CC opens fall term with new strategic plan

Clarendon College has opened its 121st fall semester with heavy enrollment in local residence halls and a new vision to carry the institution through the next three to five years.

Students returned to the home campus over the weekend, and college officials report there are almost 300 students living in dorms this week with some rooms being tripled up. Classes began Tuesday.

Speaking to faculty and staff members last Thursday during All College Day, CC President Robert Riza unveiled the college’s new strategic plan: “Clarendon College – Without Equal.”

Dr. Riza highlighted the successes of the college during his administration, most notably a 36 percent increase in unduplicated headcount over the last three years, which he said is the best in Texas. He credited that growth to the employees of the college.

“You carried this college,” he said. “What you do on a daily basis makes Clarendon College what it is.”

Riza also said distributed copies of John Maxwell’s book Attitude 101 to all fulltime employees and said to remember that “failure is an option” as CC enters a time in which there is only one day in the next 11 months that a student is not in some kind of class, whether it is through traditional long semesters, dual credit, mini-sessions, online classes, or vocational classes.

“The speed at which we work today, we are going to make mistakes,” Riza said. “We will fix it and move on.”

Some of the elements of the college’s new strategic plan include: Providing Student Services & Programs That Compliment Classroom Learning & Student Success; Retaining & Recruiting Qualified Faculty, Staff, & Administration; Securing & Maintaining Physical Resources – including upgrading the 20-plus-year-old MK Brown Academic Center in Pampa and upgrading or replacing 50-year-old dormitories in Clarendon; Securing & Maintaining Financial & Administrative Resources – including encouraging a culture of accountability, working with elected officials, and seeking grant opportunities where appropriate; Promoting Internal & External Communications That Promote Mission & Development of the College; Acquire Technical Resources to Promote the College Mission & Student Success; and Engage in Comprehensive Continuing District-wide Planning & Evaluation to Ensure Effectiveness & Standards of Accreditation.

Riza said Clarendon College is the only college in a community of its size but that should not be something that holds the institution back.

“We’ve got all the makings of another great run,” he said, “and I’ve got the best administrative team I’ve ever worked with.”

Following Riza’s comments, college employees received training throughout the day, including a civil response course for disasters such as active shooters presented by Department of Public Safety Sgt. Chris Ward and Trooper Kelly Hill.

The DPS training covered information that included statistical data on mass shootings and other events designed to rack up mass casualties. Ward and Hill said the perpetrators are most usually young males, 54 percent of attacks occur in businesses, 24 percent happen at schools, and 45 percent of attackers have no connection to the location of the attack.

The best way to react if a person is in one of these attacks is to Avoid, Deny, and Defend, they said. The first best response is to Avoid contact and run away from the attacker. The second response is to Deny the attacker the ability to harm you by taking cover under or behind something that will stop bullets. And the third response is to Defend yourself and others by attacking the individual with anything and everything possible. Doing nothing will likely result in certain death in these situations.

They also gave employees tips on how to deal with the mental and physical stress of being in such a situation.