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.