Institute/Session Summary:

Institute summary:

The challenges posed by the lack coordination within the various levels of education in the United States is well-documented and manifests itself in a number of ways including inadequate preparation for college-level coursework, conflicting concepts regarding student assessments, as well as issues related to access to and retention in quality education programs to name but a few.1  One strategy for facing these types of challenge has been, as Dotolo and Noftsinger have researched, for educational institutions to take a collaborative approach and explore the benefits of consortial and external partnerships.2  The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium is one example of this consortial phenomenon, thus, this session will offer participants an opportunity through guided and interactive discussion to learn more about the role of and the benefits to participating in such as collaboration.

The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC) was established in March 2000 by the presidents and chancellors of area colleges and universities to help build a healthy future for the Central Valley. By working together, higher education institutions can make a positive impact on the educational achievement of our region, and can help improve the quality of life in this important and rapidly growing part of California. The mission of the Central Valley Higher Valley Higher Education Consortium is to provide effective leadership that promotes programs, policies, and performance designed to increase higher education attainment by the people in the Central Valley. The vision of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium is for the Central Valley to be a place where higher education is valued and attained by an increasing percentage of our population resulting in an enhanced quality of life in our region.3

The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium is involved in educational promotion and awareness programs at the K-12 and college levels. Many programs are taking place now and many more are on the drawing board.  One of the of the many grass roots initiatives through CVHEC is the Learning Center Consortium, which is comprised of the administrators of Learning and Tutorial Centers from its 20 accredited, non-profit public and private colleges and universities in the Central Valley from Bakersfield to Stockton.

The Learning Center Consortium (LCC) had its first meeting in the Spring of 2006 with the primary goal of identifying new and innovative ways to serve students through our learning and tutorial centers. Additional professional objectives in support of CVHEC’s mission and vision are related to opportunities for networking, professional development, emergent collegial relationships and lasting friendships, and more importantly, empowering each of the consortium members towards excellence in the academic support services arena of higher education.

The co-presenters for this session are each founding and current members of the LCC with extensive experience in various aspects of learning center programs including tutoring, supplemental instruction, basic skills and disability services.

1. Kirst, M. & Venezia, A. (September 2001). Bridging the Great Divide Between Secondary Schools And Postsecondary Education. Phi Delta Kappan, 83, 1. p 92-98.
2. Dotolo, L G. & Noftsinger, J.B. (Winter 2002). Leveraging Resources Through Partnerships: New Directions for Higher Education, No. 120. John Wiley & Sons Canada.
3. Central Valley Higher Education Consortium: http://www.collegenext.org/about_us/default.html

Session summary:

In addition to our group's initial goals and objectives, the Learning Center Consortium (LCC) would like to harness the synergy of the group and maximize its relationship with the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC).  More specifically, LCC members are interested in finding ways to raise the profile of campus academic support programs and elevate their programs priority with campus administrators for funding and other resources. 

To that end, the current Chair and other members of the LCC would like to engage in a roundtable discussion that has a focus on the future about the implications of this type of professional network.1  We will share our experiences to date with session participants and provide verbal and printed information such as LCC’s statement of purpose, organizational structure and its affiliation to CVHEC.  The co-presenters for this session offer participants several decades of combined experience in the area of Tutorial Coordination and Learning Center Management at private and public two-year and four-year institutions of higher education.

The co-presenters will facilitate a dialogue with attendees that is reminiscent of appreciative inquiry and engage them in a solution-oriented discussion that will assist us all in learning how to tap the full potential of a group like the LCC.  Appreciative Inquiry, an approach to organizational analysis and learning, is intended for discovering, understanding, fostering innovations in social organizational arrangements and processes.1 The significance of this session to the field is the potential that consortial collaborations offer academic support services programs to leverage typically scarce financial and human resources. The relevance to CRLA members and other conference attendees is the opportunity to learn more about developing similar vehicles for empowerment and utilizing them fully.

PowerPoint will be one of the instructional mediums used to organize and present the essential points of discussion.  Further, a more organic methodology will be utilized to engage participants in the interactive segments of the session including flip-charts and pens to capture and record ideas generated throughout this roundtable. Finally, participants will be offered the option to receive a copy of the transcribed notes via e-mail shortly after the conference.

1. Cooperrider, D.L., Whitney, D., & Stavros, J. M. (2003). Appreciative Inquiry Handbook: The first in a series of AI workbooks for leaders of change. Lakeshore Communications, Inc: Bedford Heights, OH and Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.: San Francisco. (p. 3).

Presenter1 Name: Lisa Cooper
Presenter1 Institution: University of the Pacific
Presenter1 Bio: Lisa Cooper is currently the Chair of CVHEC's Learning Center Consortium and the Director of the Educational Resource Center at the University of the Pacific, where she has been employed since 2002. She is currently completing a doctorate in higher education administration at George Washington University. Since obtaining her first master’s degree in counseling and human relations from Villanova University, Lisa has held a variety of professional academic support services positions in her 14+ years of experience in settings that range from technical, community to four-year postsecondary institutions.

Presenter2 Name: Melinda Gunning
Presenter2 Institution: Fresno Pacific University
Presenter2 Bio: Melinda Gunning has worked at a variety of college and university settings for over twenty years.  With an M.A. in literature, she is now the Director of Academic Support Services at Fresno Pacific University, a small, private, liberal arts institution in central California.  Among the many institutional hats she wears, Gunning works with and learns from students in a tutorial center, a study skills bridge course, and through academic study hall and coaching.  Gunning has been an active member of CRLA for five years and is a past president of the California Chapter.

Presenter3 Name: Jeff Tannen
Presenter3 Institution: CSU Fresno
Presenter3 Bio: Jeff Tannen has an MFA in creative writing and has published several short stories and memoirs in online and print journals.  Prior to becoming the tutorial coordinator at the California State University, Fresno Learning Center, Jeff taught developmental English at the State Center Community College District (SCCCD) North Centers and coordinated the Clovis Writing Center.