Faculty, staff and community stakeholders gathered for Naugatuck Valley Community College’s annual fall All-College Meeting on September 18 at the Mainstage Theater. The event featured a midpoint update on the College’s 2013-16 Strategic Plan, Toward a Splendid College.

“There’s so much momentum moving forward,” said NVCC President Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Ph.D. “Our work at Naugatuck Valley Community College continues to honor and support our vision of a just and inclusive society. The new academic year brings with it the promise of continued engagement and rewarding teaching and learning experiences.”

Major components of the 2013-16 strategic plan include deepening the college-wide advising plan, improving outcomes for underrepresented groups, improving job placement efforts and building workforce pathways in high-demand careers.

President De Filippis noted that the College will engage in much significant work over the coming year, including relocation of the Danbury Campus to a larger space, a successful first accreditation visit to the Danbury Campus by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, planning for an International Center for the Arts, expansion of recruitment events and forging and strengthening community bonds through additional industry sector summits.

For the second consecutive year, Martha J. Kanter, Ed.D., a distinguished visiting professor of Higher Education and senior fellow at the Steinhardt Institute of Higher Education Policy at NYU, was invited to deliver the keynote address to the All-College Meeting.

“Why are you passionate about this mission, these students at this point in time in each one of your lives?” asked Dr. Kanter. “It’s because this is about the future for us. This is about what the country will become.”

Dr. Kanter, who served as the U.S. Under Secretary of Education from 2009 to 2013 in the Obama administration, is among the leaders of the College Promise Advisory Board, an independent, nonpartisan coalition of educators, foundations, businesses and politicians tasked with exploring models to provide free tuition at community colleges across the country. In September, College Promise launched Heads Up, a grass-roots movement to rally support for making two years of community college education free for responsible students.

Organizers point out that in the next decade, six out of 10 jobs will require more than a high school diploma and community colleges are in an ideal position to provide a quality, affordable solution to the nation’s educational and training needs.

“That’s why I truly love Toward a Splendid College,” said Kanter. “I think this represents a tremendous amount of work by a lot of people to capture all of the kinds of things that you’re doing.”

NVCC plans to host a College Promise event during the week of October 26, to mark Heads Up national week of action.

Kanter was joined on her latest visit to NVCC by Susan A. Cota, Ph.D., who possesses over 30 years of experience as an educator in the California Community Colleges system. Cota was the first Hispanic female to serve as a California Community College Chancellor.

The All College Meeting also included greetings from Rep. Selim G. Noujaim, an introduction of new colleagues in Academic Affairs, a presentation on the annual United Way campaign, and approval of proposals submitted by the Curriculum & Educational Affairs Committee.