On Monday afternoon, Pasco-Hernando State College President Jesse Pisors and his staff met with the college’s District Board of Trustees to discuss their strategic plan. They presented their vision for the next five years (2025-2029) to a crowd consisting of trustees and community leaders. The changes that were proposed to the current goals do not represent an abandonment of former ideals but rather a “tightening” of the language, Pisors noted.
The college’s president read off their newly proposed mission statement on Monday: “Pasco-Hernando State College, a comprehensive, learning-centered institution, serves its community by providing an excellent and affordable education, enabling students to achieve academic success, personal enrichment, socio-economic advancement and social impact.”
After Pisors’ preamble, five speakers from the college came forward and each presented an objective of the plan. Up first was Dr. Daniel Powell, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Chief Academic Officer, to discuss goal one of their academic endeavors: academics. They are looking to provide “exceptional instruction, effective academic support and educational programs which meet industry and community needs,” said Powell.
They will accomplish this in five further ways. This will be done by improving student success rate and course retention, which the institution hopes to increase to 82 percent by the end of the decade. PHSC looks to analyze and tweak programs as well as support the progress of students and improve accessibility through a “cohesive course schedule,” which they hope will increase student enrollment from 8.8 to 10 semester credit hours. Dr. Powell and company also plan to raise the enrollment numbers for accelerated learning programs like dual enrollment. They also plan to upgrade their systems,
technologies and organizational structures.
Chris Bibbo, Assistant Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Enrollment Management, delved further into how the staff plan to improve enrollment. They are targeting a rise in enrollment by sustaining and increasing their presence in high schools and throughout the community and a rise in student awareness of financial aid options (20 percent increase in such applications) through workshops and other events. A PHSC District Board of Trustees (DBOT) student representative cautioned Bibbo’s staff that using the word “workshops” could drive students away from attending because the term may conjure the idea of yet another lecture in their minds.
Strengthening community engagement, aligning with high school workforce programs, and the building of a Welcome Center on their West Campus are a few projects in the works. They hope to design, secure funding for, and construct the latter item by the end of 2029. The center, which was championed by Pisors, has already gained traction among the faculty.
“We just expanded, and we were able to take over an entire building with recruiting, admissions, registrar, but we want to develop that into a place where students feel welcome,” said Bibbo. “They come in, it’s new, it’s exciting, they’re meeting with recruiters there. It’s a whole kind of a process.
The primary concern surrounding the welcome center is that the proposal only calls for one. However, there should be at least two such centers, one in Pasco and one in Hernando, a trustee added. When the funds become available, that would seem to be the appropriate course of action to avoid an appearance of favoritism towards one county or another. The idea was brought up in the committee’s discussions, and they hope to expand one day, but the school will start with one for now. “We probably have to develop that more,” stated Pisors.
Growing the number of international students enrolled at the state college is a priority for the administration as well. Over their five-year plan, they are targeting a rise in international student enrollment by 50 times their current numbers. While that may sound unattainable, PHSC currently only has two such students as part of their numbers: a student-athlete and a nursing student. The staff hopes to add 100 international students to their roster by January 1, 2030.
Bob Bade, Senior Vice President and Chief Student Affairs and Enrollment Officer, tackled student enrollment. It is his team’s ambition to achieve a top 10 ranking in the Florida College System for fall retention and average completion rates, a continuation rate over 75 percent for AA students transferring to a university, and a graduate workforce placement rate of 90-plus. One way they will address the final point is by informing students in the appropriate programs of “top local hiring companies.”
The stability, desirability, and optimization of the school’s infrastructure were key for CFO Brian Horner and company, and Vice President of Advancement Lisa Richardson’s crew workshopped how PHSC would improve marketing and community partnerships.
The latter of these can be done by enhancing the school’s support by securing a funded legislative initiative that benefits the college. A large slice of funding for institutions can also be through grants or philanthropic gifts – think Bull Gators donating hefty sums to the University of Florida. PHSC is targeting a minimum of two commitments of $1 million or more.
This plan is not ironclad, though. Pisors and company will take the attendees’ advice into consideration before the final draft is complete. Many of the suggestions in response to the college’s goals and aspirations were clerical in nature; “community” for “communities” and “excellent” to “quality” were just some of the more minute amendments that were requested.
While tweaks in wording and tonality comprised the bulk of the members’ early concerns, more suggestions were offered following Monday’s proposal. Mattei-Fernandez recommended the establishment of a student marketing internship, and he would like the college to have a clearer definition of who an international student is.
Hernando County Commissioner John Allocco wanted more clarification on the increasing of enrollment hours. President Pisors says they are working on solving this challenge especially as it pertains to part time students (39 percent taking less than six credit hours) and making more courses available to raise these numbers.
Is this attainable? Pisors certainly feels like they can. “That was a test we applied to every one of these points.” Ultimately, the state college president wants their targets to be challenges but attainable. “This is going to be our future, our roadmap,” he said.
