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Finger Lakes Community College, main campus.

Strategic Plan 2023-2028

The FLCC strategic plan focuses on student success, opportunities and innovation, and community and industry engagement. We look forward to new partnerships, creativity, and professional excellence as we plan for the next five years.

Looking Forward: Strategic Priorities

As an open-access institution, FLCC is at the forefront of economic and demographic change. The success of community college students is a critical public policy issue as the nation struggles with post-COVID worker shortages and the fallout of inequality.

In response, the College has made innovation and partnerships key features of its 2023-2028 Strategic Plan to better serve a population that is increasingly diverse in backgrounds, needs, and goals.

FLCC is directing more resources toward technology and practices that ensure students from disadvantaged backgrounds, veterans, and older students get the individualized support services they need to excel.

We are engaging with our alumni and employers to provide enriching experiences for our students, and we are encouraging employees to develop more community connections that will help them anticipate what's next for the Finger Lakes and its residents.

The overview below shares our goals, initiatives, and metrics that will help us track our progress through the end of the decade.

  • Improve student learning and success through individualized support and strong collaboration between faculty, staff, and students.

    Objective 1

    Invest in individualized student support systems that address and aid the increasingly complex needs of our students.

    Progress Metrics

    • Use existing infrastructure (e.g., Starfish and Informer) to track students' success in achieving individual goals.
    • Integrate faculty and staff advising training and supports to create a collaborative and trusting partnership to guide individual student success.

    Objective 2

    Focus on retaining and improving the experience of first-year students.

    Progress Metrics

    • Fully implement the Integrated FYE model and supports that leverage staff and faculty content expertise to assist in the persistence and retention of first-year students.

    Objective 3

    Increase student completion for all students, and especially our most vulnerable students.

    Progress Metrics

    • Complete a review of student-facing College policies and procedures to ensure policies are student-friendly and have been reviewed with a DEI lens.
    • Track and communicate how curricular and co-curricular assessment is used to improve student learning.

    Student Success Impact Metrics

    • Improve pass rates of courses identified as "high failure or high withdrawal rate" by 25%.
    • Increase fall-to-fall retention by 10% by the end of the plan
      1. Increase first-semester student retention by 8% over the 2022-2023 fall-to-spring; spring-to-fall retention rates.
      2. Increase retention of first and second term academic probation and financial aid warning students by 5% over the 2022-2023 rates.
      3. Increase the fall-to-fall retention rate of Students of Color and Pell recipients to be within five percentage points of White and Non-Pell recipient retention rates over the 2022-2023 rates.
    • Increase the number of students meeting their identified individual education goals, with a percent increase to be set after tracking has established a baseline.
    • Increase graduation rate by 10% by the end of the plan.

  • Expand our ability to meet the evolving needs of our students and community.

    Objective 1

    Engage the entire college community in professional learning opportunities to advance our ability to carry out our mission. 

    Progress Metrics

    • Implement a college-wide onboarding process that recognizes and encapsulates departmental operations and cross-program interactions.
    • Incorporate UDL (Universal Design for Learning) training and other training about meeting differentiated learning needs into professional development opportunities for the whole campus.
    • Engage at least 25% of the campus community in utilizing existing Professional Learning badging systems (e.g., Credly, Go2Knowledge, KnowBe4, SUNY SCI) to centralize and promote accomplishment recognition by the institution and share our employee knowledge base with colleagues.

    Objective 2

    Provide high-quality, intentional, and meaningful educational experiences for our students.

    Progress Metrics

    • Concentrate on creating cross-academic and community engagement programming at our non-main campus locations, including Campus Centers, Viticulture Center, and Field stations. 
    • Design and promote programs and stackable credentials, including microcredentials in credit areas that meet and support the needs of growing local industries. 
    • Create an environmental scan of new industries and practices to be shared with the College community in the annual “What’s Next” conversation to help ground new program development. 

    Objective 3

    Focus on recruiting and retaining students and employees from diverse backgrounds to strengthen our institution and reflect our core values.

    Progress Metrics

    • Increase recruitment of diverse faculty and staff members and retain existing employees to better reflect the diversity reflected in our student body.

    Opportunities and Innovation Impact Metrics

    • In years 2-5 of the plan, increase the number of faculty and staff using early alert software by 5% over baseline. 
    • Through identifying new markets and opportunities, in years 2-5 of the plan, increase enrollment of diverse students, including international students. A baseline will be established after year 1 of the plan.
    • Increase the number of programs, stackable credentials, and microcredentials in both non-credit and credit areas by end-of-plan. Percent increase will be identified in year 2 after department/unit plans identify potential areas for long-term development.
    • Increase diverse employee retention by at least 2% over baseline in years 2-5 of the plan. The final percent increase will be established once baseline data are established.

  • Invest in students' futures by leveraging partnerships.

    Objective 1

    Expand intentional student opportunities to partner with community members for employment and skill building.  

    Progress Metrics

    • Develop an FLCC Connections database that identifies community connections and partnerships that are currently affiliated with FLCC departments, faculty, or staff. 
    • Review existing Advisory Boards for effectiveness and establish Advisory Boards for each academic program and appropriate College departments that are inclusive, community-based, and meet at least once a year.

    Objective 2

    Increase student and employee resilience by creating a more inclusive college environment.     

    Progress Metrics

    • Engage in intentional community practices to enhance trust and move forward as we celebrate and strengthen our teams while focusing on serving our students.
    • Strengthen and expand on adjunct and Gemini faculty participation in professional learning and mentoring.

    Objective 3

    Increase direct alumni engagement to make the 29,928 (and growing) FLCC alumni network more visible and accessible to the College. 

    Progress Metrics

    • Develop a formal connection between alumni engagement and applied learning.

    Impact Metrics for Community and Industry Engagement 

    • Increase the number of students engaged in applied learning by 10%.
    • Identify a college climate survey instrument to assess progress on engagement and inclusion. A baseline will be established in the first year of the plan and re-assessed 2x during the plan. 
    • Increase the number of alumni donors by 5% over the 2022-2023 alumni giving rate. 
    • Increase the number of applied learning sites hosted by alumni by 5% over baseline in years 2-5 of the plan. 
    • Increase the number of Gemini and adjunct instructors participating in campus-sponsored professional learning events by 5% over baseline, which will be established in year 1 of the plan.