Leading expert on service in higher education visited CCU
This past month Coastal Carolina University welcomed Dr. Neal Raisman, the internationally recognized expert on academic customer service, to our beautiful campus and community. It was an honor to have him visit our campus and speak with various Coastal Carolina University leaders, councils, committees and faculty/staff.
Raisman first met with the Feel the Teal Steering Committee, a seven-member group that helps guide the university’s service excellence initiative. They discussed the current service-oriented programs in other higher education institutions. He then met with the Feel the Teal Leadership Team, a 70-member group that provides feedback and direction on the program's mission and message. Raisman reminded us to think of the passion with which we went into teaching, or into higher education and to reflect upon the one person who might have helped us personally along the way in our own academic journey. The power of passion in any one person at CCU can make a huge difference. This mindset will inspire us to strive for excellence in our classrooms and with every service interaction on our campus.
A lunch meeting was held at the HTC Laforce Center with Dr. Raisman, Provost Ralph Byington and the Dean’s Council. The service excellence task at hand is one that involves the entire campus culture, and this point generated much discussion. Another point emerging from the lunch was that various committees operate on this campus that discuss and make good recommendations for improving campus culture. However, there often isn't a good communication line for getting these out of committee. This meeting resulted in great discussion and feedback that I will use moving forward.
A special thank you to those of you who were able to attend or watch online the Town Hall. Professor of Communication Steve Madden, CCU Faculty Senate Chair, interviewed Dr. Raisman about his findings and challenges as they relate to service excellence in higher education. Dr. Raisman descirbed his research and identified ways to move this university-wide initiative forward. Dr. Raisman provided candid insight to our questions in regard to raising the bar on service excellence and student success here at CCU. There were great questions asked by various faculty and staff, and open discussion continued afterward at the “Meet and Greet."
Raisman’s most recent blog featured his visit to CCU. It begins: “I am often asked for an example of a school that is really working at customer service and getting it right. Well I just returned from one. Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina has a campus-wide initiative that is starting to show some strong results.” I would encourage you to read the blog http://academicmaps.blogspot.com/ and any future blogs or articles regarding service excellence in higher education.
We have been recognized as a leader in academic customer service and that is high praise from Raisman. Congratulations to all of you. I am very proud of what we have accomplished thus far with our service excellence and student success focus over the last year. Thank you to all of our faculty and staff for doing what you do so well and delivering service interactions that allow people to Feel the Teal!
Happy Holidays and may you Feel the Teal throughout the new year!
Sincerely,
David A. DeCenzo
