Overview

Capital Community College, one of twelve colleges in the Connecticut Community-Technical College System, is a public, open-door institution that serves the educational needs of people in the Hartford area. Hartford itself has one of the highest poverty rates in the United States. In response to an effort by the State to revitalize Hartford’s center, the College moved in 2002 from its Woodland Street location, on the edge of a residential neighborhood, to downtown Hartford. The College’s occupation of a renovated department store, a historic landmark in the city’s center, was conceived as the first of “six pillars” in the reinvigoration of the city. At its new site, the College is ideally positioned to meet the needs of city residents.

Capital Community College has one of New England's most diverse student populations. With an enrollment of approximately 3,600 students, more than 30 nations are represented; 38% are African-American, 27% are Latino, 26% are Caucasian, 4% are Asian-American; 74% are female; and 75% are part-time. Among new students in the 2005 Fall Semester, only 24% had at least one parent with a bachelor’s degree, 33% had an income under $14,999, and 55% relied on financial aid.

Since the last NEASC review in 1996, the College has adjusted to its merger with a technical college (a merger legislatively mandated in 1992), completed a multifaceted five-year Title III grant, planned for and moved to a new location with state-of-the-art facilities, lost many senior faculty to retirement, experienced straitened financial conditions, been led by two presidents as well as an interim president, arranged a partnership with a magnet school that is temporarily housed in within the college campus, and received an Achieving the Dream planning grant to spur future initiatives. The momentum of these changes has sometimes cast areas of college operations into a blur, and the self-study process has provided an occasion for more deliberative focus.

In preparation for accreditation review, the current self-study process uncovered and raised to a higher level of consciousness a number of issues requiring attention, and the institution has responded to them effectively and collegially. Throughout the self-study endeavor, matters of concern have been forwarded to the office or person with authority to weigh and take action on the identified concern. This process has not only moved several items out of projection into description in the self-study report, but also increased the degree of confidence in the remaining projections. The self-study has enhanced the College’s ability to look at itself objectively, see problems, and solve them through cooperative planning and action. The process has confirmed that faculty, staff, and management have been resilient in their responses to unrelenting change and that they have sustained a community dedication to the needs of students. College personnel work hard to help students learn, and they collaborate creatively to find better ways to support student learning.

The College’s exemplary responsiveness to pressures and opportunities has been demonstrated by leadership and regional/national recognition in various areas including: online pedagogy models, a Guide to Grammar website with over 30 million hits, National Science Foundation grants that produced web-accessible authentic applications for mathematics courses, design of a paradigm collegial governance structure, pathbreaking models for student learning assessment in general education, statewide leadership in the development of learning communities, and initiatives in social service and nursing programs.

A culture of evidence is taking root at the College prompted partly by the increased emphasis, coming from accreditation agencies and funding sources, on data-based evaluation and planning. With the support of a Title III grant, the College undertook five years of intensive development of student learning assessment with linkages to several specific retention initiatives. While the vacancy in the office of Institutional Researcher late in the grant cycle slowed the long-term adoption of a systematic data-based institutional assessment system, the recent opportunity to work toward an Achieving the Dream grant has brought the College new data-management expertise and supported its growing ability to build program decisions on well-considered evidence.

Although the College’s move to the new campus was initially resisted by some faculty and staff, most now agree that the downtown location allows the College to contribute directly to the reinvigoration of Hartford and to establish beneficial relationships with Hartford’s business and cultural community. The College is now easily accessed by bus routes and by the two major highways that intersect the city. However, the downtown location and the co-ownership of the college facility with a private developer entail ongoing expenses that strain the level of funding available for the academic program. In addition, the requirements for historical preservation of the building impose certain limits on its use, along with additional expenses. Further, the adoption of the Capital Preparatory Magnet School has led to the temporary housing of the Magnet School within the College campus, entangling the two entities in some stressful interactions. Yet in return, when the Magnet School moves to its own campus, the College will be able to share some of that new space, possibly fulfilling some long-held hopes for athletic facilities.

An ad-hoc strategic planning committee is developing the College Strategic Plan for 2006-2011. The committee is aligning the new plan with emerging opportunities and challenges and will address shortcomings of the expiring 2001-2006 plan, some of which were identified in the self-study process. The 2006-2011 strategic plan will address questions involving integration of college operational components; connections between core goals, grant goals, and budgeting priorities; and assessment of institutional effectiveness. After the ad-hoc committee has completed its work, a permanent strategic planning and review committee will be integrated into the governance structure. This committee will regularly review the strategic plan and the effectiveness with which it guides decision-making, recommending improvements as appropriate.

A recurrent theme brought out in the self-study is that faculty and staff are struggling to solve a widening array of increasingly complex problems with inadequate resources. A higher percentage of students than ten years ago are recent high school graduates who are underprepared for college in learning skills, time management, and study expectations. Further, Capital Community College students typically face a multitude of challenges outside of school as they labor to earn a living and care for family members. These situations have led to unacceptably high attrition rates despite the College’s repeated and ongoing efforts to find effective solutions. Human resources for solving such problems are spread thin, and the exigencies of present funding limit the College’s responses.