Since 1888, EAC has embraced new ways of fulfilling its mission.In our world today, rapid change is transforming the human experience and posing fundamental questions at every level. The need to understand this changing world and develop solutions for societal challenges has never felt more urgent.Strategic planning provides a flexible – yet focused – framework for our future. It involves collaboration across our College and local communities to articulate a shared mission, vision, and set of values that will drive decision-making at Eastern Arizona College.
When President Todd Haynie was inaugurated as EAC’s twenty-second president on May 16, 2018, he identified three pillars to guide his administration: fostering community engagement, promoting student success, and supporting responsible fiscal conservatorship.
In January 2019, President Haynie launched a year-long strategic planning process based on these guiding pillars. This began with a comprehensive internal and external evaluation that included reviews of institutional and external data that resulted in the identification of more than 700 strengths, opportunities, and aspirations. Focus groups were held with the District Governing Board, students, employees, parents, and other community stakeholders. These identified EAC’s top opportunities, ranging from decreasing overall costs to expanding student services, and from creating relationships with statewide decision makers to fostering a culture of student engagement. EAC employees and the general public were asked to provide input on these initiatives through a campaign that began in May 2019. Based on these comments, an EAC steering committee narrowed this list to four initiatives that form the basis of the strategic plan: foster a culture of student engagement; develop a strategic enrollment plan; enhance program offerings; and strengthen fiscal responsibility.
The four strategic initiatives provide direction for EAC for the next five years. Each initiative is managed by a team of employees who are working to plan and execute the initiative objectives. Once each initiative is chartered, a formal update will be provided to the college community each semester.
In 2019, President Haynie and the District Governing Board launched EAC’s first Innovation Fund to support the development of the four initiatives aligned with the strategic planning process. To encourage innovative thinking outside the parameters of the annual fiscal budget, $100,000 has been allocated for projects that have a clear connection, a strategic initiative and demonstrated value for EAC.