Tyler Junior College recently hosted the 7th Annual Spring Leadership Conference of the North Texas Community College Consortium.
The North Texas Community College Consortium (NTCCC), comprised of community colleges across North Texas, routinely brings together member colleges and their university partners to work together for the success of their students.
More than 100 presidents, provosts, deans and other institutional leaders from across North Texas met at the leadership conference on the TJC main campus, to glean inspiration and practical guidance from successful strategies and initiatives presented by a variety of member campuses.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) has embarked on a bold mission to significantly elevate the number of Texans who hold some type of post-secondary credential. The Texas Higher Education Strategic Plan adopted by the THECB is “60X30TX,” with an overarching goal to have 60 percent of Texans, ages 25-34, attain a post-secondary credential by the year 2030. Research indicates that students who complete a post-secondary credential are more likely to be employed and less likely to be unemployed.
“The Texas community college mission, which is to provide accessibility to a quality education for all students, will undoubtedly play a major role in the collaborative ability of colleges and universities to attain the goals of the ‘60X30TX’ initiative,” said Dr. Tampa Nannen, TJC assistant vice president of academic affairs.
“Often, colleges and universities focus on the readiness of students to be successful in college. This year’s conference took a different approach as participants focused more on being a student-ready college.”
Nannen said the priorities discussed were in these three areas – create a culture of student support and success, provide for the transition of military veterans into higher education, and strengthen campus connections to the community.
Keynote speakers and breakout sessions covered such topics as: fulfilling the community college mission; developing an online, competency-based degree program; creating; maximizing student learning and engagement; and developing student clubs that provide job experience.