Dear Colleagues:
Welcome to Northern New Mexico College! It is an honor for me to serve you as Northern New Mexico College's President. I am delighted to see the tremendous progress that our institution is making in a variety of areas. These progressive strides are in part due to our Strategic Planning Efforts.
Effective strategic planning requires strong organizational support at every level of the institution. I commend the faculty, staff, department chairs, deans, provost, and administration for their thorough, comprehensive, and above all, honest assessments of where we are and where we hope to be in the next five years. Numerous planning data sources have informed the development of our strategic plan. This plan, coupled with several administrative planning studies under way, will prove extremely useful in focusing our efforts throughout our very complex structure. The college's commitment to Total Quality Improvement and enthusiastic adoption of the Academic Quality Improvement Program throughout our institution, will further support the implementation of our strategic plans.
The great strength of the college lies in its diversity as an institution of multiple cultures, religions, needs and ambitions. All of these differences join together with shared responsibility for the development of excellence in the institution and in the knowledge that we share with our students and one another. This is diversity in its best sense, an ideal place for different, and sometimes competing conceptions of what is and what should be. By providing the space for the critical tension between reflection and action, the college serves its most important function for the idealistic, able students it educates and the democratic society it serves.
We start with a fundamental commitment to plan our future as one college. Our departments, and schools located on our two geographically separated campuses provide opportunities for creativity, cooperation, and collaboration. The strategic planning process has systematically identified and acknowledged our institutions' strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. And, more importantly helped us identify the means by which we will build on our strengths, resolve our weaknesses, exploit opportunities, and finally, avoid or overcome our threats we face as an institution given our aggressive change of mission.
The economic and social well being of north central New Mexico is closely tied to the health and vigor of our college. Enhancing Northern‘s ability to fulfill its mission of instruction, and public service will promote the welfare of New Mexico. As a result of the strategic planning process, we will rededicate our efforts to serve the people of New Mexico by the creation of new knowledge, and the transmission of that knowledge to the citizens of our state through excellent instruction and distinguished public service.
Recreating community and fostering academic excellence are central themes of the college's strategic planning process. We must change the way we operate, virtually reinventing the college to meet the challenges of restricted resources, significant diversity, and greatly expanded demands inherent in our change of mission to a four-year degree granting institution. Our next task will require even more extensive collaborative efforts, as we strive to bring reality to our hopes and dreams and as we position ourselves for our new mission. We must work together to encourage individuals, constituent groups, and the state to support our college. As ambassadors for Northern, we all have opportunities to promote the greater good of the college. Our joint efforts will bring us to a future we have planned for ourselves. I look forward to sharing this journey with you.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jose Griego
President, Northern New Mexico College