NEASC Self Study – Preface

1. Corporate name of institution:	Cape Cod Community College
2. Address (city, state, zip code):     Phone: (508) 362-2131	2240 Iyannough Road West Barnstable, MA 02668-1599 URL of institutional webpage: www.capecod.edu
3. Date institution was chartered or authorized:	1960
4. Date institution enrolled first students in degree programs:	1961
5. Date institution awarded first degrees:	1963
6. Type of control: (check)     Public     X State     City     Other (Specify)	Private Independent, not-for-profit Religious Group (Name of Church) Proprietary Other: (Specify) ________________

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  7. By what agency is the institution legally authorized to provide a program of education beyond high school, and what degrees is it authorized to grant? The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education; Degrees: Associate in Arts; Associate in Science; and Certificates.
• Attach a copy of the by-laws, enabling legislation, and/or other appropriate documentation to establish the legal authority of the institution to award degrees in accordance with applicable requirements. See Appendix A. Chapter 15A of the General Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
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  8. Level of postsecondary offering (check all that apply):

	X Less than one year of work		First professional degree
	X At least one but less than two years		Master’s and/or work beyond the first professional degree
	Diploma or certificate programs of at least two but less than four years		Work beyond the master’s level but not at the doctoral level (e.g., Specialist in Education)
	X Associate degree granting program of at least two years		A doctor of philosophy or equivalent degree
	Four or five-year baccalaureate degree granting program		Other (Specify)

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  9. Type of undergraduate programs (check all that apply):

	X Occupational training at the crafts/clerical level (certificate or diploma)
	X Occupational training at the technical or semi-professional level (degree)
	X Two-year programs designed for full transfer to a baccalaureate degree
	X Liberal arts and general
	Teacher preparatory
	Professional
	Other

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• 10. The calendar system at the institution is:

X Semester

Quarter

Trimester

Other

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  11. What constitutes the credit hour load for a full-time equivalent (FTE) student each semester?

a) Undergraduate	12 credit hours
b) Graduate	N/A credit hours
c) Professional	N/A credit hours

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  12. Student population: Fall 2007

a) Degree-seeking students	Undergraduate	Graduate	Total
Full-time student headcount	1598	0	1598
Part-time student headcount	2836	0	2836
FTE	2449	0	2449

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  13. List all programs accredited by a nationally recognized, specialized accrediting agency. List the names of the apropriate agency for each accredited program:

	Nursing:	National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission, Mass. Board of Registration in Nursing;
	Dental Hygiene:	American Dental Association;
	Criminal Justice:	MA Board of Higher Education – Criminal Justice Program Review Committee;
	Early Childhood Education:	National Association for the Education of Young Children.

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  14. Off-campus locations: List all instructional locations other than the main campus. For each site, indicate whether the location offers full-degree programs, 50% or more of one or more degree programs, or courses only.

		Full degrees?	50% or more?	Courses only?	FTE Enrollment
	A. In-state Locations     Hyannis     Wareham     Provincetown     Truro     Harwich	N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A	N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A	Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes	10  4 16  1  2
	B. Out-of state Locations	None
	C. International Locations	None

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  15. Degrees and certificates offered 50% or more electronically: For each degree or certificate, indicate the level (certificate, associate’s, baccalaureate, master’s, professional, doctoral), the percent that may be completed on-line, and the number of matriculated students for the most recent fall semester. Enter more rows as needed.
• ** The College is planning to submit to the NEASC Commission on Institutions of Higher Education a substantive change request regarding distance learning. We are currently preparing a report to the Commission on the establishment of an academic program through distance learning. We hope to complete our report during the spring 2008 semester.
   
• 16. Instruction offered through contractual relationships: For each contractual relationship through which instruction is offered, indicate the name of the contractor, the location of instruction, the program name and degree level, and the percent of the degree that may be completed through the contractual relationship. Enter more rows as needed.

	Name of contractor	Location	Name of program	Degree level	% of degree
	Emergency Medical Teaching Services, Inc.	W. Barnstable, MA	Paramedic Certificate Program	Certificate	100%

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  17. List by name and title the chief administrative officers of the institution. Please see page vii.
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  18. Supply a table of organization for the institution. While the organization of any institution will depend on its purpose, size and scope of operation, institutional organization usually includes four areas. Although every institution may not have a major administrative division for these areas, the following outline may be helpful in charting and describing the overall administrative organization: Please see page vi.
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  19. Record briefly the central elements in the history of the institution:

	1961		College opened with 166 students, 5 full-time and several part-time faculty under Director Dr. Irving Bartlett who later became college’s first President. Temporary campus located in Hyannis, MA. College offered one transfer program, with a heavy emphasis on liberal arts, and number of two year programs.
	1963		E. Carleton Nickerson is appointed Cape Cod’s second President.
	1963		College graduates first class of 75 students.
	1965		Town of Barnstable gave 70 acres of land for a campus.
	1967		Accreditation (ten year) granted by New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
	1970		Moved to new 7 building campus in West Barnstable, MA which served over one thousand students.
	1972		Dr. James F. Hall is appointed Cape Cod's third President. Offered Associates in Science degree for all career programs. Institution of non-selective admissions.
	1973		College opens Tilden Arts Center.
	1977		Accreditation (ten year) granted by New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
	1981		Establishment of first local board of trustees of Cape Cod Community College.
	1982		Board of Trustees created the College Foundation for the purpose of raising funds to support the educational, literary and scientific activities, including courses, programs and goals of the College.
	1987		Dr. Philip R. Day Jr. is appointed Cape Cod's fourth President.
	1987		Accreditation (ten year) granted by New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
	1990		Dr. Vernon Beuke, Administrative Dean, served as interim President.
	1991		Dr. Richard A. Kraus is appointed Cape Cod's fifth President.
	1998		College receives deferred accreditation by New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
	1998		Dr. Kathleen Schatzberg is appointed Cape Cod's sixth President
	1999		College submits focused report to New England Association of Schools and Colleges to address deferred accreditation.
	2000		College receives continued accreditation (ten years) by New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
	2002		College earns U.S. EPA Environmental Merit Award, first ever given to a community college, honored for its outstanding efforts in environmental education, energy and water conservation.
	2006		College is honored by the Community College Futures Assembly as a "Bellweather" institution for its leadership and commitment to a sustainable future through its academic programs, environmental stewardship and sustainable management practices.
	2006		Lyndon P. Lorusso Applied Technology Building opens. This is the Commonwealth's first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified "green" building.
	2006		Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs grants initial accreditation to the Certificate Program in Medical Assisting through 2009.
	2007		The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) awards the Early Childhood Education Program at Cape Cod Community College full seven-year accreditation, the first such award in the state of Massachusetts and among the very first Associate Degree programs in the entire country to receive such recognition.

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Function Or Office		Name		Exact Title
Chair Board of Trustees		Robert F. Mills		Chair, Board of Trustees
President/Director		Kathleen Schatzberg		PresidentPresident
Executive Vice President		N/A		N/A
Chief Academic Officer		Philip J. Sisson		Vice President, Academic & Student Affairs
Dean		Lore Loftfield De Bower		Interim Academic Dean, Arts and Sciences
Dean		Susan Miller		Dean, Business, Health & Social Sciences & Human Services
Chief Financial Officer		Dixie K. Norris		Vice President, Administration & Finance
Chief Student Services Officer		Philip J. Sisson		Vice President, Academic & Student Affairs
Planning		Vacant		Director of Institutional Research & Effectiveness
Institutional Research		Vacant		Director of Institutional Research & Effectiveness
Development		Kathleen Schatzberg		President
Library		Greg M. Masterson		Director, Wilkens Library and Distance Learning & Technology
Chief Information Officer		Daniel Gallagher		Executive Director and Chief Information Officer
Continuing Education		Philip J. Sisson		Vice President, Academic & Student Affairs
Grants/Research		Georgia Carvalho		Grant Developer
Admissions		Susan Kline-Symington		Director of Admissions
Registrar		Sandra Brito		Registrar
Financial Aid		Sherry Andersen		Director of Financial Aid
Public Relations		Michael R. Gross		Director, Office of College Communication
Alumni Association		William McNamara		President, Alumni Association
Human Resources		Chet W. Yacek		Dean, Human Resources & Administration
Administration & Finance		Cynthia A. Crossman		Assistant Vice President of Administration & Finance
Facilities Management		John Lebica		Director, Facilities Management
Enrollment Management		Roseanna Pena-Warfield		Dean, Enrollment Management & Student Development
Learning Support Services		David B. Ziemba		Interim Dean, Learning Support Services & Advanced Studies
Project Mngt./Facilities Use		Jim Riordan		Project Manager & Director of Facilities Use

• 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.

Self Study Committee Chairs:	Cynthia Crossman and Sally Polito
1. Mission & Purposes:	Rosemary Dillon, Chair Trish Allen, Scott Anderson, Nancy Dempsey, Agustin Dorado, Abby Eldridge-Nickerson, Mark Ells, Luci Holmes, Andrea Pagliari (student), Kerry Sullivan
2. Planning & Evaluation:	David Ziemba, Chair Sandy Brito, Carol Canty, Kathleen Clarke, Denise Hedderig, Kristina Ierardi, Robert Kelley (student), Jim Miller, Mary Olenick, Nancy Shearer.
3. Organization & Governance:	Carol Dubay, Chair Members: Lois Andre, Courtney Dickey (student), Dianne Gregory, Lisa Heller-Boragine, Jean Johnson, Gail Knell, Rick Nastri, Patricia Scialdone, Jim Shaw, Diane West
4. The Academic Program:	Sue Maddigan and Sergio Marini, Co-Chairs Members: Claudine Barnes, Bettyanne Davis, Lore DeBower, Garth Fitzpatrick (student), Cathy Fraser, Mark Kennedy, Susan Kline-Symington, Michelle Livingston (student), Rita McGurk, Sue Miller, Rolfe Scofield, Marcy Smith, Doug Terry, Caren Pray, Nancy Willets.
5. Faculty:	Gail Maguire, Chair Members: Dee Burlin, Casey Costa (student), John French, Joy Haagsma, AnneMarie Johnson, Peggy Rich, Phil Sisson, Juanita Sweet, Ted Panitz, Negash Yusuf
6. Students:	Alison Frisbie, Chair Members: Cydney Bottomley, Joyce Chasson, Lori Crawley, Lisa Fedy, Jim Foster, Skye Green, Mary Jenkins, Zara Kilmurray, Diane Nash, Rose Pena-Warfield, Sara Ringler, Richard Sommers, Janet Towle
7. Library & Other Information Resources:	Greg Masterson and Vic Smith, Co-Chairs Members: Tiffanie Beaumont, Mary Kay Cordill, Marilyn Cummings, Nancy Deshaies, Denise Friedel, Liu Huynh, Pat McCulley, Barbara Murphy, Cheryl Rambert, Felicia M. Shea (Student), Eric Sheffer, Mary Sicchio, Jerry Skelley
8. Physical & Technological Resources:	Dan Gallagher, Chair Members: Karen Brennan, Peter Daley, Christine Esperson, John Lebica, Joanne McCarthy, Gayle Ridgway, Jim Riordan, Jean Schwartz, Mary Sicchio, Pat Tatano, Michael Tritto.
9. Financial Resources:	Sherry Andersen, Chair Members: Rick Crowe, Frank Giaimo, Kathleen Girelli, Katy Gruner (student), Eileen Kearns Redfield, Maribeth Malloy, Terri Maxwell, Robert Robida, Marsha Sylvia
10. Public Disclosure:	Phyllis Lee, Chair Members: Delores Bird, Nils Bockmann, Marie Canaves, Gianna Feroli (student), John Grant, Michael Gross, Marybeth Lavenberg, Pat McGraw, Maryann Stacey
11. Integrity:	Jim Kershner, Chair Members: Kathy Andrews, Catherine Etter, Jeanmarie Fraser, John McClintock (student), Dan McCullough, Debra Murphy, Phil Ryan, Aaron Wan, Chet Yacek
Editing committee:	Michael Olendzenski, Chair Members: Brenda Collins, Gail Guarino, Linda Houle, Elaine Madden, Cindy Pavlos

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• For months prior to beginning the self-study, President Schatzberg reminded the College community frequently of what was to come, so we were well-prepared to begin the self-study. By the end of May 2006, the president had appointed the two co-chairs and the various standard chairs. During the summer, the standard chairs met to select committee members from an extensive list of volunteers. Thus, when everyone returned to campus in the fall of 2006, the committees were in place. Having formed the committees, chosen the co-chairs, and gotten the process up and running, the president stepped back to let the fun begin. And begin it did.
• The co-chairs come from two different sides of the college house. Cindy Crossman is the Assistant Vice-President of Financial Affairs, and Sally Polito is a professor of English. It was an appropriate pairing, symbolic of the representation on the various standard committees. Most committees were microcosms of the campus community with representatives from all areas: administration, support staff, faculty, professional staff, and students. The Steering Committee for this self-study process, composed of the co-chairs, the standard chairs, and the chair of the editing committee, met monthly during the academic year 2006-2007 to discuss the progress and problems of developing the document. The co-chairs, sometimes separately, sometimes together, attended many different committee meetings to discuss the chapters and to offer assistance as well as moral support (and considerable encouragement).
• In order to do a revision of the lengthy CCCC mission statement, the Mission and Purposes Committee began meeting in the summer of 2006, well ahead of the rest of the committees. By the middle of the fall semester, a new mission statement had been approved by the college, by the Board of Trustees, and by the Board of Higher Education. Shorter and more direct, the new mission statement focuses clearly on our students.
• In September 2006, Louise Zak and Barbara Brittingham of NEASC addressed the Steering Committee and offered a general overview of what was involved and expected in our self-study. In October 2006, President Schatzberg, Vice-President of Academic and Student Affairs Robert Ross, Cindy Crossman, and Sally Polito attended the NEASC self-study workshop in Marlborough, MA. The committees had already begun their work, gathering material to prepare for the actual writing of their chapters. Throughout the fall of 2006, the committees met regularly to begin preparing their documents. The chair of the editing committee assigned two or three chapters for review to each member of the editing committee, so every committee had an editor available very early in the process. And the committees definitely made use of their editors.
• The spring of 2007 brought increased effort in the different committees. The editing chair, the co-chairs, and the president set a deadline of May 15, 2007, for finished drafts. For some that was quite reassuring; for others, it was panic-inducing. However, right around that deadline, completed drafts trickled in, and the co-chairs were reminded of how thoroughly and carefully everyone had been working. The spring brought concerns about fine-tuning the document and questions like "What on earth is institutional effectiveness?" Cindy Crossman was in frequent contact with Louise Zak, who helped all of us considerably.
• The goal of the self-study process for this campus has been to learn where we are compared to where we were ten years ago and to understand where we still need to go. The entire process has been educational, collaborative, and even, at times, inspiring. We have learned a great deal about our college and its people, recognized innumerable strengths and occasional weaknesses, and as a result, we are already in the process of instituting changes suggested by our self-study work.

• Cape Cod Community College has gone through some dramatic changes in the ten years since we wrote our last self-study document for NEASC, changes ranging from personnel to technology, infrastructure to environment, funding weaknesses to generous scholarships. The fundamental core of this institution, however, remains unchanged and is beautifully stated in the first sentence of our new Mission Statement: "The students’ education is the first priority at Cape Cod Community College." The fact that we have a new Mission Statement is ample demonstration of change combined with stability.
• Ten years ago, our chief institutional officers included the President; the Dean of Academic Affairs; the Dean of Student Services; the Dean of Administration; the Dean of Planning, Research and Development; five Associate Deans (of various areas); seven Directors (of various areas); the Staff Associate for Grants/Research; the Registrar; and the Chair of the Board of Trustees. Ten years ago we had 85 full-time faculty members and 129 adjunct faculty members. Ten years ago, we served approximately 3400 students, the majority of whom were seeking an Associate in Arts degree and approximately a third of whom were seeking an Associate in Science degree.
• A great deal can happen in ten years. Today’s President is literally not the President of ten years ago. The positions of Dean of Academic Affairs and Dean of Student Services have been blended into a single position, the Vice-President of Academic and Student Affairs; and the Dean of Administration has become the Vice-President of Administration and Finance. Associate Deans have become Deans. The former Director of Human Resources is now the Dean of Human Resources, and the Director of the Library-Learning Resource Center is now the Director of the Wilkens Library and Distance Learning and Technologies. Thanks to two Early Retirement Incentives offered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since the 1998 self-study, the number of full-time faculty reached a low of 64 full-time faculty members with a corresponding increase in adjunct/part-time faculty to well over 200 people. In recent years, however, some fulltime positions have been filled, and more new hires are projected in coming semesters even as rumors swirl of still another early retirement incentive. The student population has shown a gradual increase, numbering over 4000 students today and reinforcing the need for additional faculty and staff to teach and serve those students.
• Technology has improved dramatically over the last ten years. All students, faculty, staff, trustees, emeriti, and alumni have accounts for network and email access; more classrooms have been equipped with computers and projection capabilities; every office has an up-to-date computer; several courses are offered on-line each semester; and every course on campus has on-line capabilities (dependent upon faculty technological capabilities). Student registration and bill paying on-line are becoming a reality.
• The campus has a new building, the Lyndon P. Lorusso Applied Technology Building, which is the Commonwealth’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certified building. The deepened commitment to environmental concerns is evident in the natural grasses and meadow areas along the ring road as well as in the efforts to refurbish classrooms and eliminate mold and mildew from the buildings.
• Despite level or reduced funding from the Commonwealth in recent years, the College has managed to avoid significant increases in fees imposed upon our students and has benefitted from the generosity of community supporters of the institution, allowing us to develop a substantial financial reserve. Annual audits have been unqualified. The Educational Foundation annually awards scholarships to incoming, current, and graduating students totaling $350,000 to $400,000.
• The changes noted above have been beneficial to students and to the campus in general, but not everything is or has been totally rosy. Certain threads recur throughout this self-study.
• The need for a new Mission Statement became acutely clear when few people could say what was actually in our previous lengthy, convoluted Mission Statement. The new Mission Statement is so new that much of what appears in this self-study document has been based on the previous unwieldy Mission Statement.
• Over the years, we have become very good at gathering data, but as this self-study has shown us, we have yet to become as good at analyzing data and using the data for planning. Such information has tended to rest on shelves and gather dust until recently. The presence of a new full-time Director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness should allow us to plan more effectively based on the information available to us and help us to evaluate how well our planning is working.
• Governance has changed somewhat with the designation of College Meeting Standing Committees as either Business Committees or Advisory Committees. We have been reluctant to give up the College Meeting/town meeting format of our governance, and have therefore chosen to schedule the College Meeting in a finite time frame as opposed to late in the afternoon when it could go on for two hours or more. This somewhat streamlined College Meeting relies on the College’s email for the sharing of information and upcoming matters for debate, which makes it incumbent on College Meeting members to check and read their email regularly.
• Another factor affecting governance was the reluctance of the governor to send funding bills to the legislature to support the contracts of faculty and professional staff. This led to an eighteen month period of work-to-rule in which faculty and staff met only their contractual obligations and moved adjournment of all meetings at which they were required to be present. This period taxed everyone’s skills and patience. The administration was left to develop policies and implement decisions in which faculty and staff had had little input. As a result, when work-to-rule finally ended, decisions made during that time frame were re-examined, this time with input from faculty and professional staff.
• We are currently deeply involved in the process of developing revised General Education requirements and student learning outcomes for all courses. This has not proven to be an easy or comfortable task. The passage by College Meeting of Institutional Learning Outcomes was a major accomplishment, but the Ad Hoc General Education Committee, already several years old, shows no signs of being able to be disbanded any time soon. We continue to wrestle with the question of what constitutes the educated student and how best to produce that student.
• Faculty and staff are aging. As a result, many retirements loom in the fairly near future, and it seems unlikely that we will have the resources needed to replace all those who retire, increasing yet again our dependence on adjunct faculty and staff. Faculty workload has increased contractually even as the advising component has decreased, resulting in less academic advising by faculty and more reliance on the Advising Center by students. As a result, the faculty’s opportunities to mentor students are shrinking correspondingly, to the distress of both faculty and students.
• Our students come to us with ever-growing needs for remediation and ever-increasing responsibilities beyond their academics. As our student numbers increase, we seem to encounter more students with a greater variety of problems. Our O’Neill Center for Disability Services serves a growing population of students for whom accommodations of one sort or another must be made.
• Our library’s resources are growing older and more out-of-date as our funds available to replace books and periodicals shrink. Much of our student and faculty research must take place online in order to access the most current and authoritative materials.
• The use of the technology available to us is hampered by our limited Internet bandwidth, but steps are being taken to address that concern. In addition, there are still those on campus who are not completely comfortable with the technological options we have.
• Our funding is frequently subject to change as the legislature and the governor negotiate the Commonwealth’s budget, and that limits our ability to plan future initiatives or to address ongoing concerns. Funding itself has diminished even as student numbers and technological demands have increased. The fund-raising skills of our President and the Educational Foundation have become increasingly essential. Our annual audits are consistently unqualified, a tribute to the efforts of those in Administration and Finance.
• We continue to try to strengthen our web presence to allow easy access to College information at anytime from anywhere. However, it occasionally happens that print information and on-line information are not an exact match, which can result in difficulties in trying to determine which is accurate and which is not. Now that the Mission Statement is a single brief paragraph, we hope to be able to include it in every official College publication.
• Confidence in the integrity of our colleagues, supervisors, students, and policies seems stronger than it was ten years ago, though the inevitable disagreements do arise. In the community, the College’s reputation as a sound institution of higher education remains intact.
• Overall, the strengths of the College outweigh the weaknesses by far. Our greatest strength lies in the people who have dedicated themselves to this institution and in those who seek the benefits this institution offers. In the broadest sense, we are a learning community.