It was standing room only at the all-college meeting for faculty and staff yesterday   when  President Tom Rochon challenged faculty and staff to become more “creative and innovative.”

Rochon presented three steps he said could help build innovation and creativity in everyday learning. He also announced the creation of an “ innovation advisory board ” made up of faculty, staff and students that will focus on developing ideas.

“We need to take some time to think about Ithaca College as a whole,” Rochon said at the beginning-of-semester meeting in the Emerson Suites . “I want you all to feel a positive commitment to examining Ithaca College carefully.”

Rochon said faculty and staff are committed to students, but went on to say that there may be a sense in which the college might not be as “student-centered” as many believe. He challenged faculty and staff members to ask themselves if they are doing everything they can to improve and add to the college’s complete educational experience.

“Do we think about our every day work experience and ask what can be improved?” He said. “Do we work not just for our own comfort and benefit, but thinking consciously about educational excellence as the outcome of our work?”

Eric Maguire, vice president of enrollment management, Carl Sgrecci, vice president of finance and administration, and Kathleen Rountree, provost and vice president of academic affairs, also spoke about the future of enrollment, finances and academic excellence.

Maguire presented three models for the future of the college's enrollment. In Model 9.1, he projected a gradual seven-percent increase in applications over a five-to-six-year period. Maguire and Sgrecci presented it as the most viable option for the college to maintain a steady enrollment despite a proven decline in demographics.

Rochon said the college is on a “stronger basis for stability” compared to last year.

“You will all remember how we felt one year ago,” he said. “We made permanent cuts in operating budgets, made real sacrifices and we all took a salary freeze. The outlook this January is incomparably better.”

Chris Gonzales, web marketing research specialist in marketing communications, said he left the meeting feeling optimistic about the college’s future.

“This meeting seemed to be brighter,” Gonzales said. “We’re all over the anxiety and fear that developed over a year ago in the economic crisis.”

Raj Subramaniam, associate professor in health promotion and physical education, also said the meeting was different than previous ones.

“The president laid out specific steps that the college community should take to move forward,” Subramaniam said. “This is something we haven’t seen in meetings before.”

For more on this story and a one-on-one interview with President Rochon discussing his new vision, check the Jan. 28 issue of The Ithacan.