Carol Schaafsma awarded the 2005 Carolyn Desjardins Leadership Award
The
mission of the Oregon Chapter of the American Association for Women in
Community Colleges is to inspire, champion, and celebrate the talents
within each of us. To recognize and celebrate this mission, the AAWCC
Board of Directors awarded the 2005 Carolyn DesJardins Leadership Award
to Carol Schaafsma, Director of Curriculum and Instructional
Programs at Linn-Benton Community College.
Carol is highly respected by management, faculty and classified employees as an individual and as a leader at LBCC. Carol is an inspiration to others whether she is facilitating, presenting or leading a discussion. It is obvious that Carol is concerned about everyone involved. She has a way of taking in information and communicating it in a logical manner so that all understand. She is an advocate for all employee groups, promoting and encouraging the best in all of us.
Carol is a mentor for several women at LBCC. She believes in the importance of supporting women, personally and professionally, and makes time in her busy schedule to act on this value. Whether it is by having regular monthly lunches, participating and presenting at retreats or making time for a phone call or meeting when someone is struggling with an issue, Carol demonstrates great sensitivity and care for the individual needs of people. Carol is a natural mentor; she is knowledgeable, trustworthy, ethical and insightful. Carol is currently Co-President of her local Linn-Benton Community College Chapter of AAWCC for the 2005-2006 school year.
In her mentor role, she encourages women to take on new challenges, prepares them to assume positions of greater responsibility, helps them identify strengths and goals, educates them on the importance of extending their circle of influence and assists in reframing potentially disappointing experiences. Those people who Carol has mentored are confident they can always go to her with an issue or concern and know that she will treat it with the utmost care and confidentiality. Carol has a way with helping individuals see both sides of the situation to move towards an understanding that fosters and encourages true diversity.
A master at building strong relationships, Carol is someone who listens intently, speaks kindly and gives thought and attention to people with whom she interacts. Carol is a reflective practitioner and careful observer of processes and interpersonal interactions. She puts tremendous effort into getting to know people, making them feel included and getting input. Carol operates from the perspective of connective leadership. She sees other's strengths, encourages, and is willing to step back to let others step forward. She is very collaborative and she will not rush decisions until she feels like people are comfortable with the outcome. She is just as skilled at developing relationships with individuals as she is working with committees across campus. She shows depth of thinking and sensitivity in working with teams who are working on arduous tasks.
Her dedication to LBCC employees is evident through her involvement with all employee groups and her promotion of shared governance. She is involved with the committees setting the mission, vision and values of LBCC, ensuring that the desirable culture of LBCC continues. She assists faculty and classified in discussions regarding advocacy, professional development, leadership and career planning.
Carol is a wonderful example of the impact an optimistic and positive spirit can have on a workplace. She has facilitated the Appreciative Inquiry process with workgroups to find renewed hope and optimism for one another, for our work and for our clients and students. It's Carol's own vision, optimism, heart and soul that make this kind of work possible. She sees the best in all of us. Harkening back to her days as a pre-school teacher, she has always called what we do at LBCC, "parallel play" and, because it is what we do best, she has continued to find ways to help us thrive while playing side-by-side. She likes to have fun and has a great sense of humor. She is highly skilled at reframing - she has the ability to view a situation or a discussion in ways that promote forward movement and positive feelings. She does not get stuck in negativity, instead she finds ways for each of us to understand, see the potential and find the solution.
There is no way to express all that Carol does for LBCC, except to say that in our mind, Carol Schaafsma is the epitome of what a leader, a woman and a mentor should be. Carol combines empathy, compassion, humor and critical thinking to be a great leader within our college and communities. She is a true professional and an inspiration to women at the college. She is well deserving of this award.
Previous winners of the Carolyn DesJardins Leadership Award also include Terri Johanson, Brenda Brecke, Carolyn DesJardins, Nikki Harrington, Alice Jacobson, Marcia Keith, Rebecca Kenney, Dan Moriarity, Mary Spilde, Stephanie Sussman, Gretchen Schuette, and Nan Poppe.
Nominations for the 2006 Carolyn DesJardins Award are open until October 2006. (Read more about the nomination process.)