6/4/2009 3:56:49 PM
College of the North Atlantic (CNA) wants to boost its reputation from good to great and become an institution that that has the admiration of students, employees and administrators everywhere.
That was the message conveyed by CNA President, Jean Madill, at the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) annual conference held in Charlottetown, PEI last week.
Madill was presenting a session entitled, Charting our Course: From Good to Great with the college’s Dean of Business and Information Technology, Mary Vaughan, and Baie Verte Campus Administrator Emily Foster.
“The core of our being is serving the needs of our learners,” Madill emphasized, “but we are also really engaging our employees and because of that we are increasing their sense of value to CNA. When you talk about shared leadership there is nothing better than teamwork.”
The activity of engaging CNA employees has been ongoing since Madill stepped into the role of President in 2007. In that time, two-way flow of information and ideas has become common place in the everyday workings of the college’s 17 campuses and headquarters location.
The program development department has also been very active in the last two years. Collaborative methods are being used to establish new programs while ensuring existing ones are in line with the needs of the community and industry stakeholders.
“We brought our faculty members in business and information technology together and collaborated on all the programs currently offered. This is being done with everyone on board,” said Vaughan. “The best part is that people are not mandated to take part, they do so because of their love of the program. Our curriculum teams are looking at where we are and where we want to go.”
As an institution, CNA has become conscious of the fact that learning, at any level, is vital to the growth of an organization.
“Continuous learning is very important, however, it is not important to only have a lot of it. The main objective is to accomplish what you can with the budget and resources that you have,” explains Vaughan.
To further illustrate this, the Baie Verte campus of CNA is located 40 kilometres off the Trans Canada Highway with a staff complement of 20 that cater to 154 students each year. Though it is not a large campus, the administrators, faculty and staff have been able to pursue a number of professional development activities over the last six months. So many that Foster says it normally would have taken three years to accomplish this much activity.
“We have been able to take advantage of opportunities such as media training, an instructional skills workshop at College of the North Atlantic – Qatar, project management, attend a learner services conference and in-house training on new equipment, to name a few,” she states, further explaining that the close relationship between the campus and the community plays a part in the dedication of the employees.
“The campus has become an integrated part of the community and we have no anonymity around the community now. I personally have been involved in teaching three generations of one family. That shows the long standing history that we have.”
While diversity is considered a strength of the college, it can also prove to be an obstacle. That’s why the Inukshuk has been adopted as the unofficial symbol to the college’s approach. Each rock of the native figure has independent significance, but when fully constructed it is a reminder that all efforts are appreciated and necessary to establish a team.
Madill says the college strives to instill that type of behavior in its graduates.
“The Inukshuk needs all rocks to work together in order for it to stay upright. We are empowering our students to train and become the best they can be.”
The college and its students are on a continuous journey from good to great.
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For more information contact:
Roger Hulan
Communications Specialist
College of the North Atlantic
(709) 643-7938
roger.hulan@cna.nl.ca