On Our Agenda

Consortium to Reorganize

The Colleges of Worcester Consortium, Inc. Board of Directors voted in February to legally separate member services and higher education access services.

The division providing member services will retain the name Colleges of Worcester Consortium, Inc. and relocate to Anna Maria College in Paxton, Massachusetts, as of July 1, 2013.

The corporate entity serving low-income, first-generation middle and high school students and adults with higher education access services has been renamed Massachusetts Education and Career Opportunities, Inc. (MassEdCO) and will remain at 484 Main Street, Worcester. A new website is being built for this organization.

More information.

Holiday Greetings

The Consortium sent video holiday greetings for peaceful holidays and happiness in 2013.

CSI-Worcester graduates college/career-ready participants

Collegiate Success Institute (CSI) students from South High Community School graduated from the program on November 13, 2012 in a ceremony held at The Hanover Insurance, one of the program partners. CSI pairs students from five Worcester high schools with mentors from Consortium colleges and local corporations who work with them on college and career readiness skills. CSI, a federally funded program, is sponsored locally by the Consortium and graduated a total of 73 seniors on the 13th.

Training provided for career services professionals

The Consortium’s Career Services Committee hosted a day-long conference for career services professionals on November 13, 2012, at the College of the Holy Cross. This year's theme, “Successful Strategies for Supporting Diverse Populations,” was addressed by Barbara Bissonnette, certified coach and principal of Forward Motion Coaching. Numerous breakout sessions focussed working with a variety of populations: international students, veterans, students with disabilities, first-generation college-goers, LGBTQ students and others.

Annual wellness challenge wraps up

Over 800 staff and faculty from Consortium member institutions put on their pedometers and counted steps during October.  The annual Road Bowl wellness challenge is a collaborative effort among the colleges and universities, Fallon Community Health Plan and the Consortium.  Steps were tracked online and prizes will soon be awarded to the best teams.  Prizes were donated by Planet Fitness-Webster Square (four annual memberships) and Beechwood Inn and Ceres (one three-course dinner for two, an overnight stay, and 10% off food for any walker who shows his/her pedometer through 11/15/12).  Winners will be announced on Monday, November 5, 2012.

Workshop helped faculty with grant-writing

Marianne Jordan, director of McAllister & Quinn provided tips and guidelines for successful grant writing at a half-day workshop on "Planning Successful Scholarship: Obtaining fellowships and grants for sabbaticals and ongoing research.  Held on Friday afternoon, November 2, 2012 at Assumption College, the event included panels of local faculty and grant officers. 

WPI student wins 3rd Annual "Consortium's Got Talent" competition

David Scott, an engineering student at WPI, took 1st place for performing his original ballads at the 3rd annual “Consortium’s Got Talent” competition at the Hanover Theatre on November 1, 2012. Based on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” performers representing Assumption College, Becker College, Clark University, College of the Holy Cross, MCPHS, Nichols College, UMass Medical School, WPI and Worcester State University competed for the $1000 winning prize (provided by Webster Five).  Vocalist Deborah Diaz of Worcester State University took 2nd place for the 2nd year.  Singer Katerina Reilly of Assumption College and poet Lulu Moyo of Clark University came in 3rd and 4th, respectively.  (Photo left to right: Scott, Moyo, Reilly and Diaz)  More information.

Consortium member benefits on display at Holy Cross Employee Fair

Information on certificate programs (management and college teaching), professional development workshops (faculty and career services), technical trainings, free and reduced-rate services offered by member institutions, and Joint Purchasing Program vendor discounts for Consortium member employees was available at the Employee Benefits Fair held for College of the Holy Cross employees on October 24.  If you are an employee at one of our 12 member campuses, call the Consortium office for more information: 508-754-6829.  

Dr. Jose Bowen advocates "Teaching Naked"

Sponsored by the Faculty Development Committee, Jose Antonio Bowen, PhD led a half-day workshop on Friday, October 19, 2012 at Mass. College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences on "Teaching Naked: How moving technology out of your classroom will improve student learning."  Dr. Bowen, a department chair and professor at Southern Methodist University, is the author of a 2012 book by the same name.

Student Learning Outcomes was focus of workshop

Carol Lerch, PhD, assistant vice president for assessment and planning at Worcester State College, led an afternoon workshop on Friday, October 5, devoted to the first key step in course assessment: creating appropriate student learning outcomes.  Sponsored by the Consortium's Assessment Committee, the event helped faculty at colleges/universities in the region (Consortium members and non-members) create measurable outcomes for assessing course content.