Richland College

Established in 1972, Richland College (RLC) is one of

seven two-year community colleges in the Dallas County

Community College District. RLC’s unique “Thunderduck”

culture is rooted in the belief that it is the whole person who

best learns, teaches, serves, and leads. RLC’s 144 full-time

faculty, 414 full-time support staff and administrators, and

811 part-time faculty provide educational services to a multicultural student body of 14,500 students seeking college

credits and nearly 6,000 continuing education (CE) students.

Located in Dallas, Texas, RLC is the first community college

to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Drilling Down to Improve

With input from a broad range of stakeholders, including

students, faculty, staff, and community members, RLC’s

ThunderTeam, comprised of senior leaders, sets and deploys

RLC’s vision and values, directions, and performance

expectations. The organization’s 10 values, including

integrity; mutual trust; considerate, meaningful

communications; responsible risk taking; and joy, are

communicated through a variety of means, including a daily

computer pop up screen which features a “Value of the

Week.” The mission statement, “Teaching, Learning,

Community Building,” is posted on all 275 of the college’s

exterior doors.

RLC has four strategic planning priorities: identify and

meet community educational needs; enable all students to

succeed; enable all employees to succeed; and ensure

institutional effectiveness. Each priority has associated

measures for success called Key Performance Indicators

(KPIs). The ThunderTeam meets monthly to review KPIs

and evaluate progress toward meeting these priorities. If

progress is not on track, the ThunderTeam requests its

members to “drill down” into the organization to determine

root causes and suggest actions to improve performance. 

To help improve its own performance, and that of others,

RLC helped found and participates in several organizations,

including the League for Innovation in the Community

College and the Continuous Quality Improvement Network.

Enabling Student Success

RLC’s mission is to offer programs and services that

enable its students to achieve their educational goals and

become life-long learners, community builders, and global

citizens. In an innovative move that reflects this mission,

RLC will open the first collegiate charter high school in

Texas on its campus this fall. Richland Collegiate High

School of Mathematics, Science and Engineering will enable

up to 400 high school juniors and seniors to graduate

simultaneously from high school and Richland College with

an Associate of Arts degree. The school will be tuition free,

and the curriculum will focus on mathematics, science, and

engineering. 

2005

Award Winner

National Institute of Standards and Technology ● Technology Administration ● Department of Commerce

Baldrige National Quality Program

Highlights

• The number of students who complete the core

curriculum in preparation for transfer to four-year

institutions has grown from 500 students in 2002 to

1,660 in 2005. 

• From 2000 to 2005, RLC’s enrollment for credit

students has increased from about 12,500 to about

14,500, exceeding local competitors.

• Four satisfaction measures students rate as most

important, including classes scheduled, class time

convenience, variety of courses, and intellectual growth,

have surpassed the Noel Levitz Student Satisfaction

national norm over the past four years. 

• RLC has a well-deserved reputation as a “leadership

training ground”; 22 of its former employees have been

named as presidents of other colleges.
Unlike its peer community colleges, most of Richland’s

programs and services are aimed at students whose primary

goal is further education at a four-year college or university.

The average age of its students is 28; and 21 percent of them

need developmental education to become college ready. 

The school has many measures in place to ensure these

students are successful. In addition to offering developmental

courses, RLC’s Rising Star program provides scholarships to

students at risk of not succeeding in school. The number of

students receiving this aid has grown from 184 in 2001 to 450

in 2005. To make getting an education as convenient as

possible, RLC offers a number of options to traditional

classroom scheduling, including Internet, flex-term, and fasttrack classes and evening and weekend courses. 

The college maintains a close relationship with the local

business community and tailors its technical, occupational,

and workforce job skills programs to meet not only students’

needs but also local employers’ needs for a skilled workforce. 

RLC’s persistence and creativity in enabling all students to

succeed is paying off. RLC outperformed three of its peers in

student success measures in 2004. Satisfaction in the five

most important student satisfaction measures—classes

scheduled, class time convenience, quality of instruction,

variety of courses, and intellectual growth—has increased

over the past four years and four measures now surpass the

national norm. Overall, RLC was above the Noel Levitz

Student Satisfaction Survey norm on 42 of the 79 survey

items. The number of students achieving an associate’s

degree has steadily climbed over the past several years and

outperforms three of its peer colleges. The employment rate

of students taking technical training or workforce

development classes has remained at or near 100 percent

since 1997. The percentage of students achieving a grade

average of C or better has improved from 65 percent in 1999-

2000 to 70 percent in 2004-2005. 

Student retention rate has improved from outperforming

only one of its five peer institutions in 1999 to outscoring

four of its five peer institutions in 2003. In concert with

retention rates, RLC’s enrollment has increased from about

12,500 credit students in 2000 to about 14,500 in 2005—an

increase of approximately 16 percent—and has exceeded

local competitors in all five years, including the next highest

performer, by more than 3,000 in 2005. 

Leadership and Innovation

RLC has a well-deserved reputation as a “leadership

training ground.” Employees are encouraged to advance to

senior leadership positions, are offered training and

internships, and act as “understudies” to fill in when senior

leaders are out. RLC is justifiably proud that these growth

opportunities have resulted in 22 of its former employees

being named as presidents of other colleges. All employees

have career-development plans that include a minimum of 36

hours of training. Key Performance Indicators for employee

learning show that almost 95 percent of employees exceed

professional development requirements.

While its state funding was reduced from 70 percent to 30

percent of its total budget over three legislative sessions,

RLC has found innovative ways to maintain low tuition rates

as well as its educational quality and services. For example,

the school maximizes the number of part-time instructors,

uses administrators to teach, and created “Instructional

Specialists” to teach students who need extensive

personalized services, such as developmental math and

English-as-a-Second Language. Sixty percent of the total

faculty are part time. To remain agile in a changing

environment, RLC designs its staffing approaches to keep

payroll costs at no greater than 75 percent. 

To help faculty stay in touch with students, facilitate

discussions, and provide assignments and grades online, RLC

implemented eCampus Blackboard technology. Use of

eCampus has risen steadily from less than 10 percent in 2001

to 37 percent in 2005, exceeding the best performance of its

peers.

To improve every employee’s mind-body-spirit health,

participants in RLC’s ThunderWellness Program develop a

plan that includes physical exercise, mind-body health

techniques, and relaxation strategies. 

Surveys of faculty and staff satisfaction from 2000 and

2005 show that overall employee satisfaction increased from

76 percent to well over 80 percent. 

As part of its mission to be “community builders,” faculty

and administrators serve on chamber of commerce boards

and provide literacy and general education programs to

organizations such as The Family Place and the Dallas

Metroplex Homeless Alliance. To enhance the community’s

environment and provide an outdoor classroom for its

horticulture program, RLC, in partnership with the Dallas

Trees and Parks Foundation and Texas Utilities Company,

has created the nation’s largest urban tree farm on its campus. 

For more information:

Richland College

12800 Abrams Road 

Dallas, TX 75243 

Telephone: (972) 238-6022

Fax: (972) 238-6978

Email: jgilmer@dcccd.edu 

Web site: www.richlandcollege.edu