Inspiration & information produced at NISOD conference - National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development

Community College Representatives Stress Importance of Changing With the Times

AUSTIN, Texas - Dr. Jerry Sue Thornton was not about to let Cleveland leave Cuyahoga Community College behind on the city's road to revitalization.

Thornton, president of the Ohio college in the county surrounding Cleveland, knew other businesses were poised to help revitalize the city by training new workers. But Thornton saw that training as her college's job. So, she forged partnership with businesses and government agencies in order to include the college on the comeback bandwagon.

"We wanted to be an integral part of what's going on in our community," Thornton told participants at the 19th annual conference of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD), a national consortium of colleges and universities.

Nearly 1,400 faculty and administrators attended the conference here late last month, and Thornton, a former Association of Community College Trustees outstanding CEO recipient, kicked it off with a bang. After approaching the stage to music from "Mission Impossible," she delivered a message that resounded again and again throughout the three-day affair.

According to Thornton and others at the conference, if community colleges ever hope to reclassify what seems like a "mission impossible" as a "mission possible" and flourish in an ever-changing world, they must remain open to new ideas.

In Thornton's case, her college changed with the times by forging partnerships with up-and-coming entities in Cleveland - such as Ameritech, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Convention and Visitors Bureau. She displayed testaments to the partnerships' success on big screens at the conference.

Through a program called Corporate Bound, the college trained workers to advance into positions Ameritech was desperate to fill.

Through a program called Cleveland Cares, the college taught front line tourism workers - such as taxi drivers, police officers and airport employees - more about their city and how to treat tourists, said David Nolan with the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"Corporations are more than willing to fund programs if they will result in a more skilled workforce," said Thornton, who serves on the Greater Cleveland Growth Association, The Urban League of Greater Cleveland, and the Cleveland and New York Rock and Roll Hall of Fame boards. "These partnerships bring our institutions out of isolation."

Speaker after speaker echoed Thornton's message of changing with the times.

Dr. Lydia Ledesma-Reese, president of Skagit Valley Community College in Washington state, also encouraged faculty to remain open to new teaching methods.

Ledesma-Reese is a former single mother who overcame financial hardship to complete an associate's, bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees. She also is a second-generation Mexican American who was a first-generation college student. She joked that her parents sent her to cosmetology school in case she lost her college presidency.

Speaking from experience, Ledesma-Reese stressed the differences in how students learn - particularly those from minority cultures. She pointed to figures that showed that most community college students are minorities and she encouraged faculty to broaden their teaching methods to meet the needs of "global" learners.

"We have a long way to go with the ethnocentric attitudes we have," Ledesma-Reese said. "Global learners come from so many different backgrounds that we need to remind ourselves as teachers to vary our teaching methods."

More than 600 colleges and universities worldwide belong to NISOD, which was founded in 1978 and is housed here at the University of Texas at Austin. Nearly 85 percent of the members are from the United States and a good number of those outside this country are from Canada, Roueche said.

For a $600 yearly fee, NISOD provides an avenue for members to exchange information about improving teaching and leadership. The organization produces a monthly newsletter called Linkages that shares national and international perspectives on learning. NISOD also circulates a weekly publication called Innovation Abstracts that teachers, deans and administrators write to share their success stories, Roueche said.

The NISOD conference has been held in Austin since the first 150 participants attended nineteen years ago, according to Dr. Suanne Roueche, director of NISOD.

"Many of the participants have waited for years to attend the conference," Roueche said. "Some of them have to be invited or have to be part of a competitive process. We work very hard to make sure this is the best conference they will ever attend."

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