Risk

It's not from Ben Franklin but, nevertheless, I like the quote "Risk-taking is inherently failure prone. Otherwise, it would be called sure-thing taking." (It might have been said by a Chicago Bear quarterback!) For most of us, taking risks and making mistakes are part of normal life. At MVCC how we go about choosing our risks and dealing with our mistakes often defines our ability to meet our responsibility to our students, the community, and ourselves.

Recently, as an institution, we took a risk that worked out very well. We approached the United Way of the Valley and Greater Utica and asked if we could combine our internal UW campaign with the College Foundation's Annual & Access Fund campaigns. This kind of request hadn't been entertained before as it goes against the traditional "blackout period" of not intentionally raising money during a United Way campaign. Our belief was that, in these hard times, it would be best to lay "all our cards on the table," asking faculty and staff to consider the whole package of needs, allowing them to make their giving decisions with a lot of good information. The results of this risk exceeded every expectation. Together, we increased the number of faculty and staff participating from 76 to 116 (52% increase) and raised more than $14,000 (37% increase). The "risk" of being honest, open, and comprehensively transparent made a difference - and for that we are most appreciative to those faculty and staff who chose to contribute.

Sometimes risks don't pay off the way they are planned. In lieu of a gala dinner and silent auction as a major fundraiser this year, we partnered with the Stanley Theatre to bring nationally known comedian Brian Regan to town this past weekend. We reserved the date early and made the calculations - hoping to split excess revenue with the Stanley to benefit the MVCC Presidential Scholarship Fund. However well intentioned, we couldn't have predicted Mama Mia at the Stanley and an even more well-known comedian Jim Gaffigan playing the Turning Stone on the nights immediately preceding our event. We took the risk and, although we came close to break even, didn't meet expectations. On the plus side, however, we did bring a great show to the community, welcomed hundreds of students into the Stanley for perhaps the first time, provided the College with much publicity, and learned a great deal that should lead to future successes.

Observing the behavior of some here on campus, one might conclude that the College is an environment where taking risks should be minimized; where trying something new should be discouraged or, at least, an activity engaged in as a last resort; and where making mistakes should be avoided and criticized. That conclusion is wrong-headed and we need to work together to address that impression whenever it occurs.

If we are to develop MVCC's full potential - to facilitate our students reaching theirs - that mindset cannot prevail. Instead of finding fault, we need to model behaviors that communicate a willingness to accept responsibility, explore possibilities, discuss differences, and work together for the common good. The only way we individually can't make mistakes is if it's perpetually someone else's fault, which means the perpetual avoidance of taking responsibility. Sometimes things work out in our favor and sometimes they don't. Some plans work out while others result in mistakes. The best anyone can do is work hard; make the best decisions possible; take calculated risks; own our mistakes and learn from them; communicate effectively and frequently; and try to do better next time. To do any less would be to fail in our mission as a community college.

If you have any thoughts on this, please contact me at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Understanding Your Roots

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I had a unique opportunity to ride with my parents to Kingston, NY to visit a distant relative – my father’s seventh cousin, seven times removed. He has done amazing research on his family genealogy that connects with a full history of my family that dates back to 1650 in the areas around Kingston and Bloomington, New York. Over lunch in downtown Kingston, I learned more about how The Van Wagenen family came to America from Holland. Not being of any noble birth, my Netherlands ancestors didn’t even have a last name. It was not until after they arrived in America that they adopted the name of "Wageningen" after the town in Holland from which they had migrated, and only later added the "Van" which in old-Dutch meant "of" or "from.” However, a fourth generation descendant of the original VanWagenens changed his last name to VanWagoner, moved to Saratoga County, served in the revolutionary war, and settled land in Michigan that he received for his military service – that was my fifth great grandfather. So yes, I’m a native New Yorker…with an eight generation gap. I feel extremely fortunate to have this knowledge as it seems the more I learn about my own history, the more centered I feel in my own life and how I fit in my personal family narrative.

Walking the grounds of an original VanWagenen homestead that was built in 1669 - a beautiful home to this day - was an amazing experience that gave me a feeling of intensely connecting with the past and understanding my roots. It reminded me of the connection with MVCC’s past that I’ve had the good fortune to experience through alumni reunions, our first emeritus breakfast, and listening to stories from faculty, staff and alumni. I even came across an interview with Bruce McLean, a College Trustee Emeritus, who was on the Board when MVCC created the current Utica Campus. During the interview for the 60th anniversary of SUNY, he recalled that Frank Lloyd Wright was invited by a personal friend from the County to walk the vacant plot of land that had been secured for the new campus in Utica. The famous architect asked to be left alone over three days while he walked the new vacant campus grounds. His final recommendation spoke of a vision for academic buildings surrounding a beautiful quadrangle connected to a sweeping mall that would lead to a gymnasium and athletic fields.

Through my blog, I’ve also been in contact with MVCC’s first faculty member, Steve Eskow, who was hired in 1946 and produced more than 90 radio programs called “Utica goes Collegiate” with Richard Clark, father of Dick Clark (yes, the Dick Clark). Steve was also the first instructional dean at the College and helped to pave the way for MVCC to be the first community college in the state to have residence halls back in the early 1960s. Understanding the past allows us to respect and honor it as we consider where we are in the present and the manner in which we go about creating the future. As we update the College’s Master Plan, we have much to build upon and much to think about as the complexity of needs increases in our community along with the many challenges the next decade or more will hold. If you have any thoughts about this post – genealogy or the College’s past, present or future, please contact me at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Recognizing Years of Service

Throughout the fall, we've been implementing a new and different, Employee Recognition Design Team endorsed, Years of Service recognition process. Communitas has been doing a great job of chronicling this effort each week, and some of you may have seen our balloon festooned entourage hiking through the campuses on occasion. Participating in this new program, I have been inspired by the number of faculty and staff committed to the important mission of MVCC over many years. The opportunity to connect with these recipients in a variety of campus locations has deepened my appreciation for the history of this great organization and the dedication of so many who make this place work in so many special ways.

Recognizing hundreds of years of service (literally!) this fall also reminds me of my dissertation study - "Factors that influence the perception of organizational change." Back then I surveyed over 500 faculty and staff from 12 community colleges in Colorado on their perceptions of institutional change and determined several factors that influence how that change was perceived. Interestingly enough, I found that the more people could put change into a larger context, the more positively they viewed it. Another factor determined to influence the perception of change in that study was actually years of service! And that notion rings true with me today as I make these Years of Service visits throughout the organization. I've truly enjoyed talking with each and every one of the folks we've honored for Years of Service this fall, having listened to them, their supervisors, and their colleagues. I've truly learned something valuable from each one.

I've been thinking back to other change efforts I've led and pictured so many of the senior faculty and staff who provided tremendous leadership in periods of great change. Most have held multiple positions and served in numerous committee and college-wide assignments that have provided them with an appreciation for the overall operation and context of the college. Nearly a decade later, I remain struck by the value and perspective that senior faculty and staff bring to an ever unfolding organizational narrative. Together, as we continue to roll out the new Years of Service recognition program, the Employee Recognition Committee and I are committed to refining this process to make it as good as it can be for all those who put so much into this College. If you have any reactions to, or thoughts about, the new program, please contact me at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Untangling the Social Safety Net

The relationship between our region's economic and social challenges is vexing. Every day another story and every story another insight into the complex nature of the variables at play. One ray of hope is the work of the United Way, as it develops a plan for shifting its annual grant funding process from "individual program initiatives" to "collective community priorities" that bring a common focus to the work of agencies and organizations throughout the area. In addition, the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties is focusing many of its strategic efforts on addressing root causes of these challenges, like their work to facilitate the improvement of literacy in our region.

Any search for the root causes of our region's societal problems must address the need to break the multi-generational cycle of poverty and how easy it is for people to get tangled up in the social safety net this country provides. Rather than providing temporary support for people as originally intended, we often hear about the myriad social service programs that, sometimes, act more like anchors than wings, leaving individuals and families negotiating lifestyles full of limitations. I think we need a new paradigm.

For many, education can be a tangle proof safety net. When speaking to first generation college students, I often highlight the fact that an education is something no one can take away from them. The challenge is to get children at an early age thinking about, and believing in, the successful completion of high school and the real possibility of attending college. The ironic component to this challenge is that those individuals living in poverty are not aware that the financial disadvantages they face every day qualify them for full financial aid, making college attendance not only financially possible, but realistically achievable!

It's a matter of connecting with these students and families early - and often - and getting them the information they need. Our job is to demonstrate the possibilities, providing motivation to break the cycle of helplessness and hopelessness; to release them from the anchor disguised as a safety net.

Programs like Upward Bound and campus visits for elementary and middle school students have proven themselves to be great models to expose younger students to these possibilities. MVCC has made significant strides in this area. However, I think our position in the community is such that MVCC must play a more central role in addressing these issues – a role that will take much effort, focus and creativity. If you have any thoughts on this subject, please contact me at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Entrepreneurship Revisited

After more than 100 posts on this blog, I’m finding myself revisiting previous posts with a new perspective. A little over a year ago, I wrote a post about how interesting it might be if the Mohawk Valley region branded itself around Education, Environment and Entrepreneurship in similar fashion to Saratoga Springs with their History, Health and Horses theme. I received a few interesting responses on that post, some offering their own ideas and others picking up on the importance of entrepreneurship.

Along those same lines, I had a very interesting conversation recently with a lifelong Mohawk Valley resident and very successful businessman. We talked about the state of the economy and the fundamental shifts at work with regard to manufacturing and globalization – the cost of doing business and producing goods in New York State versus, say, China. I shared that this is the first time in my career where I find it very difficult to identify exactly what new programs we need to develop, because it’s hard to see where the jobs are going to come from – other than everyone hanging their hats on the new “green economy.” I referenced the “Shift Happens/Did You Know” video that I included in one of my earliest blog posts. My favorite component of that video speaks volumes to what we’re up against – “We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist…using technologies that haven’t been invented…in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet!”

It got me thinking again about the importance of entrepreneurship. Wouldn’t it be better to have ten small businesses that grow to 100 employees versus having a single employer, likely not rooted in this area, with 1,000 employees – that could come and go and at any time? Then the challenges with teaching entrepreneurship came to mind – budding entrepreneurs often don’t want to spend time sitting in classrooms while we as educators, by our nature, wrestle with the need to be more entrepreneurial in one of the most secure professions available.

My latest thinking on this is that perhaps entrepreneurship is a future component of general education. I haven’t seen it anywhere else, but we talk about new transferable skills like problem solving, critical thinking, human relations and creativity…perhaps all of these can converge into the notion of entrepreneurial spirit. Manufacturing peaked in the U.S. in 1979 and will never be what it was. I’m increasingly of the belief that entrepreneurship is what will drive the new economy – once we know what that looks like. All signs point to the fact that the new economy is likely years away, so MVCC may as well begin preparing for it today by thinking about these notions. If we can’t identify what the jobs of the future will be, why don’t we start by training people to develop their ideas along with their plans and practices to make their businesses and organizations better by creating those jobs that don’t yet exist and invent those technologies and processes that haven’t been invented yet through entrepreneurial skills and spirit that all of us need? If you have any thoughts on this, please contact me at presblog@mvcc.edu.

The New Equilibrium

Just a short 18 months ago, I remember a hallway conversation where someone said that “new ideas had trouble seeing the light of day around here” because too many of us had the habit of quickly punching holes in a suggestion that might lead to doing things differently.  The good news is that new ideas are far more welcomed here than ever.  The bad news is that new ideas are far more welcomed here than ever…

The past week or so has provided the opportunity to have multiple conversations with individuals and groups about the pace of change at the College.  We talked about it at a Cabinet meeting and a Think Tank meeting, where comments were made regarding the emerging sense that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of all the changes.  It’s not just about the reorganization, change is coming from all angles - a tweak to this system; a shift in that office; a sudden refinement to whatever process. The College has been very successful for sixty three years – certainly some changes were needed, but now it feels like everything is changing.  In addition, the pace of change is straining our ability to keep everyone informed of this or that change.  In short, it’s just hard to keep up!

Although adjustments will still need to be made, it’s incumbent on all of us to let a few things settle in for a bit – to the extent possible.  Having to respond to double digit enrollment growth, it’s challenging – if not impossible - to say slow down.  I think it’s more, really, about working together.  It’s making the extra effort to talk through differences; reach common priorities; and leverage change for the greatest return to our students.

Concentrating our efforts to make system changes, and include communicating with others in a timely fashion, so that we can all  make better use of our time and increase our success is most important (it’s not always about allusers emails or an hour meeting just because we scheduled an hour). 

Certainly refining our processes is important, but we also need to think about how those changes effect other areas of the College – taking care to address concerns openly as they arise, to insure that all those who want to be part of MVCC’s future are able to do so.  Keeping the big picture in mind and thinking through the timing of changes will help everyone thrive and minimize change fatigue throughout the College.

These notions of change prompted me to revisit a blog post of mine from last May on the punctuated equilibrium model of change – Tushman and Romanelli’s notion of organizations experiencing periods of equilibrium interrupted by punctuations of change.  They stated that a healthy organization can move from a state of equilibrium to punctuation and emerge stronger and healthier as it experiences the next period of relative equilibrium. When the next punctuation occurs, it's generally shorter because the organization is better-equipped to handle it. Over time, as the organization becomes stronger and more effective, the periods of equilibrium are shorter so the punctuations come quicker, but they are less significant because the organization is better equipped to respond and absorb the associated changes.  Safe to say, we’re experiencing a fair sense of punctuation right now - but I know we’ll get through it and catch our breath in the new equilibrium.  If you have any thoughts on this, let me know at presblog@mvcc.edu.

The Fourth Leg of the Stool

Last week, Governor Paterson announced his proposals for a two-year deficit-reduction plan to close a projected $5 billion budget gap – that’s the good news. The bad news is that the deficit is projected to be closer to $15 billion next year when the stimulus dollars expire. The proposed 11% across the board cut to state agencies would result in $90 million in cuts to the State University of New York and an additional $22.7 million in cuts to the 30 community colleges, which could mean close to $1 million in cuts to MVCC in this fiscal year. The proposed reductions also recommend a $26.2 million cut to the state Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) that is supposed to offset tuition costs for the neediest students. While these cuts are only proposed recommendations in the face of unprecedented budget shortfalls, they are simply an overall continuation of declining governmental support for community colleges in New York in the past thirty years. The pressure on county governments is also increasing their financial stress and limiting their ability to meet their financial obligations to their local community colleges – Oneida County is doing its best, but even that is not likely to get much better in the next few years.

In light of these fiscal realities, community colleges are facing significant enrollment increases – redefining the notion of “doing more with less.” Rather than closing our open doors and limiting admissions, community colleges must increase our resolve and commitment to student access and student success. While we can continue improving our processes and gaining efficiencies wherever possible, the unstable three-legged stool of state aid, county support and student tuition comprising the primary revenue streams is no longer adequate.

What we’ve known for so long as “alternative revenue streams” – grants and fundraising – are increasingly no longer alternative. Rather, they are becoming essential elements to providing consistent support for maintaining the dynamic nature of our enterprise at MVCC. The current realities of grants are such that most colleges are finding themselves having to apply for nearly six times as many grants to receive the same level of funding. This leaves fundraising as the primary fourth leg of the funding stool.

In years past, the College would conduct the United Way campaign in the fall, wait for it to be completed and then send an additional request to faculty, staff and board members for donations to the MVCC Foundation. The past two years, we have had successful campaigns of over $25,000 to raise funds for the Access Fund for students who fall just beyond the line of qualifying for federal and state financial aid packages. This year, we are combining the two campaigns and making a single request to faculty, staff and board members. Our goal is to dramatically increase participation, so our focus is on the number of people giving something –whatever they can – more so than the actual dollar amounts. When combined with participation in two Team MVCC events, a donation in the combined campaign will qualify donors for the Four-Runners Club – two donations, two events. Together with the institutional advancement staff, I’ll be facilitating campus conversations this week to share more information about the significant challenges facing our community, our college and our students and the meaningful work of the MVCC Foundation and the United Way in helping to keep programs and services accessible to all who have the ability to benefit.

If you have any thoughts on these items, please contact me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Intangible Resources

Previous blog posts have described our involvement in the Strategic Horizon Network as one of 13 community colleges engaged in “common learning through uncommon experiences.” I have described our involvement in broad terms and have yet to write directly about one of the Network experiences – until now. The fall Colloquium was titled “Internal Sustainability – Leveraging our intangible resources.” A guiding concept for the 2 ½ day experience was the triple bottom line of internal sustainability – leadership, engagement and stretch. I was fortunate to be joined by a team of ten other faculty and staff from MVCC, which in itself is a powerful professional development experience.

The program followed the normal rhythm of an opening presentation Sunday afternoon that included a conceptual mini-lecture on building a vibrant organizational culture followed by three colleges presenting their approaches to leadership development for their faculty and staff. A reception and dinner closed the evening where we were able to mix and mingle with team members from other network colleges from around the country – California, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania. Monday provided a fantastic presentation that gave us insight into how Zingerman’s has developed an innovative and high performing organization of eight different businesses that carry the same brand of great food, great service and great finances. We spent the afternoon at Greenfield Village – an amazing living history museum created by Henry Ford – where we heard about their approaches to recruiting, developing and retaining a happy and high performing workforce. On Tuesday, we heard a presentation from one of the network colleges on their work with reviewing their processes by collecting and analyzing meaningful data and taking action through courageous conversations and improving their operations one process at a time.

The intensity of the Colloquium and the quality of the presentations and experiences left our heads full of ideas and emotions. I leave all of these Network experiences feeling renewed and inspired about the magic of the work everyone does each day at MVCC. During the past 16 months, we’ve been able to send teams to four colloquia and one team on a learning site visit – providing 31 different faculty and staff with uncommon experiences. The exposure to concepts outside education and best practices from other colleges provides a firm grounding from which to approach the future and rich ideas and notions to pursue here at MVCC. If you have any thoughts on this post, please share them with me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu.

The Need for Lifelong Learning

Noted community college leader Edmund Gleazer once wrote, “If you were to set out on a journey across the desert, you could not carry enough water to last the entire journey. It would make sense to have stations along the way where you could get water as you needed it. Education is much the same. Why should youth be expected to attain all of the learning they will need for their entire life? Why not have stations throughout life where one can learn as needed?”

Gleazer’s metaphor speaks volumes toward the importance of lifelong learning. So did a recent meeting I attended, where the New York State Office of the Aging presented to a group of community college presidents on the increasing significance of our aging population and the implications for community colleges.

The general trends are well known. More people are living longer, and the generations that follow are smaller. We also know that the economy is forcing working adults to change jobs and even careers. MVCC already sees this phenomenon in the stressed-out social worker turned chef; the retired firefighter in the nursing program; or the downsized assembly-line worker taking machining classes. A recent national survey by the AARP highlights the importance of community colleges for many of these people: out of 30,000 recent career changers ages 42 and older, more than one in four had taken courses at a community college as part of the process.

Although MVCC has more than 1,500 adult students 25 years or older enrolled this fall, much of our emphasis and reputation is anchored in the younger, recent high school graduate population. This is incredibly important and we do a great job to open our doors for about 30% of all high school graduates in Oneida County each fall, but we also know that by the year 2019, the population of high school graduates will be substantially smaller than it is today – requiring us to secure 37% of each graduating class to maintain our healthy enrollment.

Another 21% of Oneida County residents age 25 or older don’t hold a high school diploma. How can MVCC reach out and help these individuals chart a career path toward a more fulfilling life? Only 18.3 percent of our county's residents ages 25 and older have completed a bachelor's degree or more, compared with 27.4% statewide. What role can MVCC play in helping our community, which is rich in educational institutions, reap more of the benefits of lifelong learning? To borrow Gleazer's concept, how can we help our community members make it across the educational desert?

Whatever the answers are, they will require us to take a close look at making MVCC as welcoming as possible; as inviting and effective as can be; and home to programs and services that are responsive to the needs of individuals from every age group. We don't want people to stumble across us in the middle of a desert -- better for us to present ourselves to people in ways that are enriching and well received. We have what it takes to make these good things happen, but we won't succeed unless we address all age groups' needs more intentionally, sooner rather than later.

If you have any ideas on how MVCC can better serve adult students, let me know at presblog@mvcc.edu.

The Barnfest and Hard Work

Although this is only our third fall in this community, my family and I made what has become our annual trip to the Barnfest in Remsen City, USA.  Our Barnfest experience last year created a sense of anticipation as we traveled north on Saturday – the radio never went on as the conversation was chatty, lively and brisk the whole ride.  As we turned off Route 12 and proceeded down the road into town, we all commented on the earliest leaves that had already turned.  We parked at the Remsen train depot, just as we did last year, and found our way to the main thoroughfare.

We were met with scents of fried dough, gyros, kettlecorn and cheesesteaks – the overwhelming number of people descending on this small town was inviting.  As the afternoon passed, I alternated my time between packmule, foodhandler and mobile ATM as my family transitioned from one craft booth to another.  While they smelled the homemade candles and perused the handcrafted jewelry, I had a chance to take in my surroundings – tents, booths, crafts, and food along with garbage cans, powerchords, music, and smiling faces serving thousands of people in a slow moving river of willing shoppers.  My thoughts quickly focused on the incredible amount of hard work that was necessary to make this special community event a reality.  After exchanging “hellos” with a number of MVCC faculty and staff moving among the crowd, we bought a bag of cinnamon roasted cashews from an outgoing young man who introduced himself as an MVCC student who plans on transferring to Cornell next fall.  My thoughts quickly turned to the massive volume of work by MVCC faculty and staff that was necessary to get this fall semester off to such a great start.

This past week, I had the opportunity to get out on campus (both Utica and Rome) more than I have in the past few weeks.  I talked to a lot of students (including a monthly student lunch arranged through Student Activities) and chatted informally with a number of faculty and staff.  I got the palpable sense that faculty and staff are working extremely hard. So much effort has gone into accommodating 10% more enrollment than we did last fall.  Staff are fundamentally rethinking systems and processes – implementing waitlists and electronic billing helped us respond to student demand and serve students more efficiently.  As class sizes and the percentage of seats taken increased, faculty accommodated more and more students.  All this means significant increases in student advising needs, papers to grade, quizzes and tests to review, rooms getting cleaned more often, parking and other issues. When I say our community needs us more than ever, I also believe that means we need each other more than ever.  We’re being asked to work harder AND smarter, which often requires small changes that naturally follow the kind of big changes that are currently being implemented.

Like the stunning success of Remsen’s annual Barnfest here in the Mohawk Valley, the success of MVCC lies in a large group of people who share the commitment, determination, persistence, and willingness to work hard every day to make it so.

Accommodating community demand and enrollment growth, while simultaneously working together to improve service systems; further hone teaching and learning processes; and take on a number of important initiatives to help improve this unique organization requires each of us to bring our best to work everyday.  I can’t say how proud I am to work at MVCC, with so many people who bring the College’s very powerful mission to life on a daily basis.  If you have any thoughts on this post, please contact me at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Strategic Horizon Network Update

Last week the College hosted Pat Carter and Dick Alfred who were both on campus for their annual visit as part of MVCC's membership in the Strategic Horizon Network (SHN).  The SHN is a network of 14 community colleges interested in creative approaches to the future who are all committed to the development of their faculty and staff.  Through two annual colloquia and special learning site visits, MVCC has supported more than 25 different employees' participation on teams to these experiences during our first 16 months of membership.

The first purpose in Dick and Pat's visit was to have Pat facilitate different conversations last Thursday with a variety of individuals.  She spent the morning with two groups who spend a lot of time serving students - one in direct service with getting students enrolled and one group that works a great deal with providing student support to help them achieve their goals.  To make the most of the conversations, participation was limited to ten people or so identified by the Cabinet to have broad functional representation in the small groups.  Pat provided an overview of the SHN and some special initiatives currently underway in the Network.  She also facilitated a discussion about how we serve students and got people talking - perhaps in new and different ways than in the past.  She then had lunch with a group of directors responsible for many of the offices represented in the morning discussions.  Pat spent the afternoon in separate meetings with the support team and administrative team in Academic Affairs - not to assess the reorganization at such an early stage, but rather to simply check in and provide an opportunity for everyone to reflect on the changes underway.

The second purpose of Dick and Pat's visit was to have them facilitate the first segment of the Strategic Planning Committee's (SPC) annual fall retreat.  Dick did a very nice job of presenting the concept of abundance - a framework of analyzing organizational health on a continuum of wellness.  The pursuit of abundance focuses on leveraging strengths and building on what works through pursuit of the possibilities - in contrast to a deficit-correcting approach that always looks at what's wrong and needs to be fixed.  It was interesting to have Dick's abundance presentation first thing in the morning of the retreat to set the tone for the day.  It gave us a new vocabulary and a new way to think about things as the SPC considered where the College is currently and where we need to go given the external trends to which the College must respond.

The same day as Pat's discussions with the small groups, the Cabinet joined the Board of Trustees in their annual fall retreat, which included a presentation and conversation with pollster, author and former MVCC faculty John Zogby at his headquarters on Broad Street.  John's recent book, "The Way We'll Be..." tracks changes in polling results over the last 20 years and our conversation allowed us to consider how those trends might effect MVCC.  Taking time out to reflect on where we've been, where we are and how we'll be is an important and energizing annual fall activity to keep the College's Strategic Plan relevant and useful.  If you have any thoughts on any of this, please contact me at presblog@mvcc.edu.

SUNY Visions

This weekend I attended the New York Community College Trustees Association Fall Institute in Albany. The keynote was delivered by SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher. When the Chancellor visited our Utica Campus June 5th, as the first community college visit and second overall of her sixty four campus tour, she openly shared her leadership philosophy, that "vision is critical for good leadership; vision should be created at the hands of many and, most importantly; bold action must be taken to bring that vision to life.” Her energy, intelligence, and warmth was inspiring.

Three months later, Dr. Zimpher has made good on her word and completed her tour of all 64 campuses, where she listened to the needs and perspective of each campus - collecting input for a new strategic plan for the State University of New York. Her next steps will be to conduct regional meetings, with the support of a statewide committee of 200 constituents. By the end of next spring the plan is to synthesize a voluminous amount input into a clear set of strategic goals to drive the plan. You can see just how much the Chancellor welcomes input into this process by reviewing the Chancellor's Corner on the SUNY website http://www.suny.edu/chancellor/.

A comprehensive strategic plan for the University will clearly define priorities, coordinate and focus the collective energy of the 64 campuses, and elevate the system to new heights. Dr. Zimpher likes to highlight what she calls the New York trifecta of public higher education in the SUNY system - education that is *high quality, *accessible, and *affordable. Everytime I've spoken with Dr. Zimpher and everytime I've heard her speak, I get excited about the emerging vision for SUNY and even more excited about the possibilities of actually leveraging the strengths of the largest, most diverse university system in the country to the benefit of our country, our state, and the local communities we serve.

MVCC has so many exciting things happening, it would be great if we could amplify our efforts as part of a more focused and significant University system. With Chancellor Zimpher leading the way, I have a renewed sense of hope for the potential of the SUNY system and I hope you do as well. If you have any thoughts about the Chancellor's planning process and the bright future of SUNY, please contact me at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Abundance and Potency

As we experience and respond to double-digit enrollment growth this fall it’s important to continue looking forward. Equally important is the consideration of how we might approach that future and the opportunities and challenges it will certainly present us. Will the focus of our approach be on what’s wrong or on what’s right? Our collective approach to this future will have a distinct and profound effect on the kind of institution MVCC will be, to both the students and the community we serve.

The Strategic Planning Committee will conduct its annual fall retreat later this month.  It will be facilitated in part by Dr. Richard Alfred and Patricia Carter from the Center for Community College Development – the two principals driving the Strategic Horizon Network (a national network of 14 community colleges, of which MVCC is a member). Dr. Alfred is also co-author of the recent book, “Community Colleges on the Horizon – Challenge, Choice, or Abundance.” Some key concepts from this book are central to the work of the Strategic Horizon Network and, I think, serve as important considerations for the future of MVCC.

Alfred and his co-authors write, “Institutions that work from a deficit-correcting perspective produce incremental gains as resources are committed to eliminating problems that stand in the way of getting work done. Conversely, institutions that work from an abundance perspective – valuing strengths and leveraging resources – generate outcomes that are disproportionate to the resources they are working with. The difference between creating the positive and eliminating the negative is subtle but potentially powerful, and it has important implications for organizational development in community colleges” (p. 29). We have many strengths that can easily be amplified into extraordinary outcomes, if we can only see them - and embrace them - together.

Alfred continues that “cynicism is apt to prevail and there is a tendency to focus on what the institution is doing wrong instead of what it is doing right. Negative experience somehow seems to occupy a more prominent place in our memory and to have a stronger effect on our emotions and cognition than positive experience. This tendency is not without reason: it is an oversight to ignore a positive event, but potentially an invitation to trouble to ignore a negative event. This can be likened to a ‘survival instinct’ and it helps to explain why leaders and staff are more likely to pay attention to negative aspects of organizational life than those that are positive” (p. 129). We can’t ignore what’s not working as we would like, but I believe when we focus on what’s working right and how we can make it better, things that aren’t working well automatically surface. It follows that the problems are easier to solve when we’re trying to make something better versus when we’re simply focused on the problem and trying to fix it.

Somewhat related, the authors also discuss the notion of potency that – “implies an ability to achieve or bring about a desirable result…it can perhaps be most easily understood as the difference between work and commitment. People will work for money, but they will commit to a cause. Institutions that are potent comprise committed people with a collective efficacy for results”(p. 28). The notion of commitment is at the core of my convocation remarks – if all of us think beyond our jobs and commit to the cause of MVCC's stated vision and mission and care for the whole of the organization, we will see potency in our collective actions that will astound our students, our community, and maybe even ourselves!

If you have any thoughts on these ideas, please contact me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu.

MVCC Athletics - Commitment to Excellence

As fall classes begin, our broad focus is getting students off to a great start academically. At the same time, we recently took a look at the success of our athletic programs. For our success last season, we have received the trophy for second place nationwide in the National Alliance of Two-Year College Athletic Administrators Cup Competition. This honor recognizes our 20 athletic teams' performance in national championships in 2008-09 compared to more than 100 other community colleges in the non-scholarship division III category. The only college to best us this year? College of DuPage--a college of more than 34,000 students near Chicago. We've never taken anything lower than fourth in our division in the six years this competition has been held.

MVCC currently offers 10 men's and 9 women's sports, plus one co-ed team. This represents one of the largest and most diverse two year college intercollegiate athletic programs in the country. A quick summary of the excellence achieved by our more than 350 student athletes and outstanding coaches last year is as follows:

Team Accomplishments:

• 6 Conference Championships
• 2 Regional Championships
• 5 Regional Runner-ups
• 16 Final Four appearances
• 2 National Championships
• 1 National Runner-up

Individual Accomplishments

• 34 All-Conference
• 67 All-Region
• 25 All-Americans
• 3 Conference Players of the Year
• 2 Regional Players of the Year
• 3 National Players of the Year

Coaches of the Year

• 5 Conference
• 2 National

Academic Awards

• 11 All-Region
• 9 All-American
• 4 Teams Academic All-American

Overall Record

• 417 wins
• 185 losses
• 5 ties
• NATYCAA Cup
• .673% Winning Percentage
• 2nd Place

This is a linear continuation of decades of success for our athletic programs. MVCC is proud of its 17 national championships, 107 individual national champions and 330 NJCAA all-Americans…330 all-Americans!

Our mission is to promote student success and community involvement through a commitment to excellence and a spirit of service. Clearly, our athletic programs highlight those elements of student success and a commitment to excellence. Congratulations to the athletes and coaches on an outstanding year. I look forward to cheering on their continued success in the coming year! If you have any thoughts about our athletic programs at MVCC, please contact me at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Day One.

Enrollment is up 10 percent. MVCC has new deans and Academic Centers. The flowers on the Utica Campus and the trees on the Rome Campus are as beautiful as ever. The registrations on our Virtual Campus are generating 20 percent more credit hours than this time last year. Indeed, we are navigating much change here this fall.

We won’t have the official total for a few weeks, but at this point it appears likely that this fall will bring the highest year-to-year increase in student enrollment in our history. The enrollment surge certainly has much to do with the economy, but our ability to handle such an increase comes from one thing that is constant: the commitment among faculty and staff to think in new and different ways to problem solve with students.

Walking around today, I spoke with a number of faculty and staff who were working hard to find the right answers for students. With so many changes underway, I couldn’t help but see the parallel between the uncertainty that comes with organizational change and the anxiety that comes with being a student on the first day. A sense of vulnerability is natural – opening oneself up to the possibilities and relying on someone else is at the core of the learning process. In talking to staff here during such a busy time, it’s increasingly important that we reflect on how we’re handling this enrollment surge so we can continue to improve our systems and service to students.

“Learning is not a spectator sport…students must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, (and) apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves.” (Chickering and Gamson, 1987). This quote helps us get ready for a semester to remember, and reminds us to reflect and learn from all that Fall 2009 will have to offer. It will make us that much better in the future.

If you have any thoughts about the first week of classes, please let me know at presblog@mvcc.edu.

This, I Believe.

Stating our beliefs can be a powerful thing. Some of you may have heard the “This I Believe” series over the last four years on National Public Radio. If you have, you’ve probably been struck by the power of these simple statements of belief, and how energized the speakers are by their beliefs. Well, MVCC is very important to me. I’m inspired by the work we do here, and by the changes I see in the way we’re starting to go about our work. I’m just as excited to be here as the first day I walked through the door, and I’m energized by my belief in this place. I want to share some of those beliefs with you.

This, I believe:

I believe that our community needs us more than ever…
that we need to help our community, help our students, and help each other … And that we need our vision, mission, and values to help that happen.

I believe

I believe that the economy is highlighting what community colleges can do for this country - witness the current proposal put forth by President Obama to invest $9 billion in community colleges...
...And that we can highlight what this institution can do for this community, because we are among the most important assets around.


I believe each of us is a critical part of an amazing whole. But I also believe that each of us needs to start caring more for the whole of this place…
…That if each of us cares more for the whole, we’ll find the organization more able to care for our students and our community better …
…And that if we care only about ourselves and our own needs, we won’t get where we need to be – either individually or as a college community.

I believe the stars of this organization aren’t just the people with the highest rank or the most skill…
… Our stars are the people who are willing to go the extra mile to help one another—and to help each individual student…
… And that every one of us should aspire to be more like those stars.

I believe that the best idea should win, not the best argument, or the loudest opinion, or the solution that emanates from the employee with the most formal authority in the room. I believe the best idea should win that benefits the students. I believe we all have, in our hearts, what we think is best for students – but that’s where it breaks down. We need to explore each others’ ideas to define that common understanding of what we all believe and come to know as what’s best for students. The exploration of new ideas will continue to bring us more change.

I believe that the best way for us to deal with change is to remain patient with ourselves, patient with each other, patient with our partners, and patient with our students– if we do, we will emerge from change, both present and future, with the ability to absolutely astound ourselves by what we can do. As John Quincy Adams said, “Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.”

I believe that everyone here wants to do a good job every day…
… That each one of us wants to be part of something meaningful …
… And that there’s no more meaningful work than being a part of a place that transforms lives.

I believe that we’re at a key point in MVCC’s history...
… That we’re ready to do some extraordinary things together…

I believe in all of you.

I believe in us.
And I believe in Mohawk Valley Community College!

This I believe. Let's make it a great year.

If you would like to share your thoughts on these beliefs - common or different - please share them with me at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Boilermaker Reflections

I am not a runner. That's what I've told myself for years. It came to light last year when someone asked me if I was a runner. I quickly replied, "I'm not a runner - I've had orthotic supports since high school, patella tendinitis since college and both ankles have been twisted more than I can count." The person asked, "Then what do you do for exercise?" I replied, "I play basketball every chance I get." The last 15 months have been a linear journey for me to sort through the incongruity of my reply and challenge my own assumptions about myself to question the extent to which I was not a runner...here in the land of the Boilermaker.

In May of 2008, I was inspired by the College's efforts to organize the annual Ted Moore 5K run/walk and I ran the 5K. This was the first time I had intentionally run any distance of note since 7th grade track tryouts. However, I found myself changing after finishing the Ted Moore run - maybe I'm more of a runner than I thought I was. A few months later I ran the 5K Boilermaker - an experience that prompted various people to encourage me to run the full 15K Boilermaker. During this eternal spring of 2009, I started to train most weeks by getting in a 2-3 mile run during the week and sometimes a 4 or 5 mile run (although I was hoping to work up to 8 miles) on Sundays. As the Boilermaker came closer, I began to doubt myself. My body would always let me down on the long training runs - I began to tell myself that little 5K runs were it for me. I wasn't a runner.

The week prior to the Boilermaker registration deadline was filled with nearly everyone to whom I had mentioned that I was remotely considering running the 15K finding time to ask me, "Are you running the Boilermaker? You won't regret it. You have to do it just once." And, in a moment, I was registered for the 15K. The morning of the Boilermaker I simply committed myself to finishing the race. I had the good fortune of spending time at the starting line with professor George Searles - running his 25th Boilermaker! - who said, "Just listen to your body and you'll be fine." About three miles into the race if I would have listened to my body I would have hailed a cab. However, a few miles later my body had worked through the pains in my feet, calves and knees and I found myself finishing much stronger than I anticipated.

Throughout the race I thought about the process that brought me to running the Boilermaker. Through one lens, it was a clear microcosm of the general change process that we go through with anything in our personal and professional lives. An initial sense of believing in my limitations and becoming prisoner to my own excuses inhibited my view of the possibilities. Subsequently drawing on the positive energy of those around me helped me to question some of my assumptions and focused me on my potential - I could begin to see myself running the 15K.

After all, I enjoyed the 5K last year and the 15K is just longer, right? To make it possible, I had to come up with a plan to train and give myself a chance. As the race got closer, I got scared and the excuses started to haunt me again and helped all the doubts return. Finally, just taking the risk to register and setting a realistic goal of finishing got me to cross the start line and push on to the finish line that I thought I'd never see. When I crossed the finish line and walked down that runner's chute, my own perception of myself had changed - I am a runner.

If you have any thoughts on this post, the Boilermaker or change in general, contact me at presblog@mvcc.edu.

A Year in the Life of MVCC

The core of our academic year ended last month with the moving graduation event, followed a few days later with our Summer Institute and springtime celebration of success for faculty and staff. But as we now move to one of our busiest summers in memory, I am moved to reflect on a very successful year in the life of MVCC. Last spring the Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) created a forward thinking Strategic Plan with ambitious annual initiatives to coordinate our collective priorities and efforts. The SPC recently evaluated our progress and we were pleased to note many accomplishments from the past year.

Student Success is our first strategic priority. Thanks to the work of many staff and faculty this past year, the College implemented priority registration; developed waitlists for full course sections; hired our first college-wide advisors; renovated testing space and expanded testing services at the Utica Campus; redesigned our new student orientation process; and established the first-year experience office.

Academic Excellence is another strategic priority where we piloted a creative learning community; received national accreditation for our dual credit program; successfully implemented the diversity and global view general education requirement; and thanks to Dr. Eannace and members of the Reorganization Design Team, achieved Board of Trustees approval for the reorganization in Academic Affairs. These steps will foster significant innovations for years to come.

The strategic priority of Creative Partnerships helped CCED staff and several talented faculty members develop summer Career Camps for kids. CCED broke $1 million in revenues and served more than 6,000 individuals last year and we are on track for a similar performance this year. We greatly expanded our transfer opportunities for students (including a transfer agreement for 20 programs in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell) with the new office of Career, Transfer and Job Placement Services working closely with our university partners. And we strengthened lines of communication with SUNY-IT with biannual meetings of our two President’s Cabinets to discuss ongoing partnerships.

Our Vibrant Culture strategic priority saw much activity and developed a strong foundation for exciting changes in the future. While implementation of a comprehensive professional development program won’t be rolled out until next fall, the New Faculty Institute was by all accounts a tremendous success—I would like to thank David Katz and his many colleagues for contributing time and talent to the effort. Our "Hawks that Soar" employee recognition program was recently announced and will get off to a great start in August. And thanks to Sue Smith and her advisory group, we began implementation of a comprehensive Adjunct Faculty Support System.

Our fifth priority of Leveraged Resources guided us to a 20% increase in annual campaign revenues for the Foundation. We added 720 new donors thanks to Frank DuRoss and his Institutional Advancement staff, who helped us have a great year. We secured funding for the new Robert Jorgensen Fieldhouse and expect to break ground after the first of the year. We secured funding for site improvements to the campuses and dollars for the Master Plan, which will get underway in the fall. And thanks to the incredible efforts of our Information Technology staff, we are in the process of putting telephones in every classroom and lab at both campuses. This will improve campus safety and bring in Internet capability, allowing us to greatly expand the number of smart classrooms at the College with help from our Educational Technology staff.

While many other accomplishments could be named, the ones highlighted here relate directly to the Strategic Plan—they are good examples of the plan’s direction. The Strategic Plan allows us to focus on what we think we can control in these uncertain times. Yet, we know that every day our students come to our Utica, Rome and Virtual campuses and bring us situations and issues that we can’t predict. As influential NASA Administrator Dan Goldin has said, “Overcoming the unexpected and discovering the unknown is what ignites our spirit. It’s what life is all about.” I submit that helping students and helping each other overcome the unexpected and helping students discover themselves is what should ignite our collective spirit – it’s what I believe we are all about at MVCC.
If you have any thoughts on the past year, let me know at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Recognizing Recognition

Looking out at the smiling faces of our graduates at Commencement this past Friday gave me an enormous sense of pride in the work we do at this College. Talking with faculty and staff at the reception back at the Utica campus afterward further confirmed how meaningful our collective work is and how faculty and staff go to this post-commencement reception to personally congratulate the students. Personalizing recognition like that is what inspired changes to in our employee recognition program.

Last spring the Employee Recognition System Design Team made some bold and daring recommendations to build on our current recognition processes and develop a more comprehensive approach to how faculty and staff are recognized and thanked for their contributions to fulfill MVCC’s mission. This past year, we've tried a few new things, like formalizing the end-of-the-semester employee gathering. We've also recaptured some of what worked in the past, like recognizing our Chancellor's Award winners at Commencement - I thought it worked very nicely.

The Summer Institute Luncheon later this week will see a few important changes to the program format with the complete employee recognition program unveiled at the Celebration of Success (end-of-the-semester gathering) the following day. As I recently announced, the employee service awards will not be recognized in the same way as they have in years past. Rather, we will have smaller, more personal, ceremonies throughout the year. The success of these ceremonies will only come with the full commitment of cabinet members, supervisors and colleagues who choose to attend and honor their colleagues for the years of service to the College, our mission and our students.

As I write this, I think about the time and energy of the employee recognition design team - and thank them for their creativity and commitment to providing a thoughtful approach to recognition. However, I also find myself thinking about the importance of saying thank you in recognition of a job well done and how no matter how comprehensive our recognition program becomes as it evolves over the next few years, the power of saying thank you to one another is often the best recognition of all. If you have any thoughts on how recognition occurs at MVCC, please let me know at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Celebrating Our Graduates

This week we celebrate student success. On Friday, May 15th at 4 p.m. we will collectively rejoice in the accomplishment of Mohawk Valley Community College's most recent success stories - the graduating members of the Class of 2009. They join tens of thousands of thriving MVCC alumni who have come to us seeking personal, supportive learning experiences - received them - and accomplished their goals of graduating from MVCC. Many graduates have overcome obstacles that could have easily sidetracked their dreams, but they persevered.

To help us celebrate the faith and persistence our graduates demonstrate, we have the pleasure of welcoming Immaculée Ilibagiza at this year's ceremony. Her story of faith and survival of the Rwandan genocide serves as a powerful reminder that, through faith and persistence, we can all overcome seemingly insurmountable odds.

This week we celebrate the community college student at MVCC. Unlike any other place of learning, a community college like ours is a place where 22% of the top 10% of high school scholars, and 30% of all high school graduates in Oneida County find their way to us every fall semester. Ours is a place where those students are joined by others who return from larger four-year schools, to find what they needed at home - a more intimate learning environment that can provide the critical study skills and personal discipline required for academic success. Ours is a place where the single parent finds a way, against all odds, to balance the demands in her life, get to class and earn good grades. Ours is a place where the unemployed or underemployed come to gain new skills and script new, successful chapters in their lives. Ours is a place where the English language learner joins the GED completer to find that they can achieve in college and do it well, to accomplish more than they ever thought possible, starting life anew.

It is this beautiful mosaic that comprises the profile of students at a place like ours. It is a mosaic that comes through our front door every day seeking advice and support from our talented staff to chart a path for a brighter future. It is a mosaic that displays a daily kaleidoscope of learning styles in our classes, bringing out the best our faculty and staff have to offer. Through countless obstacles they navigate unimaginable circumstances and they persevere. Our graduates did not let anything distract from their focus that would have left them wondering what could have happened if they would have finished – instead, they did finish.

The spirit and accomplishment of our graduates reminds me of a poem by Shel Silverstein - Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas:
All the Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
Layin' in the sun,
Talkin' 'bout the things
They woulda coulda shoulda done...
But those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
All ran away and hid
From one little Did.

The Rhythms of Change

Changing the way we think about change is important, but trying to understand the underlying rhythms of change is important as well. I did my dissertation on factors that influence the perception of change in community colleges. I reviewed the literature and research on how organizational change occurs and how it is perceived from nearly every angle I could imagine. However, one model of change that really informed my study and anchored my thinking was the punctuated equilibrium model by Tushman and Romanelli (1985).

The researchers described various organizational life cycles and the extent to which they are healthy for the organization. They posit that organizations go through natural periods of equilibrium (very steady periods of little change) that are periodically interrupted by points of punctuation (large-scale change) - taken together, this makes up the foundations of their punctuated equilibrium model. They continue that if the periods of equilibrium last too long, the organization can drift into entropy and decay. Similarly destructive, if an organization experiences too many periods of continuous punctuations, fatigue and negative energy can also lead to drift and decay.

In contrast, a healthy organization can move from a state of equilibrium to punctuation and emerge stronger and healthier as it experiences the next period of relative equilibrium. When the next punctuation occurs, it's generally shorter because the organization is better-equipped to handle it. Over time, as the organization becomes stronger and more effective, the periods of equilibrium are shorter so the punctuations come quicker, but they are less significant because the organization is better equipped to respond and absorb the associated changes. The strength and collective ability that develops within the organizational culture minimizes the effect of staff turnover and other shifts that can decrease momentum and inhibit effectiveness.

The combination of implementing our Strategic Plan and responding to the current enrollment demands seems to have created a period of punctuated activity for us. I am very proud of how faculty and staff are responding during this time and believe we'll emerge from this stronger and more effective than ever. If we maintain our collective focus on our mission of promoting student success and community involvement through a commitment to excellence and a spirit of service, I am confident that the punctuated equilibrium model will come to life for many years to come at MVCC. If you have any thoughts or reflection on this post, please contact me at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Growing Pains

We are headed into our seventh (summer) and likely eighth (fall) consecutive semester with an enrollment increase - a streak not experienced for some time at MVCC. Despite the economic forces bringing growing numbers to our front door, my expectation is that this is not a streak but a strategic direction of managed enrollment growth. I recently created a charter for an Enrollment Management Council to review enrollment data and community trends to coordinate our efforts and, to the extent possible, manage enrollment rather than have our enrollment manage us. However, the current enrollment increases seem to be outpacing our expectations and testing some of our recently refined systems and processes.

With enrollment up between eight and nine percent this spring, faculty and staff have stepped right up and responded with proportional support and services for students. Thanks to some bold initiatives by a number of staff, we have implemented two critical processes that have changed the way we operate. Priority registration allows students with the most credits to enroll first to give them the best opportunity to enroll in those classes they need to graduate. In addition, implementing waitlists for full class sections allows us to track where the enrollment pressures are greatest and do everything we can to open additional class sections on demand. With these new processes in place, we're likely to see even more students this summer and fall (and on into the future) along with increased parking demands and substantially more students through processes designed perhaps for fewer students...something we need to think about very quickly.

Although this may be a recent phenomenon for MVCC, community colleges around the country have been experiencing periods of double digit increases throughout the last decade. Large enrollment increases will require us to be as creative as possible to maintain access for so many new students. It will also require that each one of us bring the best we have to offer to work every day and recognize that nearly every challenge will be best met through teamwork. Everyone will have to do their part and rely on everyone else to do the same - even more so than normal. It's times like these when I emphasize locus of control and sphere of influence. To keep stress to a minimum (for our students and ourselves), it's often helpful to reflect on what you can and cannot control and use your abilities to communicate and influence things you may not be able to control. Walking in each others shoes and recognizing the solution may seem simple from your perspective, but not as clear from someone else's viewpoint.

I've often referred to the importance of all of us working collaboratively in new and different ways. We've made progress with this these notions the past few semesters and have seen enrollment grow ever so steady, between one and four percent. Now that we're up toward double digit growth, it's time to really magnify and employ these skills - believing in ourselves and perhaps more importantly helping all of us believe in each other. If you have any thoughts or feedback on this post, please email me at presblog@mvcc.edu.

MVCC and Stimulus Dollars - making a difference

Talk of the stimulus package is everywhere these days. The last time the federal government jump-started such a desperate economy it was called the New Deal. A few years later our College was founded. The New Deal and World War II transformed our nation’s workforce by pouring money into job creation and making higher education more accessible. MVCC and most other community colleges owe their early existence to these developments.

Fast forward to 2009 when the White House and Congress are again pouring money into creating jobs, retooling the workforce for new challenges, and making higher education more accessible. What does all this mean for MVCC? For one, federal stimulus funds have made it possible to restore the state-aid funds that Governor Paterson had proposed cutting from MVCC and other colleges. The stimulus package will also make Pell grants available to more of our students. Nationally, an additional $3.95 billion is being directed toward youth and workforce retraining with emphases on energy efficiency, health care and other high-demand fields.

Offices and departments throughout the College are working together to identify which credit and non-credit offerings are linked to stimulus priorities. Building on our productive partnerships with Working Solutions, the Workforce Investment Board and other agencies, we are tweaking these programs - and creating new ones - to meet abundant needs. To expedite commerce and hiring, faculty are collaborating to resequence courses and accelerate programs - - thus making them more accessible to those bumped from the workforce who can’t spend two years in a traditional semester format.

Staff are spending more time at local One Stop Centers, matching future workers with needed skills and funding sources to cover tuition and fees for students enrolling in MVCC programs. We’re conducting placement tests on site and will soon roll out a new math refresher course that is needed by many eager to be part of the emerging post-stimulus economy. Information sessions will be held for current students to help them take advantage of new programs and new funding.

I recently had the opportunity to join City, County and federal officials to announce five programs being launched locally with stimulus money to cover instructional costs, tuition, and fees. Three of five programs will be administered by MVCC. We will train youth to construct an Internet café in the Utica Veterans Outreach Center; train another group of young people to construct retail space for entrepreneurs in Rome’s REACH arts and cultural center; and teach a third group to conduct and present environmental research on brownfields. Proposals to expand our capacity for healthcare training and green technologies are under development along with a half dozen other strategies to focus stimulus funding where it will do the most good.

So how does MVCC benefit from stimulus funds? We've already begun to do so, and more good things will come. MVCC is embracing change as we bring our programs and services closer to emerging community needs. If you have any thoughts on this, please let me know at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Diversity and a Global View

I've been using this blog to share different ideas I encounter as I continue to learn about the world around us and the shifts associated with that world changing in unprecedented ways. We hear from so many sources that the changes we're experiencing are making our world smaller and that we need to increase our understanding of diversity and expand our global view. In response to that need, MVCC has been working on a far-reaching Diversity and Global View (DGV) initiative that pre-dates me, so I've only tried to fan the flames so they burn even brighter.

This fall, MVCC added a new Diversity and Global View general education requirement where all degree-seeking students will need to satisfy the DGV requirement by successfully completing four tutorials, a DGV approved course and attending four approved events through our MVCC Cultural Series or other approved experiences. DGV sets MVCC apart from so many other institutions that espouse a commitment to diversity - we're bringing it to life through a fundamental shift in our general education degree requirements. Our Diversity and Global View Committee coordinates this significant effort at the College and will continue to refine our processes and procedures in the future.

The momentum created by the DGV initiative recently carried over to help make the 4th annual International festival at our Utica Campus a tremendous success. Thanks to the hard work of the International Initiatives Committee and a number of other helping hands, more than 400 students, faculty and staff learned a little more about each other, other cultures and themselves by attending the festival. I had the pleasure of welcoming everyone in the crowded event space in the lobby of our Blue Cross/Blue Shield Conference & Training Center. As part of the initial program, we had close to ten of our international students provide a welcome in their native languages, had a Buddhist monk say a few important words of welcome and then Mr. Khang sang a traditional Vietnamese song of welcome to get the event started. Mr. Khang is the Department Head of English at Kiang Gang Community College in the Mekong delta region of Vietnam. He is visiting MVCC for the entire month of April as part of the increasingly strong relationship between our two institutions and the ever-expanding diversity and global view efforts at the College.

The information booths, the music, the dancing, the smiles and welcoming atmosphere of our International Festival made the world feel smaller somehow; it made the world feel more personal, like all the change going on around us is just a reminder that culture to culture and person to person, we're all just people no matter where we are. If you have any thoughts on this, please contact me at presblog@mvcc.edu.