With a consistent focus on student success, at the start of the spring 2019 semester, faculty and staff gathered for academic retreats to prepare for the semester ahead, review progress on our shared College goals, and talk about new outcomes we want to create in HHD.
A staff retreat on January 15th was followed by a faculty retreat on the 17th. Each event included a welcome from Dean Farrell J. Webb, Associate Dean Dimitri Tamalis and Special Assistant to the Dean, Frankie Augustin. Following an introduction and thanks from the Dean, Tamalis and Augustin provided overviews at each of the events and initiated discussions leading to topic-specific breakout sessions.
The first order of business at each retreat was to review the tenets of our retreats from the start of the fall 2018 semester when Dean Webb shared his vision of HHD as being supported by four pillars, all reliant on each other to create a foundation of strength for the College: Student Success, Employee Success, Research Success, and Reputational Success. Next steps were to develop the make-up of these pillars. Each staff or faculty member was encouraged to focus on the pillar they found most compelling—the objective was for each person to follow their interest and strengths.
The small group sessions ran about 45 minutes, and as a wrap up, each group reported to the larger group, sharing perspectives, insights and ideas and potential projects for further development. As a brief example of the themes identified at the retreats, one group looked at the human factors behind student success, another explored communications and messaging for students, and another explored ways to strengthen our shared visions and focus on student, faculty and staff experiences to make our four pillars even stronger.
Though all participants of the retreats know part of the story, there is more to it: In follow up Tamalis and Augustin have been working with the Dean and Darryl Tillman, President of Ryltil Consulting Services, to review the presentations and strategize follow up. The voices of our College are encouraging, engaging and positive. The retreats confirmed what anecdotal evidence has always suggested: all of our ideas together give us our greatest strength in shaping the future to stand strong together.
Sp2019
Jean O'Sullivan/HHD