CCCS Internal As the 2024-2025 academic year begins, the Colorado Community College System (CCCS) is poised for a transformative period. In his seventh annual State of the System address, Chancellor Garcia reflected on the system’s recent achievements and outlined the strategic initiatives that will guide CCCS in the coming years. The address emphasized the importance of student success, collaboration, and innovation—core values that continue to drive our work supporting Colorado’s educational and economic goals.
To hear directly from the Chancellor and learn more about the exciting plans ahead, watch the video message or read the full address below.
Read the Chancellor’s full message below:
Hi, I’m Joe Garcia, Chancellor of the Colorado Community College System. Thank you for joining my annual State of the System address.
More than 40 years ago, we joined forces as one System powered by 13 colleges. Now more than ever, we are harnessing that collective strength to transform the way Colorado goes to college.
From launching new Bachelor’s degrees to rolling out a new strategic plan, we are ushering in a new era for community colleges. And we are counting on you—our incredible faculty, staff, and instructors—to help write our next chapter.
So today, I want to focus on our future state. Let’s talk about some of the innovative work underway and how we’re setting up our colleges for enduring success.
Building on our Success
I am so proud of the gains we’ve made. Enrollment continues to climb back, and we are seeing real traction among adult students and students of color. Along with these advancements, we are seeing improvements in retention, graduation, and transfer rates—and we know our graduates are finding good jobs.
Your efforts directly drive these accomplishments. More than any other higher education workforce, you champion every student’s potential and work tirelessly for their success. We rely on you to achieve our mission, and we are committed to addressing pay equity and professional development to invest in your success.
Colleges are also building on our success: literally. Several colleges have broken ground on new facilities that will house programs in healthcare, construction trades, and other high demand fields.
Colorado’s business and government leaders are looking to us to build the workforce we need to power our economy, and our new facilities and programs mean progress for our System and for our State. I look forward to seeing them in action in the years to come.
Looking to the Future
As we look to the future, we are launching several initiatives that unlock new opportunities for our students, especially adult learners and those limited by location, resources, or work and family obligations.
To meet their needs, our new bachelor’s degrees emphasize flexibility in time, place, and instruction delivery and align with in-demand jobs. We will also dramatically expand access to affordable skill-building by scaling short-term, noncredit courses across our colleges and fully transitioning to Colorado Online.
Most importantly, we will launch our new strategic plan in the coming months. Co-created with community leaders, industry experts, and all of you, this roadmap will guide our priorities through 2030. We are currently finalizing the plan with our State Board and will submit it for approval in December, with a public unveiling slated for January 2025.
In all these arenas, we will continue to rely on your experience and expertise to be successful. I encourage you to follow our CCCS blog and social media to stay engaged.
Stronger Together
We’ve talked a lot about CCCS’s future today. When I imagine it, I see a system of colleges that is bold, diverse, relevant, financially sustainable, and greater than the sum of its parts. I also see a system that embraces change and innovation; inspires creativity and collaboration; and puts student success above all else.
I know this is possible because we’re already doing it. We have always been—and always will be—stronger together.
So, as we prepare for the future, know that’s not up to one college or one individual. It will take all of us, working together, to realize our full potential.
Once again, thank you for your hard work and dedication to our students. Together, we are transforming the way Colorado goes to college.
