Convocation Address 2004
Introduction
Board Members, Faculty, Administration, Staff, Students, Alumni, and Friends of the College, welcome to our annual convocation. We will be providing State of the College addresses and a description of future initiatives for the upcoming academic year and celebrating our successes.
The West Suburban College of Nursing has certainly set the standard for baccalaureate education this past year with a 100% licensure examination pass rate to date for the December 2003 graduating class. With our kick off strategic planning meeting we will began updating the vision, redrafting the mission statement to resemble one of a more comprehensive college and will continue to embrace the culture of a continuous quality improvement organization. An expansion of programs is a part of the plan.
An unknown author defines the attainment of excellence as caring more than others think is wise, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical, and expecting more than others think is possible. The College has demonstrated a commitment to performance excellence in receiving the 2003 Lincoln Bronze award in recognition of this achievement. On April 21, 2004, in Springfield, Illinois, the West Suburban College of Nursing was honored by the House of Representatives of the 93rd Illinois General Assembly when House Resolution HR780 was read into record. The Resolution honored the 2003 recipients of the Lincoln Foundation Awards. The Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence was founded in 1994. The organization created the award patterned after the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award. The award is an annual recognition of Illinois organizations that have demonstrated exemplary approaches, deployment, and results in their overall quality, systems, and processes. The award is presented to organizations that serve as role models for quality, customer satisfaction, and performance excellence. Local legislators, Representative Deborah Graham, State Senator Donald Harmon, and Representative, Sandra M. Pihos of the 42nd District, my home district, congratulated the College at the Springfield recognition event.
Finances
This past year has been a banner year for the College. For the past several years the College has had a deficit budget. This past fiscal year the College achieved revenues in excess of expenses. The office of financial aid was re-established to serve our students. Before, this service was outsourced. A Resurrection Health Care (RHC) system proposal for scholarships was written. Our devoted Board members and West Suburban Medical Center (WSMC) foundation conducted the first ever special event fund raiser “Charity Begins at Home”. Approximately $30,000 was raised.
Future initiatives will involve maintenance of market equitable salaries for all employees. Recruitment of doctoral and masters prepared faculty with a doctoral faculty incentive package ill continue. Thanks to the fund raising efforts of the WSMC auxiliary, the nursing laboratory will be upgraded. Six work stations will be equipped with human patient simulators, computers, new exam beds, and equipment. A state of the art classroom with an interactive whiteboard will be purchased. The College has also been designated as the recipient of the RHC system annual fund raising event. One of the Academic Quality Improvement Process (AQIP) work plans is a part of the regional accreditation process for the college and focuses on enrollment management. Plans include working toward 200 active students. AQIP is an alternative regional Higher Learning Commission accreditation process. Using a continuous quality improvement approach, work plans are developed, a strategy forum attended, and a systems portfolio developed. The completed accreditation portfolio will serve as an external marketing document and internal documentary of progress towards achievement of accreditation standards.
College of Choice
Several achievements and future initiatives support Goal Two “College of Choice”. Last year the College received the maximum length of time for specialty accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) until the year 2013. A group of six College representatives including a Board member attended the AQIP Strategy Forum in Lisle, Illinois. Further development of three work plans: a new three year strategic plan with an Institutional Assessment plan, a revised student remediation and support services program, and the development of an enrollment plan. Applications continue to rise. The numbers of admitted new students have increased from 40 this past year to approximately 50 for Fall 2004. This year attention will be turned to the development of an aggressive retention program by reviewing admission and progression policies and the further development of an enrollment management and remediation and student support services work plan.
Collaboration
The College as a part of WSMC joined the RHC system on March 10, 2004. WSMC is the newest member of the system, thus it should come as no surprise that future collaborative initiatives will focus on learning about the system and developing the College to support both the Resurrection system and its broader community needs. We are also proud of the fact that the College and WSMC Patient Care Services proposal for the development of a graduate nursing program with a clinical nurse leader role was selected to be one of the demonstration projects sponsored by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. The Steering Committee has met and WSMC Patient Care Services Division is organizing the Design Team. Meanwhile College representatives will be busy crafting a post baccalaureate certificate and the graduate program with entry options for all levels of students. Future partnership work will involve academic and admission departments in working with feeder schools and clinical affiliates.
Outcomes
Achievement test scores continue to demonstrate that our students are within national average and passing benchmark scores as an indicator of producing a well educated graduate. These scores also indicate areas for further refinement of the curricula. Attrition and graduation rates have been tabulated for five years and data indicate an opportunity to further develop student and remediation services to improve the results. Along with these past accomplishments and future initiatives admission and progression policies will continue to be studied.
Human Resources
This past year we added a number of new faculty, administration, and staff positions to support increased enrollments. With the start of the new academic year, we have filled all but approximately 4 positions. A summer search process was developed to support this goal. Employee development programs were conducted on campus and members sent to user group and professional conferences. A new College Executive Council and Committee structure was developed. Future initiatives will support continued organizational development and implementation of the Council and Committee structure.
Expansion
Expansion of College programs will be a major initiative over the next three year planning cycle. I have already mentioned the goal of 200 active students. The graduate nursing curriculum was drafted this past year and will undergo further refinement and submission through approval processes. The Admissions Office has been augmented with new positions and been reorganized. Future initiatives will focus on the development of new programs to support the mission of the RHC system and surrounding communities and continued work with the nursing graduate program.
Technology and Facilities
The last goal focuses on technology and will include facilities for the next fiscal year. This past year a technology consultant provided suggestions for the enhancement of the technology department and a Director position was added. A new web site has been created. Future initiatives will focus on further enhancement of the Campus 2000 administrative software system and improvement of services in the areas of academic and administrative computing. Last, we have developed a concept paper for College facilities as the precursor to the WSMC development of a master facilities plan.
Closing
For a small college with thirty administrators, faculty and staff we have had another successful year and laid the ground work for initiatives for the upcoming 2004-2005 academic year and the 2005 fiscal year. I am confident that together we will continue to identify future opportunities to continuously improve the West Suburban College of Nursing.
Rebecca A. Jones, D.N.Sc., R.N., C.N.A.A., B.C.
Chancellor
West Suburban College of Nursing
3 Erie Court Oak Park, IL 60302
rebecca.jones@wscn.edu
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