Tricoli talks communication

by Jennifer Johnson
The Collegian
Issue date: 4/1/08

GPC President Dr. Anthony Tricoli hosted a series of open forum meetings about communication on each campus from March 17- 27 to discuss strategic planning, governance and communication, as well as trust issues and student, faculty and staff concerns.

At the culmination of the meetings on the GPC campuses, there will be a "one day Communication Summit event to discuss what we heard at our campus forums," according to a message from the President dated Feb. 14. At the Clarkston campus' forum on March 19, about 50 faculty and staff members listened to Tricoli's presentation, which was augmented by the viewing of the school's new mission statement on the projection screen in room N2220.

"The entire goal of these meetings is to roll out the new strategic agenda that was developed by faculty and staff to develop a governance model which will help us to carry out our new mission," Tricoli said after the two-hour meeting. In a past interview with The Collegian, Tricoli indicated that the current plan to re-vamp GPC includes each department being reviewed by a task force of faculty and staff members.

During his Communication open forum, Tricoli specifically mentioned customer service, advising and admissions. One of the president's goals over the last year was to establish an office of customer service, which has been done.

"Colleges don't have offices of customer service. We had enough customer service issues that we needed a force to deal with them," Tricoli said before addressing the fact that some faculty and staff were not happy about the new customer service focus of the college. "I feel for you, get over it," he said.

One of the reasons for the creation of the office, Tricoli admitted, is that GPC has "great services, but some people who don't provide these services very well." He expressed a need for both more faculty training and training for administration.

"We don't do a lot of training for administration-we just go, 'Hey! You are now an administrator!'" Tricoli said, mentioning possible efforts to being succession planning.

After the need for transparency of the process was reemphasized by faculty at the meeting, Tricoli turned to the lectern's computer and pulled up his website (http://www.gpc.edu/~presoff/) on the screen. From there, he navigated to the Task Force page and selected the Enrollment and Registration PDF which displays the names of over 220 faculty and staff involved in various task forces, see the recommendations made, and the initiatives underway.

Beth Wallace, Clarkston ESL instructor, emphasized the importance of faculty and staff 'buying into the system' and said, "We need to see things completed. That helps with the buy in." Dean Lisa Fowler suggested posting progress reports online until task completion, giving faculty and staff what one member said they needed.

Perhaps the biggest part of the Communication summit was discussing issues of trust. "Do you trust me?" Tricoli asked the faculty. "I trust you. Generally, I trust you. I trust some of you more than I trust others," he joked. Christine Smith of the Sign Language Interpreting program responded, "When you first came here, we had no reason to trust you. You earn trust. Trust requires work. I think you've done that work. You have us on your team. We're behind you and this college." Associate professor of history Marc Zayac addressed Tricoli from the back of the packed room. "It's reasonable to want our trust. We're reasonable people… We trust you. We want you to know we're doing our jobs and you don't need to look over our shoulders." Zayac then mentioned the practice of addressing an issue at GPC by addressing the masses with reprimands, contracts and 'new policies each week.'" Smith echoed the sentiment a few minutes later when she mentioned not needing to "pound everyone over the head for the sins of a few."

Clarkston campus Journalism instructor Robert Knowles pointed to the recent purchasing card scandal. "We've been hammered on that as if we didn't know it's wrong to steal," said Knowles, the room erupting in laughter. Tricoli responded with risen eyebrows and a shake of his head. "Some people don't know its not all right to steal," he said.

On the issue of trust and in response to the mention of the purchasing cards, new Clarkston Student Life Director Angela Avery-Jones stood before the room and encouraged faculty to trust in the Student Life offices as they are rebuilding. "Trust in us," she said. Tricoli urged faculty and staff to continue sending their suggestions to him as he prepares for his Communication Summit.

"I don't have the answers. That's why I'm asking the questions," he said. "I need your suggestions."

He can be reached at atricoli@gpc.edu.