Speaking to a crowd of faculty and staff gathered in the Theater, Dr. Regina Stanback Stroud opened the Spring 2016 semester with inspiring words and a challenge to the entire college.
Her remarks focused on the development of a “Skyline College Promise” – a unified, comprehensive plan that ensures the College takes concrete, measurable steps to meet its goals, while continuing to fulfill its obligation to each and every student. It is a promise for the future, and one that is shared between every member of the Skyline College community, but at its highest level, it is designed to ensure students “Get in. Get through. Get out…on time!”
This Promise – an ongoing project in development over the next year – will combine input from students, faculty and staff with data from across the community in order to expand and build out this commitment that will serve as a guiding principle for the College in the years to come.
A Skyline College Promise Forum followed Dr. Stroud’s remarks and focused on each of the three core principles of the Promise: Get In, Get Through and Get Out.
Several panels, comprised of College faculty and staff, spoke to the successes of the college in working towards these principles over the past year.
TRiO has spearheaded the creation of a Summer Scholars Program – a four-week transformational life and career planning course that incorporates Math and English workshops, built-in supplemental instruction, and a focus on how students can build their own future.
A college-wide movement, led particularly by the Math and English Departments have worked to revamp the Placement Test rules and requirements in order to ensure they aren’t unnecessarily hindering student progress and are accurately placing them in correct classes. In some cases, that meant developing alternative placement measures that bypassed placement tests.
The Counseling Department is working to help students choose a major and work out an effective Educational Plan within their first semester through their “Dare to Declare” campaign. And the development of pathway guides will help students navigate a clear path towards the most popular educational goals.
All of these initiatives, and many more, are moving the College towards fulfilling its Promise to its students. As we enter the new semester, all of us are challenged to think critically about how we, as faculty and staff, are called to do the same, every single day.
Article by Connor Fitzpatrick
