Planning has long played an important role at the college.  In the last ten years, many major accomplishments have been achieved through our work together in the planning and implementation of an institutional agenda.  Yet, we know that times change and there are always ways to improve.  In fact, in our work on our 2005-2010 Education Master Plan, it was very apparent that we needed to streamline our processes, including planning, to be more efficient, effective, and collegial.

To that end, the Academic Council has developed and instituted a new planning process, beginning with this academic year. The committee that leads the planning process - formerly EMPC - will be a new group known as the College Planning Committee (CPC). The CPC will develop, coordinate, and monitor progress on institutional goals of the Educational Master Plan. It will also improve coordination of the Superintendent-President’s initiatives that support those goals. The CPC will be responsible for recommending any changes in the Educational Master Plan and keeping the college at large informed on an annual basis.  This committee will have a broader representation than was present on EMPC, and now will include union appointees and dean and department head representatives.  Most of the committees that existed under the previous system - including IPC, SPC, TPC, FPC, SDPC, and AQSESS - will no longer exist as standing committees.

As issues come to or are discussed in the CPC, the committee will form task forces to develop plans and present recommendations.  These task forces will each be charged with completing a specific project and will disband once their project is complete.  In this way, we expect to make our planning process more task-oriented and to involve a broader representation from the campus community than was possible under the standing committee structure.

The CPC will be chaired by the Academic Senate President and the college’s Executive Vice President.  These co-chairs will meet regularly with the chief planning officer and the Superintendent-President in order to keep the Superintendent-President fully informed regarding developments and topics of discussion within the planning process. 

The Budget Advisory Committee will be the one standing sub-committee of the CPC and will continue its work as it has in previous years, guided by the institutional agenda to implement the Educational Master Plan, the ongoing work of the college, and the constraints of our resources. 

One of the first matters addressed by the CPC will be to establish a task force to study the planning, implementation, and review cycle of each department and area of the college.  The expected outcome of this task force’s work will be a revision of the department and area planning and program review processes, with a goal of integrating those processes more fully and integrating this work into college planning in a more meaningful way.

During this reflective time of accreditation self study, it is our hope that an effective planning process will result in increased collaboration and teamwork and will allow us to move forward in our work of improving our ability to serve our students.