The Hagerstown Community College campus is shown in this 2006 file photo. A commission unveiled its ideas Tuesday for keeping Hagerstown Community College essential and successful. After eight months, the commission released its report with 17 suggestions for educating a community in which a college education wasn't stressed for decades. (Herald-Mail file photo) |
A commission unveiled its ideas Tuesday for keeping Hagerstown Community College essential and successful.
After eight months, the commission released its report with 17 suggestions for educating a community in which a college education wasn't stressed for decades.
Tom Newcomer, the owner of R. Bruce Carson Jewelers, said that while he grew up in Smithsburg, the most likely career choices were farming or working at Mack Trucks.
But for some, HCC was and always will be a central component of Washington County.
Newcomer said his grandfather was in the state legislature when HCC was created 65 years ago, his uncle was in the first graduating class, his mother went back to school there as an adult, and he took classes there while a high school senior.
Newcomer was a co-chairman of one of four study groups working within the commission. His group looked at finances, facilities, human resources and technology support.
The groups had different purposes, but agreed that HCC needs to clearly communicate that its graduates succeed, its teachers are skilled and its programs are affordable.
"You've to get your story out there," President Guy Altieri said.
John League, the editor and publisher of The Herald-Mail, a co-chairman of the commission, said community leaders can help by being cheerleaders for education.
The consistent and sustained work of the commission reflected that attitude, said Carolyn W. Brooks, the immediate past chairwoman of the HCC board of trustees and the commission's other co-chairwoman.
"There is serious interest in the future of our community," Brooks said.
Richard W. Phoebus Sr., the current board of trustees chairman, said junior college — as two-year schools were known at the time — boosted and prepared him for later success, an experience replicated across America.
The other three study groups looked at students and student affairs; programs and educational support; and effectiveness and quality assurance.
At the commission's final meeting at HCC's Career Programs Buildings on Tuesday, participants shared what they thought was important — that financial aid keep flowing, that the academic curriculum "align" from high school to college, that college dig a deeper foothold in the local culture.
The commission's report, posted at www.hagerstowncc.edu/cfhcc, will go to the board of trustees, then be incorporated into HCC's Strategic Plan 2016, which will start next year.
The growing college also is about to distribute its annual Report to the Community, which summarizes the commission's work and the construction of a 65,000-square-foot science, technology, engineering and mathematics building.
"We are just scratching the surface of what a community college can be," Phoebus said.
The future of HCC
Here are the 17 recommendations - not in priority order - made by the Commission on the Future of Hagerstown Community College:
1. Emphasize individualized career counseling and academic planning, as well as student extra-curricular activities and athletic programs that contribute to student success.
2. Continue to develop, schedule and promote offerings and services for at-risk populations, including disadvantaged, unemployed or underemployed persons.
3. Continue to recruit students and employees of diverse social, ethnic and educational backgrounds.
4. Continue to provide a balance between career and liberal arts programs as determined by community need and student interest.
5. Strengthen and expand access to developmental, remedial, and adult education.
6. Expand the practice of utilizing employers and other community partners in the development of new and updating of ongoing programs.
7. Continue to collaborate with the public and private high schools and work toward the implementation of greater curricular alignment to ensure college readiness.
8. Continue to broaden the marketing and number of credit-free continuing education courses and programs to match community need.
9. Provide an affordable educational opportunity to those that desire and can benefit from higher education.
10. Increase public awareness about the total cost of going to college and the ways to pay for it.
11. Continue to seek public and public competitive grants to support institutional priorities and strategic goals.
12. Increase awareness levels related to successes of private fundraising efforts for student scholarships and capital support through the HCC Foundation, Inc., Booster Club and Alumni Association.
13. Continue communications and collaborative efforts with county and state representatives to secure and protect adequate funding for HCC.
14. Maintain an appropriate balance of full-time and adjunct faculty and expand faculty and staff to meet the workload associated with substantial student enrollment growth.
15. Maintain adequate technology investments needed for student and staff success.
16. Market and communicate more effectively curriculum and service offerings, successes, and opportunities to better position HCC as the local "college of choice."
17. Increase public awareness of HCC's customized training opportunities for businesses, business incubation services, student internships, as well as the wide variety of credit-free courses for all age groups.
