Institutional Strategic Plan 2003-2008

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Background
The Salt Lake • Tooele Applied Technology College (SLTATC) has an interesting, sometimes challenging history dating back to 1992. The SLTATC has evolved from a service region under the governance of the Utah State Office of Education, which provided training solely to secondary students, to a member institution of the Utah College of Applied Technology (UCAT). The Utah College of Applied Technology, the tenth public institution of higher education in the State, was created by the Legislature in 2001. UCAT, comprised of nine regional colleges designated as UCAT campuses, provides competency-based job training in an open-entry environment to adults and high school students.

Opportunities
The creation of UCAT opened up opportunities for the SLTATC that were not previously available, and also necessitated finding a niche for the College, in the region, that provided value-added Career and Technical Education (CTE) in cooperation with our education partners.

Our "Niche"
At the present time, the College has effectively established its “niche” in the region, by:

• Emphasizing the open-entry/open-exit, competency-based nature of our institution and its importance to many community members for whom a traditional college approach does not work
• Revising and refining Instructional programs, curricula, enrollment processes and student services to truly reflect an open-entry approach to enrollment and a competency-based approach to instruction
• Making a significant effort to establish a unique niche with school districts, emphasizing the benefit of the SLTATC for those secondary students who do not, for many reasons, benefit from a traditional high school setting.
• Establishing on ongoing process for articulation and cooperative program efforts with Salt Lake Community College (SLCC).
• Placing a strong emphasis on adding diversity to our College and providing outreach to individuals who are members of our ethnic minority populations.