Gateway recognizes employee innovation

At the Spirit of Innovation reception  tonight, Gateway Community & Technical College recognized employees who submitted innovative ideas for talent realization, talent development and improved quality of life for students and the community.

Gateway2Anywhere was named the People’s Choice. Early Childhood Education earned the League for Innovation top project of the evening. This project will be submitted to the national League for Innovation in Community College's Innovation of the Year recognition.

The Spirit of Innovation recognition program, sponsored by the Gateway Community & Technical College Foundation, promotes an entrepreneurial culture within Gateway by showcasing innovative activities created by Gateway employees and students.

Entrants submitted video presentations of their projects for review by the selection committee and public. The People’s Choice award was given to the project that received the most votes online for their project video. The project submitted to the League of Innovation received the most points on the evaluation rubric set forth by the League of Innovation, which includes quality, efficiency, replication, creativity and timeliness. A committee including members of the Covington Business Council evaluated the entries based on this criteria.

In addition to the Spirit of Innovation awards and reception, the Gateway gallery also hosted the Expressions of Innovation and Imagination exhibit, which featured diverse artwork and writing speaking to various interpretations and personal expressions of innovation and imagination.

Below are summaries of all of the Spirit of Innovation entries.

Arts & Sciences Shadow Day: Shadow Day is an opportunity for prospective students to test their fit with the Associate of Arts and Associate in Science degrees at Gateway. There is no other program like Shadow Day at Gateway or KCTCS. While there are other visitation programs offered, the Shadow Day event is unique because allows prospective students to sit in on classes, not just tour the facilities. Perspective students sit down with current students to learn more about Gateway.  The focus is providing students an “inside look” into the AA and AS degrees and life as a student at Gateway - something never done before.

Community Connections: The creative and progressive vision for Gateway’s Urban setting launched the creation and implementation of Gateway’s Community Education (CE) program and organized exhibits in the Gateway gallery in the Center for Technology, Innovation and Enterprise (TIE) building. This vision ties together community education and cultural/fine arts in a unique way that provides Gateway and the community learning and participation opportunities, which have not existed in the past. Partnerships with the City of Covington, RCov, and local creatives give a new spin to the traditional thought of community education and arts exhibits.

Early Childhood Education: Research shows that student-mothers who work and go to school give up school when the balance becomes too difficult to manage. Parenthood and work will always come first. One faculty member helps reduce the stress of going to school by redesigning a program so that students can come in for one night and receive credit for 2 classes. Each required technical class is technically paired as a back-to-back hybrid, so working-student-parents could come in one night per week, receive six credit hours, or two nights per week, and receive 12 credit hours. These students are in the same classes with the same students, forming supportive friendships. By strategically rotating selected paired classes, students are able to jump in anytime (on intro nights) and then move to upper level course pairings on the other two nights. It has also dramatically increased course enrollment, retention, and student satisfaction.

Food For Thought Pantry:  The Food for Thought Pantry was launched at the beginning of fall 2016. The majority of students coming for resources indicated a food insecurity. The Food for Thought Pantry helps students in immediate need, regardless of income and household size.

Gateway2Anywhere:  Gateway2Anywhere is the designated name for the innovative program that has produced wide expansion of the pathways and articulations to four-year schools and an overhaul and significant growth to the existing Gateway2NKU program. Gateway added five regional and state partners with Gateway2UK, Gateway2UofL, Gateway2TMC, Gateway2MSJ, and Gateway2EKU. An innovative focus of the project has been to increase the pathway opportunities for AAS students who are pursuing work-ready degrees, but may seek further education in the near or distant future. It has created an efficient and early method for students to be engaged in the process and to receive support from Gateway and partners.

iPad Repair Camp:  The Gateway Computer Information Technology (CIT) Department created a community-based project to serve the local high schools.  The purpose of the project is to interest local high school students in IT skills and spark their interest in the IT field.  Gateway CIT offered local high schools the opportunity to send two or three students to CIT summer camps, free of charge. One day a week for six weeks CIT students (with faculty oversight) taught students to fix iPads that they use in school every day.

Nurse Aide Co-Teach: Nurse Aide Co-Teach was a collaboration set into motion to increase classroom capacity and decrease the need for resources, while training students with the appropriate supplies and student/teacher ratio. This allows the instructor to lecture 30 students then split the class into two groups of 15. Each group of 15 will then have a separate instructor for the lab training and clinical training. Previously, this model required contracting an instructor for 75 credit hours to teach 15 students. Currently, the co-teach instructors are contracted for 45 contact hours and the head lecturer is contracted for 75 hours.

Ten/Ten Drug/Alcohol Education Program – CIT Students: The Ten/Ten Program is a drug and alcohol education, intervention, and prevention program. This non-profit program networks with other northern Kentucky agencies and comes at no cost to the client for 10 weeks. Clients are required to submit to random drug screens a minimum of once a week. Brian Thompson, who oversees the database that the program utilizes, contacted Professor Deep Ramanayake, Program Coordinator for the Computer Information Technology Department, to request assistance with problems arising from his database. Professor Ramanayake volunteered to help find solutions free of charge as a community outreach project by assigning a senior student, Brandon Daniel, to speak with Brian and attempt to identify and provide solutions to manage his data.

We’re With Gateway:  The beauty of the We’re with Gateway (WWG) Community Reception is not only the result of the actual event but also the creative collaboration involved in the planning and execution of the event. The original intent of the Reception was to launch Gateway’s social campaign to mobilize its community of support in publicly expressing, “we’re with Gateway,” while recognizing our donors. Beyond achieving its goal, it became a model for college-wide engagement and event planning AND boosted employee morale. There were several key components of the WWG Community Reception that led to its success, which have since been incorporated to the fabric of the institution, including the inaugural use of Gateway’s art gallery to display the works of local artists that continues to this day.

View the 2017 Spirit of Innovation entries online.