Dear City Colleges Community and Friends –

The challenges of the past year have been daunting, forcing us to change and adapt. Challenges do not diminish Wright College’s commitment to serving our students and communities. Thanks to the structure and support of Chancellor Salgado and the team leading City Colleges of Chicago, coupled with the intentionality and dedication of everyone in the Wright College family, we have been able to make significant gains in our strategic plan this past year.

Collaboration, communication and intentionality have guided Wright’s strategic planning processes from its inception. Drawing upon the college’s collaborative decision-making processes, faculty, staff and students participated from the plan’s very beginning. We drew strength from our Strategic Enrollment Management plan, inspiration from our Equity Plan, and renewed our commitment to service through our recently completed Community Action Plan. Data-informed decision-making, grounded in student-focused values of inclusion and equity, have been present throughout. It is our vision to provide our students with the best possible education, service and opportunities.

To hold ourselves accountable, the college created a Strategic Plan Implementation Team, consisting of faculty, administrators and students. The team is active, engaged, and is working to make sure that our Strategic Plan is a living document. The pandemic may make face-to-face interaction difficult, but it also has allowed new and different stakeholders to come together. We have broadened participation and found new leaders and leadership throughout the college. Importantly, everyone involved in the Strategic Plan has come to appreciate that the efforts we’re making for our students are collaborative. Accordingly, our responsibilities are to each other, as well as to our students, City Colleges of Chicago, and our community.

We remain fully committed to providing our students with an exceptional experience, in the classroom or through services, in-person or through technology. Coordination and communication among staff and faculty has never been stronger, bolstered by new technology systems and reinforced through new organizational structures. We are focusing our attention on student tiering and close looks at courses that cause students difficulty. More and more students are receiving financial counseling and support. I am especially keen on the broad efforts Wright is making in students’ first year, building capacity for more early college students and partnerships, new orientation and advising structures and the creation of a first-year experience slated for the Fall of 2022.

Equity remains a top priority for Wright. Data has informed our work, with a renewed focus on developmental education and the implementation this spring of a pilot study. The college’s outreach on the West Side was recognized through a renewal of Wright JobHire, our Workforce Equity Initiative. Wright’s collaborative Title V grant with Northeastern Illinois University, Camino al Exito, led to the creation of the bilingual Avanza program. Wright and NEIU are working collaboratively in 13 CPS high schools to increase access to college, student transfer and student success. For this calendar year, Wright will survey our students and work towards an equity summit. With CCC support and shared commitments, Wright has also expanded its services in our Wellness Center, enhanced our Access Center, and re-opened our food pantry.

Career opportunities continue to grow at Wright. In addition to the WEI work, we launched a new software apprenticeship program and partnered with other City Colleges to bring more programs to our Humboldt Park Vocational Education Center. A newly created position, Director of Continuing Education and Workforce, was staffed in December2021 with the charge of creating more workforce opportunities with more partners.

Perhaps the highlight of Fall 2021 for Wright was receiving the Seal of Excelencia. It is extraordinarily gratifying to receive national recognition for intentionally serving Hispanic students successfully. It is even a greater honor to see our Hispanic students thrive. Our focus on embracing the “serving” in being an HSI, in challenging ourselves to follow best practices per Excelencia, and to hold ourselves accountable are embedded in our strategic plan. We aim to make them pervasive throughout all of our college activities.

Enrollment in Wright’s Center of Excellence in Engineering and Computer Science continues to grow. Student completions remain strong, as do transfer rates and success stories. A TedX presentation led by the engineering team anchored our Fall 2021 semester and more events are slated for 2022. We’re grateful for our many partners, including UIUC, UIC, IIT, and Discovery Partners Institute. Wright is looking to expand physical space for Center of Excellence programming in 2022 to keep pace with growth in enrollment and activities. That sense of collaboration and thoughtful change extends to other facility initiatives across the college, from a new home for Career Planning and Placement to expanded student technology labs. The college has never looked better or been more welcoming to students.

Enrollment is a challenge and the agenda item woven throughout the Strategic Plan that calls for ongoing attention and activity. With expertise and support from CCC’s Marketing and Communication team, Wright is reaching out to prospective students and enhancing our communication throughout the admissions process. Personal communication is one step in the process. So, too, is attention on our first-year courses and programs to make sure that students complete credit English and mathematics in their first year of study. We’ve made gains but more work, particularly in developmental education, is needed. We are on target to make our retention goals but we are not satisfied. More targeted support for students is needed. This work will be informed and complemented by professional development, equity-informed data analysis, and new initiatives, such as a mentoring program, to be launched in spring of 2022.

Enrollment and improved student success top our goals for the new year. We are using college-wide planning and the enhanced communication facilitated by the strategic plan to reach across the college to seek support for the Wildly Important Priority through individual commitment to Wildly Important Goals. More innovation and creativity are needed to make sure that every student is given every possible opportunity and service to succeed.

We recognize that it is not easy to focus on enrollment as community colleges nation-wide wrestle with the issue. We are confident, nonetheless, in the quality and value of a Wright College education. We believe that as we continue to adapt and improve, we can continue to offer an exceptional student experience. We look forward to the challenge, serving our students, and being one of seven strong.

David Potash

President

Wright College