I had the great pleasure of participating in one of Florida State Senator Ken Pruitt’s 21st Century Summits last week. Senator Pruitt is the incoming president of the state senate in Florida and is a major champion of education. He holds these summits on different topics to bring diverse leaders together in what we would call "catalytic conversations" about key topics in the state. Much like our earlier entry about Erskine Bowles’ inaugural address, the conversation here was about K-20, lifelong learning, and the increasing ties to economic development. Learning and earning indeed. All sectors from across Florida were represented and did an outstanding job of outlining the challenges and opportunities of the road ahead. Just take a look at the agenda to get an idea of the dialogues they put together.
We were hosted by Indian River Community College (IRCC) and their president Dr. Ed Massey. IRCC is one of those special community colleges that fully embraces its role as an educational catalyst. In addition to the standard comprehensive community college programs, they run a magnet high school, a dynamic adult learning center, and are home to the newly minted Kight Center for Emerging Technologies. I joked that the Kight Center was the kind of education facility God would build if he had the money! It is home to cutting-edge biotechnology, engineering, e-learning programs and more.
The stunning Kight Center was a perfect venue for these catalytic conversations. Senator Pruitt and team did an outstanding job of pulling in diverse constituencies to really hit some hard topics head on. Instead of pitting sectors against each other—particularly surrounding a topic like career and technical education that can lead to uncomfortable elitism—he sent the powerful message that it’s all about how we work together to position the state to play a successful part on the global stage. With conversations like this going on, coupled with the solid educational leadership in the state, Florida is more likely than most to be ready for the road ahead.
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Catalytic Conversations come to North Hennepin Community College
Thanks, Mark, for visiting NHCC (Brooklyn Park, Minnesota)and bringing Catalytic Conversations to our campus on Jan. 12, '07. As I met people in the hall afterwards, I heard comments like "I can't remember the last time I went to a session where I have been intellectually challenged on so many sides re: education". One person said they left the session "...proud to be an educator during these times." We all get bogged down in the day-to-day activities of our jobs, even though we know (somewhere in the back of our minds)that the reasons for choosing this profession had to do with making changes possible for others and improving peoples'lives. But those lofty goals get lost in the shuffle of daily activities, mandates from somewhere, ill-tempered responses to colleagues in times of conflict and stress.
The challenge to campus leaders is to keep the "lofty goals" in front of the campus community. The day-to-day tasks and their accompanying irritants cannot become the rallying places for our mission. They happen, they must be dealt with, but they are bricks on a road--keep the destination in mind as you travel the road and don't stumble over the bricks.
Mark, you've reminded us at NHCC why we're here and I believe we will keep the conversations and the mission going.
In the FYI, department, there was a news story on the radio today re: graduation rates at the U of MN. 'U' Announces Improved Graduation Rates The perceived importance of graduating "... in a timely manner" doesn't help our mission at the Community Colleges.
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