Achieving the Dream is a national network of more than 200 community colleges nationwide dedicated to improving student success. In 2014, MVCC was the first SUNY community college to be invited to the network.
To increase student success, MVCC has worked toward a number of goals, including
- Increasing student completion rates
- Strengthening the educational pipeline from high school to college
- Increasing diversity in faculty and staff to more closely reflect the student population
- Expanding applied learning through internships and service learning experiences
- Developing the workforce and community by creating partnerships and addressing the region's educational needs
Strategic Horizons Network (SHN)
The Strategic Horizon Network (SHN) began in 2004, in response to shared organizational development needs defined by a group of community colleges and their interest in forming a collaborative effort to work to address these. MVCC joined the SHN in 2008.
Cross-college teams have since developed tools and modules to share through cross college experiences and resources. In 2010, the Design Team established that member institutions are the heart of the SHN that constitutes an active learning community focusing on "pushing the envelope" while exploring new trends.
In 2016, following the retirement of the SHN's founders, Dr. Randall VanWagoner, MVCC President and Stephanie Reynolds, MVCC Vice President for Student Affairs, took reigns as facilitator and co-facilitator of SHN.
Guided Pathways is a redesign of the student experience to include early decision making about educational and career goals to help students get on a path, stay on that path, and ensure that they are learning what they need in order to succeed.