For most of FIT’s first sixty years change has come sometimes in fits and starts and at others with a rush as the institution worked to keep up with the changing demographics of New York and its environs, on the one hand, and, on the other, with a rapidly changing set of industries that in the 1990s went global. Over the last five years what has become increasingly clear is that the FIT that emerged from these changes is stronger, different, and more complex. Simple, single dimensioned descriptions no longer apply. FIT is a community college in which most of its students seek a baccalaureate degree and an increasing proportion seek graduate degrees and advanced professional credentials. What was once a self-described trade-school tied to a set of industries rooted in New York’s garment district, has become a College serving a growing range of professions and careers that is increasingly drawing its students from beyond the City of New York and its immediate suburbs.

Hence there is a growing sense across the College that the years ahead represent a special opportunity for FIT to choose its own future. The challenge before the College involves strengthening and preserving its historic mission of providing access to important jobs while at the same time developing advanced programs and initiatives designed to extend FIT’s reach.

It is this sense of striving that frames the FIT Strategic Plan that is now nearing completion. From the deliberations of the ten planning committees appointed last February there have emerged more than a hundred initiatives that collectively describe what the planning process has come to call the FIT Challenge. First and foremost, the College needs to strengthen its academic core beginning with an affirmation of the importance of FIT’s two-year programs. Equally important, the plan challenges the College to rethink the pathways by which students seek the baccalaureate degree, to invest new energy and importance in the Liberal Arts, and to strengthen and expand its programs of Graduate and Professional Education as a means of making FIT a creative hub. FIT needs to be more purposeful as well as aggressive in bringing its message and mission to the expanding markets for undergraduate, graduate, and professional education. A key part of that effort must be a new strategic recruitment strategy that focuses on carrying the FIT message to students in the City of New York and its environs as well as to those more geographically distant markets that have become increasingly important to the College. What FIT seeks and requires is a more inventive strategy for making technology an FIT hallmark. There is a need to make FIT more student centered and that includes FIT’s alums who too often have felt ignored by the College. Finally, the plan that is now emerging suggests the outlines of a methodology for making certain that FIT’s administrative processes are positioned to support the plan’s implementation.

At this stage, it is still easiest to describe the plan in terms of its parts—both major and minor. This report—more a collation than a mélange but not yet a fully integrated thematic collage––is a first attempt to draw together those separate initiatives that speak to the same goals and challenges. The six major sections represent the six principal challenges facing the College. What will be required next is some winnowing as well as an effort to make certain nothing critical has been left out—either because a specific initiative was omitted or because an important idea was addressed by none of the ten strategic planning committees.

In so far as possible, this report preserves the actual wording of the initiatives as proposed as well as identifying the proposing committee. A word needs to be said about the initiatives that have not been included. Most were either very general or called for further exploration. In a few cases, the initiatives posted to the planning process’ web site included several levels of detail and only the first level was included in the listing below. In a few cases, as well, goal statements were initiatives and thus were included.

As you review this report it is important to remember that what is being called for first and foremost is a sustained investment in FIT’s human resources—in more full time faculty, in a culture that promotes student centeredness, in better, more sustaining relationships with FIT alumni, and in a working environment that enables College faculty and staff to achieve the plan’s goals.

STRENGTHEN THE ACADEMIC CORE

Each of the School planning committees included within their reports initiatives that called for the strengthening of their academic cores. Art & Design and Business & Technology addressed the question of the scope and definition of degree programs— and then came to slightly different conclusions. While each reaffirmed the importance of maintaining strong and vibrant two-year programs, on the one hand, and, on the other, developing more a more nuanced as well as coherent approach to their baccalaureate programs, they differed to some degree in their assignment of curricular responsibility and authority. A&D spoke more in terms of School policies and criteria while B&T focused more on the latitude accorded individual departments and majors.

Specific Initiatives

Art & Design

Examine all majors within the School of Art & Design categorizing 2+2 seamless, 2+2 horizontal, and AAS programs.

Examine the needs of the returning/transfer student.

Create criteria of excellence for the School of Art & Design.

Create an ad-hoc committee to address the concerns of grade inflation.

Address student credit/hour overload.

Review the structure of capstone courses to allow room for choice and possible cross-disciplinary study--address faculty teaching loads to allow for participation in capstone courses.

Create a position of “Provost” to help streamline the academic process and to enhance student satisfaction (posted as a goal).

Examine the academic and administrative hierarchy.

Better define the chain of command and decision making process.

Make a shift to an educational model from an administrative model.

Business & Technology

Maintain a range of options in degree structures appropriate to each major (posted as a goal).

Develop a college-wide alumni database, categorized by major and degree within two years.

Each year the School of Business and Technology will review the Student Satisfaction survey results, identify the five issues of most importance specific to student satisfaction of B&T students, prioritize the issues, and address the issues of greatest concern.

Limit the number of credits that a student can take in a non-degree status to 15.

At 15 credits require the student to sign a form declaring their intention on whether or not they intend to apply for degree status.

INVEST NEW ENERGY AND IMPORTANCE IN THE LIBERAL ARTS

The evolution of FIT as a collegiate institution can be traced in the changing role and importance of the liberal arts—as a source of expanding ideas, differently trained faculty, and student experiences that help students integrate what they are learning about their chosen careers, the industries in which they seek to work, and the larger world which is increasingly recasting those industries and the geo-political and cultural settings in which they operate. Just as FIT now needs a strategy to more purposefully invest in its core programs, so too does it require a more purposeful strategy for making the liberal arts an integral part of the education FIT of graduates. First responsibility for launching the necessary discussions and deliberations belongs to the School of Liberal Arts. Ultimately, however, it is a conversation that must engage the entire College.

Specific Initiatives

Liberal Arts

Hold a retreat for the School of Liberal Arts in Fall 2005 to develop:

A consensus across the School and college on higher but realistic expectations for academic standards and for written and oral communication, presentation, business math, and research skills, from developmental to upper-level courses.

A plan to enhance the other Schools' awareness of the role of Liberal Arts at FIT in providing students with a broader understanding of the world and the importance this plays in students' future careers.

A plan for a video on the role of the Liberal Arts in an FIT education.

Strengthened connections to students' majors.

MAKE FIT A CREATIVE HUB

Given the changes that are engulfing the industries FIT has traditionally served, the College has both the opportunity and the obligation to become a creative hub drawing together the best ideas and projects from across the worlds of design, fashion, and communications as well as the business and manufacturing practices that serve those industries. But to be that kind of creative hub FIT must first develop new structures and identify substantially augmented resources that can be invested in its programs of graduate study and professional education. What is required, on the one hand, is a true Graduate School with its own mission and organizational structure and, on the other hand, a set of Professional Education programs that extends FIT’s reach among the growing number of professionals who seek continuing and executive education. At the same time, it is clear that FIT’s pioneering use of the new digital technologies represents a third reason the College ought to be purposeful in establishing itself as a creative hub for the industries the College serves.

Specific Initiatives

Graduate Studies

Develop a mission statement that articulates the Graduate School’s goal of providing professional-level education to the industries FIT serves and that lays the groundwork to establish the Graduate School as a research facility that will serve as a center for business leaders to explore and develop cutting edge business practices.

Create new programs that answer the evolving needs of graduate education for the industries FIT serves (ex. Executive management training and certificate programs, degrees in Fashion Design, Communication Design, Interior Design, and Product Development).

Develop an international component that may be incorporated among the various degree-granting departments such as summer abroad studies and overseas seminars.

Create further programs among domestic and international companies in the industries we serve such as on-site executive training (ex. Negotiating skills seminars, financial statement analysis seminars, etc.).

Establish a separate system of governance for the School of Graduate Studies (posted as a goal with the following initiatives).

Create new positions (e.g. Assistant Deans, Assistant Department Chairs, etc.).

Create a Graduate School Advisory Board comprised of representatives from each program.

Establishment of an organizational chart for the clarification of job titles and responsibilities.

Development of administrative structures to support the School’s programs and activities.

Offer teaching assistantships to provide students with the opportunity to broaden their experience and earn money.

Provide scholarships to attract top students.

Develop interdisciplinary collaborations among the other FIT programs including executive studies and undergraduate disciplines through the presentation of projects, papers, etc. among the various departments.

Continuing and Professional Education

Expand contract training programs and include non-apparel training programs.

Partner with the School of Graduate Studies to offer joint certificate and/or training programs.

Determine whether distance learning (asynchronous) and/or video streaming (synchronous) offerings can be developed for contract and non-credit programs.

Establish a SCPS task force to research distance learning opportunities, limitations, and resources and recommend expanded offerings (Fall 2005).

Expand current efforts with trade and industry associations (such as the American Apparel and Footwear Association, American Management Association, National Retail Foundation, Retail Marketing Association, etc.) to co-market educational programs and/or sell contract programs.

Support an FIT digital image library (which includes a presentation tool for teaching).

Enable an e-publishing endeavor to support the creation of specialized and interdisciplinary publications.

Enable the development of ePortfolios.

Enable electronic document processing and workflow.

Include more Liberal Arts opportunities in future Executive Studies offerings.

Explore specialized certificate programs.

Explore new educational opportunities for senior citizens in the community.

Explore specialized opportunities for continuing education for K-12 teachers.

Pilot various scheduling options to attract more students in Summer, Summerim, and Winterim.

MAKE STUDENT CENTEREDNESS AN FIT HALLMARK

Each of the Schools along with the Student Affairs planning committee rose to the challenge of defining initiatives to promote a student-centered culture at FIT. The general consensus reflected in the reports of the individual planning committees was that providing a student-centered culture required additional facilities and organizational arrangements. Just as important each School planning committee also raised serious questions relating to a second aspect of being a student centered institution: the relationship between the College and its graduates.

Specific Initiatives

Student Affairs

Effective September 2005, the Vice Presidents’ for Student Affairs and Academic Affairs will convene a joint informational meeting of their respective Deans, Directors and Chairs on a monthly basis, which will result in the ongoing dissemination of information to the college community.

Effective January 2006, the college will implement a user-friendly email system capable of broadcasts to limitless recipients. In consultation with department heads, the college will designate contact groups and categories (e.g., by major, transfers, one-year students, potential graduates, etc.) for large-scale message distribution by November 1, 2005.

Effective September 2005, the college administration will mandate and announce the FIT email address as the official mode of electronic communication for all students and employees of the college.

By August 2005, SHoP’s Master Plan – Task III, must be revised to include a centrally located student assistance and information center. Under the supervision of the Vice President for Student Affairs, the newly hired supervisor and staff will be selected and trained by August 1, 2007. This center will be fully operational no later than SHoP’s construction timetable deadline.

Commencing Fall 2005, the Vice President for Student Affairs in conjunction with the departments within the Division shall create a series of ongoing In-Service Training Workshops emphasizing student development issues and skill building for the college faculty, staff and administration, (e.g., policies and procedures for counseling, disability support, international students, internship, registration, financial aid, admissions and student life, etc.) These training sessions will commence in Spring 2006.

Effective Fall 2006, the college, in consultation with individual departments, will redesign the FIT web site and improve the information architecture to become more user-friendly, easier to navigate, less link-oriented, and more visually appealing.

By Fall 2005, SHoP’s Master Plan shall be revised to include a minimum of one new and expanded student space in each building. These new and expanded spaces will provide more functional common areas, which would enable students to study, socialize, do homework projects either individually or collectively, or relax between classes. Additional expanded student common space (e.g., lounge, reading room, study room, work conference space and event venue) will be constructed, furnished, and fully operational and will be available 24-hours a day by SHoP’s construction timetable deadline.

By Spring 2006, in order to expand the reach of the campus and to strengthen the college’s visibility and presence in the community-at-large, 3 FIT trolleys/buses will be secured by the college for student transportation between the new residence hall and the 27th Street campus, as well as for transportation to and from other commuter stops, e.g., Penn Station, Grand Central Station and Bus Terminal, as needed. The college will determine the policies and procedures for use of the trolleys/buses.

By Fall 2006, the college will develop a locker assignment process and purchase/install additional lockers in appropriate college spaces to accommodate all commuter students.

Effective Fall 2006, the college will establish a student presence on our college web site. This presence could take the form of, but would not be limited to, chat rooms, logs, journals, and galleries.

By Fall 2007, in order to increase student retention and student satisfaction, revive the First-Year Student Experience Course (a mandatory one-credit weekly class dealing with student development skills and issues, e.g., stress management, time management, career assessment, study skills, academic advisement, introduction to college resources) for all incoming new first-time undergraduate students).

By Spring 2006, hire a Director of the First-Year Student Experience Program, who will design and implement programs and activities geared specifically to the new first-year student which will result in students developing a more connected relationship with the institution, as well as to increase student retention and student satisfaction.

By Fall 2006, the college shall produce and distribute annually a new “Face Book,” which will include all pictures and bios of the students new to FIT.

By January 2006, hire a qualified statistician (and necessary support personnel) to design and implement assessment strategies for the Student Affairs Division and related service areas. This person must have experience in assessment within higher education. The position shall commence by Spring 2006, Examples of methods of assessment: e.g., focus groups, surveys, nationally norm assessment tools and testing.

Art & Design

Disband current alumni association and establish a new association with department chapters.

Create a new alumni database by hiring a clearinghouse to search out locations of our alumni.

Hire a coordinator of alumni affairs with staff support to work with departments in their outreach efforts.

Business & Technology

Centralize the Academic Advisement Center under Academic Affairs within this calendar year.

Each B&T department will develop and implement an effective advisement system within the next academic year. Since there are vast differences in the size of departments a "one size fits all" system is unrealistic and undesirable.

Communicate all advisement and registration information to students via their FIT email account in the next academic year.

Provide a student union facility for all FIT students in the next five years.

Provide access to lockers for all full-time commuting B&T students in the next two years (most B&T majors currently do not have access to lockers).

Provide rooms (in the library if possible) in which students can work on team projects, as well as 'quiet rooms' for studying, in the next two to five years.

Provide additional library hours to accommodate student schedules.

Obtain comprehensive data from FIT alumni in order to evaluate program placement and career development (posted as a goal).

Develop a college-wide alumni database, categorized by major and degree within two years.

Develop a package of services and benefits for alumni that will be an incentive for alumni to keep contact information up-to-date, within five years.

Establish an FIT Office of Alumni Affairs to work in conjunction with the Alumni Association, within one year.

Track the alumni who have progressed through the technology-based curricula to measure their industry effectiveness in five, ten and fifteen years.

Liberal Arts

Work closely with FITSA to create more opportunities for collaborative programming.

Create a forum in AY 2005-6 to share successful peer mentoring strategies in use by various Liberal Arts departments.

Establish a School-wide peer-mentoring program for new Liberal Arts faculty, both full-time and part-time, beginning in AY 2006-2007.

Pilot by Fall 2006 a volunteer mentoring program which pairs of students with faculty for overall guidance.

Establish an ongoing, collaborative strategic review of curriculum by faculty, students, industry professionals, and alumni to assess the relevancy of liberal arts and academic major curricula to ensure student preparedness as well as satisfy industry expectations.

Graduate Studies

Develop Alumni Directory and e-directory.

Continuing and Professional Education

Develop a “Look Book” for non-degree and non-credit students that provides general information on FIT offerings, procedures and available services annually (Fall 2005).

Create a Web newsletter that can be e-mailed several times annually (Spring 2006).

Enhance the FIT Environment for Non-Degree and Non-Credit Students (posted as a goal).

Improve the Registration Process for Non-Degree and Non-Credit Students.

Implement web registration for non-credit students by fall 2005.

Implement web registration for new and returning non-degree credit students by Spring 2006.

Create a visual “road map” guiding SCPS students through all the steps necessary to register at FIT. Road map to be included in catalogues, on the Web and as a stand-alone publication (Summer 2005).

Provide all appropriate FIT support services during evenings and weekends (Fall 2005).

Department offices will remain open in evenings and on weekends.

Information table will be placed in C Lobby during first week of classes to help students whose courses have been cancelled register for other courses.

Expand current offerings of open houses and continuing studies advisement sessions from 1-2/semester to 3-4/semester (Fall 2005).

Create a “One-Stop Shopping” Environment for Non-Degree and Non-Credit Students.

Create a Centralized Information/Advisement Center for Non-Credit/Non-Degree Students in the School of Continuing & Professional Studies offices (Fall 2005).

Create a welcome center with relevant publications, information kiosks, and with terminals available for Web registration (2005-2006).

Facilitate payment of non-credit course fees by installing credit card machinery in School of Continuing & Professional Studies offices.

Expand Non-credit awards ceremony (2005-2006).

Enhance ties to FIT alumni as potential customers for SCPS programs.

Develop mailing targeted to FIT alumni.

Offer special alumni programs.

Assign office within FIT to maintain alumni database including up to date addresses.

Any communication that goes to alumni should include Continuing and Professional Studies information by September ’05.

Create a “non-credit alumni organization” (2006-2007).

Strategic Recruitment

Create program to utilize national and international FIT alumni to identify and target potential students.

Student Affairs

Develop more common areas for student faculty, staff and alumni.

Digital Challenge

Provide a center for students where they can learn computer and information literacy skills and explore new technologies.

ENHANCE FIT’S COMPETITIVENESS

One of the key messages clearly motivating the planning process is that FIT needs to be more purposeful in pursuit of the students it wishes to enroll. Each of the Schools has made important contributions to defining how best to market their particular programs. The institutional perspective has been supplied by the planning committee charged with considering Strategic Recruitment. Three themes are common to all of these efforts: more research; better organization; and a special commitment to students from New York City and its environs.

Specific Initiatives

Strategic Recruitment

Design a comprehensive strategic enrollment plan based on “whom FIT wants to teach,” using both academic and demographic criteria. The plan must utilize ongoing market research and focus some strategies specifically on New York City enrollments.

Put in place a process that addresses the needs of all prospective and incoming students and families from initial contact through graduation. The process will specifically consider common needs of New York City students (as has been done for International Students, EOP students).

Identify the disincentives that might discourage NYC students such as: on-campus housing availability; financial aid scarcity, specifically for NYC residents; admissions process and timeline; lack of major-specific preparedness by NYC high-school students; lack of traditional campus atmosphere/amenities, which particularly affects NYC/commuter populations.

Establish an ongoing, collaborative strategic review of curriculum by faculty, students, industry professionals, and alumni to assess the relevancy of liberal arts and academic major curricula to ensure student preparedness as well as satisfy industry expectations.

Complete and implement a written Strategic Enrollment plan that specifies target enrollments per program and per geographic region segmented by:

New York City High School Students

New York State High School Students

Regions of the United States

International Students

Non-Traditional/Returning Degree Students

Prospective student Open House event for NYC students;

Separate student orientation for incoming NYC students;

Housing fairs for NYC students who do not qualify for on-campus housing;

High-school visits by admissions and major-area faculty;

On-campus events for high school guidance counselors and teachers;

Re-establish financial assistance for NYC students, including precollege programs;

Retention policy as a recruitment tool, particularly vis-à-vis parents;

Portfolio and academic preparation in high schools geared to FIT majors;

ENSURE ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT FOR THE PLAN

From the outset it was recognized that the successful implementation of the strategic plan would require significant changes to and the re-engineering of some of the College’s administrative processes. Prime responsibility for defining a template for how the needed changes would be identified and then implemented belongs to the Administrative Enabling planning committee, though several of the other planning committees also suggested needed changes.

Specific Initiatives

Administrative Enabling

Explore models for best practice, reengineering and continuous improvement.

Discuss how reengineering efforts will be prioritized to address the goals and initiatives that emerge from the strategic plan.

Implement Administrative Procedure Review.

Implement Index of Services.

Initiate Continuing Process Improvement, a systematic approach for on-going review of college policies and procedures to ensure that they continue to optimally serve FIT’s internal and external constituencies; follow best practice and internal control guidelines and continue to be cost effective.

Art & Design

Assign internal lines to all administrative departments including Admissions, Registration, Financial Aid, and the Registrar’s Office that would identify calls from within the college.

Student Affairs

Effective September 2005, the Vice Presidents’ for Student Affairs and Academic Affairs will convene a joint informational meeting of their respective Deans, Directors and Chairs on a monthly basis, which will result in the ongoing dissemination of information to the college community.

Strategic Recruitment

Separate the admissions and recruitment functions within Student Services, creating one clearly defined unit with responsibility for all recruitment and outreach efforts, and another one with responsibility for processing applications.

Digital Challenge

Support academic and administrative offices with technology liaisons accountable to both IT and their local area.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The first task ahead is to test for completeness—what has been left out of this collation of initiatives that shouldn’t have been.

Paradoxically, perhaps, the next task is to try to choose perhaps a dozen initiatives that can “lead the plan.” The final document will likely lead with a thematic preamble and then a set of leading or galvanizing initiatives. There after should follow a detailed plan for each School that gives that School’s goals and initiatives in a common format followed by the initiatives for Student Affairs and Digital Challenge, again in a common format. The plan would then conclude with the strategic recruitment plan and the template for administrative re-engineering. Hence a task at hand is to pick the “dozen leading initiatives.”