What makes a great place to work even better? For many at Colorado College, it’s being part of a culture that emphasizes an inclusive community, one that helps each person develop as a professional, and promotes enthusiasm for lifelong learning, flexibility, open-mindedness, and other 21st-century skills — the same skills students develop during their four years at CC.

CC’s second campus climate/engagement survey, conducted in October among faculty and staff, assessed the continuing efforts to make the college a great place to work, one of the initiatives of the strategic plan. The goal is to cultivate a climate for employees that is as innovative and dynamic as the CC academic experience. Results showed improvement in a wide range of areas, from the college’s new employee orientation process, to becoming more transparent with clearer and more consistent policies and procedures, to becoming a more diverse and inclusive community.

Out of 75 attributes that indicate an excellent work environment, CC improved its positive responses in almost every category. Overall, 29 statements improved by 10 percentage points or more over the 2013 survey, and 48 statements showed improvement of 5 percentage points or more from statements made in 2013. Both surveys were conducted by ModernThink, and the results were shared in meetings with faculty and staff.

Highlights of the campus climate survey include:

• Survey participation, which was 76 percent, up a whopping 12 percentage points from the initial survey conducted in 2013
• 75 percent say CC’s culture is special, “something you don’t find just anywhere,” up from 71 percent from the 2013 survey
• 76 percent say CC places sufficient emphasis on having diverse faculty, administration, and staff, up from 69 percent
• 70 percent say teaching is appropriately recognized in the evaluation and promotion process, up from 59 percent
• 87 percent say they are proud to be part of CC, up from 82 percent
• 72 percent say the college celebrates significant milestones and important accomplishments, up from 59 percent
• 81 percent say that all things considered, CC is a great place to work, up from 74 percent

CC Connect welcomes new employees.

Under the direction of Peggy Daugherty and Habiba Vaghoo (Assistant Professors of Chemistry), you will perform an experiment in making ice cream in Ziploc baggies. The chemistry of the process will be explored and explained during the session.

Students participate in the Summer Collaborative Research Program with Psychology professor Kevin Holmes at the Tutt Science Center. The students were giving updates and sharing results and ideas from their research.

Patrick Bultema, Innovation@CC Executive Director

Jessie Randall is the Archivist and Curator of the Tutt Library Special Collections.

The UCCS Galleries of Contemporary Art hosted CC’s spoken word performer, playwright, essayist and Hip Hop artist Idris Goodwin and flutist and composer Jane Rigler at the downtown GOCA121 gallery. Goodwin and Rigler presented two separate performances, both in response to the current exhibit âA Body in Fukushimaâ featuring photography and video by CC’s Eiko Otake and William Johnston. Goodwin performed solo and along with Colorado College students as “Idris Goodwin & the Vocabâ. Nice job!

Cutler Hall staff photos July 2014.