Lakeshore Technical College is the 2024 Bellwether Award winner in the Planning, Governance, and Finance category for investments made in redefining its recruitment and onboarding process.
It is the first two-year college in Wisconsin to earn the award, which was announced Feb. 27 during the 30th Annual Community College Futures Assembly held in San Antonio, Texas.
“This recognition is significant not only for our college but also for our community to know that the continuous improvement efforts going into our recruitment and onboarding process are proving successful,” says Lakeshore President Dr. Paul Carlsen. “The peer reviewers who analyzed our entry clearly saw our mission-focused approach ensures we hire the right people and give them the tools they need to teach and support our students the best they can.”
Bellwether Awards annually honor innovative community college programs and practices in place that address critical issues facing community colleges across the country. They are granted annually in three categories and widely regarded as one of the nation’s most competitive and prestigious recognitions for community colleges. Lakeshore has been selected as a finalist five out of the last six years.
According to Carlsen, after acknowledging its recruitment and onboarding practices needed improvement in 2020, the college’s leadership team took steps to analyze and redefine the processes to become more effective for both applicants and the college. Focus shifted from quickly filling short-term needs to focusing on long-term benefits of intentional onboarding. Every step along the way was strategically modified. Today, new hires undergo 12 months of onboarding including in-depth training by subject matter experts and high-level overview of key topics by members of the college’s reorganized training department, renamed the Teaching and Learning Center.
