National Consortium for Continuous Improvement in Higher Education

Fifth Annual National Conference

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 16-18, 2004

“Improving Institutional Effectiveness During Times of Change”

Friday, July 16, 2004

1:00--4:00 p.m.

Pre-Conference Learning. The Courage to Act: Leadership Development

Roxana Hewertson, Director of Administration: Administration, Facilities and Finance, Cornell University

Our leadership is defined by our choices. How do we choose to act when facing times of stress, moments of truth, and unrelenting change? We will assess our readiness to act, develop a profile of five courage factors, and learn how to measure the current level of courage in our teams and organizations.

4:00--6:00 p.m.	Welcome reception

Evening	Dutch treat group dinners

Saturday, July 17, 2004

7:30-- 8:30 a.m.	Breakfast Buffet

8:30-- 9:30 a.m.	Welcome and Keynote

The Challenge of Change: The Future of Continuous Improvement Programs

Francis Lawrence, President Emeritus, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

What are the implications for programs like those represented at NCCI when terms like TQM go out of vogue? Why should continuous improvement programs continue to be priorities in colleges and universities? How can the importance of their contributions be demonstrated and their support justified to new college and university administrators in the changing higher education environment?

9:30--10:a.m.	Refreshment Break

10:00–10:45 a.m. Concurrent Sessions

Building the Capacity for Institutional Effectiveness: A Comparison of Approaches and Models

Louise Sandmeyer, Executive Director, Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment, Penn State University; Chester Warzynski, Director, Organizational Development Services, Cornell University; and Richard Norman, Vice President for Finance and Business Services, Miami University (Ohio).

Member institutions of NCCI have as a common goal the improvement of institutional effectiveness. How that goal is achieved will vary from campus to campus, culture to culture, leader to leader. Different approaches to organizing for institutional improvement will be compared and discussed by the panel.

Learning is Job One

Liane Dolezar, Quality Value Advisor, and Lynn Revoy, Dean, Business Division, Waukesha County Technical College

One instructor commented that WCTC’s New Instructor Boot Camp was a “unique experience in my teaching career.” A two-day hands-on learning-focused workshop gives new FT faculty opportunity to learn active learning strategies, develop a variety of nontraditional assessment techniques, and adapt to a college culture that expects the use of continuous feedback to improve teaching and leaning. Shorter sessions focus on developing the capacity of PT instructors in similar instructional skill areas.

Strategic Allocation of Resources

Benjamin Quillian, Senior Vice President, American Council on Education, and Darrell Bazzell, Vice Chancellor for Administration, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Reductions in state support for higher education and shifts in our funding mix are requiring strategic approaches. Ben Quillian will provide a national perspective as well as ACE’s approach for aligning the budget with the strategic plan. Darrell Bazzell will present a practical guide for making strategic resource allocation decisions, in tight times as well as good times.

A Systems Approach to Program Assessment for Continuous Quality Improvement

Julia Pet-Armacost, Assistant Vice President, Information, Planning, and Assessment, and Robert Armacost, Director, University Analysis and Planning Support, University of Central Florida

Program assessment is key to continuous improvement in education. In a dynamic environment with changing programs and personnel, it is essential to have a well-designed program assessment system to assure high quality. This presentation describes the characteristics of a well-designed program assessment system, including embedded quality assurance and technology support.

11:00–11:45 a.m. Concurrent Sessions

Implementing New Administrative Systems? You Need an Evolution Not a Revolution

Jeanne Marie Isola, USER Project Manager, Financial Desktop Initiative, University of Washington

Embracing change is often an experience of “evolution” not “revolution.” Learn how the University of Washington’s USER Projects successfully uses a unique methodology of engaging users to evolve as an organization from paper-based to paperless administrative systems. This approach has been highly successful in implementing online administrative systems, with positive user outcomes, at a fraction of the cost of off-the-shelf administration Enterprise Resource Planning systems.

Training and Using Student-Facilitators for Team Based Teaching

Miriam Bartschi, Quality Facilitator; David Hagerbaumer, Director of Campus Activities and Internship Faculty Sponsor; and Christina Knickerbocker, Director of Quality; Binghamton University

Graduate students trained in facilitation skills and continuous improvement techniques serve as facilitators of student teams in an undergraduate class. This approach teaches lifelong skills to graduate student-interns and student team participants, using timely well-researched projects and with attention paid to content as well as group dynamics.

Roundtable of Ideas

Maury Cotter, Director, Strategic Planning and Quality Improvement, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Brent Ruben, Director, Center for Organizational Development and Leadership, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

More than 50 institutions and associations of higher education gathered for a Roundtable in Washington, D.C. in October 2003 to advance institutional effectiveness in higher education nationally. Participants in this session will engage in facilitated dialogues on topics of interest identified at the Roundtable.

Specific Content Modules: Ensuring Quality in Educational Leadership Preparation

Kathy O’Neill, Director, Leadership Initiative, Southern Regional Education Board

The Southern Regional Education Board Leadership Initiative has developed leadership curriculum modules based upon research and the critical success factors identified for school leaders who lead schools where students achieve at high levels. These modules, which provide the foundation needed to redesign curriculum for the preparation and development of successful school leaders, are currently being used by several universities. This session is designed to give an overview of the modules and participants will leave with improvement ideas for implementation in their own institutions.

Noon--1:15 p.m.	Buffet Lunch and Speaker

The Value and Use of Strategy Maps

Mario Bognanno, Vice President, Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, Inc.

The Balanced Scorecard burst on the business scene as a breakthrough measurement and management tool to help organizations execute their strategies. In the mid 1990’s higher education and other sectors embraced the new tool. But, in hundreds of organizations, many couldn’t even agree on, much less describe, their strategies. This recognition led to the strategy map, a one-page representation of the cause and effect linkages among strategic objectives – the missing link between strategy formulation and execution. This presentation provides an overview of the strategy map and how it can help communicate and execute strategy.

1:45--2:30 p.m. Concurrent Sessions

Integrating for Excellence

Mike Pupius, Director, Centre for Integral Excellence, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

The session will share the learning from a UK Government-funded project involving seven UK universities, Central Lancashire, Cranfield, Durham, Salford, Ulster, University College Chester, and Sheffield Hallam University, the leader. The project has addressed issues of improving institutional effectiveness and organizational learning through the use of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model, which provides the framework for the European Quality Awards.

Organize to Optimize, part 1

John Harris, Orlean Bullard Beeson Professor of Education, Samford University

Colleges and universities are usually organized as discipline- and function-based silos arranged in hierarchical pyramids. Mass postsecondary education focused on student learning can be done more effectively and efficiently through horizontal or organic organizations. In the first segment, the traditional organization of silos will be compared with two other organizational models. In the second segment, participants will work in small groups to “design” a horizontal or an organic organization for undergraduate learning.

Creating a Partnership Between Multicultural Programs and Continuous Quality Improvement

John Dew, Director of Continuous Quality Improvement, and Valerie Phillips, Office of Multicultural Affairs, The University of Alabama

This session will share information on how the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Office of Continuous Quality Improvement at The University of Alabama have collaborated to map out a strategy for a comprehensive approach to addressing multicultural and diversity issues on a campus in the Deep South.

What Principals Need to Know about Preventing Dropouts

Franklin Schargel, Chair, Education Division, American Society for Quality

Improving graduation rates is the ultimate achievement of successful school systems. One goal of successful Educational Leadership programs is preparing principals to ensure that all children thrive-- that they pass examinations, graduate, and become productive members of society. Franklin Schargel and Jay Smink have developed 15 research-based, data-driven strategies that will reduce the number of school dropouts. The strategies are a result of a national study of schools and programs that have been successful in reducing dropout rates and have been recognized by the National Education Goals Panel and the United States Department of Education as the most “ effective strategies to help solve our school dropout problem.”

2:30 p.m. Refreshment Break

3:00– 3:45 p.m. Concurrent Sessions

The “PIT”: Creating an In-House “Process Improvement Team” for Enhancing Institutional Effectiveness

Bernard Schulz, Special Assistant to the Vice President of Campus Life; Abigail Lipson, Director of the Counseling Center; and Violeta Ettle, Assistant Provost of Administration; American University

In higher education today, escalating costs, rapid changes in information technology, and the mandate to provide a quality educational experience all demand a commitment to continuous improvement in institutional effectiveness. American University has created an internal, cross-divisional Process Improvement Team charged with achieving this organizational goal. This presentation describes the PIT model as it is in use at AU.

Organize to Optimize, part 2

John Harris, Orlean Bullard Beeson Professor of Education, Samford University

This second segment is the one in which participants will work in small groups to “design” a horizontal or an organic organization for undergraduate learning.

Building Leadership and Facilitation Skills In Faculty

Christopher Markwood, Dean, College of Arts, Media and Design, and Lon Dehnert, Assistant Dean, College of Arts, Media and Design, University of Central Oklahoma

Using quality improvement tools, discussions, and team facilitation training, the University of Central Oklahoma College of Arts, Media and Design is developing faculty leaders through a college Leadership Team. This presentation will share the processes used to develop and train the team, the successes, and opportunities for improvement

How Leaders Use the Balanced Scorecard as a Navigational Tool for Change in an Organization

Mario Bognanno, Vice President, Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, Inc., and Ron Coley, Associate Vice Chancellor for Business and Administrative Services, University of California, Berkeley

Successful organizations need visionary leaders who can also manage effectively. The Balanced Scorecard can help to do both. It provides leaders with the navigational tool to lead change by providing the change agenda--the strategic outcomes as well as the drivers that create value. It enables leaders to communicate the vision and strategy to employees as well as to monitor continuously, learn, and manage the strategic progress in a dynamic environment. Learn from those who have had experience with the Balanced Scorecard as a tool for managing change.

4:00–6:00 p.m. Reception

Evening	Dutch treat group dinners

Sunday, July 18, 2004

Breakfast on your own

8:30-10:00 a.m.

NACUBO General Session, Jim Collins

Jim Collins is a student and teacher of enduring great companies. Having invested over a decade of research into the topic, Collins has co-authored four books, including the classic Built to Last. Collins’ newest book, GOOD TO GREAT: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t, is based on a five-year research project that answers the question: Can a good company become a great company and, if so, how?

10:00--10:30 a.m. Refreshment Break

10:30 –11:15 a.m. Concurrent Sessions

Excellence in Customer Service

Mary Poehls, Quality Value and Student Outcomes Facilitator, Waukesha County Technical College

This interactive workshop will help to identify the core processes around creating a culture of service excellence and how to engage faculty and staff in improving service delivery. Participants will walk away understanding that “fixing service” by simply offering canned learning will not create a sustained culture of excellent service.

Engaging Faculty in Quality Methods: Building a New Business Core

Susan Williams, Professor of Management, and D. Lee Warren, Associate Dean, College of Business, Belmont University

Belmont University is using quality methodology to build a new core for undergraduate business majors. Businesses have long said that many programs are out of date and not able to educate workers for future workplace environments. “Silos” of courses around disciplines has become an out-of-date model that no longer satisfies stakeholders. The dean and faculty chartered a task force to determine the process for faculty redesign of the curriculum. This session will describe the quality methods, process, and results.

Accreditation and Quality Improvement

Stephen Spangehl., Director, and Henry Lindborg, Networking Coordinator, Academic Quality Improvement Project of the Higher Learning Commission, North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

The North Central Association's Alternate Quality Improvement Process (AQIP) is leading the nation in balancing quality improvement with quality assurance in higher education. AQIP is a model for regional accrediting bodies in the effort to integrate quality improvement principles into the process of accreditation.

Increasing Student Achievement Through School Leadership: What the Research Shows We Should Be Teaching in Educational Leadership Programs

Ruth Ash, Dean, and Maurice Persall, Director of Graduate Programs, Orlean Bullard Beeson School of Education and Professional Studies, Samford University

Recent research indicates that certain leadership strategies have a high positive correlation with increased student achievement. This session will provide participants with the descriptions of these strategies. Suggested methods for incorporating the strategies into leadership preparation programs will also be presented. Participants interested in the connection between leadership and student achievement and how to use this knowledge to improve educational leadership programs will benefit from this session.

11:30a.m.-- 12:45 p.m. Buffet Lunch and Speakers

Using Data to Focus and Drive Change: Twin National Case Studies

Roger Nozaki, Executive Director, GE Foundation, and Daryl Chubin, Senior Vice President, National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering

Seeking to implement comprehensive, data-driven models to strengthen the capacity of K-12 schools and universities to increase the preparation and success of under-represented students in careers like engineering and business is the goal of the GE Foundation and the Building Engineering and Science Talent (BEST) initiative. The GE Foundation uses research on effective practices, metrics to focus and track impact, initial evaluation, and data to measure process and shape outcomes. Charged by a congressional commission with increasing diversity in science and engineering, BEST conducted a two-year review of 124 higher education intervention programs to identify effective practices and distill from them “design principles” adaptable to new contexts to promote and sustain success This session will explore how these twin case studies provide a rationale for metrics that both inform and challenge.

1:00--2:15 p.m. Concurrent Sesisons

What Impact Does Baldrige/Excellence in Higher Education Have on Institutional Effectiveness? Preliminary Research Findings

Brent Ruben, Director, Center for Organizational Development and Leadership, and Stacey Connaughton, Assistant Professor Department of Communication and ODL Faculty Fellow, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Ann Dodd, Senior Consultant, Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment, and Doctoral Candidate, Department of Communication Arts and Sciences, Penn State University; and Kathleen Immordino, Assistant Commissioner for Administration, New Jersey Department of Transportation, and Doctoral Candidate, Communication Program, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

For those have worked with the Baldrige and Excellence in Higher Education process and/or other organizational intervention programs with similar aims, there is a generally shared belief in the value of these programs when it comes quality improvement process. And yet, in general, the support for this belief is anecdotal. Very few studies have evaluated the impact of self-assessment, or examined the core communication and information gathering mechanisms involved. This panel will summarize new research initiatives undertaken to evaluate the impact of these programs in more systematic ways.

Improving Leadership Skills of School Administrators --Experiential Leadership Development for Students and Faculty

Julie Edmister, Professor, College of Education and Human Development, Bowling Green State University

Research suggests that people retain only 15 percent of what they read and hear -- but 83 percent of what they do. This session highlights several graduate leadership programs that integrate an outdoor leadership/ teambuilding learning experience into their curriculums. Students and faculty attend Team Trek, a nationally recognized leadership program, where they solve problems in extraordinary situations outside the confines of a comfortable classroom.

2:30--3:15 p.m.	NCCI Annual Business Meeting

All conference participants are welcome

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Friday, July 16, 2004

Carl Westerdahl

2004-04-15

Unconventional Wisdom