WORK OF THE COLLEGE

Welcome back! Once again, every second Wednesday of the block, we will share updates about various college initiatives including progress reports of the standing and temporary operational groups, important organizational and operational updates, College policy administration, Work of the College Series events, and other helpful information. 

REMINDER: Policies intended for the Block 7 comment period must be submitted by Week 2 of Block 6. Review the processes for new policy development and revision of a policy.  

Academic Policies 

NOTE: Some academic policies are a subset of college policies that differ from the College's policy creation (and revision) process. Any change to these policies requires faculty vote and is not subject to the 30-day review period. The language changes to the policies below were voted on and approved by faculty in the Block 4 Faculty Meeting.

Credit and Grades Policy

The College provides a two-track system for all students. In most courses, students may choose from the following grading systems: G Track (Letter Grades): A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-,D+, D, NC (No Credit), WF (Administrative Fail); or P Track (S/CR/NC): S(A to C-), CR(D+ or D), NC(No Credit), WF (Administrative Fail). There are no restrictions placed on the number of courses a student may choose under each option.

Certain courses may be designated “P track only” and require all students to take the course using the P track.

Dean’s List, Distinction, and Honors Policy

A student will be placed on the Dean’s List if they attain a grade point average for the academic year of 3.75 or higher and no NCs or Incompletes at the time the list is calculated (June 30 of every academic year). To qualify for the Dean’s List, a student must complete seven units, excluding adjuncts, in the academic year (six for graduating seniors). All seven of these (or, in the case of seniors, six) must be taken for either a letter grade or required P-track grade. Courses that require students to use the P track will count towards the units completed when a student is considered for the Dean’s List.

CC’s Institutional Review continues with an important milestone this week as our partners from Baker Tilly visit campus. This work is designed to build a shared, data-informed understanding of how our resources—people, funds, technology, and space—support our mission and long-term priorities across all areas of the College. During the visit, the Baker Tilly team is meeting with faculty, staff, and students via 1:1 interviews and town halls to listen, learn, and better understand how our operations function day to day. Following the campus visit, the project will move into a deeper analysis phase this winter and spring, incorporating community input, peer benchmarking, and significant quantitative data analysis. The insights gathered will inform recommendations (expected from the firm between late spring and early summer) to help the College steward its resources wisely.

As a division of the College, the FAC recently has taken on a leadership role in NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protections and Repatriation Act) compliance across campus, as well as the stewardship and care of the College’s campus art collection. A mandatory survey soon will be administered to compile a comprehensive inventory of items at the College. At this time, the primary focus is on Native American human remains and cultural items, but we would also like to know about all collections. The survey will be sent out on in Block 6 by Sara Hodge, Head of Collections & NAGPRA Coordinator, to all departments and offices required to participate. Thank you in advance for your help as we work toward federal NAGPRA compliance and best practices in collections care.

Academic Freedom Operational Group (AFTOG)

This new temporary operational group will recommend how CC can encourage and protect academic freedom for students and employees; clarify its relationship to freedom of expression; draw on law, higher-education practice, and peer institutions; and work with relevant offices to propose resources, policies, and practices in a 2026 report.

Campus Accessibility Operational Group (CASOG)

This new standing operational group will ensure that faculty and staff accessibility-related needs are met in a fair, consistent, and equitable manner. The operations group is responsible for reviewing and approving monetary components of reasonable accommodation approvals, including those related to software, hardware, furniture, physical space modifications, and other accessibility-related financial needs that arise across campus.  

Digital Transformation Operational Group (DTSOG)

DTSOG provides a centralized governance structure to guide technology and digital innovation at CC, ensuring IT initiatives are aligned with institutional priorities and improve operational efficiency and user experience. It oversees this work through four focused subcommittees—IT Governance, ERP Optimization and Modernization, Data Governance, and Generative AI Oversight—which provide domain-specific expertise, prioritization, and accountability while maintaining coordinated, transparent decision-making across the institution. Membership across the DTOG and its subcommittees was intentionally recruited from across campus to ensure broad representation and diverse perspectives.

Before the end of last year, the IT Governance and ERP Optimization and Modernization subcommittees held their respective kickoff meetings, and a project intake tool was finalized to streamline the collection and management of IT initiatives. We are currently working to prepopulate the tool with existing projects and will soon begin the formal review and prioritization process. The Data Governance subcommittee is also progressing in its work to establish governance practices and standards.

Enterprise Risk Management Operations Group (ERMOG)

ERMOG met in Block 5 to discuss a number of updates and projects in progress.  The Board participated in a heat map exercise in November 2025, surveying top risks in higher education looking at probability and severity of each risk topic.  During the plenary session in November, they broke out into smaller groups to provide recommended priority areas for ERM to consider.  As part of this data collection, we will be releasing the same survey to Cabinet and extended leadership in late January to see where there is alignment. The results will aid in developing an updated risk register for the institution to prioritize and compliment strategic planning. This work will continue throughout the spring semester.

Other updates included the overhaul of external party contract language and customized addendums for groups renting space on campus for events such as conferences, special events, and weddings. The group discussed potential exposures for vendor contracts and how we could better meet policy compliance. Lastly, the group discussed emerging risks at CC specifically, and national trends shared from the recent United Educator's report. 

Campus Events Operational Group (CEOG)

Reminder from CEOG: all campus partners are asked to submit their 2026–27 academic year events in Momentus by Tuesday, March 31. Submissions received after this deadline will require review and approval by the CEOG, which meets monthly.

Space Governance Operational Group (SGOG)

SGOG is working on designing a single, centralized intake process for space modernization and space-adjacent requests. They are focused on mapping the current and future states of identified processes. Members have begun partnering with process owners to complete this mapping work, marking a key step toward a more transparent, scalable, and institutionally aligned approach to managing space-related requests.

REMINDER: Space Request Process second review cycle will close at the end of Block 5, on Wednesday, Feb. 11. You can find more information about the space request process and the request submission form here.

Please note that academic departments working on new tenure-track faculty hires should not use this form but instead work directly through the Dean of the Faculty’s Office.

Parent and Family Experience Standard Operating Group (PFSOG)

The PFSOG is developing a month-to-month communication calendar for the upcoming academic year. This calendar will highlight evergreen campus events as well as common student behaviors families can anticipate each month, with the goal of proactively equipping families to have productive, supportive conversations with their students.

In addition, the group has begun exploring opportunities for parent and family volunteer engagement as we work toward building a new volunteer program for CC families in the coming academic year.

Your feedback is welcome. If there are topics you would like to see, questions, or feedback please send them to operationalgovernance@coloradocollege.edu. 

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Colorado Springs, CO 80903