Shelley White, Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development/Continuing Education, successfully defended her doctoral disquisition at Western Carolina University.
She worked with Jonathan Vester from Nash Community College and their work is titled Re-imagining Competencies in NC Community Colleges: Integrating Certifications into Academic Programs at Two Community Colleges. My focus on the project was Improving Intra-Institutional Articulation of Credit for Non-credit Courses at A-B Tech.
“The presentation/defense was challenging in that we were required to present our combined work in 40-minutes using only 6 PowerPoint slides. Following the presentation, we fielded questions from our committee for 45-minutes. Following the committee’s private deliberation, we were congratulated on successfully defending our work,” White said.
According to White, the slinky in the photograph represents a visual of complexity theory and its application to communication within institutions of higher education (or any organization). As information is originated, decisions or changes made, etc. – there’s a natural delay or “lag-time” in the information or change taking hold within an organization. If you hold the extended slinky up high and release, the slinky collapses together before continuing to fall. This demonstrates the flow of information or change within an organization.
The other photo shows their committee: Dr. Kofi Lomotey, Chair and WCU Faculty; Jonathan Vester; Shelley White; Dr. Brandi Hennant-Crawford, WCU Faculty; Dr. Janice Gilliam, President of Northeast State Community College, and Dr. Lowell Davis, WCU Faculty.
