Setting the Course

The staff at IC are as critical to our success as the faculty, students, and alumni.

Photo by Sheryl D. Sinkow

Ithaca College is all about students, and we are very proud of them as well as of our faculty, who are exemplary practitioners and stellar teachers, and our alumni, who have achieved so much in so many disciplines. But the 1,300 staff and administrators who help keep this academic institution running smoothly are critical to the success of the students, faculty, and alumni of Ithaca College. Without them we wouldn't have quite so much to be proud of.

You will read in this issue about Ithaca College LeaderShip, a program we instituted just two years ago that is having a significant positive effect on the staff who have participated, consequently enriching the experience of our students. Vice presidents and administrative assistants, deans and directors, facilities attendants and research analysts -- participants in the LeaderShip program -- represent the breadth and depth of the College community, coming from all five schools and more than 30 offices and departments. And as you will read in the story, the program's subtitle, "navigating toward excellence," is not just a slogan, but an objective that we actively pursue. The program is predicated on the premise that Ithaca College needs to develop leadership at all levels of the organization, not just for those in senior positions.

"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other." --John F. Kennedy

One of the nine goals that emerged as we fashioned the Ithaca College Institutional Plan from 1998 to 2001 was to enhance opportunities for employee development. Much was already being done in that area, but in order to ensure that the College could continue to recruit and retain our most important asset -- our human resources -- we announced a series of implementation strategies, including the encouragement and support of staff development programs. Under the able direction of Mary Tomaselli, who is the first person to hold the position of staff development manager in the Office of Human Resources, we have been turning those strategies into realities.

As a complement to the LeaderShip program, which enrolls a cohort of 24 to 26 employees in a full-year program, we have created a Day of Learning to allow the entire staff community to participate in a single jam-packed day of stimulating, interactive, educational, and entertaining workshops. Held three times so far, the Day of Learning has included programs on such diverse personal and professional development topics as investing, customer service, feng shui, speed reading, office ergonomics, job interviewing, and defensive driving. I am particularly excited by our plans for the employee program scheduled for this year's winter break. As I reported in the 2003/2 issue of the ICQ, our incoming class participated in the inaugural freshman summer reading initiative, which involved a reading and discussion of James McBride's memoir The Color of Water. This event introduced incoming students to Ithaca College as a community of learners and offered them a shared academic experience that included students, faculty, and staff. The initiative was an overwhelming success, and interest among employees has been so high that a discussion day just for staff is being held in January.

A wide variety of staff development opportunities takes place on a regular basis, from meetings of the College chapter of Toastmasters International to conversational Spanish practice sessions to workshops on successful event planning.

As Lou Gerstner writes in Who Says Elephants Can't Dance, "In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value." The investment that the College makes in staff development pays dividends for the entire campus. The development of the intellectual, creative, technical, and emotional capacities of Ithaca College employees is critical to their professional and personal development -- and ultimately affects the quality of service they provide. Ensuring that our employees receive ongoing development opportunities is essential to the College's future.

Peggy R. Williams