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2006 Focused Visit Report: Planning Concerns

Evidence that demonstrates that further organizational attention is required in the area of focus:

“Some faculty members of OPIC reported that there is still some discomfort with their role in making budget decisions as part of OPIC. . . . A review of the number of reports that OPIC must consider during their planning process confirms that SVCC should consider a more stream-lined review process” (2006, p. 12)

Continued experience of OPIC the year following the Focused Visit confirmed the need for streamlining its role. Faculty representatives repeatedly expressed hesitation to approve or disapprove budget requests, preferring to forward them to administration. Discussion of program review became burdensome and resulted in little or no action, despite several attempts to simplify the format. For FY09, a major revision in OPIC’s charge resulted in several major changes (Appendix):

• The number of members was reduced from its high of 32 members to 12 by reducing the number of administrators and faculty. Because administrators commonly discuss the same issues at President's Cabinet or Administrative Council, their participation in a discussion at OPIC was repetitive. Half of the Area Facilitators remained as members of OPIC, and the remainder now serve on the Assessment Core Team.
• The revised committee charge placed OPIC’s emphasis on strategic planning, assigning it many of the data-gathering and evaluation tasks of the internal and external review teams, which were both then eliminated.

At the end of the year, OPIC members agreed that the change in the committee charge had been beneficial and that their creation of a list of data-based strategic planning priorities was a significant and tangible accomplishment (2A.2).