Charter

Purpose

Research and explore ideas to make thoughtful and daring recommendations to significantly improve the staff development system.

Membership

Chair: Julie Dewan Barbara Evans, Jennifer Krohn, Carolyn West–Pace, Gerry Pecorello, Toni Carbone, Mary Ellen Hart, Robert Decker, Kelly McNamara

Timeline

September–December, 2007

Does

Task	Authority
Research staff development practices at identified exemplary community colleges	Research
Identify the components of MVCC’s staff development processes and compare to research findings	Compare/Contrast
Develop program recommendations based on the guiding points	Develop list
Examine the pros and cons of developing such a program – what will it take?	Develop list
Package recommendations with possible timelines for implementation (what can be done by when?)	Recommend to College Senate and Executive Team

Does not

• Get stalled in what hasn’t been done in staff development
• Allow financial constraints to limit creativity and thinking
• Establish policy

Guiding Points

• Determine appropriate number of contact hours (between 10 and 24) required annually of all full-time employees (including the President) during the course of their normal work day
• Include a core component (i.e., 3 hour session) required annually of all full-time employees with content on an identified topic common to all full-time employees
• Everyone should register through the standard student registration system for transcripting and tracking
• Suggest how staff development might link to the annual review (evaluation) processes
• Capitalize on the resources of the National Council of Staff, Program, and Organizational Development
• Recommend ways to annually identify the individual staff development needs of each full-time employee and how those needs will be met through the recommended system
• Work toward consensus as your major principle of work on the team
• Integrate preliminary findings from the self–study process

Community Colleges to Research

• Metropolitan Community College, Omaha, Nebraska
• Kingswood Community College, Houston, Texas
• Broome Community College, Binghamton, New York
• SUNY Community College

Charter Sponsor

• Executive Team

Contact for Questions

• Randy VanWagoner

Members

• Chair: Julie Dewan
• Carolyn Pace
• Gerard Pecorello
• Jennifer DeWeerth
• Robert Decker
• Toni Carbone
• Kelly McNamara
• Mary Ellen Hart
• Jennifer Krohn
• Barbara Evans

Recommendations

We recommend that 12 contact hours of staff development be required annually of all full-time employees (including the President) during the course of their normal workday and academic schedule. We think that, in time, that amount may increase.

1. A minimum of 6 hours of staff development will be related to job and professional responsibilities, and the remainder may be used for professional or personal growth opportunities as desired.
2. These hours will encompass self-study, presentations, and improvement, and there should be a minimum of 3 hours per academic semester completed on-campus.
3. Attendance at workshops would count for 1 hour per hour of workshop and scale credit would be given for attending conferences and giving presentations.
4. The Staff Development Committee will work with CCED and other groups and committees within the College to coordinate and organize workshops.
5. Hours will be tracked through Banner (non-credit).
6. Faculty and Staff may participate in more training, if desired.

Approval of Travel

We recommend that approval of requests for funding for travel to conferences and professional workshops remain with the Staff Development Committee for the following reasons:

1. While a central authorization process can seem cumbersome, it does provide the most transparency for fund distribution.
2. It also has the ability to shift a larger portion of funding to a special event when needed, and postpone funding for less critical (although worthy) projects for a later time.
3. As long as there is enough depth on the committee, the selection/approval process can be fair and equitable.

Composition of Committee and Coordination of Program

We recommend that the Committee have additional representation from departments such as security, facilities, and secretarial staff, for a maximum of 15 members. The Committee will serve as an advisory board to the Staff Development director(s). The Staff Development Program itself should be run by a professional, and have an office and support staff.

National Council of Staff, Program and Organizational Development Membership

This organization (NCSPOD) is an affiliate council of the American Association of Community Colleges, providing training, programs and publications about staff development for community colleges. We recommend that MVCC join NCSPOD as an institutional member @$350.00 annually (four college employees are designated as members for this amount; we can have more members added @$50.00). This gives us access to professional support, training, conferences and publications.

Staff Development Recommendations for Spring 2008

We held a January kick-off event for all College employees, featuring motivational speaker Frank Pastizzo. Two programs were held, so that all offices could send employees to the programs. These programs were warmly received.

A short survey of needs assessment for training was distributed and collected at the program. The questions were “What professional training do you need?” “What personal training do you need?” “What training does your supervisor need?” and “What training does your department need?” The committee will investigate ways to get more input from MVCC employees about their needs and wishes for development training.

We recommended that there be workshops in February and/or March regarding Middle States Accreditation. The goals would be to

1. Prepare all employees of the college for the Middle States Accreditation visit.
2. Offer them the opportunity to become familiar with MVCC’s mission and vision statements and its core values.
3. Help them to identify and recognize the types of questions that the Middle States accreditation committee will likely ask the faculty and staff of MVCC.

These workshops have already been prepared by Cynthia Busic–Snyder and Andrew Glidden, of the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC). They will be 2 hours long and will be offered in March at a variety of different time slots, and on both campuses, to accommodate all employees of the College.

We recommend that Summer Institute be held as usual, although this year it will be held the week after Commencement due to the need to plan for snow days. We recommend that there be no changes to Summer Institute or to the recognition luncheon at present. Planning for future Summer Institutes will be done based on results of January survey and other input from College staff. The Committee will hold a workshop at Summer Institute to describe the development opportunities which will be available to all College employees in the future.

Respectfully submitted, The Staff Development Committee March 4, 2008