By Marcella Moore
On October 17th, 2025, the first ever annual All-Staff Convening was held for Tri-C at the I-X Center. During this convening, staff from all campuses were invited to gather for professional development. Dr. Baston, president of Tri-C, shares more about the All-Staff Convening, what it was about, and the 2030 vision that was shared at the convening.
“We got everyone together to give them information about critical things they should be thinking about as we move the college forward. This year we focused on our strategic plan.” Baston shares that it’s important that everyone is on the same page, from custodians to administrators, to professors.
It wasn’t just about the strategic plan for the college. In addition to sharing this plan, a huge motivation behind it was to show all staff that they’re cared for.
“How can I say that I care about everyone who works at the college and I never bring them together to say, ‘thank you and I care for you’?”
Baston says there are 3 main things that they want to focus on in the next 5 years, known as the 2030 vision. The first is to help people move forward professionally. He uses the phrase “activate” when describing this goal: “but also how do we activate them (staff members) and their potential…How do we activate the community’s potential.”
The second main focus is to align task and purpose. “We want people to understand what they’re passionate about, what is their purpose, and make sure that we have carefully designed experiences that’ll enable them to actually meet their purpose.”
Lastly, which Baston shares as very important, is to amplify community impact. “We want to produce students that can go into their community and make a difference regardless of what their academic program is.” For the community, he states that, “What we want to share with this community is that when our students finish here, they’ll make the community better”.
He touches on a topic that’s been heavily discussed for recent generations: the value of the degree. This is another part of the 2030 vision. He states, “It’s not enough to get a degree and then you’re making the same amount of money you’d be making without the degree.” His goal is to ensure the academic programs lead to jobs that exist locally and pay well. “We want to build this career marketplace.” He shares that they’ll be working with businesses to match their graduates and current students with businesses who need staff and pay well. As new developments happen in Cleveland, there will be a great rise in different jobs that Tri-C is trying to ensure for their students. Baston recognizes and highlights how most students attend Tri-C part-time, working simultaneously, and some are taking care of families. Emphasizing opportunities for students to ensure they can get paid while attending Tri-C, is important to him.
Some next steps that Tri-C is currently working on in connection to their vision 2030 is to get reaccredited so they can continue providing degrees for students. Another thing is to renew their levy in 2028 and continue citizen support for Tri-C which is why they’re able to keep tuition the lowest in Ohio
Baston says he’s most excited about having more bachelor’s degrees for students. They’ve started providing their first bachelor’s degree: smart manufacturing. Baston shares goals of getting one in nursing, behavioral health and something in the computer field. Along with having bachelor’s degrees, he states that “we charge the same amount for our bachelor’s degree as we charge for our associates degree” boasting the lowest state tuition for a bachelor’s degree.
Something that was clearly communicated is that Baston wants everyone to recognize that Tri-C is working hard to ensure that the students and those who support Tri-C, have a wonderful experience. He notes that “We don’t always get it right!” Mistakes are made but, “every day we’re working for it to be better for you all. I know there are times we fall short and we have to get better at it.” Baston and his team are taking the implementation of Vision 2030 seriously along with having more all-staff convenings to show staff that they are cared for, and to encourage more professional development as a team.
