2025 ACCAC Takeaways

November 2025

Last month, I attended the 2025 Arizona Community College Administrators Conference (ACCAC). As always, the conference is a great reminder of how much Arizona’s community colleges are accomplishing and how much possibility lies ahead. The sessions reflected a common purpose across the state: expanding access, strengthening equity, and building the workforce Arizona needs for the future. 

One highlight for me personally was the privilege of joining my colleagues from Yavapai College, Mohave Community College, and Pima Community College on a panel presentation about how we are moving Open Educational Resources (OER) from isolated, individual initiatives to sustainable, institution-wide strategies. I am deeply grateful to the OERizona Network for leading the way, and our faculty and staff for their commitment, in building collaboration, innovation, and access through open education. The discussion was lively and represented a true reflection of how Arizona’s community colleges are shaping the future of affordable, equitable learning.  

Across the conference, several themes stood out:  

• AI and Analytics: Colleges are integrating AI and LMS data in thoughtful, human-centered ways to better support students and faculty.  

• Career Readiness and Microcredentials: Institutions are embedding NACE competencies and digital badges to ensure students gain visible, workforce-aligned skills.  

• Faculty and Leadership Development: Models like Pima’s Adjunct Faculty Institute and CAC’s new manager onboarding are re-centering belonging, coaching, and relational leadership.

• Operational Agility: Sessions on process redesign and enterprise risk management stressed the need for simpler and more responsive systems that accelerate innovation.  

• Statewide Collaboration: Arizona’s Center for Statewide Innovation and the OERizona Network demonstrate how much we can accomplish when we build shared infrastructure and communities of practice.  

• Assessment Culture: Colleges are reframing assessment of learning as celebration of student learning, faculty-led storytelling, data visualization, continuous improvement of curriculum and pedagogy, supportive culture building rather than compliance.  

Another major takeaway came from a new analysis by the Center for the Future of Arizona, which shows the transformative impact that expanded postsecondary attainment would have on our state. Increasing the number of Arizonans who complete education and training after high school would: 

• Add $20 billion to Arizona’s annual economic output 

• Generate $7.9 billion in additional wages 

• Bring in $744 million in new tax revenue  

• Help close the gap between current workforce preparation and projected employer demand  

The report from the Helios Education Foundation and Education Forward Arizona also supports the notion that education grows economies, strengthens families, and expands opportunity. These goals are fully aligned with voter priorities, as a recent statewide poll found that 70–80% of Arizonans support practical steps to help more students access and complete college:  

• Expanding AP & Dual Enrollment

• Growing online education options

• Investing in adult job training

• Auto-enrolling qualified high school students in college credit 

• Hiring more school counselors

• Providing free community college for qualified low-income students

• Increasing teacher training investments  

It is encouraging that Arizona voters believe in the power of education and they are asking leaders to act accordingly. As we look ahead to the coming year, I am inspired by the alignment between our division’s work and the statewide momentum. Whether through OER expansion, technology-enhanced teaching and learning, intentional curriculum and pathways design, or collaborative leadership, our college is contributing to a shared vision for a more affordable, accessible, and future-ready Arizona. 

Thank you for everything you do to advance this mission. Together, we continue to shape what is possible for our students and our communities.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wei Ma, PhD
Dean of Instructional Innovation
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