NDCCC (North Dakota Community College Consortium)

To visit the NDCCC site, go to http://www.ndccc.org.

The two-year colleges in the North Dakota University System pool monies for sharing faculty development opportunities. (The two-year colleges are Bismarck State College, North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton, Williston State College, Lake Region State College in Devils Lake, and Minot State University-Bottineau.)

The presidents of the colleges sponsor NDCCC, along with support from the State Board of Higher Education (SBHE). Recently the group's main annual event is the Great Teachers Seminar, which has a limited enrollment of only 25 or so participants. A three-day retreat, the seminar includes guided discussions and ample recreations. BSC usually has five to eight of the slots, which are given on first come basis, with all faculty welcome. These have been held during the holiday break in January and in May after graduation. (The 2006 Seminar was held in May in Medora.)

In addition to the Seminar, NDCCC often offers individual grants for faculty to receive training or resources for effective teaching. With minimal requirements, full-time and adjunct faculty can apply for an honorarium for projects, usually in amounts of $500 to $1000. Priority is given to investigating innovative teaching methods, collaboration projects, attaining excellence, and multi-cultural improvements.

NDCCC communicates these opportunities via the BSC Faculty Listserv.

BSC has two faculty representatives on the Council, as well as Wayne Boekes, BSC's provost and vice president for academic & student affairs.

In the past, the NDCCC was instrumental in statewide common course numbering to ease transfer for students, which was first completed by the two-year colleges, with the other colleges and universities following later on. A large Bush grant operated via this group in the 1990s.

The Collaboration for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning
2356 University Ave. W.   Suite 230
St. Paul, MN 55114
651-646-6166

This once regional and now national organization supports and promotes outstanding college teaching and learning. BSC is a member along with the most of the region's private, public, and tribal colleges and universities. The Collaboration was begun by Bush Foundation monies. There are two annual conferences in Bloomington, Minnesota, in November and February on a Friday with half days on Saturday. The quality workshops focus on teaching, with nationally known keynote speakers. Other special offerings are offered throughout the year, such as faculty development coordinators' training or assessment studies of campuses.

Traveling workshops come as a result of excellent evaluations at the conferences, and BSC has brought many of these to campus.

For more information, go to www.collab.org.

Every August: Career and Technical Education State Conference

From the state website: "The State Board for Career and Technical Education, as North Dakota's public workforce education and training delivery system, is committed to providing career awareness, work readiness skills, occupational preparation, and retraining of workers throughout the state. Career and technical education will span all educational levels, providing youth with exploration opportunities and the foundation skills needed to enter the world of work while providing adults with skills needed to enter, re-enter, or advance in the workforce."

To learn more about CTE and its offerings, go to http://www.nd.gov/cte/.

National Endowment for the Humanities

One current program is called "Landmarks of American History and Culture: Workshops for Community College Faculty." These are one-week residence workshops near significant American sites. To see last summer's offerings, go to http://www.neh.gov/projects/landmarks-college.html. Staff in the NEH Division of Education will help you with ideas for your proposal.

North Dakota Humanities Council

The Council offers many resources such as guest speakers for nominal costs; go to www.nd-humanities.org/ for more information.

Four scholars every year are given a grant to study and to research. For more information, see http://www.nd-humanities.org/RemeleGuidelines2006.pdf. The grant was renamed in 1988 in memory of Larry Remele, one of North Dakota's leading historians. He represented the best in humanities scholarship and public presentation.

Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS:

• ONE-YEAR DIRECT EXCHANGES OF TEACHING POSITIONS in Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, India, Latvia, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Romania, Senegal, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
• ONE-SEMESTER DIRECT EXCHANGES OF TEACHING POSITIONS in Argentina and the United Kingdom.
• SIX-WEEK PROGRAMS are available in Morocco (job-shadowing exchange)and the United Kingdom (direct exchange).
• ADMINISTRATOR EXCHANGES: six-week; job-shadowing opportunities in over ten countries.
• TWO EIGHT-WEEK; SUMMER SEMINARS in Italy or Greece for teachers of Latin, Greek, the Classics or Social Studies.