By Rachel Kimbrough
The college has begun its work on the new Center for Innovation, a think-tank style initiative wherein students, faculty and staff can pitch their ideas for campus improvement directly to campus decision-makers.
The center aims to “stay ahead of the curve” by means of creating an open-forum, “think-tank level” environment in which those on campus may comfortably discuss their ideas, said college president Terry Calaway.
“I think we kind of lost our edge a little bit as an institution during the economic downturn,” Calaway said. “People have a tendency to kind of hunker down, so what I want to do is create an environment that reinvigorates that creative spirit, that entrepreneurial spirit, within the institution.”
Jason Kovac, executive director of academic initiatives, has been tasked with taking charge of the campaign.
“We’re not just going to be anticipating new jobs that we might be preparing students for, we’re probably going to be thinking about challenges that aren’t on the table yet, opportunities that aren’t on the table yet,” Kovac said. “So we’re getting the college to a place where we are leading instead of responding to what’s going on in the world.”
The center technically falls under the umbrella of Academic Affairs, said Marilyn Rhinehart, executive vice president of Academic Affairs.
“It’s really important that students, faculty, staff, whomever, know that it’s really a college-wide thing,” Rhinehart said. “We want to be sure, even in not the best financial times that people still have ideas and that [discussion] can be done in an environment…where people are comfortable.”
This year the center will be funded by contingency dollars, said Calaway, but will later be funded by a direct line-item in the budget.
A space for the center to be headquartered has not yet been identified, but Kovac said much of his work will be done around campus anyway.
“I think it would be important for the center to be out and about on campus,” Kovac said. “One of the ways we can do that is by bringing some of the ideas, the philosophies, that drives the center to them [people on campus] as opposed to mandating that people always have to come to a specific place on campus. I think a ‘distributed center’ is a fair way of describing this.”
Calaway, Kovac and Rhinehart all said the center’s central focus is the improvement of student experience on campus, and as such student involvement is essential to its success. Rhinehart is optimistic about the opportunity to be involved with the center.
“It’s easy for institutions that have really good reputations and have a reputation for innovation to get complacent, speaking hypothetically,” Rhinehart said. “This institution is better than that.”
“We were getting ourselves into a place where the conversations were more focused on “How do we get to ‘no,’” as an answer for something rather than, “How do we get to ‘yes,’” Calaway said. “Let’s create an environment where people can have open conversations trying to get to yes.”
For more information, contact Jason Kovac at jasonkovac@jccc.edu, or attend Calaway’s State of the College Address at 3 p.m. Sept. 28 in Polsky Theater in the Carlsen Center.
Contact Rachel Kimbrough, editor-in-chief, at rkimbrou@jccc.edu.