Tyler Junior College Trustees Working On Plan For Future
By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
A strategic plan for Tyler Junior College could be ready by fall, and TJC trustees, during a Wednesday meeting, discussed some of their ideas with the strategic planner working with the college to develop its road map for the future.
“This is a good moment for the college in that the planning is moving toward a series of concepts and considerations that I believe from my experience will position it for the future in a way that will benefit this entire community,” Marc Chinoy, president of The Regis Group out of Virginia, told the board Wednesday.
“Over the next five years the college, without making some kind of fundamental shift … will be touching and reaching a broader range of cadres of potential students,” Chinoy said. “We’re thinking the college will benefit if there are specific types of programs that are highlighted as benefiting the community most. These programs would distinguish Tyler not just inside the community but beyond that into the state of Texas.”
Chinoy has been meeting with various groups with connections to the college, including faculty, staff, alumni and members of the community.
On Wednesday, Chinoy asked board members several questions, including what they see as being some of the most important changes in the community that may take place in three to five years as well as what the top areas are that the community may need help from the college with in terms of education and training.
Health care, law enforcement, general education and construction were mentioned as some possible areas during the discussion.
Some board members also noted annual training required in certain fields that requires employees to travel to attend.
Chinoy explained there are different cadres of students attending the college — from traditional to those looking for retraining.
He said the college understands very well the one- to-two year student who then goes on to college and has an understanding of the student who obtains his or her associate’s degree and then enters the work force.
“What is being studied carefully is what’s going to happen as elements of our community need to retool themselves, how Tyler (Junior College) can be seen as a place to automatically turn to …,” he said.
Chinoy said during the discussion, “This is a wonderful institution. … It’s not that anything is remiss. It’s that unless there is this type of focused attention that says what could we do next, then it just drifts.
“Dr. (Mike) Metke (TJC president) has asked for the correct thing to be done, which is to look at the range of what’s happening in the community, look at what’s going to happen inside the college and then say how this should look going forward. We have the opportunity to create something.”
Board President Lonny Uzzell said he wants to make sure that everyone knows that the college wants to make the two years at TJC as affordable as possible.
“I want to make sure we protect that,” Uzzell said.
When Chinoy asked about a bigger push with regard to alumni, Trustee Rohn Boone said there needs to be more involvement from alumni.
Other concerns were expressed about being able to fund new items, such as new facilities, and fund them for the long term.
After the meeting, Chinoy explained that, “A strategic plan of this sort is an opportunity to assess the totality of an organization — where it is, how it’s positioned … its strengths, its weaknesses, its opportunities and then say what could it and should it look like at some specific point in the future. Every organization should do this on a regular basis…”
The strategic plan will end up with a series of major goals, he said, which could include focusing on student life, focusing on the external community and its needs and focusing on alumni. Chinoy said the goals are currently a work in progress.
“When we have these large-scale considerations, it still won’t work unless there’s a series of objectives that are tangible, measurable, but that will move everything in the right direction,” he said.
Chinoy praised Metke for his forward-thinking.
“This is the mandate from Dr. Metke — to get a real plan that is going to cause real benefit to the community and is going to mirror the needs of the community. He has done a remarkable thing here,” Chinoy said after the meeting. “I have the good fortune of having seen hundreds of examples now of how this kind of thing is run — it’s being done the right way.”
“This is the mandate from Dr. Metke — to get a real plan that is going to cause real benefit to the community and is going to mirror the needs of the community. He has done a remarkable thing here,” Chinoy said after the meeting. “I have the good fortune of having seen hundreds of examples now of how this kind of thing is run — it’s being done the right way.”
He expects a plan to be presented in the fall.
OTHER ACTION
Trustees also approved setting the dates for public hearings on the tax rate for 11 a.m. July 31 and Aug. 7 in the TJC trustee board room.
The college is proposing the same tax rate it currently levies; but, because of anticipated increases in property values, that rate will bring in more tax revenues.
The current tax rate is .127169 per $100 valuation
The board also approved resolutions authorizing the board president to execute deeds for the sale of delinquent tax properties in Smith County.
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