At this week’s Board of Trustees’ meeting, the board voted to accept the college’s proposed site selection criteria for the new downtown campus and to authorize the college to issue a request for proposal (RFP) for a site selection firm. The vote brought to a close the first phase of the process that will—once and for all—lead to a new Damon City Campus. The specific criteria were shared via the Trib yesterday, so I don’t want to repeat them here. Rather, I want to talk about the vision and process that led to the criteria.
As I’ve told several people in the community, when the Renaissance Square project fell apart, it would have been very, very easy for the college to have thrown up its hands in frustration and walked away. But, that is simply not what MCC does. What we do is move forward. We viewed this end as a new beginning, an opportunity to re-imagine the project. One central vision drove this new process: the desire to give our students a campus that reflected the aspirations, goals, and dreams that brought them to MCC.
Moving from this vision to a set of specific criteria required a deliberate and timely process. The group charged with this process was drawn from all divisions with a special emphasis on staff from DCC. And, they deserve our thanks for reaching out to the broader college community through surveys and focus groups and for delving deeply into the data to learn much more about our downtown students. This group was chaired by Ray Shea and included the following: Director of Planning Valarie Avalone, Director Academic Facilities and Learning Environments Bob Cunningham, Associate VP for Academic Services and Enrollment Management Tony Felicetti, Associate VP for Educational Technology Services Dale Mallory, DCC Executive Dean Pete Otero, DCC Dean for Academic Services Kate Schiefen, Assistant VP for Facilities Dave Schottler, DCC Student Services Dean Ann Topping. And many thanks goes out to all of you who took the time to respond to a survey or participate in a focus group.
Now, we enter the next phase: identifying the best site selection firm to provide guidance in mapping our criteria to available property. In many ways, the criteria are no different from grading criteria and the property available downtown is like a set of student papers. There are likely few or even none that will hit 100%, but there are some that will still earn an A. As we go through this next phase, we need to keep an open mind and realize that our next downtown campus might now look like an empty field or a set of abandoned storefronts; it might be something we build from the ground up or renovate from the inside out. What we are looking for in the site mirrors what we look for in our students: potential.
Regardless of what this property looks like today, one thing is certain. Because MCC took ownership of the process, our new downtown campus will be a true reflection of the college at its best: a community working together to support the success of our students.
As always, I welcome your thoughts. You can join the conversation at the President's Wednesday Message blog, <<
https://www.monroecc.edu/blogs>>