August | 2011 | TRUST MIGUEL

Posted August 26, 2011, to the JCCC electronic mail server, Infolist:

From: InfoList
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2011 1:43 PM
To: InfoList
Subject: [infolist] A message from Dr. Calaway

As we begin the new school year, I take this opportunity to share several organizational changes. Across the past three and one-half years, we have worked to focus our college around a culture of student success and engagement. Key to this shift was the initiation of a strategy focused on the engagement of students in a holistic way with the college.

We implemented a division of Learner Engagement that brought a renewed focus on our students and their work. This division has been successful beyond anyone’s expectation due to the excellent work of our exemplary counseling faculty, staff and division leadership. As this unit has grown and matured, it has become clear to me that they are ready to now help us move to an even better place college-wide by serving as senior scholars and mentors across the greater institution. To that end, we will be merging the Learner Engagement division into a new branch we have renamed Student Success and Engagement. Under the continued leadership and direction of Dean Rick Moehring, the Learner Engagement division will help us broaden even further a culture of intentional connection between students and the college team. Dean Moehring will now report to Dr. Dennis Day, who will serve as the branch vice president.

I am also pleased to announce the initiation of an expanded office of Grants Leadership and Development. This unit will report to the Academic Initiatives function under Academic Affairs. The focus of this expanded operation will be to rally ideas that may provide viable new sources of external funding for the college. This area will be directed by Ms. Darcy McGrath and will work collaboratively with the Institutional Research area to identify opportunities and data used to support the college’s strategic agenda around student success. The area will also explore new institutional procedures that provide financial incentives to college personnel looking to explore new ideas and funding. Dr. Jason Kovac will provide leadership for the area.

Dr. Kovac will also be providing leadership for a strategic initiative around innovation. Our new Center for Innovation will be tasked with developing a futurist think-tank-level environment. Utilizing an appreciative inquiry style of idea assessment, we hope to reinvigorate our innovative mindset at the college to nurture and resource new opportunities. Dr. Kovac will work across campus to bring our best talent to the initiative.

Next, I wish to share that after much study and review, we have decided to take a more decentralized approach to our college diversity efforts. While the college will continue to maintain diversity as one of our highest priorities, I believe it is incumbent upon us to more deeply mesh our efforts within the fabric of our college. Again, I believe our efforts must focus on our students and their success. To that end, through this fall term, we will begin to weave the responsibilities for student diversity programs into our Student Success and Engagement branch, predominately under the guidance of the engagement function. Human Resource-related efforts will be transitioned to Dr. Judy Korb and a team of individuals within our HR function. Dr. Carmaletta Williams, under the direction of Dr. Korb, will continue to work with each of these areas to support a smooth fall transitional period. Together they will better define expectations and outcomes with a focus on how our efforts positively impact student success. We will, in fact, begin to collect hard data on our program efforts and measure the direct impact our efforts have on student and staff recruitment and subsequent success. Based on this work, you will see us revitalize goal 2 of our strategic plan with an expanded focus on students and their success.

Finally, I am pleased to announce that the college has hired Ms. Tanya Wilson as our first internal general counsel. She will report to Dr. Korb; her start date is September 19, 2011. Ms. Wilson comes to us from the Cerner Corporation where she spent 11 years as an internal counsel. She brings great experience and talent to our college in the areas of employment law and EEO/AA and will be a great addition to our college team.

While we believe this strategy will save the college a great deal of money, more importantly, Ms. Wilson’s expertise will allow the college to more quickly respond to legal issues and deepen our process in support of student success. The general counsel position was funded through a vacant administrative position.

Thank you for your time and efforts in support of students. I welcome any questions or comments you may have regarding these organizational changes.

Terry Calaway