(SSS LA SS RARE OSC RAR A SR REA ATS A AV TREAT ERE SUM TE EE AE A PS STR REN SUNRISE N,

spirit and makes a commitment to give us a 100 percent
return on our investment. Teachers should know when
to push and when to pull, how to motivate and how to
evaluate. They should care enough to extend their best
effort. And on days when they just do not have their best
to give, they should be strong enough to say, “I need your
help to make it today.”

Dennis Gittinger, Instructor, Mathematics
Curtis Martin, Student

For further information, contact Dennis Gittinger, St.
Philip’s College, 1300 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78203.

eee
A College Council With a Difference:

A Twist to the Committee Structure

The college council at Canadore College is unique. It
includes 24 elected members divided into four task
groups: eight faculty, eight students, four administrators,
and four support staff. The council’s mandate is to advise
the president by making recommendations on academic
and policy issues affecting students. Today, in a college
workplace emphasizing collegiality, consultation, and
integration of functions, the council takes an innovative
approach to decision making.

Each task group includes at least five members from
the council and one representative from the faculty,
student body, administration, and support staff. Each
group elects a facilitator to coordinate strategies for task
completion. The task groups may recruit external
resource people to provide extraordinary or special skills
or knowledge. These external resources may be drawn
from other college council task groups, the college staff,
or the community-at-large. The facilitator is responsible
for their orientation.

As an issue originates within the college community, a
council member presents it to the council in the form of a
proposed task. The council determines the validity of the
task (as defined in its mandate). Then tasks are priori-
tized and assigned in sequence to the individual groups
for their discussion. When a group completes a task and
is assigned another, the original group of five members
remains, but the facilitator and the external resources
usually change. Recommendations from the task groups
are adopted by the college council and are forwarded to

the college president. The president presents recommen-
dations to the Board of Governors for consideration.

This task group structure facilitates the effective and
efficient use of human resources. Task resolution be-
comes a shared process throughout the college and
community.

George Burton, Associate Registrar
For further information contact the author at Canadore

College, P. O. Box 5001, North Bay, Ontario P1B 8K9
CANADA.

 

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor

November 19, 1993 Val. XV, No. 29
©The University of Texas at Austin, 1993
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, Collage of Education, EDB 348, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
78712, (512) 471-7545. Funding in part by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and the Sid W. Richardson Foundation. Issued weekly
when classes are in session during fall and spring terms. ISSN 0199-106X.