Executive Summary
Office of the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs
June 2026
Background
In Fall 2025, Academic Affairs leadership initiated a comprehensive review of instructional work and support functions across the division. The goal was to better understand how our functions and processes are structured across the College and whether the current operating model supports institutional priorities.
This project was facilitated by the Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) and supported through existing institutional resources. It directly aligns with ACC’s North Star goal and the goals in the Institutional Effectiveness Report Card, with emphasis on improving operational effectiveness in service of student success. The EPMO team served as an objective third party to collect and analyze data and make observations and recommendations to the Academic Affairs leadership team.
Impacted populations include Academic Affairs leadership, faculty, deans and department chairs, and academic affairs support staff. Students benefit indirectly through clearer, more consistent and more cohesive instructional structures and processes.
The analysis examined the scope and structure of work occurring across Academic Affairs in order to identify how instructional support, academic infrastructure, and student-facing services are organized and coordinated. Questions included:
Are there gaps in our work?
Are there duplicative efforts?
Are units in the right places to support collaboration and scale?
While processes are executed across Academic Affairs every day, the College previously lacked a consolidated view of how these processes align to organizational structure, governance, and accountability.
Summary of Analysis
The current state analysis reflected a thorough review of documented business processes, job profiles, and functional responsibilities across Academic Affairs to identify how instructional support, academic governance, and operational services are distributed across the division.
The analysis was designed to achieve four primary objectives:
- Establish a complete, validated picture of Academic Affairs business processes
- Clarify functional ownership, overlaps, gaps, and handoffs
- Create a reusable analytical framework for future institutional planning
- Provide a reliable baseline for Student Information System (SIS) implementation, governance, and resource decisions
By examining process inventories and functional responsibilities, the analysis highlighted patterns in how work is currently organized and identified areas where related functions may be distributed across multiple organizational units, or where processes are unclear or dated.
The goal of the analysis was to provide Academic Affairs leadership with a structured understanding of the current operating model and to highlight opportunities where functional alignment could strengthen coordination, improve clarity of responsibility, and support future institutional initiatives.
Findings and Actions
The analysis identified several structural patterns across Academic Affairs:
Finding 1
Instructional support functions are distributed across multiple organizational units.
Instructional design and faculty support activities currently occur across both Distance & Alternative Education and the Teaching & Learning Excellence Division, indicating that related services may be fragmented across the current structure.
Action
Consider the best fit for instructional designers, libraries, instructional media, experiential learning support, faculty development, faculty evaluation support, and other crucial instructional support functions.
Finding 2
Several units contain mixed functional purposes that combine faculty support, student services, and administrative operations.
Both Distance & Alternative Education and Teaching & Learning Excellence contain functions that serve different operational audiences, including faculty development, student services, academic infrastructure, and administrative coordination.
Action
See above.
Finding 3
Related partnership-based instructional programs operate across separate areas despite similar operational models.
Experiential Learning and International Programs both manage partnership-driven academic experiences that involve similar processes for student coordination, external partnerships, and compliance.
Action
Continue to investigate the operational models of each to document what is similar and what is different.
Finding 4
Library Services are located within units whose primary mission differs from the service being provided.
Current alignment within Teaching & Learning Excellence suggests an opportunity to integrate Library Services more closely with broader Academic Affairs infrastructure and student-facing support.
Action
Consider how Library Services can be more integrated into the work across Academic Affairs.
Finding 5
Exam proctoring functions align more closely with academic infrastructure than current placement suggests.
Documented proctoring processes within Distance & Alternative Education demonstrate strong operational ties to broader academic support and compliance frameworks.
Action
Examine use of resources to ensure that proctoring services meet the needs of faculty and students in distance learning classes and are appropriately placed in terms of organizational structure.
Finding 6
Several academic infrastructure functions, such as Curriculum Management and Strategic Scheduling, demonstrate strong operational interdependencies.
These functions rely on shared data inputs, planning cycles, and coordinated governance structures, suggesting opportunities for stronger structural alignment.
Action
Consider the best place for these offices and functions to support both structural alignment and best use of staff resources.
Finding 7
Emerging credential infrastructure, including Microcredentials and Digital Badging, requires consistent governance alignment.
These activities involve curriculum standards and institutional reporting that align most closely with governance-oriented academic functions.
Action
Engage deeply in understanding the specifics of current state in microcredentials, badging, and prior learning assessment. Continue to ask questions to determine collaboration and organizational placement.
Finding 8
A structural gap exists in institutional process stewardship and end-to-end accountability.
While departments maintain high local autonomy, the absence of defined process stewardship leads to inconsistent interpretations and increased operational risk during transitions.
Action
Focus on documenting processes to avoid a “single point of failure” and offer clarity on process ownership vs. process implementation.
Postscript
In the Spring and Summer of 2026, Academic Affairs reorganized several support units.
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| April | The Office of Faculty Communications became the Office of Academic Affairs Communications, and is now directly under the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs (VCAA). This aligns the Office to ensure that it engages in strategic, enterprise level communications. |
| April | The Office of Curriculum Management moved under the auspices of the office of the VCAA, reporting to the Associate Vice Chancellor of Strategy and Alignment. |
| June | The Office of Strategic Scheduling was launched. It sits with the Office of Curriculum Management under the AVC of Strategy and Alignment to support collaborative planning, decision-making, and execution. |
| June | The Associate Dean for Dual Credit now reports to the Associate Vice Chancellor of High School Programs to provide the faculty voice and serve as a liaison across our dual credit footprint. |
| August | The Office of Faculty Development and Evaluation was moved directly under the VCAA to support broad-scale faculty development that will complement the innovative and small-scale work of the Associate Dean of FCLI. |
| August | The Office of Academic Technology was moved under the Associate Vice Chancellor of Digital Learning to support greater alignment with the broad work of academic affairs, including supporting faculty tech needs in the classroom and greater collaboration in the development of instructional media. |
| August | The Office of Experiential Learning was moved under the Associate Vice Chancellor of Professional Technical Education to ensure connectivity with and calibration for the work of faculty in such areas as service learning, apprenticeships, and other applied learning opportunities. |
| August | Library Services was moved under the Associate Vice Chancellor of Digital Learning to support the many ways in which our students learn and our libraries facilitate that learning. |
| October | Three staff members in Accessibility and Disability Services were moved under the AVC of Digital Learning to focus on ensuring that course materials are accessible to all students. |
| January 2027 | Tentative date for the Tech Help Desk function for students (currently under Academic Technology) to be moved to the student Help Desk in Student Affairs, reducing confusion and duplication of services. |