Community Services–Community Orientation and Involvement

From the beginning, College supporters have been committed to the concept of an institution oriented to its community. Harper has enjoyed a heartening involvement and interest by members of the community who continue to give countless hours to accomplish key phases of the College’s programs.

Advisory committee members selected from the community for their expertise and knowledge give support to Harper on career programs, management training seminars for business and industry, women’s programs, senior citizens’ programs, public relations, the College’s long-range plan and fund raising.

Community leaders serve as directors of the Harper College Educational Foundation, which provides scholarships and supports special projects to enhance the educational programs of the College. In 1981, the Friends of Harper organization was formed as a support group for the College by citizens interested in promoting awareness of programs and services offered by Harper.

In the early 1990s, the College enhanced its efforts to provide educational and training opportunities to employees of companies throughout the district. An Education Service Agreement allows employees of in-district companies to attend Harper at in-district tuition. The College’s Corporate Services Department provides customized on-site training in everything from basic skills to new technologies. In addition, classes continue to grow in areas of English as a Second Language, citizenship preparation and Adult Educational Development.

During the summer of 2000, Harper College held “Discovery Sessions” with various community members, business leaders and students and talked about some of the key challenges facing the College to “discover” what the community really wanted from Harper. The Community Response Team (CRT), which was subsequently formed, presented several recommendations to the Board of Trustees which identified science, technology and healthcare as top priorities for the College to address.

At its special board meeting on August 16, 2000, the Harper College Board of Trustees was presented with the first comprehensive long-range Campus Master Plan in the history of the College. The plan, which represents a vision for the next twelve years and included the CRT’s priorities, is a dynamic plan intended to guide the College into the future. It will be revised periodically to see that it still reflects the needs of the College and the community it serves.

As Harper plans for the future, input will be sought constantly and reevaluated to enable the College to continue to be accountable to the community it serves.