October 2007, Volume 1, Number 12

| Greeting | Conference Corner | Membership Corner | NISODcast |
Publications Corner | CCLP Corner | Spotlight |
Friends of NISOD | Partnership Corner | The Learning Edge

GREETING

We hope you are enjoying the fall 2007 semester as it is in full swing! NISOD staff members have been busy with our annual membership drive and the final details for our 30th annual International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence. October has been a very special month for NISOD—we announced our new NISOD Director, Dr. Evelyn Waiwaiole! Read on for more details about her and her vision for NISOD’s future. We are thrilled to have her knowledge, experience, and leadership as we prepare for NISOD’s next 30 years.

Our conference preliminary schedule, frequently asked questions, hotel information, presentation proposal form, and Excellence Awards submission form are available online. Don’t miss out on the discounts offered to NISOD-member colleges by Certiport and Community College Week. If you are interested in renewable energies and energy efficiency, make sure you read the featured article about Laramie County Community College’s green campus. Read this month’s Innovation Abstracts and a featured article about Chattanooga State Technical Community College. Don’t forget to join the conversation by blogging about major league gaming.

We look forward to receiving your presentation proposals by December 14!

CONFERENCE CORNER

NISOD’s 30th Annual International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence
In 2008, NISOD will celebrate its 30th annual International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence! Its theme is “Bridges to Learning.” The conference returns to its traditional meeting dates over Memorial Day weekend, May 25-28, at the Austin Convention Center.

Preliminary Conference Schedule
The preliminary conference schedule is available on our website, so begin planning your trip to the conference. Read about the traditions that make NISOD unique. Plan for dance lessons and the Southwestern-style buffet on Monday evening, which returns this year to the Hilton Austin Hotel, just across the street from the Austin Convention Center. Attend the informative and inspiring general sessions, have books signed at the NISOD Store, and enjoy the camaraderie in the exhibit hall.

Will you be a newcomer to the conference? A newly added Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section on our website answers common questions about our conference.

Conference Hotel Information
Begin planning your travels by making your hotel reservation for the conference. The 30th annual International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence is scheduled on Memorial Day weekend, and hotels fill up quickly. Conference hotel information is available on the NISOD website. Nine downtown hotels are offering conference rates on a first-come, first-served basis. Regular transportation to the Austin Convention Center is available for hotels not in close walking distance.

Call for Proposals!
Do you have a great idea for an innovative session to share with NISOD members at this year’s conference? We hope that you will be a presenter at one of the 300+ breakout and roundtable sessions offered throughout the 3½ days of the conference. The deadline to submit a proposal is December 14, 2007.

The program strands are

• Teaching and learning
• Teamship development
• Career development
• Leadership development

Go to our website for more information and to access the online presentation proposal form.  

Registration
Early conference registration begins on January 4, 2008, and continues through May 1, 2008. Please check the website for updates and further information! To have brochures and conference updates sent to your email box, join our conference mailing list.

MEMBERSHIP CORNER

Excellence Awards
The NISOD tradition of recognizing teaching and leadership excellence continues this year with the Excellence Awards. The NISOD website now has extensive details about the Excellence Awards, including an FAQ’s page, specific information about the Excellence Awards process of submissions by member institutions, and Excellence Awards news. The deadline for Excellence Awards recipient submissions is December 14, 2007. Submissions may now be made online by the NISOD Excellence Awards contact designated on your campus. If you are the appropriate NISOD Excellence Awards submissions contact and do not know the username and password to access the submissions form, contact Christy Lewis.

We encourage this year’s Excellence Awards recipients to provide statements, photos, and video footage to highlight their work and “ah-hah” moments.  These materials are shared throughout the conference on video displays and before the general sessions, and selected videos are compiled into the much-loved Excellence Awards video shared at the Excellence Awards ceremony that closes the conference. Archived booklets are available on our website. The guidelines for statements, photos, and video materials will be posted on our website on November 1, 2007. The deadline to submit materials is February 1, 2008.

For more information about Excellence Awards, contact Sheryl Powell.

Member Benefits Continue from NISOD Sterling Partner Certiport

NISOD partner Certiport helps people succeed and excel through business certification. Certiport has announced two special discounts available to NISOD members:

Benefit 1
Educators everywhere use Adobe software to energize learning in the 21st century. Like the students who pursue certification, teachers and staff enhance their own credentials by earning an industry-recognized certification. By becoming an Adobe Certified Associate, you can elevate your stature in the classroom or institution and provide a model for students in developing employable skills through Adobe certification.

Certiport is offering NISOD members a 23% discount on the new Adobe Certified Associate exams, plus a free exam for an instructor or staff to become certified in Web Communication using Dreamweaver 8 exam and Rich Media Communication using Flash 8 exam. 

Benefit 2
Enrich the substance and value of your staff with Microsoft business certification credentials. Regardless of the course topic, teachers can provide more to their students by personally achieving demonstrated skills in software applications. New certifications feature a simple framework for skill assessment and validation. And certification verifies a wide variety of computing skills; not only in programs, but also for specific job functions such as managing budgets and presentations.

For a limited-time, NISOD members can receive an exclusive offer—FREE copies of the 2007 Microsoft Office Professional suite!  For every 10 Microsoft Certified Application Specialist exams purchased (limit of 100 exams per order), receive one FREE copy of the 2007 Microsoft Office Professional suite. Certiport will include FREE exam retakes with your order (up to 25 retake exams).

To learn more about these offers, email Certiport or call the Certiport Higher Education Team at 1-888-999-9830.

NISODcast

Dallas County Community College Chancellor Wright Lassiter Discusses Community College Challenges and Opportunities
In this month’s NISODcast, Dr. Wright Lassiter, Chancellor, Dallas County Community College District, discusses leading a large, urban institution into the 21st century. "Community colleges," Dr. Lassiter says, "need to be 'first responders' to community needs, more now than ever." Dr. Lassiter also explores his leadership philosophy and gives first-hand examples of how challenges can be turned into opportunities. Listen in!

NISODcast is password protected for NISOD members only. For access, email Leigh Anne Fagin.

PUBLICATIONS CORNER

Volume XXIX, Number 22 In “Becoming an Academic Farmer: Cultivating a Culture for Student Success,” Raphael Turner, Assistant Dean of Enrollment Services, at Tomball College (TX), describes a template for promoting student engagement with the college and for a college’s maintaining its fingers on the pulse of the institution. In “Malapropism Madness,” Peg Ehlen, Professor of English, at Ivy Tech Community College (IN), describes the sometimes-hilarious outcomes of spell-check mania.

Vol. XXIX, No. 21 In “A New Faculty Orientation,” Eric Wildman, Associate Dean and Director, Willow Chase Center, at Tomball College (TX), describes an orientation that was so successful for new faculty that returning, veteran faculty demanded one of their own.

Vol. XXIX, No. 20 In “Encouraging Creativity,” Richard Marranca, Assistant Professor of English, at Passaic County Community College (NJ), and Sumalee Mahanarongchai, Lecturer in Philosophy and Liberal Arts, Thammasat University in Bangkok, describe the powers and the pay-offs to opening students up to being more creative in and with assignments that require more “brainwork.”

Innovation Abstracts is password protected for NISOD members only. For access, email Leigh Anne Fagin.

Publish Your Good Ideas in Innovation Abstracts
Have successful practices, innovations, programs, or initiatives that work for you, your college, your students? Consider sharing them with NISOD readers in the 2007-2008 series of Innovation Abstracts! Click here to find out how!

CCLP CORNER

Welcome to Dr. Evelyn N. Waiwaiole, New NISOD Director
In October, Dr. Evelyn Waiwaiole was announced as the new Director of NISOD, ready to lead the organization from its 30th anniversary onward. Though she is in a new position, she is a familiar, friendly face at the office.

Dr. Evelyn Waiwaiole served as an Associate Director of NISOD from 2002-2006 and focused on recruiting and retaining NISOD-member colleges. Most recently, she was a project manager for the Community College Bridges to Opportunity Initiative. This initiative, managed through the Community College Leadership Program at The University of Texas at Austin, addresses community college mission integration and public policy to support it, and encourages the six participating states of Washington, Ohio, Colorado, New Mexico, Kentucky, and Louisiana to use public policy to create sustainable change in serving the underserved. She also has worked with the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) and the Education Commission of the States. Dr. Waiwaiole earned her Ph.D. in the Community College Leadership Program at The University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Waiwaiole says, “For 30 years, NISOD has provided stellar professional development services for faculty, administrators, and staff at its member institutions. NISOD is dedicated to providing excellent service to these individuals who make the critical differences in the lives of students. I look forward to joining a remarkable team in the work of continuing and enhancing NISOD's rich traditions that encourage, support, and celebrate excellence.”

Welcome back to NISOD, Dr. Waiwaiole!

SPOTLIGHT

Laramie County Community College Protects Environment, Serves as Role Model

The grass may turn brown and the skies gray during the winter months in Laramie, Wyoming, but if you take a trip to 1125 Boulder Drive, all you’ll see is green. Green technology, that is.

Thanks in part to a few forward-thinking minds and one eco-conscious grant, the Laramie County Community College Albany County Campus recently delved into the environmentally friendly world.

The grant, worth nearly $1.2 million, came from the U.S. Department of Energy through the Wyoming Business Council State Energy Office. It funded many of the green features on the campus, which was built in 2006.

“Our mission is to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency,” said Tom Fuller, state energy program manager for the Wyoming Business Council. “We wanted something here in Wyoming to set an example of that.”

Besides helping protect the environment, saving money, and serving as a role model, the new campus also will act as a teaching tool. The University of Wyoming is monitoring the facility to research how to build net zero buildings—those that produce as much energy as they consume—in cold climate. The UW Engineering Department also is partnering with LCCC to research the wind turbine that stands on campus. Data gathered from both projects could provide opportunities to improve and further develop green features.

The Albany County Campus not only is green, it builds green. Each year, students and instructors of the college’s construction technology program—along with sub-contractors—build one green, energy-efficient home in Laramie that goes on sale to the public.

Since the program started in 2002, instructor Tim Nyquist has become increasingly excited about the benefits of building green, energy-efficient homes.

“Now I’m addicted and won’t go back,” he said. “I have seen the light. It’s my duty to teach the best in technology. I don’t believe doing anything less would be good for the college.”

The Construction Technologies 2006 home was featured in two national publications, numerous regional publications, and was the Showcase Home for Homes Across America, an EPA-funded program.

Main Green Features of the Albany County Campus

• Wind turbine to supply the campus with electrical energy
• Light harvesting to keep lights off in daytime, saving electricity
• Ground source heating and cooling system to spend less energy heating and cooling the facility
• Structural insulated panels to insulate the building better, generate less construction waste

Big windows and slanted ceilings at the Albany County Campus allow more sunlight to enter the facility, which helps keep lights off during the daytime.

The photovoltaic (solar electricity) system at one of the construction technology homes has a tracker that follows the sun from morning to night. It has a 25-year warranty and can withstand high winds and 60 mph, golf ball-sized hail.

Laramie County Community College has two campuses in southern Wyoming. The main campus is in Cheyenne, the capital of Wyoming; and the Albany County Campus is located in Laramie. 

For more information, contact Lynn Stalnaker, Albany County Campus dean, 307.772.4252.

FRIENDS OF NISOD

Chattanooga State Technical Community College is a Friend of NISOD
Chattanooga State Technical Community College is recognized nationally for entrepreneurial initiatives, excellence in student support, curricular innovation, use of technology, and responsiveness to its community. The college is a leader in community, economic, and workforce development; the use of advanced technologies in instruction; life-transforming support services, based on a culture of care for all students and employees; and an environment of open access to learning where high academic standards and personal integrity are prized.

Chattanooga State, established in 1965, was Southeast Tennessee’s first public institution of higher learning with a comprehensive one- and two-year occupational college with continuing education and community service programs. To date, the college serves a diverse community of students from five counties with five campuses. The college also serves as a regional technical school to train engineering technicians and technical workers in the fields of production, distribution, and service. On July 1, 1981, Chattanooga State’s mission expanded to include vocational education with the merger of the college and the State Area Vocational-Technical School.

Today, Chattanooga State continues to emphasize two-year technical programs, in addition to the expanded dimension of the comprehensive community college. Thus, the college is committed to meeting the needs of the city of Chattanooga as well as the counties of Hamilton, Rhea, Sequatchie, Marion, Bledsoe, and Grundy. It continues to enjoy near 100% job placement with students in many of the college’s academic programs, including:

• Passage—a program developed for working adults
• Allied Health—producing quality nurses (RN and LPN) and allied health technicians to address the region’s nursing shortage crisis
• Middle College High School—giving students the opportunity to earn an associate’s degree along with their high school diploma
• Dual Enrollment—curriculum opportunities allowing high school students to earn college credit
• Center for Distributed Education—collaborating with faculty to provide the highest standards of alternative delivery courses both online and with directed studies
• Media Technologies—guiding students into broadcasting with radio and television courses with the assistance of the Media Services Department
• Adult Education/GED—free classes to increase the work force literary skills
• Honors Program—giving top students the assistance they need to help them achieve high academic standards
• Building and Construction Institute of the Southeast—a partnership with area construction companies training a superior workforce

As a friend of NISOD, Chattanooga State Technical Community College has been visible and helpful to NISOD members, including taking charge of the production of the Conference Highlights DVD, which was sent to member college presidents in August 2007.

For more information about Chattanooga State Technical Community College, contact Gary Fisher.

PARTNERSHIP CORNER

Community College Week Keeps You Informed
Twenty years and counting. That’s how long Community College Week has been reporting and analyzing the trends affecting the nation’s more than 1,200 community colleges. From breaking news to personality profiles, from critical statistics to technology updates, the paper covers two-year colleges across the nation and internationally. Approximately 25,000 community college professionals throughout the United States and Canada read each issue. However, its influence outstrips its statistics.

Begun in 1988 as a labor of love by a handful of community college presidents, Community College Week is an independent paper, published bi-weekly in print and online. Its staff includes experienced journalists and newspaper professionals with backgrounds representing academe, as well as some of the largest publications in the country, including The Chronicle of Higher Education and The Washington Post.

In addition to its regular articles, some of the publication’s best-known contributions to community college news are the annual Top 100 Associate Degree Producers issue, which is archived online and the annual Technology Supplement. In-depth reports on sciences and funding issues view important current topics from multiple-perspectives. Community College Week also publishes regular recruitment news and job postings.

In its 20th year, the editors at Community College Week plan to look back and look ahead. The paper will review and update some of its most significant stories, covering the most significant developments at two-year schools through both the paper and website. New features are being planned, including a student corner and an effort to include more faculty voices.

Editors invite readers to submit articles, respond to stories, and keep the paper honest as it works to be an essential source of news on community colleges. Submission guidelines are available on the website. Readers interested in submitting Point of View articles should e-mail them to editor@ccweek.com. Articles for the upcoming technology supplement should be submitted to ccwtech@gmail.com. To subscribe to the CC Week e-newsletter, go to the website, and use the subscriber code to be included on the list.

Community College Week has been a NISOD Platinum partner for many years. In August, NISOD honored its 2007 Excellence Awards recipients in a four-page advertisement. NISOD members are given a 25 percent discount for a one-year subscription, and all NISOD conference attendees receive a free one-year subscription.

For more information, contact Pam Barrett.

The Learning Edge

This month, a cutting-edge conference on the Creative Economy leads us to reflect on community colleges' role in fostering creative talent in the workforce and sustaining local economies by thinking globally. An interest in major league gaming reveals the current community college efforts in online gaming certification. Plus, log on to join in on the conversation about recruiting international students.

Come join the conversation at The Learning Edge.

Melissa Richardson, Hook’Em Up Editor & Community College Leadership Program Doctoral Student
Hook’Em Up is published monthly by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD), Department of Educational Administration, College of Education, 1 University Station, D5600, Austin, Texas 78712-0378, (512) 471-7545. To subscribe or unsubscribe to Hook’Em Up, please email us.
© The University of Texas at Austin, 2007, All rights reserved.