Rowan-Cabarrus Community College

SALISBURY — Rowan-Cabarrus Community College received two national accolades — a leadership award from the Community College Business Officers Association and recognition as an innovative solution finalist from Hyland OnBase.

Kizzy Lea, associate chief financial officer, was honored with the Jim Turner Leadership Academy Outstanding Presentation Award by the Community College Business Officers Association.

The association is the only one dedicated to community college business officers. One of the programs it offers is a leadership academy, a yearlong program led by industry experts to provide hands-on learning.

The academy provides mentorship for each participant. It allows current and aspiring community college finance and business officers to gain knowledge about the chief business officer leadership role and provides participants with knowledge about best practices of leadership in a community college.

The Jim Turner Leadership Academy Outstanding Presentation Award recognizes the Leadership Academy graduate whose final presentation is voted the best by academy peers.

The association was founded in 1983 and became an affiliated council of the American Association of Community Colleges in 1984. The association serves the needs of college finance officials nationwide by providing conferences, leadership programs, professional development and networking opportunities.

“CCBO prepares finance and business officers for success in professional roles within the finance and business offices at community colleges nationwide,” said Janet Spriggs, chief operating officer and leader of the college’s Division for Student Success.

“Kizzy’s award-winning presentation focused on our college’s project to reimagine the 21st-century college bookstore and student engagement center, a project she co-led and which culminated in the recent implementation of an innovative virtual bookstore model at Rowan-Cabarrus,” Spriggs said. “I am especially proud of Kizzy because the Leadership Academy dean and her peers unanimously chose her for this award.”

As a result of her outstanding and award-winning presentation, Lea was elected to serve on the organization’s national board.

Innovation solution finalist

Rowan-Cabarrus also received national recognition as a top-three innovation solution finalist in the higher education category for software development company Hyland Software’s annual award program.

When the college was looking for innovative ways to make processes easier and more efficient for students, especially during the enrollment process, it turned to Hyland’s OnBase software platform. The college developed an OnBase short application to streamline the re-enrollment process for students who have previously attended Rowan-Cabarrus.

“It is very important to keep the rigor in the classroom and take it out of the enrollment process,” said Spriggs. “It should be easy and seamless to become a student at Rowan-Cabarrus.”

The shorter application for returning students contains pre-filled information from the students’ original application. The new form saves students time and expedites the re-enrollment process.

“This application is wonderful for our students who had to take time away from Rowan-Cabarrus and now have returned to continue their education,” said Natasha Lipscomb, executive director for student success, South Campus. “It reduces the barriers to getting the students back in the classroom and makes them feel welcomed and that we remember them.”

Each year, innovative solutions from the Hyland customer base are nominated in various categories for consideration to be a finalist as the most innovative solution for the year.

The selection process takes into account multiple factors, including customer impact, return on investment, strategic impact and overall innovation. The short application was selected for simplifying the customer experience, affecting multiple departments, and using the OnBase Workflow engine in an innovative way.

“Our OnBase solution has filled a gap in our institution that was causing loss of time and productivity. We have been able to serve over 1,400 students since last fall term with the returning students application alone,” said Ken Ingle, chief information officer. “This enabled us to better handle last-minute applicants and those who may have limited time away from work or home, allowing us to get all their requirements taken care of in one visit.”

While the short application was recognized, the innovative OnBase tool has also been used to simplify more than 15 other departmental processes around the college with more than 20 planned before the end of the year.  Rowan-Cabarrus was the only community college selected as a finalist, competing against Portland State University and Claremont University for top honors.

“I am very proud of the recognition that we are receiving,” said college President Carol S. Spalding. “Rowan-Cabarrus Community College strives to support our students in their educational pathway while also supporting the professional development of our faculty and staff.”

For more information about Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, visit www.rccc.edu or call 704-216-RCCC (7222).