At our fall 2007 beginning-of-the-year meeting, we worked in teams to list those values that were most important to us as a College. These values were shared and discussed in our planning and “What We Believe” sessions, College blog, and other College-wide meetings. I listened to your feedback, gathered input from our Commission and other stakeholders, thought about the criteria for shared values, and compared our current values to the input you provided. Keeping our values simple and memorable was important. While reviewing the list of values, I began to group them according to their similarities. For each group or family of values, I looked for words or “parents” that best described each list and came up with the following.
(Parents) (Values in Action)
Authenticity and Empathy = BE REAL
Be Real doesn’t mean telling people whatever is on your mind or being unprofessional, but rather, helping real people navigate through the real world. Real people care, are appropriately vulnerable, and separate themselves from the noise to focus on the goal.
I try to better understand students, fellow employees, and myself in an effort to help us all improve.
Proactivity and Commitment = BE BOLD
Be Bold means taking personal responsibility and being a value-added part of the whole. Thoughtfully stepping up to solve problems and exemplifying what we represent.
I take personal responsibility for adding value.
Interdependent Achievement and Legacy = BE BETTER
Be Better means striving to continuously improve. The very core of our mission is about helping people learn, grow, and achieve. We desire that for our students and ourselves as we seek to better the community we serve.
I believe we should be better than we have to be.
At the conclusion, Be Real, Be Bold, Be Better summarized best your feedback and met the criteria for shared values. Too often values are passive platitudes that fall short of inspiring outcomes. I have attempted here to take our collective values and suggest action that challenges us toward the next level. This simple phrase (or slogan, or mantra) encompasses our values, is easily remembered, and sends the message that we are serious about what we do; that we care about each other and the people we serve; and that we strive for continuous improvement.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
New Commission Member
I am pleased to announce that Mr. Paul Basha recently joined the York Technical College Commission. Since 2003, Mr. Basha has served as Chief Executive Officer of York Electric Cooperative, Inc. He began work at York Electric Cooperative, Inc. in 1989 as a planning engineer and served as manager of engineering from 1994-2003. He graduated from Clemson University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He serves as the Chairman of the Board for Westminster Catawba Christian School and is a board member for York County Economic Development, York County Regional Chamber, Red Cross, and Clover Community Bank. Mr. Basha is a deacon at Westminster Presbyterian Church.The other ten governing board seats are held by:
Mr. Bruce “Tony” A. Vaughan, Chairman, Retiree
Ms. Carolyn B. Carpenter, Vice Chairman, Retiree
Mr. Edwin “Ed” L. Barnes, Comporium Communications
Mr. James “Jim” C. Hardin, III, Attorney at Law, James C. Hardin III, PLLC
Dr. A. Douglas “Doug” Marion, Ophthalmologist, Eye Associates of Chester, PA
Mr. Robert “Bobby” B. Meek, Owner, Century 21 Palmetto Homes Realty
Mr. G. Thompson “Tommy” Myers, Jr., Retiree
Mr. Charles Z. Robinson, Human Resources Consultant, Prosperity Resources, LLC
Ms. Geri H. Rucker, Regional Vice President, Founders Federal Credit Union
Mr. Jeffrey C. Sigmon, President, JEFCO Communications
We are grateful to Mr. Basha and the other Commission members for volunteering their time to support York Technical College.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Budget/reVIEW
Last week, York Tech’s state allocation was reduced again by 4.04 percent ($278,410). Measures are in place to deal with this cut. The College had $500k budgeted for contingencies. We have a remaining balance of $221,590 left in the contingency account. We could absorb an additional cut of 3.3 percent from the remaining balance. With this 4.04 percent cut, our state allocation is $6,617,547. As a reminder, in 2007-2008 our state allocation was $8,576,868. That is an approximate $2 million loss in state budget allocation within the past two years. The state allocation represents 18 percent of our total budget with tuition and fees being the primary source of revenue.
How do we continue to pursue student success when faced with regular cuts in state funding? We must find more efficient and cost effective ways to do business that will ultimately improve net profitability. We do this by examining our processes and possibly changing how we do things or eliminating unnecessary steps. Hopefully as we do this, we not only cut costs, but we improve how we do our jobs.
One of the tools we will use to help us examine our work processes is reVIEW (Realizing Exceptional Value in Everyday Work). You may remember that I gave an overview of reVIEW at our beginning-of-the-year meeting. reVIEW will help us learn to analyze processes, identify steps we may need to change or eliminate, and to recognize waste (activities that cost us time or money but add no value). We will have a stronger grasp of root-cause analysis and methods to redesign processes that do not rely on “layering” fixes onto existing work. The layering approach eventually makes work time-consuming (in relation to the value added for the students) and frustrating for employees.
Thirty-two employees are participating this fall and another 32 will participate in the spring. In-house coaches and trainers will be developed over the next year and will assist in training others in the future. As employees go through training, their assignments will involve observing processes, so they may ask to observe you working on particular processes in your job. At this point, they are observing for the purpose of learning how to analyze a process. They are not observing to criticize or make judgments on what you do.
The wonderful part of the reVIEW process is that each of you will have the primary role in analyzing and identifying items or steps that need to change. No one knows your job better than you. The kind of self-examination we’re pursuing will help each of us look at our work with a new perspective and can be valuable motivation for creating change. I look forward to seeing how reVIEW will change, not only the way we do our jobs, but empower us to create a culture where each person is highly valued in an environment that promotes ideas, input, and problem-solving at all levels of the College.
How do we continue to pursue student success when faced with regular cuts in state funding? We must find more efficient and cost effective ways to do business that will ultimately improve net profitability. We do this by examining our processes and possibly changing how we do things or eliminating unnecessary steps. Hopefully as we do this, we not only cut costs, but we improve how we do our jobs.
One of the tools we will use to help us examine our work processes is reVIEW (Realizing Exceptional Value in Everyday Work). You may remember that I gave an overview of reVIEW at our beginning-of-the-year meeting. reVIEW will help us learn to analyze processes, identify steps we may need to change or eliminate, and to recognize waste (activities that cost us time or money but add no value). We will have a stronger grasp of root-cause analysis and methods to redesign processes that do not rely on “layering” fixes onto existing work. The layering approach eventually makes work time-consuming (in relation to the value added for the students) and frustrating for employees.
Thirty-two employees are participating this fall and another 32 will participate in the spring. In-house coaches and trainers will be developed over the next year and will assist in training others in the future. As employees go through training, their assignments will involve observing processes, so they may ask to observe you working on particular processes in your job. At this point, they are observing for the purpose of learning how to analyze a process. They are not observing to criticize or make judgments on what you do.
The wonderful part of the reVIEW process is that each of you will have the primary role in analyzing and identifying items or steps that need to change. No one knows your job better than you. The kind of self-examination we’re pursuing will help each of us look at our work with a new perspective and can be valuable motivation for creating change. I look forward to seeing how reVIEW will change, not only the way we do our jobs, but empower us to create a culture where each person is highly valued in an environment that promotes ideas, input, and problem-solving at all levels of the College.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Kick-off for Benchmark Fridays
The Center for Community College Student Engagement has become a hub for the national student success movement. The Center serves more than 730 community colleges and has surveyed more than 1 million students. The Center is known nationally for its work and research and has received attention from media such as USA Today and The Chronicle of Higher Education. USA Today dedicated a new website featuring CCSSE data to communicate the importance of student engagement and to illustrate how community and technical colleges are addressing the learning needs of their students. The Center has also received support from researchers such as Dr. Vincent Tinto, Distinguished University Professor at Syracuse University. Dr. Tinto, a CCSSE National Advisory Board member, has written extensively on the topic of student success.
Dr. Kay McClenney, Director of the Center for Community College Student Engagement, will speak to us on Friday, September 11 at 8:30 a.m. in the Baxter M. Hood Center. You may recall Dr. McClenney’s segments in the Discounted Dreams video that we watched during our spring 2008 “What We Believe” sessions. One of her most notable comments refers to the truth that many of the reasons for student failures are due to their complicated lives. She states that “The problem is – community college people have all too often hidden behind that truth. With that truth as our shield, we have been able to defend ourselves against this massive reality that we simply don’t get enough of our students through to successful outcomes.”
The purpose of us gathering on September 11 from every area of our college – faculty, staff, Commission, Foundation – is to recognize the national significance of the journey we are on and that what we are attempting to accomplish in Maximizing Student Success is critical and doable.
I strongly encourage everyone to attend. The meeting will begin promptly at 8:30 a.m.
The dates and topics for future benchmark Fridays include:
· September 25: Active and Collaborative Learning
· October 9: Student Effort
· October 23: Student and Faculty Interaction
· November 6: Support for Learners
· November 20: Academic Challenge
Dr. Kay McClenney, Director of the Center for Community College Student Engagement, will speak to us on Friday, September 11 at 8:30 a.m. in the Baxter M. Hood Center. You may recall Dr. McClenney’s segments in the Discounted Dreams video that we watched during our spring 2008 “What We Believe” sessions. One of her most notable comments refers to the truth that many of the reasons for student failures are due to their complicated lives. She states that “The problem is – community college people have all too often hidden behind that truth. With that truth as our shield, we have been able to defend ourselves against this massive reality that we simply don’t get enough of our students through to successful outcomes.”The purpose of us gathering on September 11 from every area of our college – faculty, staff, Commission, Foundation – is to recognize the national significance of the journey we are on and that what we are attempting to accomplish in Maximizing Student Success is critical and doable.
I strongly encourage everyone to attend. The meeting will begin promptly at 8:30 a.m.
The dates and topics for future benchmark Fridays include:
· September 25: Active and Collaborative Learning
· October 9: Student Effort
· October 23: Student and Faculty Interaction
· November 6: Support for Learners
· November 20: Academic Challenge
Friday, August 28, 2009
New Cabins at Camp Cherokee
Earlier this year, the College partnered with the YMCA to help build and outfit three new cabins at Camp Cherokee in Kings Mountain State Park. Our Building and Construction Trades students and faculty built two sleeper cabins and wired them with electricity. In addition, they helped build a cabin that is ADA compliant and installed it with plumbing and electricity. Jason Ghent, BCT faculty member, spent a great deal of time at Camp Cherokee with the students and personally installed controllers for on-demand water heat. The hands-on experience for our students was invaluable.A ribbon cutting event for the new cabins was held at the end of July where the College was presented with a plaque for our dedication and service to the project. I especially want to thank Jason Ghent, Richard Butler, Ed Moore, and the BCT students for all their hard work.
(left to right: Jason Ghent, Greg Rutherford, Richard Butler)
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Take A Deep Breath
Tomorrow begins a historic fall semester at York Technical College. Our enrollment is tracking 20% ahead of last year, which was 8% above the previous year, which was 12% above the previous year . . . wow! Who knows how it will end up, since we have a twelve-week session and an eight-week session left to go. People are looking for answers and they’re looking to us.
Student services personnel have already seen most of this increased number. Obviously we don’t have more personnel than we did last year, so there is an increased demand for “person time.” The folks we are seeing are from all walks of life. Some are more accustomed to navigating a college than others, but few are fully prepared to approach us in the best possible condition. And while there is capacity for vast hope for improved lives, there are also infinite opportunities for confusion.
For those who’ve been here awhile, this may be hard to believe, but potential students are nervous even if they don't show it. Many are a bundle of nerves. Perhaps they are out of work or afraid they soon will be. Perhaps they are feeling threatened by bankruptcy, foreclosure, or by being dependent on someone else at a very stressful time. Then again, maybe they act like they don’t have a care in the world but we know they should.
I walked outside my office last evening and there was a man looking confused. He asked where the “XYZ” (fictitious and unoriginal name) class was. He said he was told that it was in the “next building down.” I asked him if the person he spoke with gave him a room number. He was holding a number of papers and anxiously going through them looking for clues. I asked to see them and he handed them to me. There was lots of information, along with a list of about 20 colleges (one was YTC with the main number and fax), and a matrix containing dates and times.
I finally walked him to the front drive and asked which building he went in; he said it was “C.” I confirmed that he walked in the entrance we were facing and up some steps and spoke with someone at a desk. He said “yes,” so I took out my mobile and called Continuing Education. I did not reach anyone, so I asked him to follow me and we walked down to CE.
I asked the ladies at the front desk in CE if they recognized the gentleman with me. They did not and he then let me know these were not the same people who had helped him. I then realized he did not go to “C” building that evening but had been here at some time in the past. I asked for the room number for his class and was told A252. I walked the gentleman back up to A252 to find it dark and realized the class did not start until 6:00 p.m. and it was now 5:35 p.m. I told him it appeared he was early and would have to wait a little while. He said he came early to register, and when I told him I did not realize he was not registered, he said he had mentioned it to me earlier. Now he had to go back to “C” building, pay and then come back to “A.” He seemed to be okay with that and we parted ways.
Why am I making you suffer through yet another of my home movies? Because I want you to know that I only get a glimpse of how tough it can be for you and for them and I empathize. I felt frustrated that he wasn’t more precise; that he had not called ahead and thought through the process; that he just showed up and expected it to all come clear, somehow. I also felt frustrated that we could not design this sort of confusion out of our system. I was frustrated by my own assumptions in how I perceived the situation. Then I realized that although we must try to continuously improve our processes, “WE ARE THE FAIL-SAFE.” You see, this gentleman could have nailed all this down before he got here, but he simply did not have a framework for managing it. He did not think like me. And he probably does things on a regular basis that I do not have a framework for either.
So I took a deep breath and kept marching.
Student services personnel have already seen most of this increased number. Obviously we don’t have more personnel than we did last year, so there is an increased demand for “person time.” The folks we are seeing are from all walks of life. Some are more accustomed to navigating a college than others, but few are fully prepared to approach us in the best possible condition. And while there is capacity for vast hope for improved lives, there are also infinite opportunities for confusion.
For those who’ve been here awhile, this may be hard to believe, but potential students are nervous even if they don't show it. Many are a bundle of nerves. Perhaps they are out of work or afraid they soon will be. Perhaps they are feeling threatened by bankruptcy, foreclosure, or by being dependent on someone else at a very stressful time. Then again, maybe they act like they don’t have a care in the world but we know they should.
I walked outside my office last evening and there was a man looking confused. He asked where the “XYZ” (fictitious and unoriginal name) class was. He said he was told that it was in the “next building down.” I asked him if the person he spoke with gave him a room number. He was holding a number of papers and anxiously going through them looking for clues. I asked to see them and he handed them to me. There was lots of information, along with a list of about 20 colleges (one was YTC with the main number and fax), and a matrix containing dates and times.
I finally walked him to the front drive and asked which building he went in; he said it was “C.” I confirmed that he walked in the entrance we were facing and up some steps and spoke with someone at a desk. He said “yes,” so I took out my mobile and called Continuing Education. I did not reach anyone, so I asked him to follow me and we walked down to CE.
I asked the ladies at the front desk in CE if they recognized the gentleman with me. They did not and he then let me know these were not the same people who had helped him. I then realized he did not go to “C” building that evening but had been here at some time in the past. I asked for the room number for his class and was told A252. I walked the gentleman back up to A252 to find it dark and realized the class did not start until 6:00 p.m. and it was now 5:35 p.m. I told him it appeared he was early and would have to wait a little while. He said he came early to register, and when I told him I did not realize he was not registered, he said he had mentioned it to me earlier. Now he had to go back to “C” building, pay and then come back to “A.” He seemed to be okay with that and we parted ways.
Why am I making you suffer through yet another of my home movies? Because I want you to know that I only get a glimpse of how tough it can be for you and for them and I empathize. I felt frustrated that he wasn’t more precise; that he had not called ahead and thought through the process; that he just showed up and expected it to all come clear, somehow. I also felt frustrated that we could not design this sort of confusion out of our system. I was frustrated by my own assumptions in how I perceived the situation. Then I realized that although we must try to continuously improve our processes, “WE ARE THE FAIL-SAFE.” You see, this gentleman could have nailed all this down before he got here, but he simply did not have a framework for managing it. He did not think like me. And he probably does things on a regular basis that I do not have a framework for either.
So I took a deep breath and kept marching.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Quality Enhancement Plan
As most of you know, as part of our college accreditation, we developed a Critical Thinking initiative to meet the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) requirements. Information about the QEP can be viewed at www.yorktech.com/qep. This is an effort to help support the maturation of students and to remind ourselves of the value in thinking critically. At the same time, the critical thinking initiative is not intended to create additional barriers for students to reach their goals. We must demonstrate high expectations but equally important we must demonstrate high support in order to give our students the tools to succeed. In spring semester, colleagues worked to develop a number of pilot critical thinking rubrics and activities. Full implementation for the QEP will begin this fall. A summary of the implementation plan outlines the critical thinking activity options, methods for reporting, and fall QEP Implementation workshops. We will report our progress to SACS in 2011 as part of our accreditation interim report. Thank you for helping improve critical thinking and for fulfilling our accreditation requirements.
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