NRCC First 100 Days

D R . R O B E R T B R A N D O N

TAB L E OF CONT E NT S Message from the President Honoring Our Legacy of Care

Looking Forward to the Future Deepening Our Commitment to Student Success 100 Day Highlights

Next Steps

Dear College Supporters, Over the past four months, hundreds of faculty, staff, students, and community members across the New River Valley have shared their aspirations for New River Community College. Through nearly 70 events and conversations involving over 900 people, a clear picture emerged: this is a college with deep roots, extraordinary commitment, and a shared belief in its potential. The document that follows is not a strategic plan, but it is a clear first step towards one. This document reflects the themes that surfaced again and again in those conversations. It is grounded in the voices of the people who make New River what it is, and it is organized around three major themes that I hope capture the spirit of our conversations and will help us turn our collective insights into action. We are fortunate. Unlike many colleges and universities across the country, New River Community College enters this moment with strong enrollment trends, an exceptional collection of faculty and staff members, and solid financial footing. That gives us the opportunity to pause, come together, and thoughtfully chart a path forward, not under pressure but with purpose. As you review each theme, you will see early actions. These are steps that emerged clearly from what was shared where we believe we can make measurable, near-term progress. We’ll share who is leading each effort and how we will assess it in the months ahead. But more importantly, I hope you see in it an invitation to continue the conversation, to help shape the journey ahead, and to bring our shared vision into sharper focus. Thank you so much for the warm welcome I received, and thank you also for your belief in our students, for the honest conversations that shaped this document, and for your support in the work that is to come.

President

If there’s one word that I heard to describe the campus more than any other, it was “family.” Faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community partners always used it. It was clear that for many people NRCC isn’t just a college, it is a place where people feel a real sense of belonging. It’s a place where relationships matter, where people look out for each other, and where people, both inside and outside the institution, are united by a shared mission to help others succeed. Students told me stories of personal connections with faculty and staff overriding their fears. They told me of instructors who saw something in them that they had never seen in themselves. They told me of advisors who called them on the phone just to “check in.” That is the kind of care that changes lives, and they are echoed in the words of community partners who spoke of faculty and staff serving on local boards and programs that respond directly to community needs. At the same time, I heard from students who are struggling, especially among those who attend part-time, those who have unmet needs outside the classroom, those who are not sure where their education is taking them, and those who struggle to see the path forward beyond their coursework. From these conversations, a picture emerged of an institution that has worked hard to surround their students with the care and support they need to succeed but that still has gaps in that support to fill. Among faculty and staff, that same spirit of care runs deep. People are justly proud of the college’s history and of their role in shaping it. At the same time, however, I heard honest feedback and reflections from their experiences. They spoke of opportunities for stronger onboarding and mentorship, the importance of recognition for their contributions, and the need for better channels of communication. Our culture is strong, but we need to be intentional about continuing to strengthen it for the future. And just as importantly, we must ensure that our legacy of care continues to extend outward into the communities we serve. Where Are We Going? As we move forward, we need to start by honoring what has made New River great: our legacy of care. We want to be intentional in creating a supportive and inclusive atmosphere while at the same time finding new ways to support faculty, staff, students, and the community in a time of change. As part of this process, we will explore the following questions, and others, together: How do we ensure that every student feels welcomed, supported, and engaged at all stages of their time at NRCC? Are there any existing student needs that are unfilled? How can we bring some of our most innovative interventions to scale? How do we create more meaningful opportunities for connection, especially for a student body that is spending less and less time on campus? How do we invest in our faculty and staff in ways that reflect the value that they bring? How do we ensure that our legacy of care extends to the broader community through deeper partnerships, responsive programming, and a shared sense of purpose? What Will We Do Now?

While we take the time to hold these important conversations and build a shared path forward, the conversations identified some actions that merit action now. Based on what I heard, several key efforts are already underway or are beginning soon: We are beginning a focused review of the student experience, charting an intentional plan to ensure that more students engage with the college early in their journey and that our support extends beyond graduation. We are taking steps to strengthen shared governance, including the reconstitution of the Staff Assembly to ensure more voices have a place in shaping policies and procedures. We are making communication a priority, creating more regular opportunities for conversation with the President’s Office so that ideas and concerns can be acted upon more quickly.

VCCS Philanthropy Luncheon VCCS Philanthropy Luncheon

Events & Activities

Pizza with the President izz it t r si t

Legislative Meetings in Richmond L isl tiv ti s i i

NRCC Family Fun Fest F ily F F st

President’s 100 Day at NRCC th President’s 100 y t th

PTK Luncheon in Richmond L i i

NRCC Retiree Lunch tir L

Campus & Listening Tours

Instrumentation & Control Automation I str t ti tr l t ti

Maker’s Space r’s

Meeting the Biology Ambassador ti t Biology Ambassador

Christiansburg Site risti s rg Site

Electronics El tr i s

Student Activities t t tiviti s

People have a real hope for the future of New River. Across the campus, people shared their optimism about what we can do for the communities we serve. They mentioned new programs, new ways of teaching, new technology, and new ways of serving students. But alongside that hope, there was an honest concern over the realities of higher education today. Many people discussed the pressures they see the college facing: changing enrollment patterns, concerns over budgets, shifts in student behaviors, and the disruption that some technologies are causing in the classroom. I also heard concerns about facility needs. A strong feeling exists that if we just had more space that we could do so much more for our students. Likewise, a common refrain was that some of our spaces are outdated or are not well suited for supporting new ways of teaching and learning. Many faculty spoke about the challenge of adapting to online learning, navigating the challenges of AI, and trying to maintain rigorous demands. Overall, there was a collective sense that the landscape of higher education is in a period of change but that New River is poised to thrive if we are innovative and intentional in our decision making. Where Are We Going? The world is changing more quickly than ever, so these conversations will be part of our landscape forever. Our challenge is to avoid just responding to the future but finding ways to shape it. Some questions that we will need to explore together in the future: How do we invest in our spaces, both physical and virtual, to best support our faculty, staff, and students? How do we best navigate changes in student behaviors and expectations while continuing our legacy of student learning? What new technological tools can we use to support our work?

How do we build new programs and pathways that lead students to future opportunities? How do we best support faculty who are doing innovative work in the classroom?

What Will We Do Now? Some innovations can begin immediately. While long-term planning is occurring, we will take the following steps to begin this important work: We will create a faculty innovation fund to formalize funding for new teaching strategies and technologies identified directly by the faculty.

We will begin investing in classroom innovation to ensure that all of our spaces of teaching and learning meet the highest standards. We will prioritize investment of new programs and cohorts in high-demand fields that lead to a living wage and invest in marketing existing programs so that students know of the opportunities that are available to them.

Rapid Maroons Program Signing at Roanoke College i r s r r i i t ll

Everywhere I went, every conversation seemed to come back to one central goal: helping students succeed. Faculty, staff, and stakeholders all spoke passionately about our mission, and responsibility, for supporting students, not just in the classroom but through the entire arc of the journey. There was a palpable sense of pride in the amazing work that the college has done already and a real sense that there were more opportunities that could be leveraged in the future. People highlighted dozens of success initiatives that have been implemented in the last decade as well as pride in the visible outcomes in our student success data. At the same time, students emphasized that our support is very focused on the front end with a real feeling that the transition to transfer institutions or the workforce was less emphasized. In addition, data suggest that some students are not sharing in the successes we’ve seen in recent years. Part-time students, in particular, often face the steepest challenges and experience fewer of the benefits of our reforms and programs. To bring the full impact of our work to them, we need to design for them as well. Finally, while we are already doing so much work in many places there was a real call to focus on what works and ensure that we are allocating enough resources to fully support all of our students as they pursue opportunity at New River. Where Are We Going? We are proud of our outstanding success rates, but we know there is still work to ensure that every student shares those outcomes. Our goal now is to bring our actions to scale. That means we need to ask: Are there groups of students, such as part-time students and undecided students, who are not experiencing the success that the majority of our students are finding? How can we expand our support network to those students in a sustainable way? How do we ensure that our students are supported at the end of their journey as fully as they are supported at the beginning? What Will We Do Now? A few things emerged that I believe can make an immediate impact. While we continue to have important conversations about long term strategy, here are some things to begin immediately: We will map out the student support experience for part-time and undecided students to identify interventions that can make an impact on the success rates of those students. We will explore opportunities to provide career, transfer, and licensing expense support for students so that we are supporting them as much at the end of their programs as we are the beginning.

Student Feedback Meetings t t F ti s

Veterans Services t r s rvi s

This document reflects the beginning of our shared planning, not the final word. In the weeks and months ahead, we will move from listening to implementation by taking the following steps: Launching a cross-functional planning group to coordinate the progress on the immediate actions listed here and to track the progress of their effects. Publishing a strategic planning timeline that outlines how and when our long-term priorities will take shape and identifies opportunities for faculty, staff, students, and community members to stay engaged. Sharing regular updates through open forums and regular campus communications along with simple progress indicators. My commitment is not only to thoughtful planning but to visible progress. I look forward to walking this journey with you.

"Igniting Innovation" panel hosted by the RBIA "I iti I v ti " l hosted by the RBIA

First Day on Campus First y s