Case Study-MDC - Beyond Academics

In 2020 Madeline Pumariega was named the first female President to lead Miami Dade College—one of the country’s largest community colleges with 8 diverse campuses and over 125,000 students.

A dynamic, charismatic and visionary leader, Madeline Pumariega invited Beyond Academics to work with her and her leadership team to make her 5-part strategic vision a reality. Strategic Priority #1 for her was to reimagine the student experience and remove hindrances to a student enrolling, continuing, and completing their education at MDC.

In Step 1 of the Beyond Academics process, BA hosted ThinkSpaces with constituents from across the institution including students, staff, and faculty. Over 1,300 voices and their inputs were captured and analyzed to align the institution to a common vision of a modern student-centric brand.

In Step 2 of the Beyond Academics process, each persona of the student journey was mapped with staff to identify the delta between current state and the leadership team’s new vision for a modern student experience. Friction points in the student’s current experience were also identified. (Visual: girl in green sketches)

In Step 3 of the BA process, the hundreds of friction points identified in Step 2 were analyzed for whether the friction was caused by a policy, procedure, people, system, or structure (P3S2) issue at the college. Since President Pumariega’s mandate was to put the student at the center of all go-forward decision-making, BA and the leadership team at MDC had freedom to question old approaches and mindsets that were holding the institution back. This included asking “why” certain policies or procedures were still in place – especially if they were hurting student success.

Using BA’s proprietary P3S2 methodology, BA and MDC leadership prioritized the first 16 optimizations the school would embark on – and called them the Foundational Optimizations.

6 months into the relationship, MDC and BA had co-created the roadmap to tackle the 16 Foundational Optimizations. We then set out on Step 4 – a 12-month transformation with clearly identified outcomes and measurables.

Although the specific nature of the 16 Foundational Assessments at MDC remain confidential and proprietary assets of the school, BA can share that these optimizations included “sleeves rolled up work” such as adding automations to the PeopleSoft SIS, integrating low-cost nimble technologies to improve back-office functions, re-engineering policies and business processes, and redesigning digital user experiences.

These optimizations have combined to drive three measured outcomes:

1The ability for a student to enroll and matriculate at the college 72x faster than before.
2Saving over 50,000 hours of annual staff time through automation. The staff was redeployed to more meaningful student-facing work.
3The addition of thousands of net new students in programs like dual enrollment and first time in college students.

President Pumariega’s vision also called for Strategic Priority #3 which is to foster a Culture of Care for students and staff. Soon after arriving in her new role, the President recognized the urgent need to invest in the staff of MDC and install a fresh new culture of optimism, transparency, trust, and professional growth.

Amidst a series of other missions, she tasked BA with the goal of standing up the President’s Leadership Academy—a place where high potential future leaders could self-identify and engage in year-round programming aimed at their personal and professional growth.

Within 90 days, the academy had been conceptualized, designed, and launched with its first cohort of 57 leaders. From department chairs and IT staff, to deans and enrollment specialists, every area of the institution was represented in the cohort. The group met for five (5) one-day experiences over the course of the academic year, and expanded their knowledge in areas like data science, governance, advocacy, entrepreneurial thinking, adaptive leadership, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, and coaching culture.

The institution is already reaping the early rewards from the academy. Emerging leaders report feeling much more connected to the President and her vision and strategy, and the pace at which outcomes are being realized across the institution has increased significantly.

There is also a marked improvement in cross-department and cross-campus collaboration. One such collaboration led to a working group spinning up a college certificate program in under 90 days that now allows adult learners to take a combination of credit and non credit courses to attain a certificate in cloud computing and get hired for a high-paying job under 10 months.

Technology that works better—without the unnecessary cost of total replacement.
Student experiences that are faster, and more modern.
Staff roles that have been freed of mundane, repetitive tasks.
A fresh and growing culture of growth, trust and transparency.
A measurable increase in the speed at which good outcomes are being achieved.

These are just a few of the benefits MDC and BA are celebrating just 18 months into the relationship. In the months and years to come, we will continue to execute on the 5 strategic priorities of the institution as envisioned by its courageous leader and have no doubt that the accomplishments of Madam President and her leadership team will be talked about in higher education for decades to come.

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