The importance of understanding these dynamics and, most importantly, finding innovative approaches to harness the potential of all faculty toward achieving the learning college is not lost on many of today’s leaders. Dr. Sandy Shugart, president of Valencia Community College in central Florida, has been a leader in developing innovative and entrepreneurial approaches since coming to Valencia in January 2000. Valencia is the 2nd largest producer of graduates among community colleges in the U.S. and was one of the League for Innovation Vanguard Learning Colleges.

We recently had the opportunity to engage Dr. Shugart in a dialogue concerning an innovative online faculty development program from Valencia that has been and is available to be customized for the needs of other institutions. The program, ScenariosOnline, is web-based and features a collaborative learning experience that leverages the knowledge of the participants. For more information on the program visit http://www.scenariosonline.org/ . Read Dr. Shugart’s biography at http://www.valenciacc.edu/president/ .

A-HEC: Having already made great progress at Valencia, tell us a little about your current vision of Valencia as a learning college. What are the most important two or three objectives in the next three years and processes needed to fulfill those objectives?

SS: Although we are getting very promising results with our students, we feel like we still have a long way to go. Central to our work over the next three years is getting greatly improved results in the core math curriculum, completing our efforts to assess learning throughout the college, and engaging our adjunct faculty in best practices for creating highly engaged learning environments.

A-HEC: What is the trend in part-time faculty at Valencia and how far do you believe the trend toward more part-time faculty will go at Valencia and/or higher education in general?

SS: For several years we have been investing in tenure track faculty to maintain our sections taught by full-time teachers near 60%. Like most colleges, however, we have struggled to get ratios anywhere close to this in developmental math, reading, and writing. Meanwhile, we have made a strategic move to make our faculty compensation considerably more competitive - and learning related. With this added investment, it is likely our overall ratios of full-time faculty will have to be reduced. This is why partnering more effectively with adjunct faculty is exceptionally important to us.