Winners of the 2012 National Consortium for Continuous Improvement in Higher Education (NCCI) "Leveraging Excellence Award"

WEST HARTFORD, Conn., May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Consortium for Continuous Improvement in Higher Education (NCCI) has announced winners of the 2012 Leveraging Excellence Award.  The award, sponsored and supported by Follett Higher Education Group, recognizes best practices that have had broad impact within the higher education community. NCCI selected the Business Higher Education Forum for its initiative to increase the number of U.S. students graduating in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, and Rutgers University for the development and national influence of its organizational self-assessment and planning framework. Selected for honorable mention was the University of Central Florida for its TLE TeachLivE mixed-reality teaching environment that supports teacher practice.

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Business-Higher Education Forum

"Why is the U.S. not producing more STEM graduates when they are critical to our economic global competitiveness?" To address this question, the nation's oldest organization of senior business and higher education executives, the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF), has crafted a national strategy and identified evidence-based practices to increase STEM student retention, particularly among women and underrepresented minorities; deepen STEM learning; and align undergraduate education to regional workforce requirements. Additionally, BHEF, in partnership with member company Raytheon, created the first of its kind system dynamics model, the BHEF U.S. STEM Education Model®, which helps policymakers, educators, and researchers map the complex structure of the U.S. STEM education system and recognize potential solutions that could help strengthen student outcomes in STEM. The Model tracks students as they flow through the education pipeline from kindergarten through college and simulates the impact of policy interventions and practices on the number of students who receive an undergraduate STEM degree.   

Through its higher education partners, leaders at many colleges and universities are embracing BHEF systemic reform solutions and the BHEF U.S. STEM Education Model to introduce techniques which encourage completion with STEM programs and to meet major workforce needs. The Association of American Universities (AAU) has introduced a five-year project to transform teaching in STEM undergraduate disciplines. Washington University and the University System of Maryland are using the results of the model to apply interventions to increase the number of STEM graduates.  "BHEF focuses on how industry and higher education can inform each other on how to get the future they want. Industry has become part of the solution because BHEF is changing the framework for the conversation," said Nancy Shapiro, Associate Vice Chancellor, University System of Maryland.

Rutgers University

The Excellence in Higher Education (EHE) model addresses the challenge of meaningfully integrating assessment, planning and improvement efforts in colleges and universities.  Developed at Rutgers University Center for Organizational Development and Leadership, by Brent Ruben, the EHE framework serves as a comprehensive guide to institutional, departmental and program self-assessment that is applicable to academic and administrative units of all sizes and functions.  The program integrates the Malcolm Baldrige Award criteria for assessing organizations with the standards and language developed and used by accrediting agencies. 

Approximately 4,000 copies of the Excellence in Higher Education Guide and Workbook have been distributed since 1994, when the first edition was published. Formalized EHE programs have been implemented by approximately 45 Rutgers schools and departments, and approximately 40 other colleges and universities--in academic departments and centers, student affairs, service areas and administrative units, and across entire institutions. 

This LE Award also recognizes the contributions of seven institutions that participated in the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) Challenge Project, an initiative sponsored by a grant from the Lumina Foundation to implement the EHE/Baldrige model and document its impact.  Within these institutions—American University, the California State University System, Loras College, Marist College, Rogue Community College, the University of Georgia, and the University of North Texas Health Sciences Center—the EHE program was applied in a range of project areas, including budget and finance, institutional planning, accreditation, and critical services. All achieved valuable outcomes, many of which have been shared through presentations and national publications.

Dr. Peter Keller, Provost and Vice-President for Academic Affairs, Mansfield University, where EHE is being used as an assessment and planning tool across the entire institution, commented: "We have to be accountable for assessment and improving our processes and the model makes it simple for all of us. Use of EHE has changed the tone of the conversation in departments and given people ways to coalesce around goals that are clear and processes that make sense for them."

University of Central Florida

The TLE TeachLivE lab receives Honorable Mention for teaching improvements

The TLE TeachLivE Lab is a (part real, part synthetic) teaching environment supporting teacher practice in pedagogy and content. Helping people learn from mistakes and recover from them in a risk-free environment, the lab has a positive impact on teacher preparation, recruitment, and retention by allowing teachers to hone their skills with virtual children. Initially developed at the University of Central Florida in an interdisciplinary partnership within the university, the project has been leveraged to include partners from 11 universities and also is used for training outside of education.

In recognition of these achievements, the 2012 Leveraging Excellence Award will be presented at NCCI's 13th Annual Conference in Alexandria, Virginia to:

• Brian Fitzgerald, Chief Executive Officer, Business-Higher Education Forum
• Brent Ruben, Executive Director, Center for Organizational Development and Leadership, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, along with Nana An from American University and representatives of seven participating institutions.
• Charles Hughes, Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Central Florida

Conference participants will have an opportunity to learn first-hand from these recipients.

Contacts
Maury Cotter
Leveraging Excellence Program Director
(608) 262-9313, (608) 335-4865

Christopher G. Blake, CAE
Administrative Director
(860) 995-5734-office
(860) 995-5734-cell

The Leveraging Excellence Award Judging Panel included: Mohammad H. Qayoumi, President, San Jose State University – who chairs the panel; Ronald A. Crutcher, President, Wheaton College; Muriel A. Howard, President; American Association of State Colleges and Universities;  Lou Anna K. Simon, President, Michigan State University; and David K. Skorton, President, Cornell University.

Follett Higher Education Group (http://www.fheg.follett.com/) of Oak Brook, Illinois, is the leading provider of bookstore services and the foremost supplier of used books in North America and provides sponsorship support for the NCCI Leveraging Excellence Award. Follett serves five million students and over 400,000 faculty members through more than 850 campus stores. "We thank Follett for its strong support of this program. With the challenges facing higher education today, it's more important than ever for NCCI to promote the dissemination of innovative and effective programs and this Award program does just that," said NCCI President Kathryn L. Burkgren, Director of Organizational Development for Faculty and Staff at Cornell University.

NCCI represents a wide range of member institutions, with many individuals working in organizational development, quality assessment, planning, and institutional improvement. Its programs promote sharing best practices and supporting professional development of individual members. To learn more about NCCI and the Leveraging Excellence program, and to view information on past Leveraging Excellence

Award winners and the annual conference where the awards will be presented, please visit www.ncci-cu.org

SOURCE Follett Higher Education Group