Collaboration Abounds

This week, I found myself thinking a lot about collaboration. How do we leverage collaboration that makes us all better without creating more work? I spent Sunday – Tuesday with about 90 other deans from the south (SBAA). It’s great to have a network that supports each other. Worthy rivals, not competition. There are several possibilities for collaboration with that group, and we learned about a great collaboration with industry between ETSU and BCBS called Bluesky Tennessee.

Included in the SBAA group were the deans at The Citadel (Mike & Iordanis) & Charleston Southern (David) – go all the way to Dallas to talk with CHS colleagues :). We discussed how, while we are each in the higher education space, our missions are different. We will meet again, in Charleston, to discuss ways we can work together for the region’s benefit.

Then, yesterday, I attended the Charleston Metro Chamber Board meeting. I always walk away inspired by how everyone from the CDRC to Volvo to Trident Construction to Hospitals and Credit Unions works together to benefit the region.

Then again, yesterday, there was even more collaboration at the Board of Governors’ meeting. We are reorganizing the subcommittees to align with our faculty committees (undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education). We talked a lot about how the committees will align clearly with students. Before the conversation moved on, we finished by discussing how this will also encourage greater collaboration with faculty. Engagement with faculty is a top priority for our BOG.

And speaking of collaboration, I mentioned in our last School meeting that we were days away from hiring our first Director of Business Engagement. We introduced Dr. Garth Cook as our new Director at the BOG. Garth has just completed a 35-year career in the education space with Boeing and has served on the BOG for over a decade. He has hit the ground running and is already building collaborative connections that will support our efforts.

As you can see, collaboration abounds, and we need to be strategic to ensure we are intentional and leverage the engagements that will make us better. We need to work smarter, not harder. One might say the Charleston region is a collaborative community. That, in my opinion, will be one of our competitive advantages in the years to come.

Together, we are better.

YOU make a difference!