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CAN Published by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development
With support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and Sid W. Richardson Foundation

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TRANSITIONS: FROM THE CLASSROOM TO CONSULTING

Imagine your college or university offering a graduate-level course designed to help you do outside
consulting work. The course is free, offered in-house, approved by administrators and the union, and
applied toward salary lane movement. Is this a dream? Not at the College of Lake County (CLC).

In the fall of 1984, our Vice President of Educational Affairs sanctioned and funded the Professional
Growth Center (PGC) to organize activities which would improve and enrich faculty’s level of instruction.
Within the last three years, the PGC has developed and offered a range of courses from Computer Literacy
to Writing Across the Curriculum and Critical Thinking. Ten different faculty have taught more than two
hundred of their peers. ’

In the spring of 1986, the position of Instructional Consultant (IC) was established to assist in developing
an overall strategy for achieving instructional excellence, identifying specific techniques for enhancing
classroom instruction. An IC’s responsibilities include building a collection of literature and media for an
approved focus of study, conducting a needs assessment for the proposed study, sharing skills and expertise
with faculty and staff, assisting in identifying instructors using innovative techniques, and helping to
produce a catalog of instructional ideas and materials.

Candidates for IC are identified through application or nomination. Each must be accompanied by a
recommendation from the appropriate Dean. The PGC’s Coordinator and Advisory Committee review
applications, sending their recommendation to the Vice President of Educational Affairs for final approval.

Last fall, I was selected as IC. My focus of study was to develop a partnership model for uniting CLC’s —
faculty with local business and government resources. Specifically, I would target commonalities, areas of
shared interest, and mutually beneficial junctions. Strategies to develop the proposed model would include
surveying faculty to determine their partnership needs, contacting business and government agencies to
identify areas of expertise and willingness to participate, construction of a "Faculty Guide to Local
Business/Government Partnerships," and distribution of the guide with explanation as required. What does
this partnership model have to do with the title of this abstract, "Transitions. . ."? That's the curious ‘part;
read on.

A questionnaire (What can local business/government do for you?) was administered to one hundred
seventy full-time faculty during faculty orientation week. Twenty-four percent (n=41) responded. An
analysis of the responses revealed an extraordinary demand for consulting work. Here was my dilemma.
Should I reconsider my original proposal? I’d have to start again from square one: confirming the need,
assessing administrative support, resubmitting my refined proposal to the PGC. Besides, this course would
be different: satisfying faculty's economic needs. I thought: More work?,$?!!

Square One: contacting seven key administrators to assess their support for a refined PGC course that
would better prepare full-time faculty for outside consulting work, while enriching their classroom presence.
The highest ranking administrator expressed support for the course, if it were aligned with the mission of
CLC’s Center for Economic Development as well as relevant union and college guidelines.

I submitted a refined proposal, along with a report on the enthusiasm level of key administrators, to the
PGC’s Advisory Committee. After a personal presentation to the committee, "Transitions: From the
Classroom to Consulting," was born: a course designed to help full-time faculty find, negotiate, and
complete outside consulting assignments which were personally, professionally, and economically rewarding
and consistent with union guidelines regarding outside commitments.

Literature was reviewed; relevant trade associations were contacted. All faculty expressing an interest in
consulting work on the questionnaire were contacted for specific input. This research, plus my industrial
experience planning, researching, and developing educational programs, provided the course’s
infrastructure.

"Transitions . . ." broke down into five instructional units: marketing, demand analysis, professionalism,
special considerations, and face-to-face contact with practicing consultants and prospective clients. The

 

oy Community College Leadership Program, The University of Texas at Austin, EDB 348, Austin, Texas 78712