Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC) has an active Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Unit whose mission is to provide professional development opportunities for all BSCTC faculty and staff [1]. The POD Unit accomplishes its mission by disseminating information, planning and providing internal opportunities, and managing the travel budget for faculty and staff.

Information about external opportunities received by the President, Provost and POD Coordinator via hardcopy is placed on reserve in the Prestonsburg campus library [2]. At least two times per year, a list of opportunities is sent to the faculty and staff through email. Information received via email is placed in a shared folder in Outlook and is available for review by all BSCTC faculty and staff.

Internal opportunities occur at the beginning of the academic year and at various times during the fall and spring semesters [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]. A call for proposals [9] is sent to all faculty and staff inviting presentations in the following areas: Life-Long Learning, Learning and Teaching, Student Services and Activities, and Workplace Skills. Workshops are evaluated by participants for relevance and quality [10].

The December 2005 workshops held over a three day period offered sessions on the Mayo, Pikeville, and Prestonsburg Campuses. Thirty-six different presenters conducted a total of 33 workshops in December. Combined enrollment from the sign-in sheets reflected a headcount of 124 participants where each participant completed an evaluation of the workshops attended. Evaluations indicated 95% of the participants felt the content was relevant [6]. The Professional Development Unit also conducts an annual POD Survey. The POD Unit spring 2006 survey indicated that 79% of the participants were satisfied with the overall performance of the POD unit [11]. Professional Development workshops support two goals within the BSCTC 2006-2010 Strategic Plan: Promote Excellence in Teaching and Learning and Increase Student Access and Success.

External opportunities are available through competitive and annual travel funded through recommendations to the Provost by the POD committee [12] [13]. The POD committee is made up of faculty and staff representing the four campuses representing various areas of responsibility within the college. Funding is available through the Perkins grant and BSCTC Institutional funds. Additional opportunities include upgrade training provided by the BSCTC Information Technology Services (ITS), industry training for technical faculty, the staff exchange program, and Community and Workforce Economic Development [1] [14].

BSCTC also encourages faculty and staff to take advantage of the following KCTCS New Horizons Initiatives: Faculty and Staff Award of Excellence, President's Leadership Seminar, Master Teacher Seminar and New Horizons Teaching & Learning Conference [15]. Faculty and staff are also encouraged to apply for and participate in local and regional leadership academies such as Leadership East Kentucky, Floyd County Leadership, and Pike County Leadership.

BSCTC faculty and staff are afforded the opportunity to take classes at any public Kentucky institution and have up to six credit hours of tuition costs waived under the KCTCS Employee Tuition Waiver Program [16] [17]. In the fall 2006, 63 employees participated in the Tuition Waiver Program while 59 employees participated spring 2007 [18].

Source

Location/Special Instructions

1

Professional Development Webpage

intranet_PD_Page.pdf

2

Reserve List from Prestonsburg Campus Library.

Reserve_List_Pburg_Library.pdf

3

List of emails in shared folder

Contents_in_PD_Shared_Folder.pdf

4

List of August 06 workshops

August_06_Workshops.pdf

5

List of Adjunct Faculty Workshops

Adjunct_Faculty_Workshops.pdf

6

List of December 05 Workshops

Dec_05_Workshops.pdf

7

Learning College Presentation April 06

Workshop_on_the_Learning_College_April_7th_2006.pdf

8

Master Advising Presentation April 06

Master_Advising_Workshop_April_2006_.pdf

9

Internal Call For Proposals

2007_Call_for_Proposal_Form_BSCTC_PD_Days.pdf

10

Workshop Evaluation Forms

Worshop_evaluation.pdf

11

Professional Development Survey spring 2006

Year_end_Professional_Development_Survey_Spring_2006.pdf

12

Competitive Travel procedures

CompetitveTravel_procedures_0607.pdf

13

Annual Travel Procedures

Annual_Travel_procedures_0607.pdf

14

CWED Training

http://www.bigsandy.kctcs.edu/workforce/skills_update.html

15

New Horizons Initiatives

http://www.kctcs.edu/prodev/pod_initiatives.html

16

Tuition Waiver Form

HR94.pdf

17

Tuition Waiver Program

http://www.kctcs.edu/employee/hr/benefits/tuition.html

18

EE Waivers fall 06 spring 07

EE_Waivers_for_Fall_06_Spring_07.pdf