Our Strategic Plan
Strategic Planning evolves from collaborative engagement with the campus, local, and regional communities to articulate a shared mission, vision, and set of values that drive all decision-making at Arizona Western College. The Strategic Plan that develops out of this process is dynamic and provides a flexible but focused framework for our future.
2028 Strategic Plan
Strategic PlanStrategic Plan & Excelencia Roster
Strategic Planning
Faculty
Classified
PA
Tri-Chairs
Sarah Snyder
Professor of English
Silvia Kempton
Testing Services Technician II
Lori Stofft
VP for Advancement
AWC Excelencia In Education
Federal Program Rep
Data Position
Student Services
Faculty/ Academics
Advancement
Leadership / Career Tech
Faculty/ Career Tech
Faculty / Academics
AWC Strategic Plan Pillars
As selected in May by AWC President Dr. Daniel Corr, the three pillars for the AWC Strategic Plan 2028 are:
Excelencia
The word is in Spanish as a nod to our desire to meet our responsibilities as an HSI by creating excellent learning opportunities and outcomes for all students through a persistent use of data. 77% of our students are Latinx and many of those are first generation students. We are striving to reduce the achievement gap for these students, particularly but not exclusively. There will be a halo effect on all AWC students as we:
- Level up how we use data to improve learning outcomes, like course-level success, retention, degree completion or transfer
- Make data available more equitably and on-demand to teams working across the district to serve both students and each other
- Use data to measure our effectiveness across all areas and then execute a plan to improve
Access
Removing barriers to awareness of college offerings, enrollment, retention and completion and strengthening the ways community partners utilize college offerings. This could include dual credit, corporate training, new markets, or any number of things. Access will be improved for all our communities and students when we:
- Closely consider how do we serve distinct populations, from Dual Enrollment/ Concurrent to non-traditional students, including returning students with some college but no degree.
- Examine how we leverage multilingual and multicultural resources to serve our students.
- Increase access to wrap-around services to increase enrollment, successful outcomes, and partnership.
Disruption
Disruptive change management is innovation elevated. It responds to disruptive trends in the industry, even supply-side disruptive trends (i.e. what are our students and industry partners requiring of us that our current systems / processes can’t supply?). Disruption will serve our students and communities partners when:
- We prepare ourselves for what is just over the horizon from the way we operate today.
- We closely examine what firmly held practices would yield better results for our students, employees, or community if we modified them.
- We take lessons from the innovative ‘laboratory environment’ created by the Arizona Western Entrepreneurial College.
Revised July 2024 by tri-chairs Lorraine Stofft, Dr. Sarah Snyder, Silvia Kempton.
Steering Committee Timeline & Workflow
March 2024
Leadership sets parameters
April 2024
All call for steering committee
- Plan structure with Liz, Dr. Corr
- kick off planning process
May 2024
Initial meeting of Steering Committee, initial meeting of tri-chairs
- College Town Hall: Parameters, establish pillars (take reaction?), what to expect, timeline
- Survey to current college leadership: committees, councils, LAB, Cabinet about what went well and what could have been better in planning and executing previous SP
- Liz run a session with Cabinet on expectations
- Liz run a session with DGB on setting the stage and parameters
- Plan Survey to students / constituents
- First convening of Steering Committee
- Create Focused Scan teams
- Future Look article assignments for summer
June 2024
- Stakeholder (External Constituent) Surveys – Liz , Steering Committe to review
- Use Previous Invitation List
- Include Save the Date for November Horizon Event
August 2024
Steering Committee work
- Review of Future Look articles
- Review timeline and flesh out activities
- Organize ourselves into Scan Teams (incl. Values)
- Update at All-Fall Town Hall August 5
- Feedback Cycle and Objective Rubric
(AWC login required)
September 2024
Steering Committee work
- Scan Teams complete early-mid September, Share out in workshop style
- Disaggregated Data Party
- Student Focus Groups – Mobile Pizza Party
- Update at September College Governance Council (CGC) - tentative share out measurement goals
October 2024
Steering Committee work
- Discovery: Develop potential projects within each theme
- Staff Survey – testing our early discoveries
- Update at October College Governance Council (CGC) - tentative share out measurement goals, updated
November 2024
Steering Committee work
- Update to DGB
- Update at October College Governance Council (CGC) - pace of the work, updates
- Horizon Symposium to test concepts with wider public, host speaking event
- Start writing the plan
December 2024
Draft test with Student Intercept surveys at all sites
January 2025
Plan Launch & Mobilization
- Strategic Plan launched; governance and implementation teams activated
- Initial priorities set across all five initiatives
- Budget alignment and early planning underway
February 2025
Foundation & Goal Setting
- District Governing Board Formally Adopts Strategic Plan of 5 Objectives at February 2025 Meeting.
- SMART goals finalized across all initiatives
- Early work begins on AI, scheduling, and access strategies
March 2025
Early Implementation
- Teams operationalized across all pillars
- Baseline metrics established (enrollment, completion, scheduling)
- Initial pilots begin (AI tools, scheduling redesign)
April 2025
Pilot Development
- Launch of early pilots in:
- AI integration (Center for the Future groundwork)
- Scheduling efficiency models
- Outreach planning begins for targeted populations
May 2025
Capacity Building
- Faculty/staff engagement expands (training, workshops)
- Experiential learning framework defined
- Industry and community partnership development begins
June 2025
Scaling Implementation
- Early gains in scheduling efficiency and course alignment
- Expansion planning for Early College, OTA, and workforce programs
- Continued AI strategy development
July 2025
Data & Strategic Alignment
- Institutional benchmarking and learning (Excelencia focus)
- Data analysis begins to guide equity and completion strategies
August 2025
Visible Progress
- Center for the Future: Leadership structure and AI initiatives advancing
- Scheduling: Increased 8-week offerings and improved alignment
- Access: Growth in Early College and expanded outreach programs
- Excelencia: Data disaggregation and student success focus
September 2025
Governance Update
- Formal progress update to District Governing Board
- Focus on Center for the Future, Entrepreneurial College, Excelencia
- Resource alignment and priority refinement
October 2025
Program Expansion
- AI Fellows program launched with solicitation of faculty, staff, and students engagement
- AI guidelines developed and implemented through the AI for All initiative
- Makerspace evolution into Center for Emerging Technology underway
November 2025
Workforce & Innovation Growth
- Final AI for ALL Guideline reference released
- Expansion of Entrepreneurial College programming:
- Wellton Accelerator
- Rural healthcare initiatives
- Apprenticeships and prison education programs
- New grant funding secured to support workforce development (~$3M+)
December 2025
Year 1 Momentum
- Record-setting enrollment trajectory established
- Continued scaling of AI, scheduling, and access initiatives
- Strong institutional performance and fiscal efficiency gains
January 2026
Measurable Outcomes Emerging
- Largest Fall enrollment in college history achieved
- Continued improvements in student satisfaction and experience
- Strategic Plan initiatives demonstrating early return on investment
February 2026
One Year in Review
- Centralized Scheduling (Major Breakthrough):
- Fall 2025:
- +10% FTSE growth
- +8.9% enrollment increase
- Spring 2026:
- Continued upward trend (+709 enrollments; +3.5% FTSE)
- 8-week courses expanded to 25%+ of total offerings (From Spring 2025)
- Nearly tripled GE course availability in 8-week format (47 → 132 sections) Reduced total sections while increasing enrollment → clear fiscal efficiency gains
- Fall 2025:
- Student Success Maintained:
- ~79–80% overall success rate despite increased scale
March 2026
“A Year of Impact” Milestone (Strategic Planning Report Release)
- Center for the Future
- Director of Emerging Technology selected and onboarded
- AI Fellows program operational (faculty, staff, students engaged in training and outreach)
- AI training topics expanding across disciplines (instruction + operations)
- Center for Emerging Technology advancing with infrastructure and leadership in place
- Access & Early College
- +15.3% total credit hour growth YoY
- +22.5% Early College credit growth
- Continued expansion of dual enrollment and new high school partnerships
- Early College delivering significant affordability (66% discounted tuition)
- Student Outcomes
- Record number of credentials awarded
- Strong student satisfaction and belonging indicators
- Clear alignment between programs and workforce outcomes
- Entrepreneurial College
- Launch and expansion of:
- Workforce accelerator near completion: Future48 – Wellton Manufacturing Center
- Industry-aligned programs and grants continue to be earned
- Continued growth in applied, experiential, and workforce-based learning
- Launch and expansion of:
- Excelencia (Culture & Belonging)
- Development of new SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) across the College
- Student progress notification
- Embedded academic support for gateway courses
- Focus areas:
- Reducing success gaps
- Increasing HSI awareness
- Creating clearer pathways to completion
- Ongoing professional development and institutional alignment
- Development of new SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) across the College
Feedback Cycle
Discover all the opportunities for input during the year.
Data & Survey Results
| Title/Filename | File/Link |
|---|---|
| FY25 Innovation Fund Townhall | Download |
| AWC Horizon Welcome | Download |
| Executive Summary Horizon Symposium | Download |
| Student Intercept Survey | View |
| 10 Themes of Survey | View |
| Common Themes Initial Surveys | View |
| Focus Group Schedule | View |
| AWC Strategic Plan 2028: Faculty & Staff Areas of Focus Survey | View |
| Steering Committee Final Themes (Buckets) | Download |