bodner089

The 19 th meeting of the National Association of Branch Campus Administrators (NABCA) was held in Delaware last week, and as usual, it was a fine success.   The meeting was hosted by Wilmington University, with attendance approaching 100 individuals.   Special credit goes to our extraordinary executive director, joyce gilley gossum, as well as to President Faimous Harrison, Conference Chair Rebecca Burton, Vice Chair Ali Crane, and site hosts Melanie Baldwin and Tom Hurd. The program was excellent, as we’ve come to expect.   In particular, the two keynote addresses were both entertaining and inspiring.   On Thursday, educator Scott Paine spoke on “Where the Story Begins,” and on Friday, we heard from adventurer Matt McFadyen,   “Journey to the End of the Earth.”   Neither speaker was specifically addressing branch campuses or their issues, but they gave us a lot to think about.   Good decisions by the program committee! I continue t...

I’ve mentioned this before, but it interests me that the most read post on this blog is the very first one, which followed an opening introduction.   That post concerned branch campus characteristics, and it has been viewed more than twice as often as any other.   It can be seen at http://branchcampus.blogspot.com/2007/07/characteristics-of-branch-campus.html .   Dating back to 2007, it continues to get regular hits, which I assume means that I chose a good title that shows up on Google searches. Other frequently and persistently viewed posts mostly relate either to some aspect of branch characteristics, or to financial matters and revenue sharing.   With regard to branch characteristics, in presentations at NABCA and RBCA this year I discussed some emerging trends that I believe are worth watching.   (As usual, what I have to say represents personal observation, rather than any sort of systematic data collection.) One trend is to open branche...

The annual Regional and Branch Campus Administrators Conference (RBCA) just concluded today.  For a number of years the conference has been held in June, meeting at the Longboat Key Club resort, which is a stunning venue.  RBCA limits attendance to about 60 participants and typically has just one program track for everyone, which has worked well for this group. As usual, organizers did a fine job.  Jim Smith, campus dean at Ohio University Lancaster was the conference chair, and the program committee clearly worked hard to create a strong set of sessions.  I have attended RBCA most years since 1995, and I always have a great time.  Indeed, I believe that the annual NABCA and RBCA conferences are highly complementary, and I encourage branch leaders to consider attending one or both, whenever possible. This year, I provided the opening keynote, discussing my new book, as well as offering some thoughts on future opportunities and risks for branch campuses.  On...

Continuing to share from my personal experiences, I’ve been fortunate to visit a wide range of branch campuses both across the United States and internationally (Hong Kong, Russia, Mexico and Canada).   Some of the domestic visits tied to meetings of NABCA or RBCA, whereas others were consulting jobs, mostly over the last five years. The consulting work shaped my understanding and opinions more than I expected.   In the absence of a substantial literature or research that identifies best practices, institutions developed branches for their own reasons at varying times in their history.   Every institution I visited had a unique story to tell.   There were common themes, of course, such as struggling to bring programs from the main campus, wrestling with interference from certain main campus offices that think they know more about the branch audience than the people who work there, and making sure that courses and class schedules actually meet stude...

Early feedback on my book, Out on a Limb:   A Branch Campus Life , has been gratifying.   I’m pleased that people find it an interesting read, but even happier when they find helpful information or ideas.   There are so few resources for people working on branches that I hope my contribution might provide some support or encouragement. A few friends have asked about my intended audience, and that’s a good question.   Although I’d like to think that lots of people might find Out on a Limb interesting, the specific reader I kept in mind as I wrote was a campus chief administrator (dean, director, or whatever the title).   In particular, I was thinking about an individual who recently landed on a branch campus without having an extensive branch background.   I know from meeting people at NABCA and RBCA meetings that one can feel a little lost and alone out on that limb, and so I wanted to extend a helping hand. Secondarily, I also was thinki...

I’m pleased to announce publication of my new book, Out on a Limb:   A Branch Campus Life .   It has been a long time coming, but it is now available on Amazon, in both a print (paperback) version and a Kindle e-book version.   You can find it at http://www.amazon.com/Out-Limb-Branch-Campus-Life-ebook/dp/B00J274TLS/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395098891&sr=1-15&keywords=Charles+Bird (Kindle version) or http://www.amazon.com/Out-Limb-Branch-Campus-Life/dp/0991498208/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395099416&sr=1-11&keywords=Charles+Bird (Print version). Chapter topics are: 1.      A Partial Memoir 2.      Characteristics of a Branch Campus 3.      Politics, Purpose, and Practice 4.      Students 5.      Branch Campus Faculty Members 6.      Branch Campus Support Staff 7.      Ag...

I haven’t posted on Branch Campus Life in awhile. Instead, I’ve been developing a new blog, Creating the Future , which addresses topics that could be of interest to branch campuses, but reflect my personal focus on innovation in higher education, including programs for adult learners and distance learning. You can find the new blog at www.drcharlesbird.com/creatingthefuture . You also can link to my personal web site from the blog or by clicking on this link: www.drcharlesbird.com . I will continue to post on Branch Campus Life, from time to time, to address specific branch campus topics. I know how important it is for people on branch campuses to find others with similar experiences, as a way to identify best practices, test their own ideas, or assure themselves that they are not alone. To that end, I want to mention the two annual conferences that support branch administrators. The first, NABCA, is coming up April 20-23, in Seattle. You can...

I’ve taken a couple of months off from posting on this blog, as part of the transition to my “encore” career. One of the things I did over the summer was to attend a week long coach training program. I’m interested in executive coaching, in several respects, including working with individuals in transition to new jobs or to their own new career. All this led me to think about the challenges that many people face, when they accept a position as the chief administrator (CAO) of a branch campus. Some people, like me, have a regional or branch campus background, so they come into the CAO role with an understanding of the issues, politics, and so on. However, I’ve met many people whose first branch campus role is as a CAO. For example, he or she may have been a department chair or dean in a more traditional environment, although I’ve also known individuals who became CAO of a university branch, after years of service at a community college. All of these transitions bring challenges, an...

The Regional and Branch Campus Administrators conference was held at Longboat Key, near Sarasota, FL, last month. The conference venue has to be one of the nicest anywhere, and the conference continues to provide an outstanding opportunity to meet people who help lead branch campuses of various types. Since the conference, I have been thinking about a couple of things that made a strong impression on me. First, and even acknowledging what I have written in the past, I was struck by the incredible variety of branch campus models or "types" around the country. The campus deans from Ohio University provided a session that allowed the audience to respond to various questions about branch governance and other matters. Everyone seemed to enjoy the session, but what grabbed my attention was how difficult it is even to ask questions that make sense to everyone. With so many community college branches, upperdivision/graduate branches, two-year feeder university branches, and branches ...