Strategic Planning Notes for Community Colleges
7/25/09
Chuck McIntyre of CAP consulted successfully with Peralta Community College District in 2002 on long-range fiscal planning, so we were quite pleased to hire him again to help our district and its four colleges with an educational master planning project in 2008. Besides engaging in comprehensive research to identify our needs, both external and internal, he conducted many interviews, held student, community and staff focus groups, and worked extensively with staff teams to help craft not only our educational plans, but also to develop effective planning processes that we can use on an on-going basis. Moreover, his work provides us with a valid basis for long-range enrollment strategies and a useful bridge to our facilities planning as well. It also provided a data-driven decision-making process that was particularly useful for our Self Study Accreditation. The quality of this work earned him and our planning staff a well-deserved standing ovation from our Board of Trustees at the end of the project.
Elihu Harris
Chancellor, Peralta Community College District
Chuck McIntyre is prepared, thoughtful and focused on client needs. I have been impressed that he doesn’t have a canned solution for our unique enrollment challenges. He has strong relational skills and spends a lot of time with our college community, gathering their data and impressions of the priorities of enrollment management. In the process, he engages the college community not only in the problem, but also in the solutions that we need to develop. Chuck has served us well at Rock Valley College. We are well positioned to address some of our recruitment and retention challenges as a result of his work.
Jack Becherer
President, Rock Valley (IL) College
Having been in the field of higher education administration for nearly 30 years, I have worked with many talented consultants. I can say without hesitation that Dr. Chuck McIntyre is my top choice for any projects dealing with strategic planning, environmental scanning and enrollment simulation. His analytical skills are superior and his computational skills are matched by his ability to formulate practical solutions for his clients. In addition, he brings to his engagements, experience, responsiveness and more importantly, a true understanding and appreciation of the role of an external consultant. As an administrator, I very much appreciate his sensitivity to his clients’ needs and his understanding of the role of various constituencies. It is truly a pleasure working with him.
Ray Maghroori
Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs, Riverside (CA) Community College District
With our district projected to experience population decline and demographic changes, we asked Chuck McIntyre to conduct a thorough analysis of our market penetration, competitive environment, program mix, student services, and facilities to assist us in identifying strategies which would allow us to increase access and develop our enrollment over the next few years. Using a combination of data analysis and fact-to-face interviewing and focus groups, Chuck provided us with an excellent report on our current enrollment share information, areas for potential growth, suggestions for modernizing and improving our programs and services, and solid suggestions on how to focus our marketing and promotion to increase our market share. Chuck's work served as the basis for our district's new enrollment development plan, a plan based on solid analysis and community and student feedback.
Patricia Keir
President, Eastern Iowa Community College District
Madison Area Technical College had a one-year contract with Chuck McIntyre in 2005 to do market research in preparation for the development of our Enrollment Management Plan. He made 4 visits to the college which were very helpful in developing the project and provided opportunities for him to collect data from students and explain the reports to staff. The final report that was delivered was excellent and fulfilled the requirements that were outlined in the project. Chuck was very flexible throughout the project and was willing to adapt to our needs as a college. He assisted the Enrollment Management Team in its planning by providing a format for a plan and facilitating discussion on the application of the data in the planning process. We were very pleased with this project and its outcome.
Rebecca Baumbach
Vice President, Strategic Advancement
Madison Area Technical College (Wisconsin)
The “Peralta Fiscal Strategies” report written by Chuck McIntyre in 2004 quickly become known as “the McIntyre Report,” and is widely quoted throughout our District by staff and trustees at numerous meetings. Chuck is highly skilled in using research, collecting pertinent information from clients in a very collaborative process, and presenting scenarios of likely outcomes. This is what he did for the Peralta
Community College District. He met with District staff, the Chancellor, trustees, and others in collecting information for the report. He identified various fiscal strategy alternatives for PCCD including program organization, delivery and other options, along with expenditure and revenue strategies. The McIntyre Report is one of the foundation blocks of an ongoing overall strategic planning process for Peralta.
On a personal level I have known McIntyre for nearly twenty years in educational settings. He works very collaboratively with both small and large groups. His work is thorough in its background, analysis, and
suggestions for next steps. He knows his material, becomes experienced with each and every client’s special circumstance, and provides articulate and intelligent possibilities.
Judy E. Walters
President, Vista Community College
(formerly) Sr. Vice Chancellor, Peralta Community College District
College of the Redwoods was able to launch a useful planning process in collaboration with Chuck McIntyre. He provided timely data and insightful analysis. We were particularly pleased with his approach which allowed the college to define our needs and work in ways that meshed with our local culture rather than proceed through an alien planning process that can often create more problems than it solves. Chuck was able to engage faculty, staff, board members and community members in active consideration of the kinds of planning issues crucial to our long-term success.
Casey Crabill
President, College of the Redwoods
The results of Dr. McIntyre's facilities and learning study were presented to Austin Community College's Board of Trustees. His emphasis on analysis and clear presentation of methodology helped board members better understand the issues facing the college in terms of meeting future enrollment expectations with facilities that meet student needs. By comparing the College's situation to national benchmarks, he demonstrated the importance of rethinking our traditional facilities and the planning models that had been used. These ideas were incorporated into the Comprehensive Master Plan that was developed and will drive decisions for the next five years.
Dr. McIntyre brings a thorough understanding of community colleges and the issues we face. He is equally skilled at making sure that colleges identify the key concerns that are specific to their situation and in developing research projects that will provide real and significant insights as to how those can be resolved. These, in conjunction with his technical expertise, ensure the value of his services and products to the colleges with whom he works.
Martha Oburn
Associate Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness, Austin Community College
It doesn’t seem possible that 18 months have passed by so quickly. Thank you for doing a super job. You helped us to successfully complete an Educational Master Plan which our College District has needed for years. We were pleased and immediately began a new contract with you to complete our Facilities Master Plan.
As we approach our bond campaign full speed ahead we have very solid grounds for obtaining voter support. We carry with us to community presentations the handy executive summaries of our Educational and Facility Master Plans. Members of our community are pleased and quite satisfied with the foundation laid for our needs. The amount of detail has been impressive to all. You have provided us with an exceptional road map for our future complete with cost estimates for each project or structure. You even gave us a preliminary campus foot print, which our architectural firm is now using.
You know from the comments made at our Board meeting of November 17, 2003 that our Board is more than satisfied with the results of your time with us. They now have the documents needed to guide our future. Our new architects, as you know, have been hired and your dialog with them has been invaluable. Your assistance has put College of the Desert on the right track for a bright future.
Maria C. Sheehan
Superintendent/President, Desert Community College District
Austin Community College worked with Chuck McIntyre of Computer-Aided Planning in 2002 to develop 10- and 15-year scenarios for enrollment growth and facilities needs. This collaborative process involved campus managers, administrators and facilities staff, and took six months to complete. Chuck has a unique approach to educational planning that makes the process easy to understand and relatively simple to implement. The result of our work together is both a snapshot of possible futures for the College and a dynamic planning tool. Without Chuck’s systematic approach and rigorous program, we would have had a much more difficult time modeling our growth. The investment of time and resources made by the College will pay dividends for years to come.
Dick Fonte
President, Austin Community College
I have known Dr. McIntyre for several years and he has been a consultant to Riverside Community College at least twice during the last 10 years. He is a delightful person to work with, and gets a lot accomplished for the institution. He is the type of consultant who will easily become a friend. Needless to say, he is much appreciated and admired at Riverside Community College by faculty, administrators and student groups. His professionalism and sense of accomplishment are unimpeachable.
Dr. McIntyre’s Environmental Scan and Enrollment Simulation and Planning reports for Riverside Community College District provide a strong foundation for our strategic planning efforts. The District enrollment modeling and market penetration analyses promote better understanding of the populations we serve, or may not be serving, as well as an increased awareness of the sensitivity of these enrollment markets to changes in District policy. Together with the environment scanning report, which details labor market and other environmental trends, these studies provide a solid information base to support our efforts toward developing quality education, training, and career opportunities for our service population.
Lastly, our staff appreciated the opportunity to work with Dr. McIntyre. His knowledge of community colleges and educational issues, and his accessible and responsive style, made for an enjoyable and enlightening partnership.
Salvatore G. Rotella
President, Riverside Community College
On behalf of the Michigan Community College Data and Evaluation Committee (MCCDEC) and the colleges’ state office as well, I’d like to thank you for your excellent work on the Enrollment Simulation and Planning study. Not only did you answer the vexing questions we had about our enrollment trends and their causes, but also you provided us with a fresh look at the issues of uneven community college market penetration across Michigan and inadequate access for individuals who live outside the boundaries of organized districts.
Your presentation of study findings to the 28 community college presidents was quite informative. And, we also appreciated your workshops for college staff on the model software that you use to explain enrollment fluctuation and forecast future enrollments. The workshops were well-attended, and the way you tied the model into the general framework of community college strategic planning was particularly helpful for both planners and researchers. While quite sophisticated, the model software proves to be very user-friendly.
James Folkening
Executive Director,
State Office of Michigan Community Colleges
Thank you for making a major contribution to our new 2020 Vision Strategic Plan through the outstanding work you did on environmental scanning, enrollment projection simulations, and facilities planning. Your research helped us identify planning issues as well as strategic goals and priorities. You were an invaluable member of our planning team and everyone thoroughly enjoyed working with you.
Bill Fedderson
President, Mt. San Antonio College
Staff refer frequently to your report (Enrollment Simulation and Planning for Lansing Community College); the final version of the report will be used in our strategic planning at the operating level. And, we will use (your) forecasting model in planning for decisions about tuition and fee changes and other issues, with an eye on what is going on outside the college.
Your report also has been a tremendous teaching tool for the executive and other staff here at Lansing. Everyone who has read it has learned from it.
Pat Keir
(former) Executive Vice President and Provost, Lansing Community College
Your work (Study of Maricopa Tuition and Fees) stimulated people (at Maricopa) to think more about the impact of tuition and fee increases. Before, they had used it (tuition and fees) as a ‘plug,’ to be used after other revenues were determined...then ‘backed into.’ This new discussion led to a proposed long-range policy for the district.
Debby Thompson
Chief Business Officer, Maricopa Community College District
Your report (Study of Enrollment at Pima College) has precipitated discussion and we will use it during the next two years to help us forecast enrollments and to help us in our work to plan and manage enrollments...we are reviewing it (the report) and it is beginning to be useful.
Our recent enrollment decline seems to have been due to a lack of investment in evening programs, as you point out in your report. We have turned this around, and, as a result of this and other initiatives, are beginning to grow again, rapidly, as you predicted.
John Cabose
Vice Chancellor, Pima Community College
On behalf of the faculty, staff, administration, and Board of Trustees of Compton Community College I would like to say thank you for the excellent presentation you made at our recent Leadership Retreat. Your discussion of trends of importance to California Community Colleges in general and Compton Community College in particular was both insightful and informative.
A major expectation for the Retreat was that we would come together as a group and set forth a dialogue, which would facilitate the examination of the institutional direction for the college. Thanks to your words of wisdom we have a better understanding of the need to prepare for both the aging Baby Boomer as well as the Tidal Wave II - Baby Boom Echo generations.
Ulis Williams
President/Superintendent, Compton Community College