With a new leader in place, MPC asks the community’s help in plotting a new course.

Just after Monterey Peninsula College celebrated its 75th anniversary last spring, the campus welcomed MPC’s 12th superintendent/president, Marshall T. Fulbright on July 10. Now almost seven months into the job, Fulbright says it’s time to plan the next 75 years, and he wants the community to help determine the foundation of that plan, the college’s mission, vision and values.

Fulbright has been making the rounds in recent weeks, showing up at city council meetings and other public arenas, inviting people from all over the Monterey Peninsula Community College District – a wide area that includes Marina to the north, East Garrison to the east and extends south to Carmel, Carmel Valley and Big Sur – to give their input.

Specifically, Fulbright wants to know what kind of college the community thinks MPC should be. It’s a mandated exercise for accreditation to regularly review the college’s mission, vision and values, but Fulbright believes even without the requirement it’s healthy to revisit those statements. He also doesn’t want MPC to rewrite them without hearing first what the community thinks. “I know my values. I know where I want to go, but the institution doesn’t revolve around one person’s values. We’re a community college,” he says.

Currently MPC’s website lists a mission statement, values statement and goals, all of which focus on items like encouraging student success, supporting students to complete their educations, hiring and retaining quality staff and providing the facilities and resources for an excellent education, among others.

There are three community sessions scheduled for Friday, Feb. 2, Tuesday, Feb. 6 and Wednesday, Feb. 7. All are on campus, with free parking available – the first session will also be available virtually. Fulbright says once public input is received, a committee of people from the campus and the community will evaluate the input and contribute to creating a strategic plan for MPC’s next three to five years. Writing that plan begins next year.

It’s not the only community input Fulbright and MPC leaders are looking for – later in February they’ll be convening three more community sessions from Feb. 21-27 to talk about expanding offerings at MPC’s Marina Education Center, a 12,000-square-foot facility located off Imjin Parkway, opened in 2011. With thousands of cars passing by daily, “What would make you stop there? What do you want to see there?” Fulbright asks.

A consultant’s report in 2020 recommended that the Marina center be expanded to better collaborate with nearby CSU Monterey Bay and the community at large. Later that year, over 62 percent of the voters approved Measure V, a $230 million bond measure to update and improve MPC’s facilities, including Marina.

One example of what could be added, Fulbright says, is a culinary arts program to provide a seamless transition from an existing program at Monterey Peninsula Unified School District to MPC to the hospitality program at CSUMB. But does the community want or need it? “It would be disingenuous of us to put something there without getting community input,” he says.

For detailed information on MPC’s community sessions in February, including Zoom availability, visit bit.ly/MPCinput.