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Delta State takes top IHL honors

By July 23, 2010General

Dr. Greg Hospodor, assistant professor of history and one of the many Delta State faculty members to participate in the University’s award-winning Faculty Technology Institute reviewed, “The institute was very interesting, as well as informative.” Delta State earned top IHL honors for its Faculty Technology Institute as part the Board-sponsored Best Practices competition.

 

During its most recent regular monthly meeting, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) announced the winners of the 2005 Best Practices Competition, with Delta State University earning top honors in the technology category for its Faculty Technology Institute and a second place finish in the academic affairs category for its Educational Leadership Program.

The Best Practices Competition is a Board-sponsored program designed to highlight efforts that create efficient and effective practices initiated within the System’s institutions in the categories of academics; finance, business and administration; student services; and technology. Proposals were judged by peer groups within each of the universities.

Co-sponsored through the Office of the Provost and the Office of Information Technology, Delta State’s Faculty Technology Institute is hosted by the University’s Technology Learning Center and involves ten faculty participants and three faculty facilitators. The goal of the Institute is to enable faculty to enhance courses with web-based technology. First implemented in August 2005, approximately 20 percent of Delta State’s full-time faculty have participated in the Institute and over 200 courses currently have a web-based component incorporated.

The Institute’s early success has left faculty feeling better prepared, according to early evaluations, with benefits far reaching to not only the faculty that attend the institute, but also to their students and fellow faculty members.

Delta State was also recognized for its Educational Leadership Program, which was first initiated in the summer of 1998 and has refined annually as part of a continuous improvement cycle in the College of Education. The model was implemented to provide the region with strong school leaders, while copiously supporting Delta State’s mission of positively impacting the Delta.

By utilizing a cohort model that employs full-time internship experiences and intensive problem-based class sessions, prospective principals leave the program with the knowledge, skills and values that research indicates produce effective results in schools. So much so, Delta State’s program was recently identified by Stanford University as one of the eight programs of excellence in principal preparation.

Of Delta State’s recognition from IHL, University President Dr. John M. Hilpert offered, “To be recognized by the Board as the best of the best is special. We were judged by our peer institutions and to be selected as tops is high praise. We are extremely proud of the Faculty Technology Institute and the Educational Leadership Program, as it is programs like these that allow Delta State to push closer in our goal to becoming the Best Regional University in America.”

For a complete list of the 2005 Best Practices Competition winners, please visit http://www.ihl.state.ms.us/best_practices/2005_winners.html.