Accreditation Reaffirmed for Business Programs

In November, the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) Board of Commissioners granted full reaffirmation of accreditation for the five associate degrees and the twelve specializations of the Business Unit (Administrative Office Technology, Business Administration, and Information Technology). In October, three peer reviewers visited the campus that evaluated our documentation to ensure that the self-study we submitted in August was accurate and met the ACBSP standards. We received full reaffirmation with no conditions, notes, and one opportunity for improvement. The next review will be in 2019. I want to thank all the faculty for their hard work: Edie Dille, Gwen Wilson, Regina Clawson, Brenda Freeman, Jackie Knight, Mina Williams, Ivan Lowe, Chris Ardis, Anita Leslie, Dane Loflin, James McDermott, Doug Parker, Jyron Baxter, Dexter Harlee, Toan Tran, and Steve Ward.

Phi ThanKs

Saturday, I joined twelve of our Phi Theta Kappa students from our Alpha Alpha Iota chapter, along with Karen Hedgepeth and Mark Ulseth, as we cleaned Springsteen Road. It was a great encouragement to me for so many of our students to come out and participate. The students who were there were:

Doris Kasprak
Stacey Hill
Jamie Boone
Jennifer Bell
Vicki Pennington
Elizabeth Palmisano
Joe Green
Shannon Gardner
Stephen Medlin
Patricia Celley
Diane McBride
Darrell Hyatt

They were enthusiastic about the roadside cleaning and their work at the College. My thanks go out to all of them, their sponsors Karen Hedgepeth and Bill Bass and all the members of our PTK. I had a chance to catch up with Patricia Celley who was PTK president last year. She went through a tough time recently with the after effects of a car accident and had to withdraw for a while. She told me she was in a good place now and on track to graduate this spring. I also had a chance to talk with our current PTK president, Jamie Boone. Jamie has volunteered to participate as a learning coach in a project led by Taunya Paul to help students with learning skills. Jamie blew me away with her insight into the paradigm many of our students are in who are failing but don’t seek out assistance. My time with all of them reminded me how thankful I am for York Tech and all the people who make it happen. You are doing amazing things every day in a real, bold and better way.

Faculty Recognition

Mary Anne Laney, Department Manager for Nursing and Health Careers, will graduate in December with a Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership from the University of South Carolina. She began her journey taking courses through the Higher Education Leadership certificate program, offered through the technical college system, at the University of South Carolina. Upon completion of the certificate program, she then applied and was accepted to the USC Higher Education Leadership Ph.D. program. All course and dissertation requirements are complete. Her dissertation topic: An Investigation of the Relationship between Program Assessment and Curriculum Change in Accredited and Non-Accredited Associate Degree Nursing Programs. Congratulations, Mary Anne, on your achievement!

If there are other faculty and staff that deserve recognition for their accomplishments, please email the information to Jacquelyn Nesbitt.

Congratulations Nursing Faculty!

The National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) reaffirmed accreditation for our practical nursing program earlier this year. The nursing faculty began developing their self-study over two years ago by updating curriculum and processes to ensure the NLNAC standards were met. The next evaluation visit is scheduled for spring 2017. Congratulations to the Nursing Department (Mary Anne Laney, Jane Fleischer, Julie Hamilton, Gina Misle, Amy Newton, Denise Roberts, Ann Scott, Jan Sinfield, Sue Tatro, Brenda Weatherington, Suzanne Williams, and Karen Worthy) for their outstanding achievement.

SC Technical College System

The SC Technical College System legislative priorities for 2010 include Lottery Tuition Assistance, Allied Health Initiative, Center for Accelerated Technology Training and readySC, and Lottery Technology funding. LTA (Lottery Tuition Assistance) provides access to affordable education for many of our students. For 2008-2009, York Technical College LTA disbursements totaled $2,315,965 which benefited 2,195 recipients.

In addition to the legislative priorities mentioned above, the System Office has worked over the past year on a new branding strategy with the help of Chernoff Newman. The objective of developing a new logo and tag line is to elevate and differentiate the SC Technical College System’s positive brand attributes. As you will notice on the legislative priorities page, the new logo and tag line, Think Jobs, focuses on what the SC Technical College System is all about – jobs. Using this tag line, Think Jobs, we are emphasizing the vital role we play in preparing the state’s workforce for real jobs as well as our ability to drive future economic development and attract new companies.

I’m sure many of you are interested to hear about the results of our branding efforts. I plan to unveil our new logo and tag line at our meeting on December 16.

They Like Us, They Really Like Us

As I read the following article “POV: Be Careful What You Wish For: You’re About To Get It”, it reminded me of the great journey we are on to Maximize Student Success. If we are to achieve great things, we can’t wait for perfect conditions. As von Goethe stated, “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

Values

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.