct calls. There is no E911 service.
The technology infrastructure is maintained by the Office of Information Technology (OIT), which consists of 17 full-time and 12 part-time employees. Most part-time employees operate the Help Desk that is available during all hours of College operation.
The Office of the State Auditor, Commonwealth of Massachusetts conducted an audit of Information Technology in the summer and fall of 2007.
Appraisal
Physical Resources and Facilities
The College has undergone a significant transformation in its instructional spaces as the result of new construction and the renovation of existing spaces to better serve student learning activities. The recent opening of the Lyndon P. Lorusso Applied Technology Center, the Commonwealth's first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certified building, is a long anticipated accomplishment.
The expansion and upgrade of Nursing instructional space and the renovation of the Academy for Life Long Learning are examples of spaces that have been created or renovated to better meet current instructional needs.
The College participates in the Capital Asset Management Information System (CAMIS) program conducted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM). The CAMIS program provides for the analysis of work-order repairs, equipment condition, and preventative maintenance, as well as a review format for future equipment upgrades and major system replacement. Items identified as priorities through CAMIS are included in future expenditure analysis by DCAM. Recent DCAM-managed projects include an electrical upgrade and fire alarm enhancement.
The College has identified the following priority projects for environmental enhancement:
   1. Removal of asbestos flooring
   2. Repairs to building envelopes to stop chronic leaks and control moisture
   3. Mold removal and prevention
   4. HVAC improvements to improve air quality and control humidity
   5. Renovation of the Dental Hygiene Clinic
   6. Air conditioning in the Lecture Halls and Administration Building
   7. Renovation and environmental control enhancement in the Library's Nickerson Collection space
   8. Electrical infrastructure upgrades
   9. Wind turbine installation
10. Enhanced wheelchair access to the Library
The College needs additional capital investment to increase and improve its facilities. In addition to inadequate gross square footage (gsf), the College needs to revamp its configuration and appearance. The campus has been described by architects involved in the state Master Plan study as internally oriented and fortress-like in feel. Rather than fostering a sense of community, the current layout appears to discourage social gathering or interaction.
The available assignable space is inadequate for the College's enrollment, according to a Space Utilization Study conducted in 2006. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM) and Board of Higher Education (BHE) Facilities Master Plan study determined that the College requires an additional 19,000 gsf of classroom space, 6,500 gsf of laboratory space, and 4,000 gsf of office space to accommodate current students and projected growth.
All classroom and instructional spaces should provide an environment conducive to instruction and learning. The campus physical environment requires repair and investment to ensure that proper climate control, comfortable seating, good acoustics, good air quality, and an inviting appearance are achieved and maintained.
The College maintains its existing physical plant well, but the bulk of its facilities are more than 30 years old. There is significant need to refurbish and renovate spaces throughout the campus in a process of continuous renewal. The College has made instructional space renovation a priority, as demonstrated in its summer renovation projects of 2006 and 2007 that overhauled 15 instructional spaces.
The Facilities Department strives to support students and faculty by working closely with faculty leaders, the Student Senate and Student Services Department in the prioritization and development of projects. The Director of Facilities is a frequent participant in Student Senate meetings. The Facilities Department maintains a collegial working relationship with regulatory agencies and public safety professionals, ensuring a safe campus environment. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has served as a review and consultation partner on matters of health and environment.
The organization and staffing of the Facilities Department may not be optimized to the growing technology-centric systems on campus. The introduction of technical control and database systems related to all aspects of facilities management necessitates a review of staffing and skill sets within the Facilities Department.
The campus is safe, according to annual security reports. Student surveys indicate that they perceive the campus as safe. However, a comprehensive approach to crisis prevention and mitigation is needed. The campus lacks a public address system to make announcements throughout its buildings and grounds; it lacks a video remote-monitoring capability for times of crisis; it lacks a traffic-control mechanism and external display system for announcements; it lacks a modern telephone system with E911; and it lacks a networked access-control system. A comprehensive improvement in campus communication systems is needed to ensure the ability to assess crisis situations, communicate with the whole campus, and effectively direct action.
The campus is compliant with Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements according to a 2006 Civil Rights Audit conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Education. The Audit identified a handful of minor issues, largely related to signage.
According to survey data, parking was perceived by students in Spring 2006 as an issue for the College. That response was in part the result of limited parking during the construction of the Lyndon P. Lorusso Applied Technology Center in 2005-2006 that removed parking spaces in Lots 10 and 11. The College has addressed student concern with the addition of over 200 temporary parking spaces during the early weeks of each semester, but this temporary fix is not viewed as adequate to address the overall need for parking during peak periods. Funding for additional parking is being secured through the Commonwealth's Master Planning Process. Handicapped-accessible spaces are distributed around the campus and have been determined by the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety Inspector to exceed the number required for ADA compliance.
The College's long-term commitment to environmentally sustainable practices has brought honors from a number of sources, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the 2006 Community College Futures Assembly Bellwether Award. The sustainability efforts on campus cross over into all areas of College life from purchasing and maintenance procedures to student instruction and community leadership. The President is a leader in the American College & University President's Climate Commitment.
A comprehensive Emergency Preparedness Plan is needed to replace several documents that address emergency preparedness, disaster recovery, and business continuity.
Technological Resources
The computer inventory on campus is appropriate to the educational and administrative needs of the College in number and quality. The 5- year leasing program and the operational budget line item to support it ensure that the College can sustain an appropriate and current computer inventory over time. Some faculty express the desire for the introduction of Apple computers. Past requests for Apple computers have been denied by the Academic Technology Committee for lack of a compelling academic need, and the inability to meet the resource and staffing requirements of a dual platform environment. Any significant growth or change in inventory will be driven by the introduction of new programs, compelling academic need, and capital expansions. The College has a top quality local area network that will meet the College's needs for at least 5-years.
Instructional-space technology is much improved, and a continuing effort to increase the number of digital presentation spaces and standardize configurations is evident. There is high demand from faculty for presentation technology. The implementation of 15 new fixed presentation systems in the summers of 2006 and 2007 is reflective of the College's commitment to meet that demand. The expansion to 40 presentation systems in 2007 is nearly sufficient to accommodate faculty needs and provide greater flexibility in scheduling.
Technical support personnel are dedicated and capable. With changing technology there is a need for greater flexibility in Information Technology organization and staffing. The past emphasis on hardware repair technicians and systems analysts is no longer valid, particularly with leased equipment that is reliable and supported under next-day on-site service agreements. The organizational support structure has matured significantly. The traditional reliance on part-time staff in Information Technology ended in the summer of 2007 as the College eliminated ten part-time positions and created two full-time technician positions. In addition, the College hired a full-time Information Security Specialist to focus on securing systems and data that are vital to operations. The organizational structure was modified to create a Level II technical support.
Web and database technologies are the primary growth area for Information Technology. The College has implemented the Jenzabar SIS. The College web presence was brought in-house in 2007. An open-source portal is being implemented and a full-time Web Developer was hired in 2006. An Application Developer was hired in the summer of 2007 to further increase the capacity for a major transformation of the College's web presence in the coming years.
Internet bandwidth is currently inadequate for the needs of the College, particularly "up" bandwidth. The College has taken steps to increase bandwidth and optimize that which is available, but it is still insufficient. There are limited options available on Cape Cod to expand bandwidth. The College has taken the initiative to create an additional option through its OpenCape project. This is a tremendous project that may result in ten times the bandwidth now available to the College with major implications for the entire Southeastern Massachusetts region.
The existing phone system is old and inflexible. The phone system should be replaced in the future, probably in conjunction with any new capital expansion. The College is preparing to upgrade its current phone system with E911 and a public address system. A network access control system is currently under review and may be implemented.
Cape Cod Community College has made tremendous strides in recent years to improve its physical and technological resources. The opening of the Lyndon P. Lorusso Applied Technology Center, with its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, represents a major achievement in the capital expansion of the College. A continuing commitment to renovating and upgrading existing spaces to integrate them into the best possible instructional environment is strong and visible.
The technological resources available on campus have made a quantum leap in quantity and quality over the past five years. The commitment to sustainable hardware in the operational budget through leasing has resulted in an inventory of nearly 900 modern computers on campus. The top-quality local area network infrastructure meets or exceeds all of the College's existing needs. The greatest challenge for the College is to address the inadequate Internet bandwidth available.

Projections – Standard Eight – Physical & Technological Resources

Projections	Responsible Staff	Completion Date
Continue to participate in the development of the DCAM and BHE Facilities Master Plan.	VP Admin. and Finance	FY 2008
Conduct an assessment of the impact of scheduling on space utilization and parking to determine if scheduling could be adjusted to optimize instructional space utilization and parking availability at peak periods. Online and Hybrid Course alternatives should be included in the analysis.	VP Academic Affairs and Student Services	FY 2008
Supplement the Facilities Master Plan with a comprehensive campus Facilities Improvement Plan that identifies the priority and cost of all needed physical plant infrastructure improvements, using the DCAM list of required maintenance and any additional requirements identified.	VP Admin. and Finance	FY 2008
Create, execute, and complete a plan to address all 504/ADA issues identified in the January 20, 2007 letter from the DOE.	VP Admin. and Finance	FY 2008
Conduct a study of Facilities personnel positions to determine their appropriateness to the current and projected College physical plant, and make recommendations for position creation, alteration, elimination, consolidation, and outsourcing.	VP Admin. and Finance	FY 2008
Formally establish a Campus Utilization Advisory Committee (CUAC), which exists only informally now.	VP Admin. and Finance	FY 2008
Conduct an analysis of student general use computer resources for adequate numbers and placement and plan for any needed changes.	Executive Director of Information Technology	FY 2008
Exercise a leadership role through the OpenCape concept to expand available Internet bandwidth. If OpenCape does not prove successful the College will look to alternatives to create more available bandwidth.	Executive Director of Information Technology	FY 2008
Plan and seek funding for a comprehensive telephone (with E911), public address, access-control, remote video-monitoring, and emergency notification system implementation.	VP Admin. and Finance	FY 2008
Prepare and complete a Technology Strategic Plan update.	Executive Dir. IT	FY 2008
Prepare an Information Technology Tactical Plan each June.	Executive Dir. IT	FY 2008
Prepare and complete an Information Security Plan and submit updates annually for approval to the Administrative Council each June.	Executive Director of Information Technology	FY 2008
Conduct an annual technology satisfaction survey for use in the development of technology strategic and tactical plans.	Executive Director of Information Technology	FY 2008
Address any discrepancies identified in the Information Technology Audit being conducted by the Office of the State Auditor when its report is completed.	Executive Director of Information Technology	FY 2008

Description
During the past ten years, the College has seen the benefit of many improvements in its financial status. These changes have come about despite fluctuations in state appropriations, flat tuition, minimal fee increases, and level funding from most financial aid programs. The College has developed a substantial financial reserve, implemented an integrated student information system that includes a general ledger, received unqualified audits, and successfully funded a new building, the first in over thirty years.
Sources of Funds
The College receives funding from three sources: net state appropriations, net student tuition and fees, and other miscellaneous income sources.
State appropriations provide support for annual operating expenses. Between 2002 and 2005, the unrestricted appropriation was level or reduced. Although FY2006 shows a 9% increase, the majority (6%) was one-time funding for retroactive collective bargaining salary increases. Despite minimal increases, the College was able to fund significant energy cost increases, major classroom renovations, and substantial technology acquisitions from operations revenue and gifts.
Restricted and capital appropriations were significantly higher in 2005 and 2006 due to the construction of the Lyndon P. Lorusso Applied Technology Building. Through June 30, 2006, the College expended $7.9 million for this project. Current Board of Higher Education and the Executive Branch standards require that the College match at least 25% of the total project cost. Consequently, in FY04, the Educational Foundation donated a $1,965,236 gift to the College to cover the institution's share of the project. The Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM) provided the remaining 75%.
In addition to state appropriation, the College depends heavily upon revenue from student enrollment. All students at the College pay per credit hour. There is no flat full-time rate. The Commonwealth sets the tuition rate for day classes taught by full-time faculty. Between Spring 1998 and Fall 2000, the credit hour tuition rate fell from $34 to $24 per credit and has since remained unchanged. The College collects these funds on campus, then remits them to the state.
The College retains local tuition from courses taught by adjunct faculty, whether day or evening. Classes also have local fees charged at a per-credit rate. The President and her Cabinet investigate the impact of potential fee increases before submitting proposals to the Board of Trustees for approval. The College has attempted to cover as many costs as possible through the credit-hour fee. As of the Fall 2007 semester, the College has eliminated all incidental fees, including the Admissions Application and Assessment Testing fees.
When the disparity between operating expenses and state appropriations grew, the College increased local fees to ensure adequate revenue to maintain its educational mission. The Vice President of Administration & Finance and the Director of Financial Aid report regularly to the Board of Trustees regarding the availability of financial aid for needy students to ensure their access to the College. The College has been able to maintain its educational focus as a priority without fee increases from Fall 2004 through Summer 2007.
In addition to prudently managing fees for regular programs, the College also has corrected the disparity between special health program costs and standard tuition rates. After receiving Board approval, the Financial Aid Office began awarding grants from an endowed institutional fund. These awards offset the special program fees to match day program rates. Currently, only Evening Nursing and LPN-to-RN students require these grants.
The CCCC Educational Foundation is a significant resource in the College's finances. It provides the College with a means for fundraising and gift solicitation. It is a distinct, non-profit organization separate from the College. It supports its own payroll and has its own Board. The Foundation receives independent audits, following the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS). The College provides office space for the Foundation staff on campus. The Foundation provides significant monetary support in the form of scholarships ($350,000-$400,000 annually), minigrants, and donations to support small projects, major renovations, and new buildings. The College operates several programs using grant funds. The Trio Advantage program, Coaches and Mentors, Building Careers, Hyannis adult education, and high school partnership programs all receive funding from federal, state, and private grants. When combined with all other student financial assistance grants, these funds amount to over $4 million.
The College participates in Title IV federal grant and loan programs, several Massachusetts grants and tuition waivers, and receives scholarships through the Educational Foundation. The total financial aid awarded exceeds $4 million annually, of which more than 70% is nonrepayable gift aid.
In the first half of the past decade, financial aid availability climbed. Federal Pell Grants increased annually. In August 1998, the College's allocation for the Massachusetts Cash (Access) Grant increased from less than $60,000 per year to nearly $425,000, which reflected a BHE commitment to make its institutions accessible. By FY2001, the amount was over $720,000. Unfortunately, FY2002 saw a reduction to $670,000 and the grant has since been level-funded at $600,000. At the same time, the Federal Pell Grant limit did not change for five years.
The Workforce Education Resource Center (WERC), established in 1999, delivers noncredit courses to the public as well as administering credit courses under contract with organizations throughout Southeastern Massachusetts. It also provides custom training to businesses, organizations, municipalities, military and government agencies, as well as individuals within the communities of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and Southeastern Massachusetts. The College retains the revenue from fees, which vary by class and contract, after direct and administrative expenses.
The College receives minimal amounts of revenue through contracted services from the cafeteria, bookstore, the Academy for Lifelong Learning, Project Forward, and other facilities usage. In Fiscal Years 2005 and 2006, income from auxiliary services was below $200,000 annually.
The College has also created partnerships with other institutions of higher education to provide instruction on campus for degree programs beyond AA and AS. These partnerships under the Office of Advanced Studies also create income. For example, a 2+2 initiative includes a direct revenue payment to the College along with contributions to library materials.
Allocation of Funds
The Vice President of Administration and Finance controls fund allocation through the budget process. Generally, the process begins during the Spring semester. The deans receive worksheets for each of their departments that list current year budget data and provide an opportunity to project upcoming year needs. The deans determine the level of involvement from department heads when completing the budget worksheets. Requests for additional funds must include a justification. The Vice President compiles the information, has discussion at Cabinet about new expenditures, and then issues a tentative spending plan. The proposed budget must receive approval from the Board of Trustees. Ideally, this process is complete before the start of each the new fiscal year. In reality, the budget timeline fluctuates, based on state budget delays and adjustments in appropriation.
Throughout the year, deans and directors receive budget reports for their departments. These reports track expenditures for line items within each cost center. Many individual departments have modest budget reserve lines. Department heads may move funds between cost center categories when unexpected expenses arise.
Many elements of the College's annual budget are not negotiable. Collective bargaining contracts determine salaries for faculty, professional staff, and most support positions. Accounting standards require the College to include deferred compensation for potential sick time and retirements into its financial statements. The BHE mandates that institutions dedicate at least 5% annually toward deferred maintenance.
The institution clearly focuses its revenue on the College's core mission. The distribution of available funds verifies that the College's main priority is supporting its students' learning. Over 80% of available funding is allocated to instruction and student support services.
The Vice President of Administration and Finance manages a Special Initiatives fund. New project ideas move from department chairs to deans for discussion at Cabinet, where the project's relationship to the mission and its estimated costs are assessed. If Cabinet approves a project and it is relatively inexpensive, it may receive funding through the Special Initiatives account. Otherwise, Cabinet may decide to solicit a fundraising proposal working with the Foundation.
Accountability
The College ensures its financial integrity by using both external reviews and internal control procedures. The College had its first audited financial statements at the end of FY1998. The KPMG, LLP independent auditors have issued an unqualified report with no material findings every year since. The auditors present their conclusions at an open Board of Trustees meeting each fall as well as in the Board's executive session.
Additional audits and external reviews occur on a regular and ad hoc basis to ensure financial compliance. For example, the state audited the College's information technology systems and in a separate audit, reviewed faculty load data. Financial aid records receive routine audits from KPMG, state auditors, the US Department of Education, federal loan guarantors, and the Veterans Administration. There have been no significant findings from these reviews.
Within the College, additional policies assure financial integrity. The Board of Trustees has an audit committee. The Board's Policy Manual documents what financial records the College must present for their approval. Examples include quarterly Trust Fund Reports, the Internal Controls Manual, the operating budget, and audited financial statements. The College has autonomy with respect to spending within the budget guidelines, but the President must receive Board approval for single expenditures over $25,000.
Within the Business Office, there is a segregation of duties. Checks and balances exist throughout all processes to ensure accuracy and compliance with cash management regulations. Satisfactory audits confirm that appropriate safeguards are in place.
The College meets or exceeds the BHE Performance Standard Indicators for affordability as well as for effectiveness and efficiency. These indicators include audits, capital adaptation, institutional support, and fundraising. The College meets the auditor's community college best practice recommendation of having at least 10% of operating expenses in unrestricted funds.
Appraisal
Source of Funds
One of the College's major accomplishments during the past decade is its cash reserves balance. In FY1997, there were no reserves. The balance sheet accrual showed a deficit of $753,295. By FY1998, the deficit increased to nearly $2 million because of new accounting rules incorporating deferred compensation. Following the establishment of a balanced, conservative budget with a built-in reserve goal, the FY2006 unrestricted net assets have grown to over $2 million.
The College's capital assets grew with the addition of the Lorusso Applied Technology Building. This new building was in a "pending" status with the state for over ten years before the College received approval to proceed. In 2006, the College opened its first new building on campus in over thirty years. The Educational Foundation ran a highly successful capital campaign raising $4.2 million. Along with funding from the Commonwealth, the building is a debt-free asset for the College.
As at any institution, financial resources are critical for sustaining the College's mission. Like many public institutions, the College receives a portion of its funding from the Commonwealth, but this limited amount does not fully cover operating expenses. The administration must continually address the necessity of keeping costs for students affordable, while still generating sufficient revenue for operating costs. Student fee increases have slowed in the past several years, but the administration must still consider adjustments annually. The Board of Trustees is sensitive to the issue of affordability and access. All fee increase decisions have been well researched and debated.
The College has been fortunate to have stable enrollment revenue. There are no formal contingency plans for an unanticipated decline in these funds. However, many efforts are in place within Admissions and Advising to bring in new enrollments and retain current students. With the data available in the Jenzabar student information system, and the new Director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness position, the College has an opportunity to execute more sophisticated enrollment planning.
Allocation of Funds
The College must dedicate the majority of its financial resources to employee salaries and deferred compensation. Since the last accreditation, there have been two early retirement incentive programs that had a major impact on the College's resources. Careful financial management provided the College with the necessary funds to pay out the retirements. The Commonwealth limited new hires to 20% of the positions vacated, which created a staffing deficit critical to the College's mission. Further payroll-related pressures occur when contracts mandate salary adjustments and the legislature fails to fund them. In 2006, the state appropriated $500,000 to fund retroactive contract increases. The restrictions and funding delays for contracted employees generally are not applicable to non-unit employees, creating apparent inequities.
Maintaining the campus is a continuous financial challenge. Due to the facility's age and years of scarce funding, there are always more maintenance projects than resources. It is difficult to retrofit disability accommodations, provide ventilation or air conditioning in all buildings, assuage environmental health concerns, and otherwise modernize all areas. Funds from the Educational Foundation have allowed for many physical upgrades. Thanks to significant support from external donations, instruction is now carried out in SMART classrooms, Nursing and Dental Hygiene labs have been improved and expanded, Massage Therapy has dedicated space, Disability Services received additional equipment, the theater and hospitality programs were updated, and the space provided for the Academy for Lifelong Learning was renovated.
Slim resources and existing expenses can limit academic initiatives. However, the College has succeeded in implementing many offerings. The Academic Departments received resources to initiate a Massage Therapy Certificate Program, an expanded Dental Hygiene Clinic with additional chairs and equipment, degrees and certificates in Environmental Studies, an additional cohort of Nursing students, technology upgrades throughout the College, the Zammer Hospitality Institute, and online distance learning.
While the budget process involves much discussion at the Cabinet level and must receive approval from the Board of Trustees, there is a general sense that the process is not sufficiently inclusive. There are limited resources for new initiatives, budgets are generally level-funded, and department heads must submit requests to deans for proposed adjustments. Once the deans receive these requests, significant delays too often occur before departments receive tentative budgets due to fluctuations in state appropriations.
The President's Cabinet has access to daily enrollment reports. These data are critical for projecting revenue and planning adjustments to the budgets. Forecasting beyond the current semester continues to be a challenge, but is essential to multi-year planning. The current process, though effective, is more informal than systematic. A well defined connection between financial projections and strategic planning does not yet exist.
Like many public institutions, the College has relied on annual planning based on the state budget process. Appropriation predictions vary significantly and official budget information often becomes available only after the start of the fiscal year. This is another critical challenge to multi-year planning. To link budgeting to the strategic plan, the administration will need to explore options for overcoming this hurdle.
Although formalized multi-year financial planning is not yet in place, the College has been looking forward while considering both its mission and funding. For example, a feasibility study explored the possibility of building oncampus student housing. Based on the results, the College may continue moving forward to receive approval from the BHE, explore the financing options, and secure resources for implementation. Such housing would open new vistas for the future of Cape Cod Community College.
Accountability
Strides have been made in documenting financial procedures. Perhaps most important has been the implementing software with an integrated general ledger. QuoData, which subsequently became Jenzabar, has allowed for more accurate accounting and reporting.
The Vice President of Finance and Administration and the Business Office staff have created several documents to ensure compliance with all finance-related regulations. The Comptroller updates the Internal Controls manual annually as part of the yearly audit. It also received an extensive revision after the implementation of the Jenzabar system. The BHE has cited the College's Risk Assessment document from the Internal Controls manual as a model for other Massachusetts community colleges. The Vice President's Office is also responsible for maintaining the College's Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual, which received a thorough update in 2006. The Billing Procedures Calendar, created twice per year with the Jenzabar Operations Committee, includes critical dates for registration, admissions, assessment, and financial aid. After careful research and negotiation, the College hired a new independent auditing firm, O'Connor and Drew, beginning with the FY2007 audit. This represents both a good business practice for compliance and a significant savings in cost.
Other areas still require attention. The budget process, for example, is handled consistently, but is not well documented. Information is shared between the Vice President and the Deans, but the process is not necessarily transparent to others. Resources often require level funding, and as a result departments often cannot implement the initiatives they have requested.
The College Meeting governance system provides the Vice President of Finance and Administration an opportunity to provide monthly updates on financial and budgetary issues. These reports frequently include the status of funding from the BHE and legislature. The Board of Trustees Finance and Personnel Committee meets on a monthly basis in advance of each full Trustees meeting.
The College has made major financial investments in technology over the past ten years, both in academic and administrative areas. The College brought the Jenzabar student information system on line in July 2003, which allowed full integration of student records, billing, financial aid, and all other accounting functions. Although the Business Office had implemented its general ledger in 1999 using QuoData, the system was independent from the College's student system and from the financial aid system. The Jenzabar system that replaced QuoData allows easier and more accurate reporting, has eliminated most manual adjustments to student accounts, and allows for greater accuracy and simplification in the reconciliation process.
There has been stable leadership in the Finance area over the past ten years. The current Vice President of Administration and Finance was hired in Fall 2005. Her predecessor was in the position for ten years. Nearly all staff members in the Business Office and Human Resources have worked for the College more than ten years. This continuity gives the institution strength for maintaining compliance as well as implementing new initiatives. Staffing revisions have been made in the Finance area, such as creating new positions or upgrading existing ones, in order to better address critical functions in payroll and the Business Office.
Institutional Effectiveness
The College continues to meet the Finanacial Resources standard for effectiveness by means of a mandatory, on-going system of evaluation. Financial activities receive scrutiny within the institution based on policies regarding budgeting, planning, and Board of Trustees oversight. The College's finances also receive evaluation from mandatory annual audits, ad hoc reporting, and BHE performance standards.

Projections – Standard Nine – Financial Resources

Projections	Responsible Staff	Completion Date
Develop a multi-year planning process that will integrate with the College's mission and strategic plans. It must accommodate the unpredictable amounts and fluctuating timelines associated with state appropriations and contract funding.	President & Cabinet	FY 2009 - 2010
Update and document the budget process beginning with the FY2008 cycle. The goal is to link the College's mission, strategic plan, and budgeting into a cohesive process.	VP Admin. and Finance	FY 2009
Refine the enrollment data reports as needed. These reports are critical to forecasting anticipated enrollment changes, thereby providing more assurance of incoming revenue. Within the next two to three years, the College should be able to incorporate enrollment forecasting in its multi-year fiscal planning.	IR Director	FY 2009 - 2010
Develop a financial strategy for responding to an increasing number of retirements. The College will need to cover the costs of these retirements, while also budgeting for sufficient replacements to maintain its high level of academic quality.	President VP Admin. & Finance Cabinet	FY 2009
Evaluate and document the security controls within the College's financial system. Given the College's history of unqualified audits, this project could wait to begin in two to three years. Reviewing and documenting the security procedures within the Jenzabar. Business Office will take approximately a year to complete.	Comptroller IT Director or Appropriate IT Staff	FY 2010
TheThe College's grant writing and fund processing will become more systematic within the next five years. The Grant Writer will formalize the process by which faculty and staff participate in the grant-writing process. The College will evaluate improvements in this area by measuring increased funding through grants.	Grant Developer & Grant Accountant	FY 2008 - 2013
Implement alternative forms of communication to ensure that those unable to attend College Meetings receive this fiscal information consistently. New methods of communication will also allow timely announcements in between the monthly meetings. These changes should foster a sense of inclusive communication.	VP Admin & Finance IT Staff	FY 2009

Description
Cape Cod Community College presents information to the public in print and electronic format. Major print publications include the Cape Cod Community College Catalog, Semester Course Guides, Admissions Bulletin, and the Student Planner. The College website is another effective channel for disseminating information. Print and radio promotions, student publications, Channel 98, and program-related brochures are produced as means to further promote academic areas, semester offerings, and College events. Additional means of communication include an electronic message board in the cafeteria, bulletin boards in all buildings, and a large message board situated across from the main entrance to the campus. The Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs works in collaboration with the Office of College Communications to ensure that all publications portray the Mission and responsibilities of the College, providing consistency, accuracy, and high-quality production.
The most comprehensive publication is the Cape Cod Community College Catalog. It is available at Student Orientation prior to each fall and spring semester, at various offices and sites on campus, and is mailed upon request. In addition, the complete Catalog is available on the College's web site. Published annually, it provides a brief history of the College, information about the College's Mission, accreditation status, admissions policy, academic calendar, College resources, financial aid and transfer information, community resources, programs of study, and advanced degree opportunities. It also includes the College's official affirmative action statement and provides information regarding accrediting agencies and review committees. Fee structures, subject to change outside publication deadlines, are released separately and are easily accessed by students at application, placement testing, and registration. The Catalog contains a list of all current course descriptions and outlines degree requirements, program objectives, and expected educational outcomes in selected disciplines. It fully informs students of academic standards. The Catalog explains the total cost of education, along with eligibility requirements, application procedures, and available sources of financial aid. It includes a Directory of Information, listing the members of the Board of Trustees, administrative officers, support staff, advisory boards, and the faculty, indicating educational background and areas of instruction where appropriate. The Board of Trustee members and their affiliations are also noted in the College's Annual Report.
The Catalog is supplemented by the Semester Course Guide, which is prepared by the Office of College Communications. The Guide is a comprehensive semester-specific publication for each academic term—fall, spring, and summer. It lists the semester's course offerings, credit and non-credit, their meeting times and locations, instructors, prerequisites, and any special notations such as special dates or additional fees. The schedule of courses is arranged alphabetically by course discipline. For the convenience of those who are unable to enroll in courses following a traditional daytime schedule, a separate section lists courses offered during the late afternoon and evening hours. Other scheduling opportunities, such as courses offered at the Hyannis Center and other community sites, hybrid and fully online courses, and intensive or intersession courses, are listed in separate, clearly identified sections. The Course Guide also highlights College resources such as the Workforce Education Resource Center, the Hyannis Center, Advanced Studies, International Studies, and the Academy for Lifelong Learning. Registration information, hours of operation, and cost per credit hour are clearly stated, accompanied by a blank registration form. The Course Guide is produced to market the College's services and course offerings to a select target group in the service area of Southeastern Massachusetts, including Cape Cod, and the Islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Of the 80,000 pieces printed, approximately 70,000 are direct-mailed to households. Remaining Course Guides are distributed on campus and to local libraries, mailed to individuals upon request, and used for recruiting purposes.
The Semester Information Guide, accessible through the College's Home Page at www.capecod.edu, is an electronic resource containing all pertinent semester-specific information that is contained in the printed Course Guide described above. Responsive to the Campus Web as a search tool for course offerings, the Semester Information Guide provides a dynamic semester course list that indicates the status of all courses along with scheduling information, professors, and class locations for each course section.
Published annually by the Office of Student Development and overseen by the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs, the Cape Cod Community College Student Planner (Exhibit 10.3) contains valuable information regarding student rights and responsibilities. It is distributed to those attending Student Orientation prior to fall and spring semesters or by request. The Planner contains the Student Code of Conduct, defines academic policies and procedures, offers opportunities for students to be involved in campus activities and clubs, and lists institutional resources for students.
The Admissions Bulletin, published annually by the Admissions Office, is a condensed guide to the College's admission process, complete with a blank application form. It highlights academic programs, courses and transfer options, student life, and College resources such as the Tutoring Center, the Reading and Writing Resource Center, Disability Services, tuition advantages, and procedures for obtaining various types of financial aid. The College prints approximately 15,000 copies of the Admissions Bulletin yearly. The Bulletin is distributed by the Admissions Office to high schools, social service agencies, and libraries, and is handed out at College Fairs and College Night programs.
Over the last decade, electronic communications have created a new and effective means of promoting the College and disseminating information. The College's website presents opportunities as well as challenges for maintaining accuracy and a consistently positive image. Overall responsibility for the website lies with the Offices of Information Technology and the Office of College Communication (www.capecod.edu). The College's Web Presence Committee, the Office of Information Technology, and the Office of College Communications have over the past year structured the new College website as the first component of the College's web portal. The site remains decentralized, created and maintained by many different individuals throughout the campus, but with a basic layout and guidelines that help maintain page-to-page consistency.
The College publishes information about the total cost of education at CCCC and the availability of financial aid in its Admissions Bulletin and Semester Course Guides. The expected amount of student debt upon graduation is not provided because this information is not available for all students.
Approximately 50% of the academic courses now taught at CCCC have syllabi that include specific student learning outcomes. Program outcomes have been published in the College Catalog. The College is actively completing course syllabi that include student learning outcomes for all its courses. Course syllabus information is not currently posted on the College's website.
The College disseminates basic enrollment, retention, and graduation information for its students. This information is produced in conjunction with the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education (BHE) and is published by the BHE. This information is discussed throughout the College and is available from the recently established Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness. The College provides recent information on passage rates on licensure examinations in the Nursing and Dental Hygiene programs.
Student success is measured and published in a number of ways. The CCCC Graduate Survey is conducted yearly. The Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Survey and the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) are conducted in alternate years. These surveys provide data relevant to student success. The College uses these data to improve its performance and makes the data available upon request. In addition, student success in transferring is now being measured with the assistance of the National Student Clearinghouse. Faculty and staff success stories are presented in several venues, including the College Catalog and the Admissions Bulletin. In addition, the achievements of the College's students, faculty, and staff receive effective press coverage at all levels of media, including nationwide.
Print and radio promotions are created and disseminated by the Office of College Communications. They are generally used to promote the start of a registration period or a College event. The College is in the process of including bilingual elements in its advertising.
The Main Sheet is a weekly uncensored newspaper advised by a professor of Journalism, published by students in Journalism courses, edited by a student, and distributed in 32 campus locations and on the College website.
Sea Change is a glossy journal showcasing creative fiction, poetry and art-work. It is published periodically (every two to three years), historically by a club or as a class project, and is distributed by the Department of Language and Literature, the Library, and the College bookstore.
The Write Stuff is a refereed showcase of student essays selected by a faculty committee. It is distributed in English Composition courses, made available through placement throughout campus, and is published on the campus web.
WKKL is Cape Cod Community College's student-run radio station located in a state-of– the-art facility, the Makkay Broadcasting Center. It serves as a training center for broadcasting and provides programming encompassing a wide variety of music and announcements sensitive to the social, cultural, and educational needs of the listening area. Announcements include public service messages for the College and its surrounding community.
Broadcast under the auspices of the Office of Distance and Learning Technologies, Channel 98 is our licensed, non-profit local educational television channel, carrying general College course information, public announcements, and educational programming.
Program-related brochures and academic newsletters and flyers are produced independently by College departments to fulfill specific needs.
The Compass Guide Book is designed to help students navigate their way through the college process. It contains step-by-step information for specific types of students attending CCCC (e.g. returning, first-time, transfer, ESOL, dual enrollment), and includes valuable information regarding various College offices, departments, and services students will most likely need to contact.
Email service, supported by the Office of Information Technology, complements traditional methods of communication. All students, faculty, support staff, administrators, trustees, and emeriti professors have access to College email service. Indeed, the Public Disclosure Committee used the College's email service to complete its student and faculty surveys for this self-study.
Through partnerships with four-year colleges, Cape Cod Community College offers opportunities for advanced study leading to baccalaureate and master's degrees on its campus.
The Cape Cod Community College Annual Report, published by the Office of College Communications, highlights the College's yearly accomplishments and milestones.
The Office of College Communications began distributing an "e-newsletter" in late 2007. It is an evolving effort intended to keep both internal and external audiences in touch with events, accomplishments, and initiatives on the campus. At this time, it reaches approximately 900 recipients.
The Lightkeepers Log is the alumni newsletter mailed twice a year to 8,000 alumni. After the June, 2007 issue, it will be available exclusively online. It features honorary degree recipients, retirees, teaching awards, alumni events and updates, and information on the Zammer Institute.
Finally, the Audited Financial Statement is available in the Wilkens Library or through the Massachusetts Department of Education.
Appraisal
Cape Cod Community College provides information to its constituent groups and to the general public at large that is accurate, complete, accessible through various channels and technologies, and sufficient for prospective and current students to make informed decisions about their academic options. Its variety of communication channels provide equally accurate, complete, accessible, and sufficient information to inform the College community and general public about the institution and its effectiveness in fulfilling its Mission.
The Public Disclosures Committee conducted a campus-wide online survey of its various channels of communication, including the College Catalog, the Course Guides, the Student Planner, the Admissions Bulletin, the College website, print and radio promotions, and student publications. In addition, faculty members were asked for feedback regarding the aforementioned public documents. Furthermore, as part of its efforts to effectively communicate with others, in 2005 the College enlisted the aid of Sandra Golden & Associates, Inc., specialists in higher education marketing and public relations, to perform and write an Audit Report for Cape Cod Community College. The committee used this document as a reference in their report. Data showed clearly that key segments of the College's audiences found and made effective and efficient use of the publications and available information to interact successfully with the institution. The relevant portions of those documents are included as exhibits within the data portion of this self-study.
With respect to the aforementioned online student survey, 97.3% of current students responding in Fall 2006 found the College Catalog to be "easy" or "fairly easy" to access, and 87.8% indicated that the Catalog was a "useful" or "fairly useful" tool. In addition, the 2005 Audit Report states that "The catalog seems well organized, easy to follow, and contains good information;" however, the catalog includes full-time personnel and courses not available during a particular term and also lists courses that have not been offered for several terms.
Because one individual is responsible for the accuracy and timeliness of all academic and administrative information contained in the College Catalog, Admissions Bulletin, Semester Course Guides, and the College's website, a high level of consistency throughout these documents is maintained.
The results of the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction survey and the Community College Survey of Student Engagement have shown that the College is generally above the national average on most indices. While the College does a very good job of portraying student and faculty successes in its publications, it has not maximized the value of its research efforts in improving quality. Students would benefit from having more program-specific information to help them make better decisions about their careers and educational plans.
The College does a good job of presenting overall cost and financial aid information to its students. The information presented is accurate and offers realistic information to help students to make informed financial decisions about their education. The College does not have program specific information about debt and earning capacity of its graduates. This important information would be useful in guiding students while they make decisions about their educational and career plans.
The College has begun to see the benefits of its new student information system, implemented in the last three years. Last year, the College significantly expanded its efforts to improve its use of information. It has created a full-time Director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness position to improve the College's information infrastructure. The Director will develop program-specific information and standardize institutional reporting. For example, while information on success in licensure examinations in the Nursing and Dental Hygiene programs is available, it is not widely distributed.
The CCCC Course Guide also received high ratings for accessibility and usefulness in both the student survey and the faculty survey. In like manner, the Golden & Co. Audit Report stated, "Currently your schedule has a number of good features. Its size and format work well." Student responses to the Student Planner were generally positive, with 93.7% responding that it was "easily" or "fairly easily" accessed and 70.1% indicating it was a "useful or "fairly useful" tool. Likewise, the faculty survey resulted in positive feedback, with a suggestion that more copies of the Planner be printed and distributed.
The Marketing Survey states, "The Admissions Bulletin has good content and information. The ‘Why CCCC Is Good' and the use of ‘Graduates at Work' and the ‘Save Money' chart are also good additional sections." In Fall 2006, a student survey of the Admissions Bulletin was conducted. This survey questioned 253 credit-earning students. On a scale of one to five, with five being the highest rating, students gave the Admissions Bulletin a favorable overall rating of 3.95. The Admissions application is published online.
The new website, described in the Description area of this report, was launched in late spring 2007. Evaluations of the site are being indexed for continued development and improvement of this major resource. Multiple surveys show that an overwhelming majority of CCCC students (over 90% in all cases) find the College's publications and website useful and effective. The website does not include the Annual Report or the Admissions Bulletin. The Director of Disability Services reports that the new beta website is much improved as far as legal compliance is concerned; however, she indicates that a major concern is the difficulty in using the course schedule and registering online with screen readers. Furthermore, she recommends that more departmental publications be put on the College's website to provide alternative access for students with disabilities.
All radio advertising reinforces the CCCC "brand" by tagging each spot with the theme, "Start here, and you can take your life anywhere." Based on ongoing editorials, the College enjoys a very positive relationship with the news media and is able to communicate important policy and institutional information widely and effectively. Today's digital technology allows for even more targeted delivery, thus enhancing the understanding of the institution by specific segments of its service area. Channels of communication such as postcard, email, or web-based media are becoming increasingly prevalent and routinely expected by the public. The Marketing Survey states, "The College has good relations with the media, especially the local newspapers, which have used many stories on College events, as well as significant editorials explaining the funding for the College…paid advertising for CCCC has been primarily through radio. The radio spots we heard were simple narration, but well done, clearly targeting certain audiences (part time, full time, retrainers, returning adults) and focusing on beliefs."
Similar high effectiveness and usefulness ratings were given to the College's use of media as an information distribution tool in the student survey. The Public Disclosure Committee suggests that bilingual promotions be included.
Miscellaneous publications created by individual offices and departments are sometimes inaccurate. The decentralized system that creates and disseminates such brochures, flyers, and reports results in occasional visual and content inconsistencies that could lead to misunderstandings or misinterpretations by readers. For example, in reviewing various publications, the Public Disclosure Committee found an inconsistency regarding the inclusion of the College's Mission Statement. Limited College resources constrain it from requiring that all documents created for the general public or student population be processed through its Office of Communications. On very rare occasions, inaccurate or outdated information has been found in such publications. While correction is immediate, such conflicts challenge the institution to provide complete, accurate, and current publications.
The new and more concise Mission Statement should be included in more College publications whenever reasonable. Furthermore, the College should also promote the "family look" in brochures, flyers, and reports with stricter adherence to a unified graphic look. In that regard, recently, a template for program brochures was created and used for the latest Dental Hygiene Local Anesthesia brochure.
Currently, with few exceptions, key College communications are produced in English only, a seeming contradiction to the College's commitment to diversity and the fact that there are many non-English speakers in the region, particularly those speaking Portuguese and Spanish.
The College's cable television channel was once a primary distribution source for distance learning, providing a large catalog of videotaped courses to the public. Today, that process has been superseded by an even greater variety of online courses, leaving this channel as an untapped resource for community engagement and information delivery. However, announcements on the Bulletin Board have expanded greatly, and additional programming is expected via free satellite link from the NASA Channel, the Research Channel, and the Pentagon Channel. In addition, free foreign language programming is being investigated, including Portuguese TV and Al Jazeera USA. Eight Cape Cod towns receive Channel 98; however, some Cape Cod towns do not contract with the provider. Furthermore, the Arts Channel programming is very popular with our senior population. Concerns center on maintaining our current access and expanding to reach other Cape Cod towns. The Public Disclosure Committee's suggestion to include faculty interviews on the cable channel was well received.
As required by NEASC, the College will notify the surrounding community of the comprehensive evaluation scheduled for April. Such notification will solicit Third Party Comments to be submitted at least one month before the visit from the NEASC visiting team. Notification and requests for comments will be placed in local newspapers, alumni newsletters, as well as the College newspaper, advising those who wish to comment to submit their comments to the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education.
Institutional Effectiveness
The College carefully reviews all of its official publications regularly. Most are done annually as they are revised and updated, while others are reviewed on an as-needed basis. These reviews are not "perfunctory," but substantive. Most recently, the review of the Summer 2007 Course Guide by deans and directors resulted in layout changes intended to increase its usefulness to both current and new students, including the addition of an on-cover index and subject/ section "tabs" along the outside borders of its pages. The College will create a campus-wide Style Guide, to which the College will require that all documents conform.

Projections - Standard Ten - Public Disclosure

Projections	Responsible Staff	Completion Date
Create a campus-wide Style Guide, to which all campus publications will conform.	Office of College Communications	FY 2009
Provide an ongoing review of major publications and website	Office of College Communications	On-going
Indicate personnel who are not available during a particular term. The Catalog will indicate personnel who are awarded sabbaticals and their leave dates	Academic and Student Affairs	FY 2009
Complete the course sequencing located in Course Description section	Academic and Student Affairs Director of Institutional Research	FY 2009
Provide and publish information for student success and Student Right to Know, including program-specific information, retention, and graduation rates	Director of Institutional Research	FY 2009
Collect and publish information on success rates for licensure examinations in Nursing and Dental Hygiene Programs	Director of Institutional Research Office of College Communications	FY 2009
Obtain and distribute accurate program-specific information about student debt and earning capabilities for graduates	Director of Institutional Research	FY 2009
Enhance Guides by highlighting the College's value in its accessibility, advantages, transferability and successes	Office of College Communications	FY 2009
Showcase the College by including student successes and the advantages of attending CCCC	Student Development Office of College Communications	FY 2009
Publish bulletin on the College's website	Admissions Office Information Technology	FY 2009
Implement online application process	Admissions Office Information Technology	FY 2009
Compile an electronic library of all publications	Admissions Office Information Technology	FY 2009
Create an additional report (related to web-course listings and online registration) specifically responsive to the needs of visually impaired students using screen readers	Information Technology	FY 2009
Translate print publications into non-English languages, available for download on the College website	Office of College Communications	FY 2010
Publish all course syllabi with student-learning outcomes	VP Ac. & Stu. Affairs	FY 2009
Explore more effective ways of obtaining student outcomes information, and of collecting and distributing program-specific information about students and graduates	Dir. of Institutional Research VP Ac. & Stu. Affairs	FY 2009
Incorporate non-English elements in communications	Office of College Communications	FY 2009
Develop key publications in Spanish and Portuguese in response to regional needs	Office of College Communications	FY 2009
Expand our cable station's reach into Bourne, Sandwich, and Falmouth	Dir. Wilkens Library Distance Learning & Technologies	FY 2010

Description

On January 14, 2007, newly elected Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick spoke at Cape Cod Community College. He was introduced by a man who thanked him for honoring his earlier promise to return to Cape Cod for the event honoring Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Governor replied that it was no big deal.
"I do what I say I am going to do," he said with a shrug.
That is integrity.
Cape Cod Community College was established in 1961 by the Great and General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Mission of the new college, according to the enabling legislation, was to be an "open-admission, publicly supported, post-secondary institution dedicated to providing quality educational programs and services at a low cost to meet the diverse needs of the citizens of Cape Cod, the Islands, including Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, and southeastern Massachusetts."
The authority of the College to operate is also contained in Chapter 15A of the General Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the decisions of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, and the College's Board of Trustees.
Cape Cod Community College strives to conduct itself with integrity in its dealings with students, faculty, administrators, staff, and the general public. The true test of integrity is whether the College does what it says it is going to do. The basic statement of the College's purpose is contained in its Mission Statement, adopted in 2006, and approved by the BHE in 2007.
"The students' education comes first at Cape Cod Community College. We are a learning-centered community that values the contributions of a diverse population, welcomes open inquiry, and promotes mutual respect. The College provides a strong educational foundation of critical, creative thinking, communication competencies, and a global, multicultural perspective that prepares students for life and work in the 21st Century. Our liberal arts, sciences, and career programs provide educational pathways that serve the varied social, economic, and demographic characteristics of our community with a distinctive focus on sustainability. We honor our past, celebrate our present, and imagine our future."
Further indications of the College's commitment to integrity, including truthfulness, clarity, fairness, transparency, and nondiscrimination are contained in the Governance Document, the minutes of all meetings held under that document, the Administrative Policies and Procedures Manual, the College Catalog, the Admissions Bulletin, the Student Handbook, collective bargaining agreements, and reports on the deliberations of the Management/Association Committee on Employee Relations (MACER), the College's Affirmative Action Plan, the College's Standard Bid Proposal Form, and in the Advisors' Handbook.
All meetings on campus are open to the general public, with the limited exceptions defined by Massachusetts open meeting laws. Decisions made at meetings are published in minutes made public on the College computer network and are frequently reported in the weekly student newspaper and newspapers in the community.
A non-discrimination statement appears on many College documents, including the main page of the College website. It reads: "Cape Cod Community College policy prohibits discrimination in education, employment, and services on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, marital status, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, or disability."
A longer Affirmative Action and Title IX Policy statement reads as follows:
"Cape Cod Community College is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. We encourage applications from candidates who will enrich and contribute to the cultural and ethnic diversity of our College and we do not discriminate on the basis of age, race, creed, color, religion, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status, national origin, or disability status in its education programs or in activities as required by the Title VI Civil Rights Act of 1964; Title IX, Education Amendments of 1972; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; and regulations promulgated thereunder; 34 C.F.R. Part 100 (Title VI), Part 106 (Title IX), and Part 104 (Section 504); and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. All inquiries concerning application of the above should be forwarded to the College's Coordinator of Affirmative Action. All questions, concerns, or complaints should be forwarded to the Dean of Administration and Human Resources, the Affirmative Action Coordinator, or the Title IX Coordinator.
"Requests for auxiliary aids and services regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act should be forwarded to Director of the O'Neill Center for Disability Services. "This notice is available in large print, audio tape, and in Braille from Chet W. Yacek or Joyce Chasson, A.D.A. Compliance Coordinators."
The College's sexual harassment policy and affirmative action policy are distributed by email to all College faculty and staff each semester and posted on the College website. In compliance with federal regulations, the College's Title IX Officer regularly notifies faculty, students and staff of the College's policies regarding sexual harassment and discrimination based on sex. The Title IX Officer communicates through professional development programs and a newsletter covering sexual harassment issues in higher education to help everyone at CCCC stay current regarding these issues.
All classrooms, laboratories, and other campus buildings are accessible to people with disabilities. In an effort to reach out to under-represented populations, the College maintains a satellite campus in a storefront on Main Street in Hyannis, close to low-income and immigrant population centers. The Hyannis Center focuses on Adult Basic Education and English for Speakers of Other Languages.
Both campuses can be reached by public transportation offered by the Cape Cod Regional Transportation Authority.
Academic freedom is guaranteed by the College's Collective Bargaining Agreement and the College Governance Document.
All College employees are subject to the guidelines of the State Ethics Commission.
The College has published clearly defined procedures for resolving grievances from students, faculty, and staff. The student grievance procedure is described in the Student Handbook. The procedure for faculty and professional staff is defined by the MCCC Collective Bargaining Agreement. The grievance procedure for support staff is defined by the AFSCME Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The hiring of new faculty and professional staff is handled through a procedure that is designed to ensure fairness and nondiscrimination. Almost all full-time positions are filled through a well defined process that includes a national advertising campaign in general-audience publications, specialized publications, and publications targeted to minority populations. Applications are reviewed by Search and Screen Committees that include faculty and staff from the affected work area and from outside that area, an administrator, and a member of the Affirmative Action Committee, who is tasked with making sure members of under-represented populations are not victims of discrimination. The final decision in employment is up to the President of the College.
In 2001 and 2002, an ad hoc committee of 24 members of the administration, faculty, and staff prepared the College's Strategic Plan as a framework for fiscal and academic planning for the 2003-2008 period. The process included substantial input from the College's internal and external communities and identified opportunity, quality, and integrity as the animating values for the Strategic Plan. Seven strategic priorities were named and have served as benchmarks for College planning since acceptance of the plan by College Meeting and the Board of Trustees.
The College has been monitoring the level of student satisfaction through administration of the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory for 10 years and the Community College Survey of Student Engagement for one year. In the future, the College plans to alternate these two surveys, so that each one will be administered biennially. A similar survey of faculty satisfaction is planned for 2007.
Students also complete evaluations of adjunct instructors every semester and of full-time faculty once a year, in accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreements. The results of these student evaluations are reviewed by Academic Deans and the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs. These surveys and evaluations are designed to monitor institutional effectiveness.
Appraisal
A sentence commonly heard at Cape Cod Community College, particularly since the arrival of College President Kathleen Schatzberg in 1998, is "Students come first." The President's welcome message on Page 3 of the Spring 2007 Course Guide begins, "We believe strongly that no place in higher education is more committed to putting students first." The extent to which this is reflected in the everyday operations of the campus is one indication of how well the College is living up to its Mission.
The results of the Noel-Levitz Surveys taken in 1997, 2001, 2003 and 2006 indicate that in the area of "Student Centeredness," the satisfaction of students at CCCC has remained slightly higher than the national average of community colleges.
Among all 12 areas of the survey, in the 2006 survey, six of the areas indicated no statistical difference between the CCCC results and the national average, and in the six areas where there was a difference, the CCCC scores were higher in satisfaction than the national average in four cases and lower in two (Admission and Financial Aid, and Campus Support Services).
The Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory is administered every other year and includes questions that relate to the integrity of the College. In general, CCCC students were more satisfied with their college than their peers across the nation. CCCC scores were the same or better for most questions. The College's scores were higher at a statistically significant level of difference than the national average in several areas, including responses to the following statements:
- People on this campus respect and are supportive of each other
- The campus staff are caring and helpful
- Faculty are fair and unbiased in their treatment of students
- The institution shows a commitment to part-time students
- The institution shows a commitment to students with disabilities
Other aspects of what might be considered a part of the College's integrity in which satisfaction with the College scored lower included the following:
- Admissions and financial aid
- Campus support services
- Safety and security
It should be noted that the same areas scored lower in the national summaries as well.
Evidence of the effectiveness of nondiscrimination and affirmative action policies can be checked by comparing the difference between the percentage of minority group members at the College and in the general population it serves. According to the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, approximately 5.8% of the College's service area population consists of members of minority groups. This statistic is based upon the 2000 Census. In the Fall 2006 semester, about 13% of the College's credit-earning students were members of minority groups. This percentage has been increasing over the last 10 years.
According to the Human Resource Department, approximately 14% of the College's employees, and 17% of the College's teaching faculty, are members of minority groups.
The Noel-Levitz Survey compares how students perceive the College's commitment to serving under-represented populations to the national average of student perceptions on the subject at other colleges. The results at CCCC have usually been slightly better than the national average. On the question of the "institution's commitment to under-represented populations," the CCCC scores are slightly higher than the national average, except in 2006, when the College's score was 0.02 lower than the national average.
On November 9, 2006, a visiting team from the Massachusetts Department of Education, acting on behalf of the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, visited the campus to conduct what is informally known as a civil rights audit. In a "Letter of Findings" dated January 20, 2007, the Department required Cape Cod Community College to submit a Voluntary Compliance Plan (VCP) to address certain findings. A campus committee was formed in February 2007 to review these findings and develop a compliance plan to address areas of concern identified in the audit. The audit did not find any evidence of discrimination in the College's educational programs or in admission to, access to, treatment in, or employment in its programs or activities. The report did note several areas in which the College was requested to develop voluntary compliance measures, including a description of the action and target completion dates.
The primary VCP statement of concern was as follows: "College publications, policy statements, financial aid forms, admissions/recruitment materials, notice of non-discrimination, student handbooks and guides need to be reflective of the languages of the region, in particular Spanish and Portuguese; the College non-discrimination statement should appear in all major College publications and policies and website, the Financial Aid Office should develop a report identifying financial aid distribution by ethnicity, gender and disability status to verify that financial aid is awarded in a manner that does not discriminate; the College will develop and implement a policy that ensures that Distance Education courses are fully accessible to both students with and without disabilities; residency guidelines shall not be subject to geographic boundaries; improved signage and reconfiguration of the wheelchair entrance to the Wilkens Library."
In 2006, the College formed a team to receive training from the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI), an international organization that teaches leadership techniques to combat discrimination, reduce prejudice, and resolve conflicts. The College became an affiliate of NCBI, and the team conducted several workshops, including an all-day workshop for 50 volunteers, a two-hour workshop for the Board of Trustees and President's Cabinet, and several one-hour workshops for students. Participant evaluations from the NCBI prejudice-reduction workshops have been overwhelmingly positive. The College hosted a statewide three-day NCBI training seminar on campus in the summer of 2007. At that seminar, teams from seven community colleges and two four-year institutions received training in the NCBI prejudice reduction model.
Also, the Human Resources Office has initiated a dispute-resolution training program for College employees through a local agency (viz. Cape Mediation) specializing in conflict-and dispute resolution. Since 2005 approximately 50 employees have been trained, and this training is expected to continue.
In the last five years, no formal grievances have been filed relating to academic freedom. According to the MCCC Grievance Officer, grievances are divided into two levels at the initial stage of the process. The first is a filing, which precipitates an informal hearing. This matter stays on campus, in-house. The second is a formal grievance level whereby the MCCC is involved at the state level. Over the past five years the College has had several grievances initiated by faculty regarding academic freedom. All were resolved on campus and never reached the state level.
According to the Affirmative Action Officer, at any given time there are one or two active complaints from employees, and there might be two or three student complaints a year. These are investigated on campus by the Affirmative Action Officer. The individual complaining may then pursue his or her complaint by contacting the Massachusetts Council Against Discrimination (MCAD). According to the Human Resources Office, two employees filed complaints with MCAD in the last five years and their complaints were found to be without sufficient cause or basis.
The College's commitment to Title IX addresses and meets the requirements of the law. However, the coordinator feels that Title IX coordination might be more effective if it were part of a permanent job description rather than assigned on an annual basis. In the fall of 2007 the College President proposed a new position (Director of Equal Opportunity and Institutional Development) that would include Title IX coordination.
There are no more than two or three formal grievances filed each year for discrimination based on sex or gender. Most Title IX grievances involve student-to-student sexual harassment. A recent American Association of University Women (AAUW) study suggests that nationwide two-thirds of college students experience sexual harassment, but only seven percent report incidents to faculty members or other college employees.
The College's Affirmative Action Committee is a Standing Advisory Committee of the College. Its members are members of the College community, including faculty, staff, administrators, and students, all of whom serve as they do on other Standing Committees. As the name implies, the committee is an advisory committee to the President, and is assigned to ensure that all Affirmative Action goals are met at CCCC. All Search and Screen Committees include representatives of the Affirmative Action Committee, which is chaired by the Affirmative Action Officer. The committee meets monthly or more frequently when needed.
The Diversity Advisory Committee is comprised of community and College members appointed by the President to advise the College on diversity issues. The group meets monthly.
In the field of public safety, the College files annual reports in compliance with the federal Cleary Act. The College has few public safety incidents to report. According to the Director of Public Safety, the Department of Public Safety is responsible for maintaining a safe and secure environment for students, faculty, staff, and visitors. The Director reported in the fall of 2006 that the growth in student population had exceeded the growth in the budget for the Public Safety Department. In the fall of 2007 the Board of Trustees approved an expansion of the Public Safety Department and three new public safety officers were hired.
Students are invited to serve on all Standing Committees of the College and to participate in College Meeting. One student is elected each year to serve on the Board of Trustees. This action contributes to the inclusion of student perceptions in all decisions made at the College.
Over the past five years, CCCC has committed itself to developing online distance learning and to providing students with access to online materials. From virtually no online course five years ago, CCCC now offers more than 30 online courses, and provides student access to many more through its membership in the Massachusetts Colleges Online Consortium. During this same time frame, CCCC has also experienced a significant growth in the number of faculty using our Blackboard learning management system to augment and enhance communications with students and to provide students access to online materials and activities.
The 10-year history of data from the Noel- Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory and the Community College Survey of Student Engagement for one year are producing data that have been used to strengthen, for example, the Advising Office, which had been lagging behind national norms but is recovering after the addition of more full-time staffing. The recent addition of a Director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness with extensive professional experience in the field bodes well for more tools with which to assess the integrity of Cape Cod Community College.
In 2004, three faculty members wrote a concluding statement to be read at the end of Commencement ceremonies at Cape Cod Community College:
- This evening we have celebrated the community of Cape Cod Community College. We have honored many members of this community: faculty, staff and students. But most of all we have honored those of you in the graduating class. Now it is time for this celebration to draw to a close and for you to move on. We send you forth with wishes that reflect the College motto of life, liberty and learning.
- Go forth with light.
  Let your knowledge be a light that continues to shine.
  Remember that light can be a beacon to those in peril.
  Go forth with liberty.
  Celebrate and cherish the liberty we hold so dear.
  Remember it is your knowledge that protects that liberty.
  Go forth with learning.
  Pursue learning for your own sake
  Remember that learning continues beyond these halls.
  Wherever your life's journey leads from here, go in peace.
  Keep us in your hearts as we will keep you in ours.
  Go forth with light, with liberty and with learning.
We project that these words can also guide the future of CCCC as an institution. Light includes openness and transparency in administration. Liberty includes freedom of association, freedom of expression, and academic freedom, and learning includes the student-centered focus that has always characterized the College.
Institutional Effectiveness
Cape Cod Community College is committed to pursuing integrity in all its affairs. Measuring its institutional effectiveness in the area of integrity is more difficult than in more concrete areas, but can be achieved. Continued use of the Noel- Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory and the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (and its separate Survey of Faculty Engagement) is the primary means of measurement. Furthermore, student evaluations of faculty members will continue to assist in measuring the effectiveness of the faculty. Audits by outside accreditation agencies in specific professional programs are further means of measuring the integrity of Cape Cod Community College.

Projections – Standard Eleven – Integrity

Projections	Responsible Staff	Completion Date
The Director of Facilities Management will increase the number of signs indicating how people with disabilities can access all areas of the campus.	Director of Facilities Management	FY 2008
The Director of Communications will produce more literature, signs, and other materials in languages other than English.	Director of College Communications	FY 2008
The Chief Information Officer will supervise, and seek ways of improving the new College website, so that it is ever easier to use.	Chief Information Officer	FY 2008
The Director of Distance Learning will increase the number of courses offered online and make them easier to use.	Director of Distance Learning	FY 2009
The Affirmative Action Committee and The Diversity Advisory Committee will continue to assist the Human Resources staff, The Affirmative Action Officer and The Title IX Officer to ensure that members of minority groups are welcomed and embraced as integral members of the College community.	New Director of Equal Opportunity and Professional Development	FY 2009
The National Coalition Building Institute team will work to expand its membership and conduct more workshops to reduce prejudice and resolve conflicts on campus and in the surrounding community.	New Director of Equal Opportunity and Professional Development	FY 2009
To assess the institutional effectiveness with respect to these measures, The Director of Institutional Research will continue to administer regular surveys of the student body, the faculty, the administration, and the staff to find areas of institutional weakness and strength and recommend to The President actions to continue to improve Cape Cod Community College's integrity.	Director of Intuitional Research	FY 2009

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NEASC Self Study

Cape Cod Community College Mission Statement

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Cape Cod
Community College