Archive for May, 2008
RLC President: Baldrige Award models how to achieve sustainable community
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The highest aspiration today’s educations institutions can have is to be the best places from which to learn and to teach the life skills for building sustainable local and world community, said Richland College President Steve Mittelstet.
At the recent 20th anniversary gala celebrating the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, Dr. Mittelstet cast a vision of how the nation’s highest presidential honor for quality and organizational excellence is a model for how to achieve the goal of building sustainable community.
“The good news is that our organizations are fortunate to have a wise Socratic teacher to lead us in our learning,” Dr. Mittelstet said. “That teacher is the Baldrige National Quality Program, which is guiding all our performance excellence journeys toward achieving this urgent vision and beyond.”
In 2005, Richland College made history by being the first community college in the nation to receive the Baldrige Award. Baldrige Award recipients are evaluated vigorously by an independent board of examiners in seven areas: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; human resource focus; and process management. The evaluation process includes approximately 1,000 hours of review and an on-site visit by teams of examiners to clarify questions and verify information submitted on the applications.
All organizations that participate in the Baldrige process ask themselves challenging questions and discover what works within their organizations, Dr. Mittelstet said. The companies and institutions that start their own performance excellence journey also learn from benchmark institutions and the Baldrige examiners and support coaches.
Nearly a decade of Baldrige guidance through the education criteria is to credit for more and more educational institutions embarking on their own performance excellence journeys, Dr. Mittelstet said. He specifically recognized the four public schools and three higher education exemplars honored by the Baldrige Award.
Dr. Mittelstet dreams of “a world of social equity and justice, economic sufficiency, and healthy environment, where present needs are met without compromising our ability to meet the needs of the future.” He warns that “our world does not have the luxury for this foundational, survival-level vision to be long-term.”
He urged the audience to strive toward a day when the basics of sustainability are achieved and mutual prosperity is the goal.
“May all of us hereby pledge to continue our own performance excellence journeys and to elicit public and private organizations throughout the United States to pledge support for this vital education sector of our society,” Dr. Mittelstet said. “By fulfilling this pledge, our students, our communities, our planet and all of us will be the beneficiaries. And when we gather again for our 40th birthday, may we all be celebrating life well beyond mere sustainability.”
Published by Jenni Gilmer on May 19th, 2008 tagged Baldrige, Events, News | Comment now »
Determine your carbon footprint at the USGBC North Texas Chapter May 22 seminar at Richland College
The North Texas Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Education & Events Committee is partnering with Richland College, an American College and University President’s Climate Commitment signatory, to host a “Know Your Carbon Footprint” seminar at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 22, in the Fannin Performance Hall on Richland’s campus.
The guest speaker will be Thom Powell, AIA, of Good Fulton & Farrell Architects, who was the project architect for Richland’s Thunderduck Hall. Richland’s chief sustainability officer and GREENRichland co-chair David Henry will welcome the group and give a brief overview of Richland’s sustainability efforts.
Computers will be available for guests to calculate their own carbon footprint, and refreshments will be served.
What: “Know Your Carbon Footprint” seminar
Who: Richland College and the North Texas Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
When: 6:30 p.m., May 22
Where: Richland College - Fannin Performance Hall
12800 Abrams Road
Dallas, TX 75243
Cost: $10 for USGBC members and non-Richland students
$20 for non-members and at the door
$5 for Emerging Green Builders
Richland students, faculty, and staff are being given a special $5 registration rate with their Richland ID card.
Register: https://www.signmeup.com/site/reg/register.aspx?fid=G12VBK7
or
Contact: David Henry
972-238-6394
ddhenry@dcccd.edu
A carbon footprint is a tool that measures how much land and water area a human population requires to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb its wastes. By measuring our footprint, citizens can take personal and collective actions in order preserve the environment. For additional details, click here.
Published by Anitra Cotton on May 19th, 2008 tagged Environmental, Events, News | Comment now »
This week’s RLC update
Community and Economic Development - Adriana Rodriguez, Richland’s Director of Bilingual ESL/Education-Teacher Preparation, received an invitation from the Mexican Consulate in Dallas to participate in a ceremony recently held to welcome Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Dallas. The Mexican Government’s Institute for Mexicans Abroad, meeting outside of Mexico for only a second time, seeks to help immigrants in education and other issues by reaching out in the United States.
Student Success - The Richland Thunderduck baseball team and Coach Joe Wharton will have a chance to play May 17-22 for a fourth NJCAA Division III National Championship since 2002. This tournament play was made possible by the Thunderducks winning their first Metro-Athletic Conference championship since 2004. These successful student athletes enter the national tournament with a 45-14 record and a six-game winning streak.
Employee Success - Cindy Castañeda, Richland’s Dean of Ethnic Studies, Social Science, and Physical Education, was elected on May 10 to the Garland ISD School Board, At Large Place 4. Each of the seven GISD Board Members is elected at-large to three-year terms. Dr. Castañeda won among a field of two other contenders.
Richland Collegiate High School (RCHS) Deputy Superintendent David Canine fulfilled his pledge to the RCHS Class of 2008. Challenging the class last year, he dared the students to earn more than $1 million in scholarship offers from four-year universities, promising to shave his head if they met that goal. On May 12, David upheld his promise in honor of the more than $2.5 million in scholarship offers to the 129 members of the senior class (an average of more than $19,000 per graduate). The special shearing event was covered on the 6 p.m. news on KXAS-TV Channel 5 and also appeared in the Richardson section of The Dallas Morning News.