COLLEGE OF MICRONESIA-FSM

P. O. Box 159
Kolonia, Pohnpei 96941
Federated States of Micronesia
Phone: (691) 320-2480 Fax: (691) 320-2479 E-Mail: national@comfsm.fm

President's Message to the Community

Dear Colleagues and Fellow Members of the COM-FSM Community,

I want to take a moment to welcome all of you to a new academic year. Many new students are arriving on campus from Pohnpei, Chuuk, Yap and Kosrae in anticipation of student orientation, the first week of classes and immersion into a year of study, learning and personal growth. The feeling of energy and excitement on campus is palpable.

As well, please join me in welcoming our new faculty and staff joining the COM-FSM community. We are pleased that you are with us and trust you will find your experience in service to our students both meaningful and rewarding. Welcome.

To our returning faculty and staff, welcome back! I hope and trust that each of you found some time to rest and to renew. As you make your way back to campus, whether it be here, or at our respective state campuses please know that I am looking forward to an exceptional year. Given how well we pulled together last year, and as a result the significant improvements we were able to achieve, I believe we are poised for great things again this year.

For those of you who may not have heard the news, ACCJC removed the college from probation and accreditation was reaffirmed. This is indeed a significant accomplishment and one we have all worked hard to realize. We share this joy and have much to celebrate.

The news was announced to the college community at a special all campus meeting. The Commission’s July 3, 2013, Action Letter and the March 25-27, 2013 report of the evaluation team were made public immediately thereafter. Please take time to carefully read both documents. The Follow-Up Evaluation Report clearly describes the extraordinary work in which we were engaged to address concerns for which the college was on sanction. The report characterizes the institution’s shift from compliance to constructive engagement demonstrating commitment to continuous quality improvement.

While we have much to celebrate, and we will celebrate, we remain mindful that we are now at the “starting line.” Now that we are caught up, and where we should be, the work of accreditation continues. Yet, our work will continue with a now familiar and embedded paradigm of participatory governance, purposeful dialogue and continuous quality improvement.

If you feel proud and inspired to be a partner at COM-FSM in “confronting our challenges and creating our future,” please know that you are not alone. We have successfully confronted a number of challenges and have taken important steps in creating our future, as evidenced by completion of the Strategic Plan 2013-2017.

We will continue to address challenges, especially the impact of the cumulative $2.8 million Compact decrement by 2016 and beyond, and seek continued commitment from the FSM government to offset any shortages. As the Commission clearly articulated in its Action Letter, “the lack of a sustainable funding source would jeopardize the college’s ability to carry out its mission.”

In meetings with President Mori, Speaker Halbert, and several members of Congress, I was encouraged by their pledges of continued support. That commitment and level of financial support from the FSM Congress is and will continue to be essential to the long term sustainability and continuous improvement of COM-FSM.

As we look forward, the college is required to submit a Follow-Up Report by March 15, 2014, to evidence ongoing efforts to meet the Standard for Physical Resources. Our comprehensive space and facilities plan and report will be completed by September 30, 2013, and should further inform and enhance the college’s facilities master plan.

We will focus our efforts in the near term to the completion of a master planning calendar that will guide our work for the long term, through the next ACCJC Comprehensive Team Visit scheduled for spring 2016 and through the end of the existing strategic plan in 2017.

This year we will continue our purposeful dialogue for continuous improvement, as faculty will meet on August 5th through 8th for workshops which will focus on improving assessment results, accreditation requirement moving forward, review of the ACCJC assessment of the college’s SLO reports, assessment plan writing and TracDat, and a workshop on coursesites.com.

We must and will continue to fully embrace and integrate Accreditation Standards into the fabric of the college. Please know that this responsibility is shared among us all. We must continue to strengthen the college’s culture of assessment and accountability. We have a responsibility to our stakeholders to demonstrate that we are successful, we are continuously improving, and our students are learning and are successful.

I convey my appreciation to you for all your work, effort and dedication to the students we serve. Each of us plays an important role in the successful implementation of the mission of COM-FSM. Eighteen months ago when I joined you as president, I called upon us to, “confront our challenges and create our future.” Given how well we have all come together, how well we communicate with each other, and our shared purpose to secure the future for COM-FSM and our students, we can only grow stronger.

I share with you some of what I said on February 6, 2012, when I proudly joined COM-FSM in service as your president;

“Successfully confronting them [challenges] will require the very best of each of us working TOGETHER to marshal all of our, individual and collective intellectual and human capital and resources. Only TOGETHER, and by that I mean everyone gathered here today, and members of our community dispersed across the country, will we be successful.”

 As we begin a new academic year, let us join together at the “starting line” and “lace up our running shoes” as we begin the marathon to 2017. It promises to be a great run.

It is a privilege for me to serve you as president.

Warm regards,

Joe

Joseph M. Daisy, Ed.D., President