CEA Curriculum and Student Achievement Committees:

CEA Steering Committee

Topic: Mission Statement

Meeting Date and Time: December 16, 2011, 9 to 11 am

Present:    Dante Ferraro, President
                Paul Schiffman, Dean of Students
                Thomas Schwenke, Dean of Administrative Services

Minutes:

General Discussion: Determine the most appropriate definition of The Institute’s Mission Statement and goals. The definition provides a clear understanding of how the mission statement guides the activities, policies and allocation of the Institute’s resources.

Review of the Current Mission Statement: The current statement reflects that the Spanish-American Institute served a student population that needed skills necessary for entry-level employment. This included an emphasis on the improving English language ability.

Over the years the student population has changed. Today, the student body reflects new patterns of global immigration and international study. Most students have attended college or university in their own countries.

These changes in population and interests resulted in the need to update our mission statement..

Proposed Mission Statement: The Steering Committee recommends the following revision to The Institute’s mission statement to reflect the changes in population as noted above.

Mission Statement

The Spanish-American Institute's mission is to provide effective English language and business skills training to individuals seeking entry-level office employment, job advancement, college admission or personal and cultural enrichment.



Philosophy - The Institute' serves a largely foreign-born population which faces a double challenge:

·        to acquire entry-level office skills in keyboarding, accounting, computer operation and

·        to improve English language ability.

The Institute believes that students who can anticipate progress on both fronts from the start of classes are more likely to begin and to successfully complete training.  Courses and programs at the Spanish-American Institute permit an individual to pursue these two goals

simultaneously.



Objectives -The Institute implements this philosophy through:

·        the establishment and maintenance of an effective faculty

·        the development of business, computer, and language courses and programs

·        the integration of a varied English as a Second Language course sequence