Chancellor Maldonado unveils transformation plan for HCC
Apr 13, 2015
In his first State of the College address with hundreds of business and community leaders, politicians, and education partners, Houston Community College Chancellor Dr. Cesar Maldonado unveiled his plan for the future of the institution.
Since his arrival 11 months ago, Dr. Maldonado has been working with faculty, students, administrators, business and community leaders to develop a structure that will transform the college by “centering excellence.” The transformation will not only meet the needs of students, industries, and communities, but also allow HCC to align and evolve with the demographic and business shifts in the Houston region.
The transformation plan involves creating Centers of Excellence where students can not only focus on quality academics, but on workforce education as well. This model will enable the institution to better leverage its size and resources, while creating more opportunities for students.
Citing the current HCC Coleman College for Health Sciences as a great example of a Center of Excellence, Maldonado went on to say that they will begin with 12 centers and will add four more. The first 12 Centers of Excellence include: Public Safety, Global Energy, Logistics, Material Science, Manufacturing, Digital & Information Technologies, Health Sciences, Consumer Arts & Sciences, Construction, Engineering, Media Arts & Technology, and Business.
The four additional centers will be Transportation, Maritime, Aviation and Robotics.
“We are creating focused industry hubs with spokes spread throughout the community. Each will be positioned strategically in geographic regions to best support our local businesses and industry,” Dr. Maldonado said.
While general academic and training courses can be taken at any campus location, higher level courses will require that students go to the Center of Excellence that will house the high-end, quality facilities and technology that support that area of interest.
“As we think about the focus that is required for the next decade and beyond, we recognize the extraordinary expense that is required to not simply educate, but to train," Dr. Maldonado said. "No college the size of HCC can make all of these high-tech, hands-on training facilities available on every campus.”
He cited several examples of high-end equipment that would be unique to a Center of Excellence, including the Rig One simulation lab for offshore workers, the Meade telescope, fire training facilities and fully-equipped operating rooms.
“Our commitment to excellence in academics will be the staple of this institution,” Dr. Maldonado said. “All academic courses will be offered at an even higher standard. By bringing more creativity to the classroom and sharing best practices to better serve students, the transferring university will have an even greater confidence in the quality of education their new student has received at HCC.”
The Centers of Excellence model will allow HCC to increase its capacity to serve the community with technical and academic programs, increase facility utilization rates, increase productivity of human capital, and decrease the cost of the delivery of instruction and support service.
These changes, according to Dr. Maldonado, will increase HCC’s capacity to serve the community with technical and academic programs, increase accountability at all levels of the organization, increase external funding opportunities through grants and other non-traditional sources, and increase student success rates.
The Chancellor said technology, society, and academia are always changing, but the one constant factor is the quality of great instructors at HCC. “Without them, no strategy works - they are our soul and our rock and they ensure a level of excellence and focus.”
For more information on the HCC Transformation plan, visit hccs.edu/transformation.