Over the summer, each member of the President's staff will take over this Wednesday Message to share his or her response on change, learning, students and community colleges. They will reflect on how swirling changes in higher education impact their work, their office/division, and their focus on student success. This week's message comes from Todd Oldham, Vice President of Economic Development and Innovative Workforce Services.
Change, Economic Development and the Completion Agenda
Change can be both exciting and uncomfortable. How a person views change depends a lot on the perspective they take as to the benefit of the change relative to its cost. Change in regards to overcoming the challenges of low college completion is significant in terms of workforce and economic development. From a workforce development perspective, completion means the creation of a new worker in the regional labor supply. A local business has gained a qualified worker allowing the organization to remain competitive, grow and eventually create more opportunities for new hires across their organization. For the newly employed student, completion means they achieved their educational goal and having been prepared for a career, they can begin earning a return on their investment of time and money. In many cases, a completion means we as a college have collectively provided a better future for a family and in the best cases, begun the process of changing a family’s economic future. If you accept this perspective, then change to achieve greater completion is clearly significant, powerful and economic in scope - the benefits outweighing the cost.
As Terry O’Banion notes in his abstract, "Change and the Completion Agenda," sustaining authentic organizational change happens through shared purpose and culture. Whether we always recognize it or not, in effect, all of us at MCC are in an economic and workforce development role. Each of us shares with and contributes to the chain of impact that influences students on their progression toward completion. As the college continues to explore new investments of resources, best practices and facilities to support our students in achieving higher rates of completion, I believe it is helpful to see the completion agenda as an agenda with significant regional economic and workforce implications. This perspective builds on the distinct economic and workforce mission of MCC in seeing our existing and future students as community assets, assets necessary for the future economic vitality of the Finger Lakes region.
I look forward to being a part of the change as MCC continues to invest in resources to support higher rates of completion. The benefits are powerful, creating a richer future for our community and our students.
I look forward to your comments and thoughts on the blog.
Todd M. Oldham, Vice President
Economic Development and Innovative Workforce Services
08/01/2012 |