Insights from The Academic Affairs Town Hall Meeting

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If you attended the Academic Affairs Town Hall meeting earlier this week, I hope you left the conversation encouraged by the spirit of collaboration.  I hope you also left with insights about our current strategic plan and the work we still need to do as we pursue higher levels of excellence at KCC. 

I left the meeting feeling great about KCC's future.

Dr. Sewell reminded us that our current strategic plan calls for us to "create diverse, inclusive, and equitable teaching, learning, and work environments."  She also challenged us to "model inclusivity" and be prepared for the "courageous conversations" we'll need to have if we are to meet the ambitious targets which we've written into KCC's EDI Assessment Plan. 

I've already accepted this challenge, and I hope you will as well. 

Helping students achieve the highest levels of success will require us to be comfortable initiating courageous conversations, and I witnessed this happen at this week's town hall meeting.  We started to explore ways to address students' changing understanding of how to participate in the college classroom, the behaviors they exhibit when encountering challenges or setbacks, and the classroom strategies we can use to engage and redirect them in positive ways.  I heard this conversation start from a place of concern but also in the spirit of compassion and caring.  Let's keep concern, compassion, and care at the heart of every courageous conversation we have.

If we can do this, I know we'll be able to answer the challenging questions that face us currently.

• What does it look like to model inclusivity?
• How can we set expectations for ourselves and for our students which reflect our core value of Respect?
• What classroom management and disciplinary strategies align best with our general education goal of Respect?
• How can we use the principles of restorative justice to address conflict?
• What improvements must we make to ensure KCC remains a student-ready college?

These conversations will spark more questions as we continue to meet students where they are and help them progress toward the places they wish to be.  At this week's town hall, I saw a college community ready for courageous conversations and ready to learn new ways to meet the needs of our future students.