Strategic Opportunities & Challenges
The VPAA will have the opportunity to lead academic innovation, foster faculty engagement, strengthen workforce alignment, and build meaningful partnerships, all while advancing student success and institutional growth in a challenging higher education environment and a diverse, evolving regional context. To accomplish these goals, they will work with the breadth of the College’s stakeholders to collaboratively define goals and responsibilities. In doing this work, they will also embrace DACC’s innovative nature and the rapid pace of change across higher education.
The strategic opportunities and challenges that await the next VPAA include:
Aligning Programs with Workforce Needs
There is a significant opportunity to expand and modernize high-demand academic programs such as healthcare, advanced manufacturing, IT, trades, and education. Building stronger partnerships with employers, workforce agencies, and school districts, while keeping curricula responsive and academically rigorous, will be key to meeting the unique regional needs of the community that DACC serves.
Reimagining Student Pathways
The next VPAA will also reimagine student pathways, ensuring smoother transitions from entry to completion, transfer, and workforce success. This involves aligning developmental education, core coursework, and programs with clear transfer routes and better integration of credentials and degrees with regional job opportunities. To improve student retention and completion, the VPAA must also ensure learning outcomes for a diverse, largely first-generation and working-adult population, closing equity gaps across modalities and programs, and doing so without compromising academic standards.
Meeting Resource Needs
Current institutional and environmental pressures can lead to a disproportionate focus on resource constraints. To diminish that perception, the next VPAA will need to engage the College community and its partners in identifying new and creative areas for resource development. Success in this work will require a broader consideration of economic and workforce opportunities as well as prospects for curricular and co-curricular development.
Leading Innovation in Teaching and Learning
The VPAA will support faculty adoption of technology and high-impact teaching strategies, using data to scale successful practices across divisions and to ensure quality and consistency. The VPAA will guide the ethical and equitable integration of new technologies – including AI – into curriculum design, instruction, and institutional practices. Keeping up with technological advancements will also require securing funding for equipment and establishing assessment initiatives, helping position DACC for future success.
Fostering Faculty Engagement and Development
The next VPAA will further high-quality teaching across modalities and enthusiastically support robust professional development for faculty and staff. Promoting a meaningful review of faculty will also be crucial for advancing academic excellence in all academic programs and practices. Building active support for curricular and program reforms will also require working through faculty governance structures that empower faculty voices and value transparent decision-making.
Expanding Enrollment and Community Engagement
There is potential for growth in student enrollment as well as expansion of partnerships across the community that DACC serves. Fostering deeper engagement with this diverse community will include promoting social mobility across a wide range of student populations, including expanded initiatives for first-generation and adult learners. Promoting collaboration with local high schools and community organizations, along with establishing meaningful industry partnerships, will continue to be important means to further DACC’s mission and regional impact.
Fostering a Culture of Belonging and Engagement
The VPAA will create an inclusive environment where students, faculty, and staff feel heard, valued, and empowered to contribute to DACC’s long-term goals. Success here will also require building trust and fostering a sense of community in which all members are committed to the College’s mission. In a higher education landscape marked by shifting priorities and initiatives, the VPAA can provide leadership stability to bolster trust and morale among faculty and staff. Establishing consistent, clear expectations that reflect a long-term engagement will also be essential.