College Mission, Vision, Values, and Strategic Directions
Blue Ridge Community College provides comprehensive certificate and associate degree programs, workforce development training, and continuing education courses, designed to meet the educational needs of Virginia’s central Shenandoah Valley. BRCC empowers students through academic rigor, quality student services, and affordable educational programs.
We equip students, alumni, and employees with the knowledge and experience to transform themselves, our community, and the world.
Excellence
We aspire to the highest standards of performance and value continuous improvement.
Ethical Behavior
We model integrity and take personal responsibility for our words and actions.
Education
We encourage intellectual development and create an environment in which every encounter is a learning experience.
Empowerment
We provide individuals in our college community the opportunity to maximize their potential.
| Strategic Direction | Where We Are | Where We Need To Go | How We Get There |
|---|---|---|---|
| Communication | We communicate well today. Our success is reflected in the responses from our internal and external focus groups. Communication contributes to our sense of community. | Communication is not only about what we do today, but what we need to do tomorrow. We must anticipate and proactively address the functionality of information, including the means, policies, and access. We must ensure clarity and consistency. | • Evaluate and implement emerging methods of communication • Establish procedures for clear, consistent communication • Continue to incorporate plain-language standards • Maintain connection and communication with constituencies and advisory committees, etc. • Solicit feedback and make a genuine effort to address and implement where appropriate • Make information more readily accessible |
| Flexibility and Innovation | We do well in anticipating many of the needs of our community. We see a need and work hard to find a way to address it. Initiatives have been successfully implemented because of an atmosphere of support. | We need to investigate and develop better means of responding to varied and changing external and internal needs. We need a means of rapidly prototyping changes. We need to be willing to take risks and accept the possibility of failure, in an effort to improve and excel as an institution. | • Develop processes and standards for rapidly prototyping changes • Develop just-in-time educational strategies to meet student needs • Encourage and support risk-taking • Use the governance process and other college “think tanks” where innovative ideas can be considered, supported, and implemented |
| Serve the Students We Have | In everything that we do at BRCC, our central, overriding commitment is student success. We adapt how we serve our students by addressing what we perceive to be their needs. | We encourage and elevate students’ own aspirations by challenging them with our vision for them and the community’s opportunities. This is a matter of anticipating what our students need and what our community needs, intersecting and delivering on those particular needs. | • Prioritize student success by meeting the student where they are, academically and financially • Address the priority of timely completion, while providing for the academic preparation and skills needed for success • Consider student challenges when evaluating data to improve services and student success • Create means for removing obstacles to student access |
| Education | Education is the reason we are here. BRCC changes the lives of its students, and we continue this tradition of making a positive difference. | The need to better educate is always a strategic direction at BRCC. We must keep current with opportunities and practices of education. We will foster a culture of lifelong learning throughout the College community. | • Maintain integrity and academic rigor while supporting students who are underprepared • Effectively advise students from application to completion • Create action-education opportunities • Explore, identify, and implement innovative educational strategies • Provide consistent educational experience across modalities and locations • Prioritize opportunities for professional development |