Accomplishments

Under Dr. Avis Proctor’s leadership over the past six years, Harper College has accomplished the following:

College Achievements

Named to the 2025 Aspen Top 20 and 2023 Aspen Top 25 for Community College Excellence, a recognition of the college’s commitment to student success and equitable outcomes.
Named a Military Friendly Institution Gold Status 2024–2025.
Engaged the community in the inclusive “Participate. Discover. Focus.” process to develop the College’s Strategic Plan FY2026–2029 Strategic Plan “Belonging. Thriving. Advancing.”
Launched and completed the FY2021–2024 Strategic Plan with the theme Forward Together, increased overall graduation rates by 35% and closing six of nine equity gaps by at least 20%.
Became a member of The Bloch Quantum, a designated Tech Hub of the US Economic Development Administration, serving the Chicago metropolitan area spanning Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana, led by the Chicago Quantum Exchange. Awarded Leader College of Distinction in 2020 and 2023 by Achieving the Dream for gains in student persistence and completion as well as progress made in narrowing achievement gaps for Hispanic and low-income students.
Received an $18 million gift, the largest in Harper’s history, from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. These funds were used to launch the Igniting Paths to Success scholarships for about 1,750 students and the Community Impact Fund Grant to provide 22 grants to local nonprofits whose missions support the advancement of equity, diversity and economic mobility for underserved and marginalized communities (through 2025–26).

Student Success Achievements

Achieved a graduation rate of 47.6% (fall 2021 cohort), the highest rate in Harper’s recorded history. Additionally, record high graduation rates were achieved of 45.6% (fall 2020 cohort), 43.7% (fall 2019 cohort), and 37.8% (fall 2018 cohort). Achieved an advancement rate of 76.2% (fall 2021 cohort).
Launched SOAR+, a single student success model scaling student success programs while improving the onboarding and advising experience aligned with the Path for Success milestones.
Increased partnerships in the University Center by signing an agreement with Southern Illinois University (SIU) allowing students to complete bachelor’s degrees through the Saluki Step Ahead program. These programs are in Accounting, Paralegal and Public Safety Management.
Since 2019, 2,996 Promise Scholars have enrolled at Harper College. The Promise Scholars outperformed their peers in course completion, grade point average, credit hours earned, and have completed 626,446 hours of Community Service.
Awarded more than $21 million to students in emergency financial grants from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds. More than 18,000 awards were made to students.
Secured more than $33.2 million through the Inspire Campaign and created 75 new scholarships.
Prepared more than 250 faculty for online instruction through courses and supported additional faculty through workshops. The Academy for Teaching Excellence also responded to more than 700 requests for online instruction design or support when the college moved to a remote learning environment.
Reduced textbook and course material costs for students by implementing Open Educational Resource (OER) course materials in an additional 222 course sections. More than 5,000 (duplicated) students used OER materials with an estimated total savings of $450,000.
Approved 16 student success initiatives allocating $6.2 million to address student needs and enhance opportunities for success. Those initiatives are: Childcare Fees Grant, Emergency Relief Fund, Equity in Technology Access, Finish Line Grants, Hawks Care, Honorlock FY22 Subscription, IDEAShop Discovery, Last Dollar Scholarships, Logistics Certificate at the Learning and Career Center, Open Educational Resources (OER), Reducing Differential Tuition, Short-term Training Scholarships, Summer LAUNCH Bridge Program, Sustaining Promise, Tuition Relief, Women's Program Scholarships.
Established new Institutional Effectiveness Measures (IEMs) focused on leading and lagging student success measures and aligned with the college's SOAR framework (Search, Onboard, Advance, Realize). The SOAR framework explores student milestones and outcomes for each phase of the student lifecycle and serves as an organizing framework for the IEMs.

Partnership Achievements

Secured $2M in congressional federal funding requests including $500,000 for aviation maintenance, $1,000,000 for the Emergency Services Training Center, and $500,000 for semiconductor programming.
Established the Community Impact Fund Grant Program, which has awarded $190,000 to 16 non-profit organizations serving residents of the 23 communities in Harper’s district.
Launched Healthcare Apprenticeships as a result of strong partnerships developed with AMITA Health and JourneyCare.
Created a virtual mentoring program in collaboration with Harper’s Alumni group pairing alumni and students with industry leaders and experts in their fields for a unique one-on-one virtual mentoring experience.
Added Southern Illinois University as a partner in the University Center to offer four-year completion degrees in Accounting, Paralegal and Public Safety Management.
Partnered with Pace Suburban Bus to start a new bus route (697) that brings students to the main campus more efficiently to and from the Northwest Transportation Center in Schaumburg.
Created new continuing professional education courses in collaboration with the Palatine Fire Department to bring instruction closer to local fire districts.
Partnered with the Village of Palatine and shareable technology company Koloni, to bring a healthy and environmentally focused transportation option to the community.
Worked collaboratively with Rush Medical Center to build a Medical Assistant Apprenticeship Program.

Operational Achievements

Completed construction on the new, state-of-the-art Harper College Emergency Services Training Center. The $9.3 million facility will bring cutting-edge, hands-on training capabilities for students and EMS continuing professional education in a 9,040-square-foot space.
Construction underway on the Business and Social Sciences Building, which replaces Buildings I and J with new and improved classrooms, laboratories and offices to provide additional facilities for new and expanded programs.
Construction underway on the Canning Student Center and University Center, which will include new facilities for the Campus Life/One Stop Admissions Center (Student Center) to provide one location for student services and related functions, facilities to support the Hospitality Program.
Partnered with the Cook County Department of Public Health (two clinics) and CVS through the White House's Pharmacy Partnership Program (one clinic) to offer COVID-19 vaccine clinics for our community.
Completed the Facilities Master Plan that will guide campus development through 2030.
Implemented Oracle Cloud Finance and Human Resources system.
Accepted into the American Association of Community College’s Artificial Intelligence Incubator Network which will streamline efforts to bring new technology programming to the college.
Joined the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System (NIPAS) Mobile Field Force to bring extra resources to the college that maximizes the effectiveness of the college’s initial response efforts when a major event occurs.
Completed a risk management assessment that informed changes necessary to mitigate financial and physical risks to the college.