If Oscars were handed out to community colleges, the mantle at Saint Petersburg College would be full. Innovative programs and record enrollments are prize-winners. Exchange programs are in place with academic institutions all over the world. And collaborative partnerships with businesses and governments have resulted in facilities and programs that would be the envy of any college in the U.S.
SPC President Carl Kuttler Jr. attributes those successes to "e-spirit" and its effect on almost everyone associated with the school.
"Everyone uses terms like e-college and e-learning. We're e-spirited," says Kuttler. "We're an institution that thrives on inspiration and energy. That spirit spreads through here like wildfire. Every day, when people come to work, they're able to do so many creative things. We need to operate as an educational institution, but with business practices. There's a difference. I don't operate this college as a business; I use great business principles to operate an educational institution."
Some might consider the charismatic leader a little too far out of the mainstream. Take for example, when faculty recently asked Kuttler to give $45,000 bonuses to all employees with more than 25 years of service. "They wanted to move all senior employees to the top of the salary schedule. And what would I get for that? Not enough for enough people. So instead of the $45,000 they asked for, I gave them $450,000, ten times the request. But I spread it among everybody in order to take a leap in competitiveness."
Kuttler signs 12-month contracts with many of his faculty members. He looks for instructor/professors with doctorates who have teaching and administrative experience at both 2- and 4-year institutions. "If you can find someone with 2-year experience, you're getting a person who loves to teach. I'm not paying for research. I use research results everywhere, but I don't want to pay for it, nor do I want to add it to the cost of our 'product.'"
We teach, they learn
"Too often, students learn in spite of the faculty," he adds. "My daughter was valedictorian of her high school class, the toughest high school around here. She got a scholarship to attend a state university. There sits in a class of 800 students, and never sees the professor. All she did was go and get her assignments. She learned in spite of the faculty. Our students learn because of our faculty, not in spite of them."
SPC is located in Pinellas County on Florida's west coast, near Tampa. It has been known as a retirement haven - two of the top five beaches in America are located there. Now with nearly a million residents, the area has seen an influx of relocating technology and other "clean" businesses.
SPC began as a 2-year private college in 1927. It became a 2-year public college in 1948. In 2001, St. Petersburg Junior College shed the "junior" and became the first community college in Florida to award four-year degrees.
With four comprehensive campuses and four specialty campuses, SPC enrolls 65,000 students. About 85 percent of its students live in Pinellas County. About three percent come from 111 different countries.
Three degrees lead to a faculty job
A native Floridian, Kuttler earned his A.A. degree from then St. Petersburg Junior College, then earned a B.S. in management at Florida State University, followed by his law degree from Stetson University. Licensed to practice in Florida, he clerked for the Chief Judge of the Second District Court of Appeals before turning to education. He joined the faculty of his alma mater as a part-time business instructor in 1965. After holding various administrative positions, he was named president in 1978.
Kuttler thinks of himself as an educator, but he behaves more like the CEO of a Fortune 50 company. Ask him any question and he quickly gets around to selling you on the merits of SPC. He is continually thinking about leveraging his institution and what business processes are in need of redesign.
"The old model says a student packs up his suitcase and moves away. While he lives in poverty, he takes courses, if and when they're available, stretched out over x number of years," Kuttler says. "That's not our model. Ours is: 'any time, any place, any pace.' We're a public "University of Phoenix" and we beat their tuition many times over. But we're a lot more. We package a quality education in a way that is convenient and conducive to the student."
A president in search of a partnership
Kuttler believes the way to leverage a higher education institution today is by forming alliances with businesses and governments that bring money and resources to the deal. And make no mistake: this is a president in constant search of a partnership.
Take for example the newly created Allstate Center. In the 1980s Kuttler was approached by the Pinellas County sheriff, who wanted to expand educational opportunities for his law enforcement officers. Allstate Insurance Company's former regional offices were for sale, a 130,000-square-foot building conveniently located on 20 acres. A helpful donation from Allstate, which afforded the company favorable tax credits, accompanied special state legislation that made a deal possible. Added investment from others helped SPC convert the building to a national training center for criminal justice, fire safety, emergency management and homeland security.
SPC's Allstate Center also houses a National Terrorism Preparedness Institute, which trains emergency responders from all over the world. The Center has trained more than 5 million special students through limited access TV. SPC also offers a bachelor's degree in public safety administration that is one of the most sought-after degrees in Florida.
During a visit to Broward County several years ago, Kuttler observed a partnership the community college there forged with local government to create a joint-use library. Kuttler returned home to replicate the model. "We partnered with the city of Seminole where they put in the people and books and we helped with construction. We then took the concept to the city of St. Petersburg and we built a joint library with them on our St. Pete campus. It's a $10 million facility, the biggest library the city has, and we're joint partners with them. They put in $2 million, but didn't have the money readily available, so we loaned it to them. We then got a match, which brought the total to $4 million. We've really made partnerships speak."
An online presence
Kuttler isn't just about bricks and mortar, though. He also has advanced SPC's presence on the web. An initiative called Project Eagle has invested more than $10 million in creating an online presence. During the past six years, SPC has developed, implemented and evaluated 275 online associate, baccalaureate and certificate courses. SPC's eCampus is the largest distance learning program of its kind among Florida's 28 community colleges. Over 16,000 students take online or blended courses, and the number is growing.
Kuttler and Company also seek best practices. The college provides technologists to help faculty design web courses, and students are regularly surveyed to discover how those courses might be improved. Project Eagle shares its best practices through a monthly online newsletter called "Best Educational E-Practices" or BEEP. The web-based BEEP's subscriber list spans 200 nations. (To subscribe, contact Project Eagle coordinator Jennifer Lechner at lechnerj@spcollege.edu.)
The jewel in the community crown
To date Kuttler's crowning achievement is the $32 million EpiCenter, a joint-use facility with Pinellas County. It opened this summer and serves as a virtual portal to the local community. The facility was financed with $8 million from the county and $8 million from the Florida Legislature. The sale of SPC's old administration building and two federal grants rounded out the construction package. Revenue from the EpiCenter is expected to cover operating expenses and produce a surplus of its own to be used by the college.
Located in an office park, the EpiCenter's 130,000 square feet facilitates SPC's business and technology degrees and certificate programs, corporate training. There's also a Partnership Center where students complete their bachelor's, master's and doctoral requirements through arrangements with partnering colleges and universities. Also housed in the EpiCenter are the offices of the local Convention & Visitors Bureau, Pinellas County Economic Development, WorkNet Pinellas, and the Pinellas County Arts Council.
Meanwhile, at the heart of the EpiCenter are Collaborative Labs for businesses to use to conduct strategic planning. With robust technology and a supportive environment, trained facilitators lead collaborative problem-solving teams to solutions in quick time. Kay Adkins, EpiCenter's executive director, says a wide variety of businesses and government agencies have used the facility with success. She says new product lines have been developed there. And one local city government used the service to design a new park.
"What resulted from our EpiCenter experience was an intense esprit de corps," says Richard Harrell, VP and laboratory manager for Americus Dental. "We were able to bring a large group of people, from the maintenance man to the president of the company, into an environment where all perspectives were considered."
Kuttler likes to point out that SPC can teach courses for 25 percent less than what it would cost to teach at a state university. Of critical importance, he emphasizes, is remaining focused on the changing needs of students and the community. Along with keen awareness, an entrepreneurial approach turns challenges into opportunities. That builds e-spirit.
"When success inspires greater success, entrepreneurship is contagious," Kuttler says.
Ask anyone on SPC's campus. They'll quickly tell you that Kuttler's pride in his institution is most assuredly contagious.