American Samoa Community College

IV.B.1.  The institutional chief executive officer (CEO) has primary responsibility for the quality of the institution.  The CEO provides effective leadership in planning, organizing, budgeting, selecting and developing personnel, and assessing institutional effectiveness.  

The responsibility of the President for the quality of the institution is stated in Policy 3000 Delegation to the President:

“The Board of Higher Education’s authority to the overall operations of the College is delegated through the President. All authority and accountability of the staff/faculty members as defined by the Board is considered to be the authority and accountability of the President. The Board delegates to the President of the College the function to implement policy decisions and to designate the detailed arrangements under which the College will be operated.”

The effectiveness of the President’s leadership is determined by the successful
accomplishment of the mission, the achievement of student learning outcomes and the compliance to the achievement standards required by the Accrediting Commission.

 The organizational structure of the College outlines its communication protocol. The Organization Chart encompasses communication reporting relationships, the operational responsibilities of its administration, and services provided in accordance to Board Policy 3022 Communication Protocol detailing the open discussion among staff and supervisors.1 Policy 1001 – Governance and Organizational Structure reflects the organizational structure and processes for decision-making. Decision-making involves all decisions – those relating to policy development, policy implementation, curriculum decisions, resource allocation, planning, and evaluation and articulates the responsibilities of ASCC individuals to the division and organization. The ASCC individuals are held responsible for carrying out the roles and responsibilities of the position.

The CEO has direct access to the IE data.  The IE division is under the direct supervision of the President. This organizational change 2 allowed for the direct access of the IE division to the President for accountability and monitoring of institutional effectiveness.

All institutional reports to the accrediting commission, federal and local government, and external are reviewed and approved by the President and verified for accuracy through the IE Division.

The CEO communicates the importance of a culture of evidence and a focus on student learning through the charge and authority of the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs and the Vice President of Administration and Finance for all respective College divisions in the implementation of operations and decision making processes and functions to meet the ASCC Mission. 3

The CEO ensures the culture of evidence and focus on student learning is communicated throughout the College through its communication protocol detailed in Policy 3022 Communication Protocols.4 The administrative structure of the College is organized to reflect the purpose and philosophy embodied in the College’s mission statement and to fulfill its responsibilities for quality teaching and learning.

ASCC’s organizational chart provides an appropriate and effective structure given the number of employees and variety of College programs.

The organizational chart provides a framework for the President to organize personnel, functions, and financial resources to achieve the mission of the College.

The organizational chart provides a structure to clarify reporting and communication channels. The organizational chart with program functions and job descriptions, clarifies the responsibilities of Vice-Presidents, Deans and Directors, and other supervisory staff.

Delegation of authority follows the organizational chart and is communicated in writing to the College staff.

Policy 1004 Comprehensive Program Review and Assessment of Instructional Programs, Student Services and Administrative Services describe the implementation of assessment and review processes of the College. Roles and responsibilities of constituent groups in program review and assessment set the processes in which research and data are used to ensure sound planning and resource allocation. 5

Data sets are available to all constituents of ASCC on the College website. This includes all program review reports. Program review and assessment data assisted in the identification of institutional strategic priority areas and in the institutional goals. The President has supported the efforts of the divisions of Finance and Procurement to put procedures in place for all divisions to use the planned purchases process for planning and resource allocation. The Finance Division provides a historical expenditure report to the Leadership Team for better budget planning.