January 11, 2021
As we enter the beginnings of 2021 renewed and refreshed from the holiday break,
I can’t help but to reflect once more on the leadership and support through what was
an unpredictable and unprecedented 2020. Our students have largely persisted, but
the resilience and grit of NPC’s faculty and staff have been extraordinary. They met
numerous challenges head-on and largely put their fear aside to fulfill the College’s
mission.
We gained valuable insight and experiences last year, and we also gained an enhanced
perspective of our students’ needs. We know students perform better when provided
support services and opportunities to grow both inside and outside the classroom.
Academic support, mentoring, internships, financial assistance, and a safe, positive
environment are critical to their success. While the ‘campus experience’ wasn’t typical
last year, it still occurred through the creative efforts of our faculty and staff.
Now we are preparing for the spring semester and next academic year with that same
perspective as our guide. We have outlined overarching areas of focus as we prepare
next year’s budget, working from the 2020-2023 Strategic Plan priorities and goals.
Those areas directly point back to fulfilling our student success mission.
Campus Health, Safety and Security
The College will invest in personnel and programs that increase the long-term safety
and security of our campus while implementing practices that keep students and employees
healthy. While there is hope that the global pandemic might subside soon, we must
plan for contingencies to put our students in the best position to persist and complete
their education.
Academic Enterprise
NPC will make a significant investment in its academic enterprise over the next three
years. This will include investments in what we have coined the NPU University Center.
We plan to establish additional SAU degrees and pursue additional strategic partnerships
to offer 4-year degrees; promote the availability of degrees; provide a physical space
for the Center; and employ additional faculty to fill vacancies and add where needed
to support 4-year degree programs. We will also assess current program offerings to
ensure their 
viability.
Campus Development
While we have quite a listing of improvements over the past five years, we will continue
to identify opportunities to improve on our modern campus. NPC will update the Campus
Master Facility Plan and plan for a Learning Commons facility which will encompass
library functions, additional classrooms, and study centers. We will also update and
expand existing classrooms and labs, finalize a University Center facility to house
strategic partners, invest in recreational facilities that support student success,
and identify opportunities to improve the aesthetics of campus.
Enrollment Growth, Retention and Completion
NPC will redouble its efforts to grow enrollment by continuously improving our advertising,
public relations, and student recruitment efforts. We will emphasize continuous improvement
of student services processes; expand advertising and recruitment into new markets,
explore the marketing ‘funnel,’ including transparent metrics on that funnel; enhance
efforts to recruit from regional high schools for both NPTC and NPC, and expand our
NJCAA athletic programs, campus intramurals, and club activities.
Workforce Development
The College will further develop the infrastructure and facilities to foster integration
of programming between credit, non-credit, and high school technical programs. We
will also fully implement the new makerspace and amplify apprenticeship programs and
options.
Employee Engagement and Retention
Professional development is and will continue to be key to challenging our already
talented pool of employees. We will shift this effort to HR and focus on providing
a wider array of opportunities for faculty and staff. We will also explore quality
pay initiatives, robust employee support, and performance management initiatives.
Diversity
The College will continue to actively improve its climate so we can be assured that
it is welcoming to all. We will recruit diversity staff to coordinate efforts with
community relations, outreach efforts, and evaluation of the existing environment.
Doing so will allow us to further focus efforts on recruiting diverse employees and
develop supportive programs that encourage persistence and completion of diverse students.
Community Engagement
NPC will invest additional resources in its effort to ensure our long-term viability.
We will engage our General Assembly, local governments, the local chamber, and other
strategic partners. We receive significant support from these entities, and we must
continue to invest in this support.
Automation 
The efforts listed above would be futile without a college-wide automation plan to
increase efficiency and reduce administrative overhead. We are currently working through
the last phases of the PeopleSoft ‘lift and shift’ and will be able to focus on initiatives
in HR, Student Affairs, and External Affairs. We will identify additional areas to
enhance process automation, as well as find new tools and best practices to support
remote learning strategies.
Re-Accreditation
NPC is finalizing preparations for a reaccreditation visit in November 2021. This
has been a years-long, campus-wide project that has strengthened us as an institution.
When the visiting team arrives to review our work, they expect to see that we do what
we say we do with data that has passed all the integrity tests. We are confident that
is exactly what they will find.
I hope this discussion has provided you with a larger vision for NPC for the coming
year and beyond. We continue to be aggressive in our planning to meet the continued
demands of our students. They expect more, and we need to answer that expectation.
Our strength has been in listening to our students and keeping them center. They have
more to say, so there is more for us to do. I appreciate our campus’ collective ear
in this process.
