tour guide—a faculty member and lifetime resident of the
region. The tour oriented new faculty to the geographical
service area, while the long bus ride provided them an
extended period of time to talk and get to know one another.

By the middle of the second week, new faculty began
attending other college and divisional meetings. Two faculty
members, who were new the previous year, hosted a special
no-administrators-present session for new faculty called “All
the Things You Still Want to Know But Are Afraid to Ask.”
They addressed such areas as unwritten rules, hidden
pitfalls, campus customs, strategies for overcoming obstacles,
and other aspects of the campus culture that some individu-
als might not feel comfortable discussing candidly.

The last two days of the second week involved an
overnight stay at a conference center in Lexington, Kentucky.
There the 12 new ECC faculty joined 150 other new Ken-
tucky community college employees and participated in the
system-wide orientation to the University of Kentucky
Community College System. Here they met the university
president and community college chancellor, learned about
system policies and procedures, attended sessions on various
topics, and interacted with colleagues in their disciplines
from other colleges.

On a follow-up assessment instrument, new faculty gave
high evaluations to various components of the orientation
program; their overall ratings were 62% excellent, 38% good,
and 0% average, below average, or poor. They offered
suggestions for improving the sessions (to be used by the
team that plans next year’s orientation program). The “buzz
groups” have been so successful in implementing changes
on our campus that we plan to drop a number of traditional
standing committees and replace them with ad hoc quality
circle teams created and empowered to sclve specific
problems.

R. Darby Williams, Dean of Academic Affairs
For further information, contact the author at Elizabethtown

Community College, 600 College Street Road,
Elizabethtown, KY 42701.

Celebrate Excellence: ®@
Recognition of Faculty
and Staff Accomplishments

~~

The Governor of Colorado proclaimed last February to be
Community College Awareness Month, and the Commu-
nity College of Aurora designed an “Excellence Week” to
acknowledge and honor the many accomplishments of its
faculty and staff. The week began with an Employee Excel-
lence Recognition reception. Specially cast medallions were
awarded to all previous and current Classified Employees of
the Year and Faculty of the Year recipients, and each
recipient was asked to wear the medallion for the entire
week. We hoped that students, faculty, and staff would ask
the recipients about their accomplishments.

The Phi Theta Kappa Recognition was held mid-week. The
plaque commemorating the initiation of the local charter
(established within the last year) and the plaques with
signatures of the charter members were displayed.

The Faculty/Program Recognition was the finale. Classified
Employees and Faculty of the Year were recognized once
again; and the Outstanding Service Award, program
awards, and divisional awards were presented. The
highlight of the evening was faculty and staff sharing
memories of people and experiences related to the college’s
history.

To sustain the week’s momentum, a college bulletin
board—designated the “Excellence Board”—was a visual
display of the high caliber of commitment and excellence of
the faculty and staff. All were encouraged to post their
accomplishments. Many had published books and articles,
had received special honors in connection with volunteer
programs, and had been guest speakers at local and national
conferences.

The response to the Excellence Week and Excellence
Board was overwhelming, and the Excellence Board remains
a permanent part of CCA’s fixtures. Students, staff, and
faculty still post accomplishments and stop to check the
board for the most recent additions.

Tleta Smith, Excellence Week Coordinator & Academic Counselor

For further information, contact the author at Community
College of Aurora, 791 Chambers Road, Aurora, CO 80011.

 

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor

January 24, 1992, Vol. XIV, No. 1

©The University of Texas at Austin, 1992
Further duplication is permitted by MEMBER
institutions for their own personnel.

@-

INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD),
Department of Educational Administration, College of Education, EDB 348, The University of Texas at Austin, Austn, Texas
78712, (512) 471-7545. Funding in part by the W. K. Kellogg Foundaton and the Sid W. Richardson Foundation. sued weekly
when classes are in session during fall and spring terms. ISSN 0199-106X.