SPC at 2018 NISOD

BIG WEEK FOR ST. PHILIP'S COLLEGE IN AUSTIN: EIGHT SPC EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED, TWO ROUNDTABLES AND FIVE BREAKOUTS LED BY 14 FROM SPC AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TEACHING AND LEADERSHIP EXCELLENCE

It was a big week in Austin for St. Philip's College employees attending a definitive gathering of community and technical college educators who are passionate about teaching and learning.

When both the Conference Program and the Excellence Awards Dinner and Celebration of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development's International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence took place earlier this week at the Hilton Austin, 14 St. Philip's College administrators, faculty and staff were among presenters during two roundtable discussions and five breakout sessions, and eight employees at the 120-year-old college were internationally recognized for performance excellence.

The events provided faculty, administrators and staff nationwide with fresh resources, ideas and solutions that drive new forms of excellence in all areas of community and technical college campuses. More than 300 sessions inspired community and technical college educators committed to improving student achievement, and while presenters came from around the globe, many present for professional development included employees from St. Philip's College.

With one presentation scheduled for Monday and six presentations scheduled for Tuesday following the award celebration on Sunday, the college shared best practices and received recognition for performance excellence.

College presenter Shanna Bradford is an administrative assistant within the college's Institutional, Planning, Research, and Effectiveness business unit.

The college program themed Faculty Credentialing: Creating and Maintaining Guidelines, Compliance, and Development explored best practices for creating faculty credential guidelines pertaining to regional program accreditation, according to Bradford and the institute. During a recent reaffirmation, St. Philip's College provided comprehensive credential documentation for its employees. Bradford was one of the presenters explaining for colleagues how a team at St. Philip's College created this documentation, ensuring that the clearly defined hiring process and other practices were documented. This institutional manual serves as starting point in the faculty hiring process at St. Philip's College.

"That was my first time presenting outside the world of literature," said Bradford. "We had a fairly small audience with a lot of questions, and one person liked our faculty credentials committee as a best practice," said Bradford.

College presenter Thermajean Jones is the academic program coordinator within the Health Sciences Division at St. Philip's College. Her team's presentation was themed Increasing Student Engagement Through Active Learning.

"We offered a master collaboration on using active learning to push a project forward. We had a lot of college educators ask us about making a presentation fit online for students," said Jones. "Online was the big audience interest. I'm an online instructor and I was able to assist," said Jones.

While St. Philip's College presenters included Jack Nawrocik (Arts and Sciences); Bradford; Blanca Cuellar (Health Sciences); Randall Dawson (Executive Cabinet); Thermajean Jones (Health Sciences); Lydia Ortega (Arts and Sciences); Tunetha Parchem (Health Sciences); Luis Lopez (Interdisciplinary Programs); Audrey Mosley (Arts and Sciences); Andrew Hill (Arts and Sciences); Mordecai Brownlee (Executive Cabinet); Amy Quesenberry (Health Sciences); Nathan Martinez (Student Success); and Yvonne Benton (Student Success), the following eight St. Philip's College employees were recognized as 2018 NISOD Excellence Awards and recipients during the institute's Excellence Awards Dinner and Celebration on Sunday in Austin.

Administrator NISOD Excellence Award recipients

• Mordecai Brownlee | Vice President of Student Success
• Randall Dawson | Vice President of Academic Success

Faculty NISOD Excellence Award recipients

• Kathryn Freeman | Assistant Professor, Program Director, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Natural Sciences
• Andrew Hill | Assistant Professor, Philosophy, Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Shaun Smith | Instructor, Automotive Technology, Transportation Services Technologies

Staff NISOD Excellence Award recipients

• Aaron Dickerson | Information and Communication Technology, Coordinator of College Technology
• Eitandria Gatlin | Counseling Resource Center, Counselor
• Joseph Hernandez | Veterans Outreach and Transition Center, Administrative Support Specialist

The following five sessions were presented in Austin by St. Philip's College:

• Technology Tools for the Classroom
• Move It: Increasing Student Engagement Through Active Learning
• Faculty Credentialing: Creating and Maintaining Guidelines, Compliance, and Development
• Using Holistic Advising Trends and Theories to Ease Students' Paranoia About the Transfer Process
• Developing Master Teachers: Enhancing Faculty Effectiveness Through Collaborative Learning Experiences

The following two roundtable discussions were presented in Austin by St. Philip's College:

• Partnering With the American Red Cross: The Exploring Humanitarian Law Program | Roundtable Discussion
• Putting the Community Back Into Community College: Ideas for Promoting Academic Program Completion | Roundtable Discussion

The institute's 2019 conference is scheduled for May 25-28 in Austin. Find details on that 2019 event throughout the year at http://www.nisod.org/.