June 2005
Concept Paper
for the
In the November 2004 Change Magazine,
George Boggs describes in Community
Colleges in a Perfect Storm that “the nation’s community colleges now face
unprecedented challenges.” This
proposal describes the Chancellor’s Strategic Initiatives Agenda (SIA), which
seeks to meet these challenges head-on with action toward new vision and
leadership. The purpose of this agenda
would be to engage in the investigation and cultivation of broad-based, and
strategic initiatives that would foster and enhance the position of the
Maricopa Community Colleges as a leader in community college education. By applying the intellectual capital of
Maricopa faculty and staff, Chancellor Rufus Glasper with the support from a
special assistant would be reflective of, responsive to, and actuate new
directions for our diverse community needs.
This agenda as the
creative body and energy for community college leadership can foster forward
thinking and motion, spur change and invent a new future through mutual
dependence and energetic, dynamic forces in and among the Maricopa
colleges. The Chancellor with his
Special Assistant for SIA would engage in regular interactions and partnerships
with internal and external leadership to afford opportunities for creativity
and insights through questioning, out-of-the-box thinking and deep
inquiry.
As a direct report to the Chancellor, this
position will support the Chancellor’s greater vision and understanding for
Maricopa and its future. The Special Assistant’s signature would be agile and
intentional in cultivating meaningful relationships that encourage open
involvement for a future and systemic view.
This agenda would inspire, question, and/or nurture ideas and intentions,
including sometimes risky or difficult ones, so that the Maricopa district can
redefine and lead the nation as the community college innovator for the next
century.
The Special
Assistant to the Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives may collaborate and
convene, but not replicate efforts with existing groups and entities within the
Maricopa Community Colleges. The intent
for collaboration and interaction is to align, complement, and enhance mission
and goals of such college and district departments and offices, but not to
duplicate, circumvent, or supersede them.
For example, the Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction and Office
of Strategic Planning are important as existing support services and functions
within the district and among colleges, while the SIA would be engaged broader,
newer, and global initiatives, but not usurp MCLI or Strategic Planning’s
endeavors.
The
Chancellor’s Special Assistant for SIA’s role with internal groups and offices
would be to serve primarily as a conduit to new and diverse knowledge and
insights, but not to dictate to or direct existing college and district
priorities. It would serve as a
knowledge and creative resource to all bodies, such as the Chancellor’s Executive
Council, the Maricopa Governing Board and colleges and district offices. And, SIA would complement and coordinate,
but not intrude or impose on individual college’s or district department’s
needs. The Strategic Initiatives Agenda
would thus serve as the Chancellor’s “skunk works” enterprise.
It would also be necessary for the Special
Assistant; however, to communicate and coordinate closely with college and
district functions, so that innovation can be fully realized at all
levels. This Strategic Initiatives
Agenda would reinforce “big ideas,” creativity, and a sense of hope and
proactive outlook with the best and creative minds within and outside the
district. It is about systemic change
and influence to raise higher and greater expectations for those who believe in
the community college spirit and legacy.
The Special Assistant to
the Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives Agenda position will be a rotating
appointment to be held by a faculty member for no more than a three-year
cycle. Rather than create another
office or layer, this position is temporal, flexible, and nimble. The faculty member serving in this position
should have a strong commitment and a grand view of organizational complexity,
systems thinking, innovation, the mission of the community college movement,
and the future of community college leadership, as well as practical, diverse,
and realistic college experiences and perspectives. The Special Assistant must have the courage and foresight to ask
“what if, why or why not?” and to
sustain difficult dialogues without prejudice or presuppositions, so that new
worldviews and the context for community college education can be transformed
with the cooperation and collaboration of colleges and other leadership
entities. This person would not
represent the views of the Faculty Executive Council or the Maricopa Faculty
Association, but as a faculty voice and view in the larger schema of the
academy.
Potential projects and
examples of activity
The Special Assistant
will work closely with the Chancellor on projects and activity that are often
broad in scope. This person will have
assignments, which may not have clear definition of process, but should include
expected systemic outcomes. They could
include:
·
Investigating models
for new curriculum structures, i.e., P-20 education;
·
Fostering difficult
dialogues to enhance partnerships; and to define relevant and meaningful
transformational outcomes with higher education institutions and public/private
sector organizations, in such areas as diversity as a community value, student
transformation, community engagement, equity and opportunity, social good of
community colleges, etc.;
·
Exploring and framing a
larger content and dialogue on the marriage of globalization and sustainable
environments with experts and interested faculty and staff;
·
Asking the difficult
and different questions to suspend disbelief and to trigger creative and
practical thinking for recasting the new community college with all
stakeholders;
·
Assisting and brokering
with various internal groups to transition from ideas or theories to practice
or diffusion of change with the Chancellor; and
·
framing the broader
vision and foci of community college education with national policy and
leadership associations and institutions such as the League for Innovation,
AACC, American Council on Education, and Business and Higher Education Policy
Forum.
For the Chancellor and district at large:
§
Opportunity to frame and cultivate strategic
initiatives and grand vision
§
Ability to engage in ongoing discussion on such
areas as broad and futuristic academic leadership, global and civic engagement,
social responsibility, and the designing of the educated community and
workforce for the rest of this century
§
Research and investigation of far-reaching
initiatives in a dynamic and flexible manner, much like an incubator for
creative ideas and strategic visioning to practical reality
§
Ability to foster larger and deeper vision of
community college leadership at the national and international levels
§
Creates and sustains meaningful and relevant
exchange and discourse in higher learning
For the faculty identified as the Special
Assistant to the Chancellor:
§
Opportunity to understand community college
leadership from a systemic and comprehensive perspective
§
Provides fellowship and learning experiences in
community college leadership
§
Crafts and communicates insights and
perspectives in academic leadership and values in dialogues and discourse with
administrative and executive groups locally and nationally
§
Engages in generative and formative processes
that influence diverse thinking and reinvigorate the community college mission
and values
§
Makes meaningful and lasting differences and
transformation as intellectual entrepreneur and catalyst for growth,
resilience, and change