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VISION PROJECT “BIG THREE” CONFERENCEAdvancing Our Knowledge as a System Based on the Expertise of Our Campuses

STATEWIDE CONFERENCE

Friday, February 27, 2015 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Westborough, MA

#VisionBig3

Final Logo: Reversal to be used when layout requiresFinal Logo: Alternate Representation to be used when layout requiresFinal Logo

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Conference AgendaRoom

9:30 a.m. Registration with Coffee/Refreshments Ballroom Foyer

10:00 a.m. Welcome Please be sure to sit at the table number which is shown on your nametag.

Charles F. Desmond, Chairman, Massachusetts Board of Higher Education Richard M. Freeland, Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (MDHE)James A. Peyser, Secretary, Massachusetts Executive Office of EducationCarlos E. Santiago, Senior Deputy Commissioner for Academic Affairs, MDHE

Viking/Autumn/ Baldwin

10:45 a.m. Break / Transition Time

11:00 a.m. Morning Working Sessions Your working session is identified on your nametag. Background information for the Campus Delegation sessions is on pages 4–5.

Session for Campus Delegations: COLLEGE COMPLETION Baldwin

Session for Campus Delegations: CLOSING ACHIEVEMENT GAPS Autumn

Session for Campus Delegations: COLLEGE PARTICIPATION Viking

Session for Presidents, Trustees and BHE MembersRichard M. Freeland, Commissioner, MDHE

Edgewood

Session for Chief Academic OfficersCarlos E. Santiago, Senior Deputy Commissioner for Academic Affairs, MDHE

Nugget/ Wellington

Session for Public Relations OfficersKaty Abel, Associate Commissioner for External Affairs, MDHEJon Marcus, Higher Education Reporter

Captain's Room

12:45 p.m. Lunch Pick-up / Transition Time Please pick up lunch in the Ballroom Foyer and then move to your Afternoon Working Session (next item) to dine with your campus delegation.

Ballroom Foyer

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Map of Session Locations

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1:00 p.m. Lunch / Afternoon Working Sessions The afternoon provides each campus delegation with time to share learnings from the various morning sessions and to develop an initial plan for next steps based on this knowledge. We also encourage campuses to identify ways that the Department of Higher Education can support them in this work.

Berkshire Community College Edgewood MassBay Community College Jonathan

Bridgewater State University Chandler Middlesex Community College Nugget/ Wellington

Bristol Community College Chandler Mt. Wachusett Community College Chandler

Bunker Hill Community College Captains North Shore Community College Nugget/ Wellington

Cape Cod Community College Empire Northern Essex Community College Nugget/ Wellington

Fitchburg State University Chandler Quinsigamond Community College Chandler

Framingham State University Jonathan Roxbury Community College Captains

Greenfield Community College Edgewood Salem State University Nugget/ Wellington

Holyoke Community College Edgewood Springfield Technical Community College

Edgewood

Mass. College of Art & Design Chandler University of Massachusetts (all) York

Mass. College of Liberal Arts Edgewood Westfield State University Edgewood

Massachusetts Maritime Academy Empire Worcester State University Chandler

Massasoit Community College Chandler

2:45 p.m. Break / Transition Time

3:00 p.m. Discussion & Closing Commissioner Freeland will host a closing session in which participants will be able to share some of the insights and remaining questions from the day, their plans moving forward, and how the DHE can best support them in their work.

Richard M. Freeland, Commissioner, MDHE

Viking/Autumn/ Baldwin

3:30 p.m. Program End

Are you tweeting about the conference? Please use our official hashtag:

#VisionBig3

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COLLEGE COMPLETION Create programs targeted at

First Year Students.Examples include early warning systems, registra-tion outreach, first year experience courses, learning communities.

Ensure students don’t take excessive or unnecessary credits. Examples include capping degree credit require-ments, placing students into highly structured degree plans, aligning two-year and four-year curriculum to facilitate ease of transfer, improving credit transfer policies.

Rethink scheduling to better support completion.Examples include prioritizing 15-credit/semester scheduling, providing structured and predictable schedules, mapping out degree program schedules, ensuring milestone courses are available when needed, creating meta-majors.

Transform Developmental Math.Examples include new placement rules, co-requisite developmental and college-level math courses, Emporium model, 5-day/week Developmental Math, Developmental Math acceleration, better alignment of high school and college math courses.

Tap institutional research, financial incentives, and non-academic support to promote full time attendance.Examples include using institutional research to drive completion interventions, providing financial incentives to attend full-time, using institutional aid to reduce the time students need to spend at off-campus jobs.

Effective Strategies Underway at Our Campuses

The Vision Project “Big Three” Conference is a working conference at which experts from every public campus are convening to learn from one another about strategies currently being implemented on our campuses to boost completion rates, close achievement gaps, and increase participation of underserved groups.

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CLOSING ACHIEVEMENT GAPS Consciously create supportive

relationships for students.Examples include both student-to-student and faculty/staff-to-student mentoring, advising, coaching.

Provide targeted support for underrepresented students.Examples include providing curriculum, student services, and resources focused on first generation and low income students and students of color.

Provide targeted support for low-income males/males of color.Examples include positive youth development programs, gender and academic and socio- emotional supports, cultural asset-based activities.

Build a campus climate that supports and enhances diversity.Examples include ensuring administration, faculty, and staff are diverse along lines of race/ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation; addressing micro- aggressions; cultural competency trainings.

Make learning relevant and applied where appropriate.Examples include using internships, co-ops, and service learning to connect the classroom to career, offer contextualized developmental math, provide information about high demand career options that students may not be aware of, recruit industry experts to speak or teach on campus.

COLLEGE PARTICIPATION Actively recruit adult learners, veterans,

and out-of-school youth, and support their transition to college. Examples include veterans’ outreach programs, out-reach to adults who have completed some college, recruitment of 16- to 24-year old youth who are neither enrolled in school or employed, partnerships with Adult Basic Education, ESOL, or adult college transition programs.

Engage in Early College work with traditional age students.Examples include college access activities, dual enrollment, math boot camp, hybrid high school to college models.

Develop strategies to increase college participation of students of color and low-income students.Examples include outreach to community-based organizations, summer bridge programs, college access and success programs, on-site registration/acceptance.

Build strong partnerships with K–12 schools and districts.Examples include joint curriculum development with high school and college faculty, programs to bring K–12 students onto campus, engaging high school-based liaisons.

Develop institution-wide approaches to enrollment and retention.Examples include K–12/higher education curriculum alignment and joint curriculum development, programs to bring K–12 students onto campus, high school-based liaisons.

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Notes

The “Big Three” Completion Plan is also outlined in Degrees of Urgency, the third Vision Project annual report, available here at the conference and at www.mass.edu/vpreport.

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#VisionBig3Tweet us!@MassDHE

Tweet each other!@BerkshireCC

@BridgeStateU

@bristolcc

@BHCCBoston

@CapeCodComCol

@Fitchburg_State

@FraminghamU

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@HolyokeCC

@MassBayCommCol

@MassArt

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@MassasoitTweets

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@MountWachusett

@northshore_cc

@NorthernEssex

@Quinsig

@SeeRCC

@SalemState

@S_T_C_C

@UMassAmherst

@UMassBoston

@UMassDartmouth

@UMassLowell

@UMassMedical

@WestfieldState

@WorcesterState

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We will produce the best-educated citizenry and workforce in the nation.

We will be a national leader in research that drives economic development.

www.mass.edu/visionproject

This conference was made possible through a grant from the

Nellie Mae Education Foundation.

Cover photos courtesy of (from left) Berkshire, Bunker Hill and Greenfield Community Colleges.