employees / Strategic Planning & Institutional Effectiveness / 2023-2027 Plan Development

2023-2027 Plan Development

The Way Forward
Visit this page for updates as we work together to develop the next Strategic Plan for Delta College.

Mission, Vision and Values Process

Beginning with Fall Learning Days, our external consultant, Dr. Connie Watson, and Professor of Psychology, Dr. David Baskind, listened to the voices of our employees. We were pleased to have more than 180 employees participate in the Learning Days sessions. Through a focus group process, Connie and Dave asked faculty and staff to describe Delta if it was a village helping people flourish. Connie carefully reviewed all of the insights she heard from you and created themes. From the themes, she created lists of “cultural enhancers” and “cultural diminishers.” 

Nearly 200 community members, faculty, staff, students, and trustees participated in the MVV Summit on October 14. Connie and her co-facilitator, Rob Miller, began by sharing the qualitative information that we learned from the Learning Days Focus Groups. 

Some of our “cultural enhancers” include (as shared by Learning Days Focus Group participants):

    • Faculty and staff are student-focused
    • Strong personal connections
    • Commitment to BEDI
    • High quality education and facilities
    • Active, real-world, and peer learning
    • Collaborative decision-making
    • Data-driven decision-making
    • Students find their community here

Some of our “cultural diminishers” include (as shared by Learning Days Focus Group participants):

    • Fear of speaking up, lack of trust
    • Living in the past
    • Lack of BEDI (Belonging, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion)
    • Not enough resources
    • Work-life balance
    • Too many priorities and not enough autonomy

Connie and Rob used the cultural enhancers and diminishers to create a long list of “values terms."  Values describe how we will interact with our students, one another, and our community.

Summit participants voted on the values twice. A list of 5 values emerged from the vote:

    • Trust
    • Making a difference
    • Collaboration
    • Integrity
    • Kindness

Each group also submitted a worksheet describing the most important value to them and why. In addition to working on values, Summit participants engaged in a review of the mission and vision. Half of the participants worked on reviewing and revising the College’s vision while the other half worked on the mission. 

At the conclusion of the MVV Summit, Connie and Rob collected ALL data from the morning. They carefully analyzed and summarized the feedback that was submitted by our community members, faculty, staff, students, and trustees. The information was provided to our MVV Writing Team (comprised of David Baskind, Loyce Brown, Pam Clark, JD Garn, Mike Gavin, Darrin Johnson, Kay Schuler, Andrea Ursuy, Jeff Vande Zande, and Donny Winter).

The MVV Writing Team worked collaboratively with the President’s Cabinet to create a draft MVV for your review and comment. The goal of the team was to create mission, vision, and values statements that are efficient, effective, and compelling. Throughout the process, we asked ourselves, “have we captured the spirit of the feedback from our employees, students, and community members?”  We think that we have. Your words may not be on the page exactly as you said them, but we feel that the team has done an excellent job of capturing the intent and spirit of the nearly 200 people who participated in the Summit.

The drafts of the MVV statements were shared via a feedback survey on November 9. Reponses to the survey were positive overall.  There were 119 respondents.  More than 70% agreed with the drafts of the Mission and Vision as written.  More than 84% agreed with the draft of the Values as written.  The remainder of respondents provided very thoughtful feedback. The MVV Writing Team considered the feedback and incorporated it, as appropriate, into the draft statements.

Revised Statements
(Approved by the Board of Trustees on December 13, 2022)

Mission

Delta College collaborates to deliver and sustain an enriching education that empowers our diverse and inclusive community to achieve their personal, professional, and academic goals. 

Vision

We are the national leader in innovative community college education.

Values (S.T.R.I.V.E.)

Delta College strives to create an atmosphere of belonging in which a diverse community can experience equitable opportunities to pursue success. From a foundation of trust, inclusion, and respect, we achieve excellence by embracing the values of:

    • Service:  We respond to the needs of others.
    • Teamwork: We accomplish more together.
    • Respect:  We honor human dignity. 
    • Innovation: We inspire creativity.
    • Veracity:  We value honesty and authenticity.
    • Excellence: We encourage outstanding achievement.

Delta College 2023-2027 Strategic Plan (PDF)
(Approved by the Board of Trustees on March 7, 2023)