Strategic Planning

Delivering On The Promise

In 1998, a small group of committed community members came together to discuss and plan Nevada’s first state college. When that vision became a reality in 2002, the faculty, staff, and students made a commitment to the citizens of Nevada, a promise to:

• Serve as the state’s middle tier for higher education, providing access to a wide range of baccalaureate degrees for a diverse population of students;
• Improve the career readiness of Nevada’s citizens, especially in high-need areas such as health care, education, and business;
• Increase the ability of our students to participate responsibly in a democracy, with a classical foundation in the liberal arts, critical thinking, and civil discourse.

We titled our 2020-2025 strategic plan Delivering on the Promise to demonstrate the many ways we will continue to support this original vision as well as the adapting needs of our many communities. This plan is the result of over a year of concerted efforts, which included:

Information-gathering sessions. In 2018, NSC hosted several small group sessions following our May Convocation. These sessions were open to students, faculty, and staff. The feedback we collected during these sessions helped to form the foundation of our five strategic themes. In the fall of 2018, we hosted a second round of information-gathering sessions and used this information to develop initiatives and projects in support of our broad goals.

External consultant. We enlisted the help of a strategic planning expert to ensure our process was efficient, inclusive, and comprehensive. The consultant met with multiple stakeholders on campus and helped us design a plan based on best practices and NSC’s unique culture.

Working groups. Each strategic theme had its own working group with broad representation from across campus. These groups met frequently, consulted with their constituents, and developed the initiatives that make up the heart of this plan.

Institutional Research. With a strong commitment to making data-guided decisions, the various committees worked closely with the Director of Institutional Research and his team to ensure that clear metrics provide crucial guidance and meaningful benchmarks for our initiatives.

Strategic Planning Council. A group of faculty leaders, administrators, and student representatives made up the Strategic Planning Council, which served as the guiding body for the entire planning process. This council reviewed the contributions of the working groups and helped to shape them into the final plan. Membership of this council is included in the following section.

As a whole, this plan represents a collective effort to recognize our potential and imagine what we can become. It begins with the five wide-reaching goals established by the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE), which correspond to NSC’s newly established values. These values guided the creation of five strategic themes: students; curriculum and instruction; organizational culture; growth and capacity building; and community engagement and economic development. Each theme expands into a strategic goal and is supported by several robust initiatives.