Strategic Professional Development – Update Report 2009
#1 Describe the past year’s accomplishments and the current status of this action Project.
Our FY09 work plan was for everyone at the College to develop a personal professional
development plan and to empower them to complete this plan.
1. On April 24, 2009, everyone at the College was invited to hear Tom Wylie from
Northwestern Community College speak about the need for ongoing personal and
corporate training in light of the demands of a changing global society. Following his
presentation everyone was given the opportunity to meet in small groups with
facilitators who guided discussion and thinking about personal, department, and
college-wide professional development opportunities.
2. Following this day, a group of leaders from various college organizations met to review
the notes from April, 24 and make recommendations to the Administration for the next
step.
3. Recommendations included: requiring Human Resources to include the IPDP in
personnel files, developing funding for staff and MAC professional development and
documenting the spending of such funding, reconsider how professional development
days are scheduled and planned for 2010-11, create a web-based documenting tool,
create a line item on the budget for reporting this spending.
#2 Describe how the institution involved people in work on this action project.
The Committee that planned the April 24 brainstorming day was comprised of leaders from the
Faculty Caucus, Staff Caucus, and Mid-level Managers group as well as the leaders of PAC and
AQIP, a dean, a chair, HR Director, Facilities Director, and the Vice President for Academics.
These individuals reported back to the groups they represent and brought ideas and
suggestions to the planning group.
In addition, the entire college was involved in the April 24 brainstorming day. The feedback
everyone gave was used to form the recommendations that were presented to the President
and his staff.
Also, in a separate project – Valuing Adjunct – Stephanie Kreisher and various members of the
College are working to provide training sessions that will address the needs of these part time
employees by providing training on College computer programs like Blackboard and classroom
information like who NCState students are and how to manage them.
Finally, in June, 2009 everyone was required to submit his or her IPDP to his or her supervisor
for use in evaluating his or her performance over the 2009-2010 year as well as being used to
plan group professional development activities for the year.
#3 Describe your planned next step for this Action Project.
The College currently has a Professional Development group for faculty: the Vice President for
Academics and three faculty members representing each division working to plan the two
scheduled fall convocation days.
The staff are working with the Human Resource Director to plan a similar day in October for
staff.
The planning groups will use information gleaned from April 24, 2009 and information
contained in the Individual Professional Development plans.
Once these fall faculty and staff days occur, the group will look at evaluating these days and
making recommendations on how to best make use of them in the future, which might include
doing away with them and moving to some new model.
#4 Describe any “effective practice(s)” that resulted from your work on this Action Project.
1. Everyone was given a voice on the manner in which professional development days
were planned.
2. An Individual Professional Development Plan (IPDP) was created to encourage creative
thinking about improving one’s job, training, or knowledge. These are to become part
of a yearly evaluation process.
3. A Staff evaluation process is being reviewed and revised to include the IPDP. Faculty
evaluations are also being revised in light of a collective bargaining agreement and the
IPDP requirements.
#5 What challenges, if any, are you still facing in regards to this Action Project?
One challenge is that change comes slowly and involves discomfort and confusion. Many
college employees are reluctant to fill out the IPDP and are not sure how to follow through with
their goals outlined in the IPDP. Several employees do not see the need for or value of
professional development because of their longevity or other issues.
Another challenge is dollars to provide for the needs outlined in the IPDP. For instance if the
Student Success Center wanted to send all of its advisors to the national conference for
advisors as part of its professional development plan, where would the money come from?
Also challenging the College is how to break the old mold of professional development and
create a new model. Currently, the three faculty members and the Vice President for
Academics are a professional development team creating a plan for two fall days, and they are
being approached by IT for presentation time and the President for time, etc. This is taking us
back to the old not so effective model we are trying to change for a more effective use of time.
A final challenge we face is providing educational opportunities for our adjunct to help them
gain the credentials needed to teach courses – a master’s degree in the content area or a
bachelor’s plus eighteen graduate hours in the content area.
Add to that the fact that the College is switching to semesters in 2012, and everyone is serving
on a committee for that planning, there is no one left who is willing to serve on an ongoing
professional development committee to provide long term planning in this area.
#6 Optional question:
The timeline originally laid out suggested that there would be a web-based documentation
system created by June, 2009. This has not happened. Is there a packaged plan that can track
who does what for professional development?
There is no progress report form that can be submitted by employees to supervisors. Is there
something that another college is using that could help in this area?
If there is an effective professional development model that works for faculty, contact Margaret
Puckett at 419-755-4721 or mpuckett@ncstatecollege.edu. Similarly if there is a plan for staff,
contact Michael Moore at mmoore@ncstatecollege.edu