In the Know with ACCT

The Value of a Retreat with Rosie O'Neill

Trustees are busy people who volunteer their time to govern community colleges through board and committee meetings. Are retreats really worthwhile? If they're done right, one trustee says, they can be indispensable. 

In this episode of In The Know, ACCT Board Member and Northern Virginia Community College Trustee Rosie O'Neil speak with ACCT Director of Strategic Communications David Conner and Director of Retreat and Evaluation Services Colleen Allen about how retreats at her college and at ACCT have enabled her to grow as a trustee and have enabled the board to set clear strategic visions, monitor those visions and follow them through to completion. 

For more information about ACCT's board services, visit our website. 

Board Ethics with Jeff Advokat

On this episode of In The Know we interviewed Jeff Advokat, Trustee at the County College of Morris in New Jersey. Jeff was in town for the most recent Governance Leadership Institute, so we talked with him about community college board ethics. He’s been an attorney for nearly four decades and had a lot of good advice regarding ethical dilemmas trustees might encounter.

If you like this episode, check out the other episode we recorded with Jeff about what new trustees should know before getting started. It’s titled “Attention New Trustees, This Episode is for you.” Remember to subscribe so you’re notified when we release new episodes. Thanks for listening, we’ll see you next week.

The Future of Work with Michelle Weise

This episode featuring Michelle Weise was recorded at the 50th Annual ACCT Leadership Congress in October. Michelle is Strada Education Network's Senior Vice President of Workforce Strategies and serves as Chief Innovation Officer for the Strada Institute Future of Work, which is dedicated to advancing understanding of the future of work to build the learning ecosystem of the future. 

Michelle's research focuses on the future of the workforce and how to connect student learners more directly to meaningful employment pathways through their working lives. 

For more information on what Michelle spoke about, check out the book she co-authored with Clayton Christensen titled Hire Education: Mastery, Modularization, and the Workforce Revolution.

What I Wish I Had Known as a New Trustee: Rosaelena O'Neil

Rosaelena "Rosie" O'Neil is a trustee at Northern Virginia Community College and a member of the ACCT Board of Directors, with over 20 years of experience in education advocacy and leadership development. In this episode, Rosie talks to ACCT about what she wishes she had known when she became a new trustee.

In addition to her trusteeship, Rosie serves as deputy director and program counselor in the Landegger Program in International Business Diplomacy in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Attention New Trustees: This Episode is For You

How familiar are most new community college trustees with their roles and responsibilities? Not very, according to Jeffrey M. Advokat, Esq., a long-serving trustee from County College of Morris in New Jersey. That's OK—and actually, according to Advokat, new trustees' relative naivety can be a great asset to any board.

In this must-listen episode for new community college trustees, Advokat discusses "tips of the trade" for new trustees with ACCT's Jacob Bray and David Conner. 

Questions addressed in this episode include:

• What does a new trustee need to know?
• When should a new trustee speak up, and when might it be better to listen?
• How can mentoring relationships help a new trustee to gain a greater understanding of the college and its board?
• How can a new trustee's relative lack of knowledge be an asset to a board?
• What should a new trustee understand about the role of the chair versus other board members' roles?
• What should a new trustee understand about issues such as communications, ethics and how they interrelate?
• What's rewarding about serving as a community college trustee?

Related Resources:

• Case Study: The Making of a New Community College Trustee, Chapter One
• Case Study: The Making of a New Community College Trustee, Chapter Two
• Four Questions that Every New Community College Trustee Needs to Ask
• Trusteeship 101: Board Basics for ACCT's Trusteeship in Community Colleges

For more resources for new trustees, visit ACCT.org or email us at acctinfo@acct.org.