About Our College
Students and Community: At the Heart of All We Do
Accreditation
Accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities and governed by the Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges.
Our Mission
Edmonds Community College is a leader in providing quality opportunities for learning and service, responding to the dynamic needs of our diverse community.
Philosophy
Edmonds Community College is a community of learners, which upholds integrity and high educational standards and affirms the value of lifelong learning and sustainability. We strive to serve the needs of the individual and honor diversity of culture, ethnicity and thought. We see education as a collaborative process, valuing innovation, change and accountability.
Strategic Areas of Focus and Actions
Focus on Quality Programs, Services and Activities for Students
Edmonds Community College will enhance learning with innovative and comprehensive educational opportunities and services that exhibit our commitment to collaboration, accessibility and a global perspective.
Actions
- Create educational programs and services that are responsive and accessible to our community.
- Become a hub of math, science and engineering education and math/science teacher preparation.
- Link teaching, learning and service to the college-wide abilities of communication, critical thinking, group interaction, and quantitative skills, and to the college-wide goals of educational access and student success.
- Adopt schedules, services and technology that accommodate the needs of students and potential students.
- Ensure community and student awareness of financial resources to encourage initial enrollment, retention and completion.
Focus on Community
Edmonds Community College will address community concerns and participate in community activities and events, including the global community, playing a key role in economic development, serving as a hub for art, culture and civic engagement, and benefiting from active, comprehensive community support.
Actions
- Augment and emphasize the college's global awareness and engagement.
- Foster partnerships with local school districts, post-secondary institutions, business, labor, government, and other community organizations.
- Pursue legislative support and cooperation.
- Seek mutually beneficial grants, contracts and private donations.
Focus on Being a Positive Place to Work and Learn
Edmonds Community College will provide a friendly and supportive environment characterized by civility, mutual respect, and inclusiveness where students, faculty and staff are helped to achieve their goals.
Actions
- Develop and maintain a safe, healthy, and friendly work and learning environment that fosters creativity, innovation, and personal growth.
- Lead the way in providing and supporting new technologies for the workplace and the classrooms.
- Maintain and enhance facilities and grounds to expand the community and learning environment, as informed by the 2005 facilities master plan.
- Promote diversity, including diversity of nationality, culture, ethnicity, and thought.
- Ensure opportunities for involvement of college personnel in college planning and decision making.
College-Wide Abilities
Edmonds Community College faculty members teach students critical thinking, written and oral communication, quantitative skills and group interaction. Emphasizing these core, college-wide abilities provides a consistent educational focus that encourages students to develop knowledge, habits and skills for lifelong learning.
Students - who earn any of our two-year degrees or shorter-term certificates - have many opportunities across the curriculum to develop and apply college-wide abilities in preparation for their roles in an increasingly diverse, information-driven society.
Critical Thinking
- Apply, analyze, synthesize and evaluate information.
- Identify and evaluate arguments, sources and perspectives.
- Recognize when additional information is necessary and locate it.
- Demonstrate logical, disciplined thinking habits.
Group Interaction
- Identify, practice, demonstrate and assess group interaction skills.
- Facilitate effective interaction and mutual understanding.
Quantitative Skills
- Use mathematics or quantitative data to solve problems.
- Provide quantitative support for qualitative information.
- Communicate quantitative information through mathematical notation, graphs, charts, tables, symbols or standard English.
Written and Oral Communication
- Write and speak in a clear, logically organized manner.
- Employ effective delivery techniques.
- Adapt writing and speaking to individual programs, disciplines and contexts.
