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At Portland Community College, we don’t want our plans to just sit on a shelf. Our Strategic Plan is a roadmap of where we as a college want to go. It is designed to prioritize innovation and continuous improvement, all in support of student success. Having shared goals can help us move the needle on major objectives, and achieving our long-term goals matters because we all want to give all our students a life-changing education.
Your Voice Matters
comments Strategic planning is a collaborative process. We believe that “the clay has been shaped, but it has not yet been fired”—meaning your feedback is essential to continually evolve, refine, and improve our processes.
We host quarterly virtual updates for employees to ensure two-way communication across the college.
Missed the latest Strategic Planning update?
Catch up below:
Upcoming Student Community Hours
- Rock Creek Campus: Wednesday, March 11, 12-1pm in the Event Center
- Cascade Campus: Wednesday, May 13,12-1pm in the Student Union
PCC’s Strategic Plan consists of:
- Six themes and aspirational statements that provide a shared focus that guides all college initiatives. These themes ensure that work—whether district-wide or within a single department—contributes to common goals. By aligning efforts under these themes, we move together in a clear and unified direction.
- Four goals that provide the blueprint for our future and focus our efforts on the priorities that students, employees, and the Board collectively determined are most important to the college’s future.
- Four projects that outline implementation plans—what the project will produce and how it will benefit the college, as well as timelines, anticipated impact, level of complexity, and how we will measure success along the way.
Themes and Aspirational Statements
fa solid fa piggy bank Operational Excellence
Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Fiscal Sustainability: We are a high-performing institution, achieving long-term fiscal sustainability through implementing best practices in our financial and reporting systems, streamlining administrative processes, and attracting alternative revenue sources.
fa solid fa people group Shared Values
People, Connectedness, and Empowerment: Through a human-centered approach, we foster a vibrant college community by cultivating a sense of belonging and care through shared governance, professional development, and transparency in decision-making.
fa solid fa chart diagram Technological Transformation
Agility, Innovation, and Readiness: Through a forward-looking mindset, we maintain a sustainable technology infrastructure, supporting instructional and operational readiness, enabling the college to remain agile in the evolving higher education environment.
fa solid fa hand holding heart Holistic Student Support
Integrated, Affordable, and Accessible: We provide holistic student support by integrating comprehensive wrap-around services, support for basic needs, and financial assistance, creating a supportive environment where every student thrives.
fa solid fa graduation cap Academic Excellence
Student Success, Delivery, and Programming: As an institution of choice, our diverse modalities, equity-driven, student-centered approach, and robust academic and career pathways empower students to achieve economic mobility, enhanced by quality instruction grounded in inclusive teaching practices and strategic enrollment planning practices.
fa solid fa handshake Community Engagement
Workforce, Education, and Industry Alignment: We maintain strong partnerships with community, education, and industry partners, offering premier workforce and training programs, collaborating to address regional employment needs to increase local economic growth, supporting underserved communities, and ensuring workforce readiness and living wages for our students.
A Continuous Annual Cycle
We’ve moved away from static, multi-year planning in favor of a dynamic annual review process. This allows us to remain responsive to new challenges and opportunities as they arise.
- Fall (Listen and Scan): We conduct a “landscape scan” of research on higher education and gather input from students, employees, and external partners, such as local employers or community-based organizations.
- Winter (Evaluate and Plan): We analyze our organizational capacity—looking at staffing and technology—to decide if we can take on new major projects.
- Spring (Set Goals and Align): We finalize college-wide goals and approve new proposals that address our most urgent strategic challenges.
Current Project Highlights
PCC’s Board of Directors approved our Strategic Plan goals in January 2025. These four goals provide the blueprint for our future and the priorities that will propel the college forward. We are making incredible progress on several key initiatives:
Goal 1
New Student Onboarding
We’ve moved our orientation to a new system (Slate) to make starting at PCC smoother and more intuitive. We are developing two onboarding tracks: one for those who are in their First Time in College, and another for Returning/Prior Credit students.
- Theme: Holistic Student Support
- Objective 1: Redesign the New Student Orientation experience and learning outcomes that align with the First Year Experience, ongoing student engagement, and just-in-time information for all credit and academic noncredit incoming students.
- Objective 2: Optimize the use of existing student support technology, as part of the new student onboarding experience.
- Objective 3: Develop onboarding processes that are accessible, available in multiple languages, and informed by culturally responsive, identity-affirming, and trauma-sensitive practices, starting with the “steps to enroll” webpages.
Goal 2
Fully Implement Strategic Course Scheduling
The Ad Astra program has been reconfigured for predictive analysis and data alignment. This project continues to work towards an annual class schedule, which is currently planned to launch after Workday Student implementation.
- Themes: Operational and Academic Excellence
- Objective 1: Fully implement Strategic Course Scheduling recommendations and move to an annualized schedule to increase fill rates, utilization of data, and improve operational practices.
Goal 3
Fully Implement Guided Pathways: Program Mapping
We have drafted over 130 “Program Maps” to provide students with clear, term-by-term guides for every degree and certificate.
- Themes: Academic Excellence, Holistic Student Support
- Objective 1: Create a program map of all academic programs and transfer disciplines.
- Objective 2: Create and pilot a mechanism for continuous improvement of Pathway Teams.
- Objective 3: Design a continuous improvement framework for assessing program map functionality and performance.
Goal 4
Increase Student Scholarships and Funds for Wrap-Around Supports
The PCC Foundation recently secured a $100K challenge grant and raised over $230K in new scholarship gifts to increase student aid.
- Theme: Holistic Student Support
- Objective 1: Cultivate and sustain thriving philanthropic partnerships that significantly increase revenue to address unmet student needs.
- Objective 2: Grow and engage donors and funding partners through acquisition, renewal, and retention.
About the Strategic Plan
Through the implementation of our Strategic Plan, Portland Community College will ensure equitable access, opportunity, affordability, and success for all students. We will balance our commitment to quality learning experiences and economic and workforce development.
We will preserve the authenticity of our reputation and articulate the value of PCC throughout the community, and we will cultivate an environment where the tenets of diversity, equity, and inclusion are intentional, consistent, evident, and effective.
Mission
Portland Community College supports student success by delivering access to quality education while advancing economic development and promoting sustainability in a collaborative culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
President’s Vision
Portland Community College, as ‘the community’s college,’ serves in excellence as a conduit of empowerment to advance lifelong learning and economic and social mobility for all.
Reflecting on the 2020-2025 Strategic Plan
Over the past five years, PCC has made significant progress toward building a more equitable, student-centered institution. Through the 2020–2025 Strategic Plan, we expanded online learning, strengthened career-connected education, increased support for underserved students, and improved our data and technology infrastructure
These accomplishments were made possible by the dedication of faculty, staff, and students across the college.
Read more about our 2020–2025 achievements.
Have questions or feedback? Reach out to Sarah Rose Evans, Strategic Planning Manager, at sarah.roseevans@pcc.edu.