Bunker Hill Community College Holds Strategic Planning Conference

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Jan 29, 2010, 11:47 ET

BOSTON, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bunker Hill Community College held a strategic planning event on January 20, 2010, to establish the College's goals for 2010-2013.

BHCC President, Dr. Mary L. Fifield welcomed 300 business, civic and community leaders, College Trustees, College Foundation members, faculty, staff, student leaders and alumni to address major issues facing greater Boston and to contribute ideas for new College goals that would address them. Held at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, the speakers for the event included: Beverly Edgehill, President and CEO, The Partnership, Inc.; Dr. Gary L. Gottlieb, President and CEO, Partners HealthCare System, Inc.; Shirley Singleton, President and CEO, Edgewater Technology, Inc.; Richard Taylor, Chairman, Taylor Smith Realty, Inc.; and Stephen R. Woods, President, Citizens Bank, Massachusetts.

The session produced as top priorities closing the gap between workforce readiness skills and employer expectations; increasing data analysis skills at all levels reflecting the growing digital information needs of employers; and partnerships with nonprofits, governments and industry. The session reaffirmed College commitments to sustainability and to the development of critical skills in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), especially for students of color.

The contributions of the many community and business partners who attended the event were inspiring, insightful and ultimately will lead to creation of the College's 2010-2013 goals. These goals build on those approved by the College's Board of Trustees following a similar event in April 2006. This all-encompassing planning and goal setting process has become a College tradition that occurs on a three-year cycle. While the process is now routine, the energy brought to it by a winning combination of engaged civic and community leaders, a committed Board of Trustees, College Foundation members and caring faculty, staff and students is a remarkable and galvanizing testimony to the value of Bunker Hill Community College to our region.

In the coming months, members of the College community will further discuss participants' recommendations before finalizing a specific list of goals for 2010-2013.

Bunker Hill Community College is the largest community college in Massachusetts. The College enrolls more than 11,000 students on two campuses and at five satellite locations. BHCC is one of the most diverse institutions of higher education in Massachusetts. Six in ten students are people of color and more than half of BHCC's students are women. The College also enrolls more than 690 international students who come from more than 95 countries and speak 75 different languages.

SOURCE Bunker Hill Community College