Great Bay Community CollegeVice President of Academic Affairs Profile

COLLEGE OVERVIEW:

Great Bay Community College was founded in Portsmouth in 1945 to serve returning veterans from WWII. This year we will be celebrating our 71st commencement with 350 graduates in such programs as: Accounting, Advanced Composites, Biology, Biotechnology, Business Administration, Comput-er Technology, Criminal Justice, Digital Media, Early Childhood Education, Education, Engineering, English, Environmental Science, Fine Arts, Hospitality, Information Systems Technology, Liberal Arts, Massage Therapy, Medical Office Administration, Nursing, Surgical Technology, Technical Studies, Veterinary Technology, and Welding. We have come a long way since offering those first few programs in Electrical, Plumbing, and Sheet Metal. In many ways we remain the same, yet we are also vastly dif-ferent. We are still deeply dedicated to serving veterans and our immediate community; today we serve 5,000 students annually in credit and non-credit courses and programs that are aligned with opportu-nities for rewarding careers which meet market demand, as well as those which allow our students to transfer.

75% of our students attend part-time and 60% are female. The average age of our students is 25. Most work and have other obligations such as raising a family or taking care of family members. Our students have much on their plate and yet they carry on, despite these personal challenges, to pursue a quality, affordable education that will brighten their future.

Great Bay has a portfolio of programs that is balanced between technical/career, transfer/Liberal Arts, two-year/certificate, and credit/non-credit. We have excellent collaborative partnerships with four-year institutions—particularly the University of New Hampshire. The College also has strong ties to the community and business and industry. One of our advantages is location; the Seacoast of New Hampshire is an attractive area for young families seeking quality of life and for companies looking for

educated and skilled talent. The College also resides on the Pease International Tradeport, which houses approximately 300 companies and 10,000 employees.

Currently the College offers day and evening courses as well as online and hybrid courses. We continue to explore developing additional 100% online programs. We are also considering the possibility of a Weekend College. The College continues to build programs in niche areas such as Composites Technol-ogy, Non-Destructive Testing, Aviation-Helicopter, and Motorcycle Technician. All of these technical programs have solid industry alignment and support. Recently, we have added programs in Cyber-Se-curity and Data Analytics. In the coming years, our goal is to grow our Humanities and Fine Arts offer-ings.

The College offers a variety of visiting opportunities to expose elementary, middle, and high school students to our programs with a focus on STEM-related areas. In the last several years we have continued to add STEM programs such as Engineering Transfer and Bioengineering. We also offer Running Start courses in high schools and centers for technical education to 11th and 12th graders at less than half the cost of tuition. In addition, we offer Dual Enrollment to high school and homeschooled students who want to study on our campus. Through these programs, GBCC maintains its connections to K-12 education on the Seacoast. Finally, we have a Dual Admissions program that allows high school students with the desire to attend a USNH institution to begin at Great Bay. Dual Admissions students are admitted at both campuses, enabling seamless transfer. We also partner with Southern New Hampshire University for a similar dual admission program.

The College offers a variety of visiting opportunities to expose elementary, middle, and high school students to our programs with a focus on STEM-related areas. In the last several years we have contin-ued to add STEM programs such as Engineering Transfer and Bioengineering. We also offer Running Start courses in high schools and centers for technical education to 11th and 12th graders at less than half the cost of tuition. In addition, we offer Dual Enrollment to high school and homeschooled stu-dents who want to study on our campus. Through these programs, GBCC maintains its connections to K-12 education on the Seacoast. Finally, we have a Dual Admissions program that allows high school students with the desire to attend a USNH institution to begin at Great Bay. Dual Admissions students are admitted at both campuses, enabling seamless transfer. We also partner with Southern New Hamp-shire University for a similar dual admission program.

The College is one of seven community colleges in New Hampshire and is a member of the Commu-nity College System of New Hampshire which is overseen by a Chancellor and a Board of Trustees. At the College level, the President and Senior Staff work with an Advisory Board. GBCC’s shared gover-nance structure promotes dialogue and input on issues related to College policies and the overall oper-ational structure. When possible, we include student leaders in our governance structure for the benefit of their perspective and to encourage the continual development of students’ leadership skills.

The College is fortunate to have a mix of long-time employees as well as newer employees that under-stand and are passionately committed to our students, our community, and the delivery of excellent higher education and service. Great Bay is known among the System and in the broader community as a creative, forward-thinking, innovative institution that is not afraid to try new things. At GBCC, we take chances in the pursuit of continuing improvement.

The College has stable Senior Leadership that is committed to improving the organization so that it continues to lead in innovation and to serve its students, employees, and the broader community.

ACADEMIC PROGRAMS:

Great Bay has a diverse mix of programs that lead to transfer and career opportunities. Our excellent faculty teach and lead in both long-established and newly designed programs. The College has signifi-cant strength and capacity in the Life Sciences and Healthcare programs.

We have focused significantly on developing transfer and technical programs in STEM. These include: Automotive, Aviation-Helicopter, Bioengineering, Composites, CNC, Cyber-Security, Data Analytics, Engineering Transfer, Motorcycle Technology, Non-Destructive Testing, and Welding. We are also adding non-credit bearing programs in such areas as CNC, Medical Assisting, and Medical Office Specialist. We are developing stackable credentials that can be used to earn a certificate or an associate degree. Finally, Senior Leadership has encouraged more collaboration between the College’s degree and non-degree programs, which has significant potential for developing new revenue streams.

The College is invested in continuing to expand its Humanities and Fine Arts offerings in service of our mission to be a comprehensive community college. As we develop transfer pathways to UNH and other four-year institutions in these disciplines, we believe that we will draw more students to the College as well as round-out our portfolio of academic programs. This year the College and the Community Col-lege System, in collaboration with UNH, received a Mellon Foundation grant that allows us to continue building our programs and strengthening our pathways in the Humanities.

Within the last two to four years, the College has also revamped its Business and Computer programs to better reflect the needs of local industry. As an example, we will be one of just a few colleges in New England offering associate degree concentrations in Insurance, Leadership and Management, and Sales and Digital Marketing.

We will certainly continue to evolve as we create stronger collaborative partnerships with four-year insti-tutions and as market forces dictate the skills needed for future employment.

STUDENT RESOURCES:

The College is greatly concerned with student success and completion. We are working with Complete College America to focus on a framework of best practices that will impact onboarding, degree map-ping, time to completion, retention, and persistence. Through this effort, we have begun exploring op-tions to remediation that would shorten the time it takes to enroll in and complete college-level courses. We started this work some years ago by instituting the committee on Transition, Retention, Integration, and Persistence (TRIP).

The College is working with the System to implement data metrics and research tools that will allow the Great Bay and the System to better measure success and identify areas for improvement. We are doing this through continued development of our EMS (Banner). We are also exploring new options for our LMS. In addition, we are working toward integrating tools such as Degreeworks and investigating other tools such as EAB to help us with career and academic advising and tracking.

The College offers a diverse array of student support resources that include: The Library, The Center for Academic Planning and Support (which provides tutoring, placement testing, services for students with disabilities, international student counseling, etc.), several open computer labs, The Advising Cen-ter, The Follett Bookstore, The Student Success Center (which houses all student leadership and athlet-ic programs as well as all clubs and organizations), as well as many computer, healthcare, science, and technology labs.

Students are encouraged to join one of over 20 student clubs and organizations. The College also has a developing athletic program that includes men’s and women’s basketball, women’s volleyball, golf, baseball, and softball. Finally, the College has several highly regarded and successful student leadership programs that include off-site training, a focus on developing women leaders, and student exposure to executive leadership.

THE OPPORTUNITY:

As Chief Academic Officer, the Vice President for Academic Affairs will have the opportunity to lead, inspire, empower, and advocate for a talented and dedicated faculty and staff to ensure academic excellence and delivery of quality services to a diverse population of students. As such, this person will be responsible for working with faculty, staff, and senior leadership to explore and innovate new strategies and approaches to our academic programs and services. The VPAA will also oversee tracking and monitoring through effective data gathering and analysis. This individual will have the challenge of balancing advocacy and support for faculty, staff, students, and academic programs, acting as a leader for the whole College and making decisions in the best interest of the organization. A major part of that role is collaborating with Senior Leadership to plan, develop, implement, and monitor a strategic plan that will align with the missions of Great Bay and the CCSNH.

INFRASTRUCTURE:

The College is comprised of two campuses and several off-site locations where individual programs and courses are taught. The main campus is on 13 acres in a converted Air Force hospital located on the former Pease Air Force Base. The Portsmouth campus exists within one contiguous building that houses the majority of the College’s programs, student services, classrooms and meeting spaces, and faculty and staff offices. The College moved to this refurbished facility in 2009. In 2012 GBCC renovated a facility attached to the Lilac Mall in Rochester, NH in order to house its Composites and Advanced Technology/Manufacturing programs. This is a much smaller sized campus, yet its programs are expanding. Finally, the College has partnerships with several high schools and businesses where its runs a variety of programs and courses.

IDEAL CANDIDATE CHARACTERISTICS:

As Great Bay looks ahead to celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2021, the College community seeks a pas-sionate and visionary leader committed to the idea of a quality education for all who seek it. This person will work alongside the President and Senior Leadership to shape and ensure the future of the institution by exploring and adopting innovative practices that will allow the College to sustain and improve its core mission of delivering quality and relevant higher education.

The ideal candidate for this position is an experienced, thoughtful leader with a clear, focused commitment to teaching, learning, academic excellence, and student success. This candidate is a creative, visionary leader who will inspire faculty, staff, students, and the community. The candidate is an innovative thinker and problem solver who seeks bold solutions. This leader is a critical thinker with outstanding interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills. The candidate is a highly ethical, trustworthy, credible, and loyal person who is respectful of diverse views and opinions. The ideal candidate is flexible and inter-culturally competent as well. As a person whose leadership style is collegial, approachable, open, and accessible on multiple campuses and in the community, this candidate is able to delegate responsibility and authority while maintaining accountability. This leader is committed to the effective use of technology within academic and administrative environments. Moreover, this seasoned academic professional fosters cohesion and a sense of collaboration through a demonstrably keen desire to work together for the good of the College and greater community.

DESIRED CANDIDATE QUALIFICATIONS

• An earned doctorate from an accredited institution;• Teaching experience in higher education with a demonstrated student-centered philosophy of education;• Eight years of administrative leadership and experience in higher education;• An understanding of the GBCC mission, vision, and core values, the educational and financial issues associated with higher education, the laws and regulations of New Hampshire, and the changing role of community colleges;• Proven experience in and commitment to participatory governance with meaningful involvement of all constituent groups;• Demonstrated experience with strategic planning, strong fiscal management linking resource allocation to planning and priorities (including data-driven decision-making), and the ability to lead the ongoing efforts of the College to meet accreditation standards;• Demonstrated record of fiscal responsibility and accountability utilizing enrollment management in schedule planning;• Demonstrated advocacy for and commitment to addressing the needs of the underprepared student;• Demonstrated commitment to academic quality and standards;• A background of supporting efforts in environmental sustainability;• Demonstrated experience in academic, career, and technical education programs and services; • Demonstrated appreciation for and understanding of the value of the liberal arts and humanities in a community college setting;• Demonstrated support for faculty and staff development;• Demonstrated ability to work effectively and cooperatively with diverse constituents within a participatory governance environment;• Demonstrated support for and encouragement of faculty and student scholarship;• Demonstrated ability to promote understanding of and respect for College community member’s accomplishments;• Demonstrated ability to make timely decisions while building consensus and cooperation with members of the College community.