Fall Commencement

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Preparing for Final Exams

Please click on this link to view the video blog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6azZ8HpjkM8

If you have any comments on this blog, please e-mail me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Being Well

I recently spent ten days on crutches after a minor surgery on my ankle.  I gained an entirely new appreciation for my mobility during this period of being so limited. Not being able to go through my day as easily as I wished gave me a new perspective on wellness.

During this period, I occupied my mind with a good book, a few documentaries, and some TED talks. I also came across the following article in the Observer-Dispatch: http://www.uticaod.com/living/x300721118/Promoting-healthy-workers-is-a-win-win-for-local-firms. With the opening of the Robert R. Jorgensen Center this fall, I couldn’t help but picture MVCC in this article a year from now, thanks to the good work of our Wellness Design Team.

Earlier this fall, the Wellness Design Team presented the results of their work and their thoughtful recommendations – http://www.mvcc.edu/design-teams/wellness-2010-2011. After researching best practices related to employee wellness at local organizations (some of which were named in the above referenced article), the design team recommended the following three priorities along with the idea of starting small with quality resources and support:

1. Focus on physical wellness, nutrition and smoking issues 
2. Eliminate the wellness pass fee for full-time employees
3. Create a wellness committee to help with coordinating and promoting wellness programming

The design team emphasized the fact that MVCC has a number of great resources already in place – they just need to be coordinated and promoted into a comprehensive wellness program. An effective employee wellness program will draw upon the talents of our health center, human resources office, employee enrichment, our partners at Sodexo, as well as the wonderful fitness centers at both the Utica and Rome campuses. The recommendation to eliminate the wellness pass fee for full-time employees was immediately accepted and implemented so as to minimize any barriers to participation in wellness activities.

As Team MVCC goes about its work of bringing the College together for community walks and fundraising activities, my hope is that the wellness committee will be able to garner similar momentum in bringing the college together around our individual and collective wellness. Walking that fine line between "incenting" without incensing and motivating without offending, an effective employee wellness program will provide people with opportunities and resources that, based on research and best practices, will increase job satisfaction, civility, productivity, and morale, while decreasing stress, anxiety, negativity, incivility, absenteeism, and turnover. It's not a cure-all solution, but wellness programs have continually proven themselves to have a very positive impact on everyone who participates and the organization as a whole.

Whether a lack of wellness is caused by needing crutches, having a debilitating disease or physical disability, being overweight or obese, lacking financial or mental health, or some other life circumstance, achieving a general state of wellness is important for each of us to rise to our potential and achieve success and happiness personally and professionally. The work of the wellness design team and the future work of the wellness committee provides us the necessary framework to bring all the resources and support together to create an outstanding wellness program for faculty and staff at MVCC. Who knows, with the time on crutches behind me, I might have another Boilermaker race (or even a warrior dash!) or two left in me.

If you have any comments or questions on this post, please contact me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu.

DGV & the Holiday Season

The effects of globalization appear in the news daily. Whether it’s the economy, technology, or politics, globalization is a major factor in society today. As the “Holiday Season” is now in full swing, it’s important to raise our consciousness about what globalization means this time of year. While Thanksgiving is widely celebrated in the United States, it warrants pause to recognize the literary license that led to Thanksgiving as we know it today (e.g., Thanksgiving from a Native-American perspective). If we are to think of ourselves as “modern Americans,” in this age of globalization, shouldn’t we also be more intentional with our language and appreciation for the variety of Holidays that comprise the term “holiday season?”

In addition to Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s celebrations, many cultures worldwide, including several within our own community, celebrate Chanukah, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa, Day of ‘Ashura, and several other New Year celebrations that do not follow the Gregorian calendar. As our community becomes more diverse, the ability to recognize and respect other cultures is key to thriving in a flat world.

The Holidays, in all their variety, are a good time to re-emphasize the unique nature and importance of MVCC’s Diversity and Global View (DGV) graduation requirement (http://www.mvcc.edu/dgv/home). For the past three years, all degree-seeking MVCC students must complete one DGV-designated course; four online DGV modules; and confirm attendance at four DGV-designated events as part of our growing Cultural Series. Certificate-seeking students must complete one DGV course along with two modules and two events. We’ve made improvements to the DGV process each year and will continue to refine the processes documenting and assessing the student DGV experience.

When I mention our DGV requirement to colleagues around the country, the most common response is, “that is a commitment like no other.” MVCC DGV is truly a great and unique offering that sprung from the creative minds of the faculty and staff at MVCC who saw the world was changing and were committed to emphasizing the importance of understanding diversity among the student body. It’s a great example of what we can do when we think big, set goals that stretch the experience of our students, faculty, and staff, and then work together to achieve success.

The commitment to MVCC’s Diversity and Global View program inherently implies a commitment to understanding and appreciating others – their beliefs, values, cultures, individuality, circumstances, and humanity. MVCC’s formal DGV graduation requirement is the perfect complement to an ongoing effort we are very interested in here at MVCC – that of increasing the civility with which we interact with each other at every level. After all, the Holiday Season can be a great reminder about the critical importance civility and diversity play in our personal lives, in our efforts to achieve student success, and in our roles as world citizens.

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

Giving Thanks

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches and we reflect on the things we are thankful for in our lives, I’m compelled to reflect upon things at MVCC for which I am most thankful. In these challenging times with such uncertainty in so many parts of our lives and communities, it’s often humbling to be part of such meaningful work as helping advance the mission of this great organization.

I am thankful for our students. This fall we have a record number of individual credit students (unofficially more than 7,600 enrolled for credit) and what’s likely to be another record-breaking year of students enrolled in our noncredit offerings. Our younger students provide such hope as they continue their educational journeys and define and clarify their career paths. Our older students provide tremendous inspiration as they recalibrate their complex lives to integrate a college education into their daily schedules of work and family.

MVCC students eat lunch on the lawn outside of the Academic Building on the Utica Campus.

I am thankful for our faculty and staff. I’m amazed on a regular basis by what I see and hear from everyone who works here. Faculty are continuing to refine the art of teaching to reach students and bring content alive in new and interesting ways. And staff, whether working directly or indirectly with students, seem to be increasingly understanding of the critical role they play in helping to create the student experience as we know (and will know it in the future) today. With the civility project gaining momentum, I’m encouraged and thankful to see colleagues paying closer attention to each other and holding themselves and others accountable for behavior.

More than 150 MVCC faculty, staff and students participated in the 2011 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in October. Team MVCC raised more than $4,500 for the cause.

I am thankful for our community partners. Together with our partners, we are making great things happen. Working with our partners in government to help meet our operational needs; working with school districts to seal the leaky educational pipeline; customizing training for employers to create capacity in their workforce; collaborating with local non-profit partners that help us make college education more accessible for so many underserved populations in our area; and having the friends and supporters we do through the MVCC Foundation help us bridge that margin of excellence to further realize our potential expands our presence as an anchor institution in this community.

While MVCC hosts most of its courses on its Rome and Utica campuses, the college opened the MVCC Education Center at 524 Elizabeth St. in Utica to make education more readily available to the community. The center is in partnership with the Utica Municipal Housing Authority.

Working at MVCC allows me to plug in to a 65-year storied history that has great meaning and respect. As a member of the MVCC community, I get to be part of something so much bigger than myself – it’s meaningful work. Our community faces many challenges, and I’d be hard pressed to identify a challenge or problem that could not somehow involve MVCC as part of the solution. These are a few of the many reasons I came here to be a part of this – all that’s happening at MVCC now and that which is yet to come. So much of our recent successes sometimes seem beyond my imagination and yet it feels like I’m just starting to understand it all – and that simultaneous feeling of wonder and knowing … for that I am extremely thankful.

If you have questions or comments on this post, please contact me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu.

 

A Tribute to a Longtime Coach

To view the video blog, please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR3hRwHzKRA.

If you have any comments or questions on this post, please email me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu.

The Civility Project

To view the vlog, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkm8CsgbNcE

Team MVCC

View the vlog here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Q8nZZJRCI&feature=youtu.be

If you have any comments on this post, please email me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Offering Help, Hope in Tough Times

To view the video blog, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsMIWom85ao.

If you have any comments on this post, please email me at presblog@mvcc.edu.

A Double Rainbow

What a gift to be living in the Mohawk Valley and experience two amazing speakers in the short span of seven days. Last week, Dr. Maya Angelou shared her gifts with 2,200 of us proudly seated in our new Robert R. Jorgensen Athletic & Events Center on our Utica Campus, and just seven days later, the Herkimer/Oneida County Community Foundation generously brought our community the Mayor of Newark, N.J., Cory Booker, who shared his uplifting message with an energized crowd in the beautiful Stanley Theater in Downtown Utica.

Dr. Maya Angelou speaks at Mohawk Valley Community College on Oct. 12, 2011.

Dr. Angelou’s message came through in her deeply authentic and insightful performance – never stop learning and never stop being kind to other human beings. It is said that one of the hardest things to do is to take the complex and make it simple and crystal clear – that’s just what she did. By encouraging us to take all the good fortunes we have in life and call them rainbows and to imagine our challenges as clouds, Dr. Angelou’s message was centered on the notion that there are rainbows in every cloud – opportunity and blessings exist in every challenge and heartache.

Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker spoke at the Stanley Theater Oct. 19, 2011.

Similarly, Mayor Booker challenged us to see our community not as it is but as it will be. He said we can accept things the way they are or we can take responsibility for changing them. He reminded us that small acts of kindness, love, and generosity done authentically and tenaciously can inspire and create tremendous change in both individuals and communities. Mayor Booker’s presentation spoke to the need for our community to rise above the enormous challenges we face – challenges that communities are facing throughout the country – and come together to focus on a few important and focused priorities that will create momentum for positive change and renewal.

To have these two incredibly inspiring figures speak to our community in the span of one week certainly gives me pause. The power of their messages, in light of growing incivility in society and individual pressures and stress unknown, gives me a sense of renewed hope and personal focus to live more intentionally, and to spend more time in the moment knowing the future will come regardless of my actions – so I might as well stay positive.

As Mayor Booker said, “You can be a weathervane (letting winds that blow determine your direction) or a compass (defining and maintaining your true north).” The similar message from Dr. Angelou about seeing rainbows through your clouds underscores the importance of a positive outlook on life in everything we do. The two of them together certainly made for a double rainbow to shine upon us here in the Mohawk Valley, and for that I am grateful.

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