Mission, Strategic Plan, and Initiatives

Strategic Plan

North Seattle College’s Institutional Effectiveness Plan, coupled with our District Strategic Plan, provide a roadmap with clear objectives for creating and sustaining a future that keeps student success at its center. This roadmap enables all parts of the campus, from the high-level strategic planning, to unit-level planning, to see themselves in the plan and to integrate core themes and indicators into daily work.

The Institutional Effectiveness plan was formerly a five-year plan, but, in 2016, the college moved to a seven-year plan. The move allowed the college to be strategically aligned with the accreditation cycle and ensure active and scaled annual assessment of institutional effectiveness. The college recently submitted its Mid-Cycle Self-Evaluation Report for the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.  

Our Mission

As an open-access learning institution, Seattle Colleges prepares each student for success in life and work, fostering a diverse, engaged, and dynamic community.

Our Vision

Seattle Colleges is recognized as an exemplary learning institution that transforms lives, promotes equity, and enriches the community.

Our Values

  • Accessibility for all learners and partners
  • Collaboration through open communication and commitment to working together.
  • Diversity, inclusion, and equity for all individuals, particularly the underserved in our community.
  • Fiscal sustainability for long-term viability and excellence in service and operations.
  • Growth and development of faculty and staff through professional development
  • Innovation in instruction, student services, operations, and organizational culture
  • Integrity by adhering to the highest standards of ethics and public stewardship

Our Core Themes

All that we do is focused on three Core Themes.

  • Advancing Student Success
  • Excelling in Teaching and Learning
  • Building a Sustainable Community

Essential Learning Outcomes

North Seattle College serves a diverse student population with a wide variety of educational backgrounds and goals. As a learning community, we foster and promote the following outcomes:

Inquiry based on information accessed through ethical research

Problem Solving using critical and creative thinking, quantitative and qualitative reasoning, information literacy, and disciplinary and cross-disciplinary knowledge.

Communication in oral, written, and artistic modes of expression, individually and in collaboration with others

Responsibility for understanding and integrating intercultural competence, practicing ethical reasoning and conduct, applying sustainability principles, and demonstrating respect for self and others.