Contact Information

Ruth Sullivan
Policy Center Liaison
ruthsullivan@ccri.edu

Michael Cunningham
Policy Center Liaison
mjcunningham1@ccri.edu

Wendy Houle
Web Site Content Manager
E-mail: whoule@ccri.edu

Foundations of Excellence

A message from President Di Pasquale

This year I have decided to include the college in an exciting new initiative, Foundations of Excellence. Developed by John Gardner, a pre-eminent expert on the first-year experience, this program is grounded in more than three decades of research and is based on the premise that a student’s first year at college lays the groundwork for their entire academic career.

By taking an intentional and comprehensive look at our students’ first year experience, we can focus the retention conversation on institutional quality. My hope is that by the end of the process, CCRI will have a new vision for enhanced learning and retention for first year students. But I need your help.

Participation requires that we complete a college-wide review and analysis that focuses on institutional behavior. Michael Cunningham and Ruth Sullivan, the program coordinators, are assembling nine committees that will examine all aspects of the first-year experience in nine “dimensions” including philosophy, organization, learning, campus culture, transitions, all students, diversity, improvement, and roles and purposes. Each committee will work for approximately six to eight weeks examining a specific area and making recommendations for improvement. I am encouraging each of you to join one of these nine committees to ensure that we get broad representation from the entire CCRI community. Your perspective is important.

In addition, as part of the self-study process there will be a short electronic survey distributed to all faculty and staff. I hope that everyone will please take a moment to complete it.

For more information about Foundations of Excellence or to join a committee, please contact Ruth Sullivan or Michael Cunningham. Thank you for your participation in this important project.