Sharon Blackman, Ed.D.
The higher education community was abuzz last week with the release of the final document from Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. Commonly referred to as the Spellings Report, “A Test of Leadership - Charting the Future of U.S. Higher Education,” is the report from a 19-person commission appointed by Secretary Spellings. This report did not bring any new issues to the table for the future of higher education, but it does address student access and success, accountability, and, of course, the high cost of higher education, specifically the need for more student financial aid. The Commission's final report is available online.
This discussion about the future of higher education is very timely for Brookhaven College as we move forward with the development of plans for our college’s future. On Friday, we took our first steps in this process with our Appreciative Inquiry Summit. Once again, I want to thank all of you who participated. It was very inspiring to see the various employee work-groups come together to begin the dialogue about how we envision the future of Brookhaven College. Also, let me thank each of those who worked behind the scenes to help us have a successful event. Your hard work and dedication to having a problem-free event is truly appreciated.
As we continue to define excellence for student success, Brookhaven College has several initiatives in place that help us to address access and student success. The report talks about the need for greater collaboration among public schools and post-secondary institutions and the alignment of high school exit- and college-entrance requirements. We have begun this work with our Early College High School with the Carrollton/Farmers Branch School District. Faculty will receive an invitation to meet with Marilyn Lynch and others to participate in an idea-sharing session to determine how we move forward with our Early College High School program.
The Achieving the Dream grant provides the college with funds to help us shape the future direction of the college. The changes within our student population challenge our efforts to help students become successful. Cohorts of students working together toward a common aspiration have been found to be very effective in achieving student success. One example of collaborative learning is through learning communities. Faculty will receive an invitation to attend a special session about how the grant can support course development for learning communities. This session provides faculty the opportunity to be engaged in discussions about the creation of learning communities at Brookhaven.
Once again, I encourage all of you to attend and to encourage your students to attend the many fine programs, activities and athletic events that we are fortunate to offer. Here is another example of commitment by our staff to see that Brookhaven provides a holistic experience for our students. I hope that you didn’t miss the recent performance by Texas Legacy Band, which was both very enjoyable and successful in raising funds for Visual Communications students.
We’ve just begun the second third of our semester and we have so much to offer our students. Please join me in making the most of all that’s available. Keep your eye out for all those SECC honey bees who also are abuzz in your area this month. Continue to have a good semester. It’ll be over before you know it!
