Strategic Plan & Goals
Lone Star College System continues to evolve and to experience phenomenal growth.
Because of the foresight of the LSCS Board of Trustees to propose a bond election in 2008—which voters approved by a large margin—new facilities are opening this year on each LSC campus, to better accommodate much of that growth and provide even better service to our students, faculty, staff and community.
We’ve made great progress since the 2009 – 2011 Strategic Plan was put before you. During that time, a number of significant events have occurred which continue to position Lone Star College as a national leader in educational initiatives. LSCS was selected by the U.S. Department of Education to host a regional Community College Summit, which was held at LSC-University Park earlier this year. Attendees at this prestigious event, who traveled from 11 states throughout the southwest United States, contemplated the issue of community college transfer. Our partnerships with a number of four-year universities place LSCS at the leading edge in providing seamless transfers for students.
LSCS was also selected by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to lead a state-wide effort in Texas intended to significantly increase the successful completion rates of community college students. LSCS is the managing partner of a Texas alliance for this program that includes Alamo Colleges, Dallas County Community College District, El Paso Community College and South Texas College. This group represents more than 235,000 students, one third of all community college students in Texas. The initial Gates Foundation grant was for a one-year planning period, but once the Texas plan is approved, the project would potentially run for five years. Finally, LSCS is leading a coalition of seven community colleges in the College Credit for Heroes program, a $3 million workforce development initiative. This program is designed to recognize the exceptional knowledge and skills gained by military service members and award them college credits for their military experience, allowing these veterans to more easily re-enter the workforce.
These great accomplishments are but a sampling of the efforts of the entire Lone Star College family along with the well-crafted mission, vision, and goals and objectives that have provided a strategic roadmap for our continuing focus on student success and achievement.
The exciting LSCS journey continues as we move forward with the 2012 – 2015 Strategic Plan, again the result of long hours by many of you on the planning committee. Outcome measures will be articulated as they have been in the past for each of the 10 goals and 51 objectives, to qualify our performance and measure our achievements.
Lone Star College continues to garner worldwide accolades as a high-performing and innovative college system. This is an opportune time in the history of this storied college system to build upon that distinction as an education leader.
We are Lone Star!
Dr. Richard Carpenter
Chancellor
Lone Star College System
Goal 1:
Increase completion and achievement of all students.
Goal 2:
Provide high quality academic instruction.
Goal 3:
Provide quality student focused service.
Goal 4:
Maintain affordability and accessibility.
Goal 5:
Recruit and retain talented full and part-time faculty, administrators and staff.
Goal 6:
Enhance internal and external systems of communication.
Goal 7:
Strengthen efficiencies in operations.
Goal 8:
Develop and sustain mutually beneficial partnerships.
Goal 9:
Leverage technology to increase and enhance education, operation, and innovation competitiveness.
Goal 10:
Plan and manage sustainable quality growth.
View the 2012-2015 Strategic Goals Brochure (pdf)
Beginning in September 2006, the Workforce Development unit of Lone Star College System has been leading an effort to identify trends or forces of change that will impact our community for the next three to five years. The purpose of this exercise was to enable Lone Star College System to anticipate change and develop a strategic direction for Workforce Development to better meet the needs and opportunities for workforce education and training in our service area. A carefully researched, external set of data will provide a foundation upon which to build our strategic plan.
Forty-six faculty and staff members throughout Lone Star College System participated to research and identify 92 trends in nine taxonomy areas: Advanced Manufacturing, Competitive Education, Demographics, Economics, Education, Labor Force, Politics, Social Values and Lifestyles, and Technology. In addition, over 70 community and business leaders were interviewed for their insights on trends to both confirm our internal findings as well as ensure that important trends were not omitted from our project.
The following summaries include a comprehensive list of trends with supporting details, as well as the implications information collected during workshops with community and business leaders and college district faculty and staff.
