[Dutlook A Publication of Florida Community College at May/June 1994 Vol. 10, No. Jacksonville FCC] goes on a 6Quality Quest9 Last year‘s visit by the Southern Associa tion of Colleges and Schools (SACS) reaccreditation team was an overwhelm’ ingly positive one for FCC]. To maintain this current position of excellence, a steering committee, chaired by College President Charles Spence and composed of campus presidents, vice presidents and the presidents of Faculty Senate and the Career Employees Council, has been developing a quality—based program to ensure continuous quality. Quality Quest, as it known, was created to position FCC] as a premier — if not the premier — community college in the nation. During the course of Quality Quest’s development, however, College staff who have not been involved in the actual planning process are somewhat confused about the intention of the program and how it will affect them personally. To answer these concerns, Outlook asked Quality Quest leaders Spence and Associate Vice President Charlotte Minter the questions that are on the minds of FCC] employees. What are we hoping to accomplish through Quality Quest? Minter: Although the College doesn’t have an actual product that we produce like businesses do, we are judged on the students who leave here. Our goal, then, is to be number one in the country in terms of academic preparation and workplace training. Spence: While our overall goal is to improve quality and be number one in the country, I am hoping to focus on three outcomes: 1) Can we increase student success and document it? 2) Can we make sure that we are providing the best and most efficient services possible? 3) Can we be more creative in the management of our resources? What does the recently announced reorgania zation have to do with Quality Quest, and what is going happen in the future? Spence: The actual details of the reorgar nization are still being discussed and haven’t yet been voted on by the Board of Trustees, but what we are proposing is a move toward a campusbased decision—making model. Instead of the centralized system we are using now, we want to shift the decision— making authority from top management to the individuals who work closest to our day— today operations. The result will move decision making closer to staff and students, which will, in turn, help us implement Quality Quest. Minter: Say, for instance, a student at South Campus has a problem that needs to be handled by an assistant dean of a specific discipline. If that particular dean is on North Campus, the student will have a more difficult time accessing him or her. The change to campus based deans will allow students to solve all of their issues on campus. We are hoping this action will influence student success and increase quality. If I am not one of the individuals directly impacted by this reorganization, will Quality Quest still affect me.7 Spence: Every FCC] employee will be impacted by Quality Quest, from receive ing training on how to do their jobs better to being called upon to help determine how we can make the College‘s operations more efficient. Minter: More specifically, Quality Quest will improve the College’s employee training program by facilitating staff registration in College courses and implementing a tracking system for professional development. (See related story on page two.) Over the next few years we will also look at the per; formance appraisal process and reward systems. And we are going to move toward working more in teams — both within departments and between departments to improve our processes. What other kinds of Collegewide changes can we expect to see as a result of Quality Quest? Minter: One change is going to be the development of more accountability. FCC] will set up a real—time data tracking system that will better enable us to determine our state of business — locate trouble spots and identify areas where we are doing well. This type of system will help us to intervene and make corrections on a more timely basis than is currently possible. The College’s budgeting process is also going to change. The new process, which should be in place by fall 1995, will match the campus—based management organization. How long is the process of implementing Quality Quest going to take? Spence: I think the implementation of Quality Quest is the most important chal’ lenge that I will face at the College. As a result, we are devoting a considerable amount of time and energy into developing the program; I would expect it to take four to continued on page eight Annual commencement ceremony saves the best for last Students were anxious to hear the words of College administrators as they conferred associate’s degrees and technical certifi— cates. Audience members were eager to hear the personal messages of the com; mencement speakers. But perhaps the most eagerly awaited speaker of the evening was District Board of Trustees Chairman Howard Kelley. “I am the speaker you have all been waiting for I’m the last,” Kelley told the standing room only crowd at the College’s 27th annual commencement ceremony. But before FCC]’s most recent graduates could run off to celebrate their achieve— ments, Kelley left them with some words of Shilene Singleton, 24, never gave much thought to going to college when she dropped out of high school in 10th grade to have a baby. Singleton, who received her GED diploma in 1988, graduated from FCC] with an associate in arts degree and a 3.3 GPA. wisdom. “So much has been said tonight about looking forward. To that I would add: don’t be afraid to look back," he said. “Look back on those individuals who believed in you and supported you." And use that encouragement, he said, to continue to be successful. Though approximately 1,000 students received their associate’s degrees and techni' cal certificates last month, 600 participated in the actual commencement ceremony. After a lengthy career in the construc’ tion business, ]eff Cook, 40, received his associate in science degree in nursing from FCC]. Cook, who decided to pursue nursing as a career because of his own experience as a patient, graduated with a 3.4 GPA. For ]udi Spencer, attending FCC] moved her far from her home in Antigua, West Indies, but it also moved her closer to her goals. Spencer, who came to FCC] as part of the CASS program, graduated with an AS. in restaurant management and a 3.8 GPA. , OCR Text: [Dutlook A Publication of Florida Community College at May/June 1994 Vol. 10, No. Jacksonville FCC] goes on a 6Quality Quest9 Last year‘s visit by the Southern Associa tion of Colleges and Schools (SACS) reaccreditation team was an overwhelm’ ingly positive one for FCC]. To maintain this current position of excellence, a steering committee, chaired by College President Charles Spence and composed of campus presidents, vice presidents and the presidents of Faculty Senate and the Career Employees Council, has been developing a quality—based program to ensure continuous quality. Quality Quest, as it known, was created to position FCC] as a premier — if not the premier — community college in the nation. During the course of Quality Quest’s development, however, College staff who have not been involved in the actual planning process are somewhat confused about the intention of the program and how it will affect them personally. To answer these concerns, Outlook asked Quality Quest leaders Spence and Associate Vice President Charlotte Minter the questions that are on the minds of FCC] employees. What are we hoping to accomplish through Quality Quest? Minter: Although the College doesn’t have an actual product that we produce like businesses do, we are judged on the students who leave here. Our goal, then, is to be number one in the country in terms of academic preparation and workplace training. Spence: While our overall goal is to improve quality and be number one in the country, I am hoping to focus on three outcomes: 1) Can we increase student success and document it? 2) Can we make sure that we are providing the best and most efficient services possible? 3) Can we be more creative in the management of our resources? What does the recently announced reorgania zation have to do with Quality Quest, and what is going happen in the future? Spence: The actual details of the reorgar nization are still being discussed and haven’t yet been voted on by the Board of Trustees, but what we are proposing is a move toward a campusbased decision—making model. Instead of the centralized system we are using now, we want to shift the decision— making authority from top management to the individuals who work closest to our day— today operations. The result will move decision making closer to staff and students, which will, in turn, help us implement Quality Quest. Minter: Say, for instance, a student at South Campus has a problem that needs to be handled by an assistant dean of a specific discipline. If that particular dean is on North Campus, the student will have a more difficult time accessing him or her. The change to campus based deans will allow students to solve all of their issues on campus. We are hoping this action will influence student success and increase quality. If I am not one of the individuals directly impacted by this reorganization, will Quality Quest still affect me.7 Spence: Every FCC] employee will be impacted by Quality Quest, from receive ing training on how to do their jobs better to being called upon to help determine how we can make the College‘s operations more efficient. Minter: More specifically, Quality Quest will improve the College’s employee training program by facilitating staff registration in College courses and implementing a tracking system for professional development. (See related story on page two.) Over the next few years we will also look at the per; formance appraisal process and reward systems. And we are going to move toward working more in teams — both within departments and between departments to improve our processes. What other kinds of Collegewide changes can we expect to see as a result of Quality Quest? Minter: One change is going to be the development of more accountability. FCC] will set up a real—time data tracking system that will better enable us to determine our state of business — locate trouble spots and identify areas where we are doing well. This type of system will help us to intervene and make corrections on a more timely basis than is currently possible. The College’s budgeting process is also going to change. The new process, which should be in place by fall 1995, will match the campus—based management organization. How long is the process of implementing Quality Quest going to take? Spence: I think the implementation of Quality Quest is the most important chal’ lenge that I will face at the College. As a result, we are devoting a considerable amount of time and energy into developing the program; I would expect it to take four to continued on page eight Annual commencement ceremony saves the best for last Students were anxious to hear the words of College administrators as they conferred associate’s degrees and technical certifi— cates. Audience members were eager to hear the personal messages of the com; mencement speakers. But perhaps the most eagerly awaited speaker of the evening was District Board of Trustees Chairman Howard Kelley. “I am the speaker you have all been waiting for I’m the last,” Kelley told the standing room only crowd at the College’s 27th annual commencement ceremony. But before FCC]’s most recent graduates could run off to celebrate their achieve— ments, Kelley left them with some words of Shilene Singleton, 24, never gave much thought to going to college when she dropped out of high school in 10th grade to have a baby. Singleton, who received her GED diploma in 1988, graduated from FCC] with an associate in arts degree and a 3.3 GPA. wisdom. “So much has been said tonight about looking forward. To that I would add: don’t be afraid to look back," he said. “Look back on those individuals who believed in you and supported you." And use that encouragement, he said, to continue to be successful. Though approximately 1,000 students received their associate’s degrees and techni' cal certificates last month, 600 participated in the actual commencement ceremony. After a lengthy career in the construc’ tion business, ]eff Cook, 40, received his associate in science degree in nursing from FCC]. Cook, who decided to pursue nursing as a career because of his own experience as a patient, graduated with a 3.4 GPA. For ]udi Spencer, attending FCC] moved her far from her home in Antigua, West Indies, but it also moved her closer to her goals. Spencer, who came to FCC] as part of the CASS program, graduated with an AS. in restaurant management and a 3.8 GPA. , Z ArchiveInABox,JAX,Outlook Newsletter Resorted,1994,May/June 1994,May/June 1994 1, May/June 1994 1