Long Range Vision and Planning Committee presents final draft
The Long Range Vision and Planning Committee has its final recommendation for NIC’s new mission and vision statement.
It will present the new statements to the board of trustees at the Board’s next scheduled meeting on Feb. 22 in the SUB’s Lake Coeur d’Alene Room.
The new mission statement makes goals of lifelong learning, educational excellence and commitment to student success.
The new vision statement plans for an NIC that is a comprehensive community college that provides quality learning for an affordable price, as well as the plan to be the educational and cultural center of the community.
The statement defines NIC’s core values as being student success, educational excellence, community engagement, stewardship and diversity.
The finished statements are the end of an eight-step process that spanned several months and began formally in August.
Several of the processes involved community input, something many committee members repeatedly stated was very important, including several expansive surveys conducted by Robinson Research, a research firm based in Spokane.
“We had focus groups with students; we had focus groups with faculty, staff and community members,” said NIC Vice President for Student Services Sheldon Nord, who was involved with the committee. “We did a lot of research. If there is one thing people cannot do, [it] is say they didn’t have input.”
The committee, which featured Mayor Sandi Bloem, several NIC administrators and a variety of community leaders, was headed by Avista Utilities Regional Business Manager Patty Shea and retired Kootenai Health CEO Joe Morris.
“I think the committee did a great job of trying to listen to everyone and come up with statements that were responsive to everyone’s feedback,” Nord said. “I wouldn’t say that this [statement] is better than the old one; I think the biggest thing we accomplished is this is a statement that represents all of NIC’s stakeholders. This is the vision and mission statement for our community college.”
