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Communities of Practice
Benefits Group
The Benefits group started about four years ago, initially to work on a Life Insurance issue and followed that with work on dental insurance as well as Health Insurance issues. The first major project, the Pharmacy Benefit Carve-Out, initiated in the hope of realizing substantial cost savings, was documented in the publication of a Learning History. In 2001, five member schools collaborated and purchased a Long Term Care option for their schools. Two other member schools are in the process of purchasing LTC from the chosen carrier. The group uses meetings to obtain regulatory updates and changes in benefit options and new products from approved vendors. The group continues to monitor important benefit changes and discuss Alternative Health Care Designs and Retirement Plans.
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Chief Human Resource Officers
The Chief Human Resource Officers (CHRO) group of the Consortium meets monthly to exchange information and identify issues of common concern. As senior administrators, they have often been the source of ideas that lead to initiatives conducted by the several communities of practice falling into the HR function, including employment, benefits management and staff training, and development. As early supporters of Consortium efforts, this close knit group has been a tremendous source of energy for all Consortium activities.
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Controllers Group
Focusing on financial issues, the group currently has two primary functions: to identify and describe best practices among the schools for possible use by other schools, and to identify and describe anticipated broad changes in order to help members plan for them. The group discusses best practices in implementing regulatory requirements, managing auditing services, taxation, business operations, and other issues. The group invites speakers on topics of mutual interest, e.g., a presentation was made by a Big Four firm's partners on recent legislation about audits. The Controllers group meets bimonthly, usually at Northeastern University's Henderson House in Weston. To participate, contact the Controller at your institution.
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Emeritus Group
We are proud to maintain a relationship with the first generation Consortium Board. These emeritus members have retired or accepted new challenges, yet remain a resource to the Consortium through their collective wisdom and experience. They are true to the core values they established.
Edwin Merck
Principal
Edwin J. Merck & Associates
151 Ivy Street
Providence, RI 02906
emerck@wheatonma.edu
William Reed
7 Loon Drive
Grantham, NH 03753
wreed@allenco.com
Glenn Strehle
Treasurer Emeritus
M.I.T.
77 Massachusetts Avenue 9-251
Cambridge, MA 02139
strehle@mit.edu
Joanne Yestramski
CFO and Treasurer
University of Maine System
107 Maine Avenue
Bangor, ME 04401
jly@maine.edu
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Employment Managers Group
For about three years, this group has worked on the development and implementation of a major project, the Shared Recruiting initiative, designed to identify and attract qualified applicants to member institutions. The primary focus of the initiative is diversity, and the project is multifaceted, encompassing a Web site with posted positions and links to each school, as well as print and electronic advertising. This initiative has provided a unique opportunity for group development and has bonded members from participating schools, promoting discussion and exploration of ideas for future project work. The group also uses its meetings to share information on current issues and utilizes the Consortium listserv to survey colleagues and exchange information.
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Environmental Health and Safety Group
The EHS group consists of Directors and staff of Environmental Health and Safety offices at the 13 TBC schools. The
EHS group creates educational programs and technical resources that all schools can access, for example,
information on hazardous materials, disaster equipment, and indoor-air quality.
The group has online training
for Chemical Hygiene, Hazardous Communications and Hazardous Waste. As well, the group shares
best management practices and information on broad EHS technical and regulatory trends and issues. Group
members meet every six to eight weeks and as needed, usually at The Boston Consortium. The group anticipates
a fall 2003 training program on Indoor Air Quality.
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The Executive Leadership Series
The Executive Leadership Series is a novel interactive executive development series to help build leadership
capacity within the Consortium's member organizations and for the Consortium as a whole. In addition, the series
fosters improved peer relationships and mutual learning. The breakfast meetings – facilitated by Joe Raelin,
Asa S. Knowles Chair of Practice-Oriented Education at Northeastern University – use a developmental approach to introduce participants to a work-based learning methodology. The intent is for Consortium members to be comfortable managing in a world of complex change as well as capable of leadership that diverges from age-old concepts of leading by control.
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Facilities
Chief Facility Officers and their key lieutenants meet two or three times a year to catch up and share developments at their schools and within their industry, often inviting outside speakers. Early efforts at benchmarking led to the utilization of the Sightlines ROPA© tool for comparing information and creating reports for colleague senior managers.
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Information Technology Training Group
The Information Technology Training Group (ITTG) is an active functional group, and it continues to
address the challenges of technology training. The ITTG meets bi-monthly to address a wide variety of
IT training issues. The group has been successful in researching and contracting with major
vendors of classroom-based technology training and now maintains a list of
preferred and recommended partners
for Consortium schools. ITTG has also developed a strong relationship with an online learning vendor,
offering self-paced software and soft skills training opportunities for our member institutions.
These vendor relationships have resulted in substantial savings to the Consortium schools.
In addition, members have worked to develop core competency technology standards and mapped them to
existing learning vehicles. Finally, ITTG has tested, reported on, and is now piloting a web-based
collaboration tool to support distributed teams and remote learning. Many members are active in the
Consortium's Project Facilitators Network (PFN) as well as several professional associations including
EDUCAUSE and NERCOMP. They have been published in national journals and have presented at regional and
national conferences.
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IT User Services
The IT User Services group resulted from
the requests of several User Service professionals seeking to share and learn
from each other. The group explores common challenges and has targeted several
issues to be addressed at future meetings. Topics include: understanding the
implications of “blended groups” for IT services, reviewing Student Support
policies, Service Level Agreements, and an overview of policies and services on
each campus.
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Organizational Development & Training
The Organizational Development and Training group is a peer support and information-sharing group of human resource, organizational development, and internal consultants. They share information and best practices, and sponsor learning opportunities including: Performance Management Systems, Mission and Core Values, Leadership Development, Competency Models, 360-degree Assessment, Coaching, Myers-Briggs, and Leadership and Influence.
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The Project Facilitators Network
The Project Facilitators Network (PFN) is a cross-functional community of practice, focused on strategies to facilitate effective meetings and projects leading to positive change within the Consortium and its member schools. The group is self-organizing, utilizing a work-based learning methodology, and demonstrates mutual support for its members through skill building, coaching, and networking. The group is called on to facilitate strategic meetings at member schools and for the Consortium. If your group is considering using a facilitator, please send an e-mail with meeting details to info@boston-consortium.org.
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Public Safety Group
The Public Safety group includes Public Safety Chiefs and officers of our member schools. They meet to address
challenges they face with the safety, security, and protection of their institution, staff,
and students. The group has been instrumental in developing Consortium emergency planning
programs including the statewide program, Data, Dialogue, Decision-Making:
Disaster Planning for Higher Education. This past March, the Public Safety group spearheaded a
training program on campus demonstrations, Preparing for Protest: Meeting the Challenges of Campus Unrest. Currently group members are actively developing, testing, and sharing best practices of emergency planning strategies.
Campus Police Information Network (CPIN)
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Purchasing Group
The Chief Procurement Officers of member schools meet as both a large group and as a group of smaller schools, with each setting formatted to meet their overlapping if unique issues. While the Consortium does not act as a group purchasing organization (GPO), it does assist with synchronizing efforts that can lead to savings. An early effort to insure that our members participate in the state’s outstanding GPO, the Massachusetts Higher Education Consortium (MHEC) for purchasing, has resulted in TBC having a permanent position on the MHEC Board. Recently, three of our members, Harvard, Tufts, and Boston University, have piloted an e-procurement effort that has thus far been quite successful in lowering transaction costs and even some price concessions. Other members are considering participation.
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Risk Management Group
Membership in the Risk Management Group is intended for the leader of each institution’s risk management practice. While the scope of each institution’s risk management influence and responsibility varies; this practice group provides a forum to discuss and validate the spectrum of insurance and risk management issues common to both large and small institutions. The Risk Management Group encourages innovation, shared efforts, benchmarking analysis and mutual learning through a collaborative design. Members support and actively participate in the URMIA (University Risk Management and Insurance Association) and RIMS (Risk and Insurance Management Society) organizations.
To learn more about the Risk Management Group, contact Ed Frackiewicz, Director of Risk Management,
Co-Sourced Risk Management Services,
at edward.frackiewicz@olin.edu.
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Sponsored Research Group
The Sponsored Research group has been instrumental in bringing vital training to member institution employees. NCURA and TBC have collaborated to bring faculty to the Boston area to give a three-day conference in the fundamentals of their discipline. This training, primarily available outside of New England, has been sponsored twice in Boston, resulting in considerable cost savings to group members. The group is planning a second level of training, SPA II, in October 2003 for more advanced practitioners. In conjunction with the above conferences, a sub-group is working on developing training programs, which will be accessible to all employees on an as-needed basis. In addition, the group recently initiated a quarterly roundtable meeting at which they explore issues common to the group.
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Telecom Group
The Telecom group consists primarily of the Telecommunications Directors from the 13 TBC schools. The group's two key functions are to share information on best practices for possible use by other schools and to share information on broad trends to enable members to plan appropriately. The group meets bimonthly, usually at The Boston Consortium. Guest speakers present trends and opportunities on selected topics. Recent speakers have included officials from the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy, Verizon, and College Cellular.
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The Training Collaborative
The Training Collaborative, comprised of representatives from five TBC member institutions - Babson, Boston College, Brandeis, Wellesley, and Wheaton - is committed to providing employees in higher education with the training they need to succeed in their work environments, while affording opportunities to network with colleagues from other area institutions. Working together, The Training Collaborative designs unique, comprehensive programs to address mutual needs within the member schools while taking advantage of cost-sharing initiatives.
Members of The Training Collaborative are:
Babson College
Matthew Reis, PhD
reis@babson.edu
Boston College
Bernie O’Kane
okane@bc.edu
Brandeis University
Michael McNamara
mmcnama@brandeis.edu
Wellesley College
Kathy Stewart
kstewart@wellesley.edu
Wheaton College
Barbara Lema
blema@wheatonma.edu
The group has designed two certification programs:
The Administrative Assistant Development Program
and a supervisor program, Successful Management: What every Supervisor wants to know.
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