Values/Vision/Mission/Strategic Directions/Philosophy

Our vision is the picture of the future for the society which we want to create:

Through a passion for learning, we encourage freedom with responsibility, knowledge with wisdom, and independence with mutual concern.

Our values statement is how we want to act, consistent with our mission, while achieving that mission. Our values guide our day-to-day decisions and behaviors:

Honesty and integrity in all endeavors, tolerance for different ideas, respect for all individuals, and excellence and creativity in the pursuit of knowledge.

Our mission answers the question, “Why do we exist?”:

The mission of Southern State Community College is to provide accessible, affordable and high quality education to the residents of its service area.

Southern State Community College is a state-assisted college that offers two-year degree programs for baccalaureate transfer and for technical and occupational preparation. It is the only such college serving a rural population though four separate campuses, as well as through outreach centers and efforts in the county where a permanent campus is not located. 

The mission of the college is to provide accessible, affordable and high quality education to the residents of its service area. This mission includes transfer and technical credit programs, literacy and GED, developmental and remedial activities, and a wide range of community service activities, including workforce-training programs throughout the service area. Accordingly, the College has adopted an open admissions policy; schedules day, evening, weekend, and summer classes; provides a wide range of credit and non-credit instruction; actively recruits traditional and non-traditional students; seeks to identify and meet the training needs of area business and industry; develops articulation agreements with colleges and universities for transfer purposes; and is committed to exploring all avenues for cooperative educational efforts with public and private schools in its service area.

Strategic Directions   

• Direction I: Expand and extend learning throughout the College community.
• Direction II: Improve the learning opportunities available to district residents by working collaboratively with other colleges, high schools, technical education centers, and community based organizations.
• Direction III: Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of all College operations.
• Direction IV: Improve learning community relationships.

Philosophy
Our educational philosophy is a statement of our system of beliefs about education:

Southern State Community College believes that education is essential to produce responsible citizens capable of fulfilling the obligations placed upon them by a democratic society, and that a democracy can only function properly when there is the widest possible enlightenment and participation of its members. 

Therefore, the College in every aspect of its endeavor is committed to the following principles:

• That each person has worth and importance as an individual human being with positive qualities, desires, and ambitions.

• That each person should have the educational opportunity to cultivate and develop the talents and abilities that will best serve the person not only as an individual but also as a citizen with social responsibility whose choices and actions ultimately affect all of humanity.

• That every person who can profit from higher education should have access to it at a reasonable cost and without discrimination.

• That the college has the inherent responsibility to provide each student with an educational program that will help that student realize the student’s fullest potential as an individual and as a member of a free society.
  

We believe that education is more than a mastery of a body of technical and professional knowledge and the achievement of technical or professional proficiency. Education is also an ability to communicate in a variety of media, to recognize and solve problems in a variety of settings, to think critically, to be cognizant of the global society and the role in it, to engage in life management skills, and to use the information literacy skills. 

To view the entire form in .pdf click here Strategic Plan