Innovations Library

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Organizational Change: Realigning Structure With Mission
Carin Weiss September 2006
Volume: 19 Issue: 9
Count all 423
Seattle Central Community College has a history of national recognition for innovative instructional programs and student support services, including selection as the 2001 Time magazine community college of the year. Despite the success of the college, its leadership recognized that the organizational structure for instruction could be enhanced to provide a more accessible and responsive learning environment.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Establishing Identity in the Shadow of a Major University
Jackson N. Sasser August 2006
Volume: 19 Issue: 8
Count all 423
Visualize the top university in your city, region, or state. What comes to mind are notions of academic reputation, exclusive admissions, influential alumni, legislative support, notable research, respected graduate programs, and recognition from intercollegiate athletics.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Revitalizing the Movement: Morton's Momentum
Brent Knight, Jonathan Carroll, Stephanie Hawley, Jason Kovac July 2006
Volume: 19 Issue: 7
Count all 423
The community college was based on the assumption there were large numbers of people not served by existing institutions, and the unserved were to be the clientele of these new colleges.... Community colleges should reach out. Go to the people who are unserved. Give priority to those who need the education they did not get at an earlier age.... Bring people into the mainstream.   --Edmund Gleazer in Values, Vision, and Vitality
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Opening Doors: Promoting Student Success in Community College and Beyond
Thomas Brock, Allen LeBlanc June 2006
Volume: 19 Issue: 6
Count all 422
Community colleges, which tend to be accessible and affordable, serve as a critical resource for low-income individuals striving to improve their prospects in the labor market and life. A variety of factors, ranging from a lack of financial aid to inadequate student services and poor developmental classes, however, can impede students' progress. Many students stop attending school before receiving a postsecondary credential: One study found that only 39 percent of students who entered community college with the goal of earning a degree or certificate had met their goal six years later.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
The Two-Year College and the Chief Information Officer
Wayne Brown May 2006
Volume: 19 Issue: 5
Count all 435
In recent years, information technology (IT) usage has expanded dramatically in U.S. higher education institutions. This technology expansion has resulted in a need for system and technology department reliability, which may be critical for an organization. The institution could be crippled by either a breakdown in its technology systems or failure by the people charged with implementing or supporting those systems.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Strengthening Transitions by Encouraging Career Pathways A Look at State Policies and Practices
Katherine L. Hughes, Melinda Mechur Karp April 2006
Volume: 19 Issue: 4
Count all 431
To be economically self-sufficient, youths need some education beyond high school. Nonetheless, persisting in college and earning a credential is difficult for many students. Policymakers and practitioners are attempting to find ways of connecting formerly separate facets of the education system. One such effort is the establishment of P-16 commissions in 30 states (National Governors Association, n.d.), whose goal is to reconceptualize education as a pathway spanning high school, college, and the workplace.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Become an Exceptional Career Mentor
Tony Zeiss March 2006
Volume: 19 Issue: 3
Count all 423
One of the greatest joys of my profession in education has been the opportunity to mentor people as they aspire to have successful careers. No doubt, you have the same opportunities to help people select a career field and develop in it. Indeed, if you are an administrator, it is expected that you know how to guide people toward career success. The problem is that most of us have little training in career counseling and even less in mentoring. 
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Creating Appreciative Learning Cultures: From Problems to Possibilities
Nancy E. Stetson February 2006
Volume: 19 Issue: 2
Count all 423
David Cooperrider, the originator of a relatively new approach to organizational or institutional change called Appreciative Inquiry, tells the story of a conversation he had with the father of modern management, Peter Drucker, before his recent death. He asked Drucker, then 93, to distill the essence of what he knew about leadership. Drucker told Cooperrider, "The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths, making our weaknesses irrelevant."
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Data Don't Drive: Building a Practitioner-Driven Culture of Inquiry to Assess Community College Performance
Lumina Foundation for Education January 2006
Volume: 19 Issue: 1
Count all 423
A variety of formal benchmarking practices is being used in higher education today, and these efforts seem to be growing in sophistication. This abstract is from a recent Lumina Foundation report, written by Alicia C. Dowd, an assistant professor in the higher education doctoral program in the Graduate College of Education at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The report reviews those benchmarking practices, particularly those being used at community colleges, and introduces the concept of a culture of inquiry as a means for judging their potential value.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Discovering the Improvement Powers of Six Sigma
Deborah Pape December 2005
Volume: 18 Issue: 12
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Educators are constantly barraged with new ideas on how to improve performance. Many of these ideas are theory based and untried. Six Sigma is neither a new nor unproven methodology. It has been used very successfully in the business world and has the potential to be a powerful tool for use within higher education institutions as well. That was the expectation when West Kentucky Community and Technical College (WKCTC) embarked on the program last spring.   
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
A Little "Java" Can Energize Friendraising, Fundraising, and Advocacy Efforts
Para Jones November 2005
Volume: 18 Issue: 11
Count all 422
Colleges and universities have become so sophisticated in marketing educational programs and services that we sometimes forget the power of personal interaction. We are deeply committed to the importance of using market research to analyze and understand the needs of our target market, and we certainly know how to develop slick media campaigns, interactive websites, and impressive community events, and how to combine the right mix of media to deliver our marketing messages to the target market.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Community and Technical Colleges, Information Technology, and Revolutionary Times
Edward J. Leach October 2005
Volume: 18 Issue: 10
Count all 422
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity . . .Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Observations From a New President: Year Two
Becky Paneitz September 2005
Volume: 18 Issue: 9
Count all 424
As I approach the second anniversary of my presidency at NorthWest Arkansas Community College (NWACC), I reflect on the past two years in an effort to gauge the successes as well as the challenges that I continue to face. There is one indisputable fact: Nothing can truly prepare one for the experience of being a community college president.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
Three Birds with One Stone
Allen Goben August 2005
Volume: 18 Issue: 8
Count all 423
At AIB College of Business (IA), the leadership team chose to collaboratively develop the organization's strategic plan in a tightly interwoven framework with both operational planning and accreditation criteria. This planning framework effectively takes care of three birds with one stone, while also creating synergy to move the strategic plan from a shelf document into daily implementation.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations
The New Core Competence of the Community College
David Jacobson July 2005
Volume: 18 Issue: 7
Count all 424
The Bush Administration’s announcement last year of $250 million in job training grants to community colleges is the latest indication of the institution’s growing prominence. The community college is increasingly recognized for its flexibility and cost-effectiveness, providing affordable access to higher education and tailoring occupational training programs to local workforce needs. Yet even this welcome recognition woefully underestimates the community college’s potential.
Tags: Leadership and Organization, Innovations

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