Tim Mittan, director of Southeast Community College’s Entrepreneurship Center, led a group of entrepreneurship ambassadors on a trip to western Massachusetts earlier this month to spread the word about how to provide outstanding peer-to-peer member service.
Mittan leads a seven-ambassador group comprised of National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship members who represent community colleges across the U.S. The ambassadors are reaching out to schools to see how NACCE can help them reach their goals for entrepreneurship programming.
“This is a new program that just kicked off May 3,” Mittan said. “My job is to lead twice-a-month calls and provide assistance when and where needed. I also keep track of all the calls and connections made and write a monthly report documenting the work of the ambassadors.”
Member ambassadors are Ginger Clark, Hillsborough Community College in Florida; Tony Fontes, Bunker Hill Community College in Massachusetts; Andrew Lambert, Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana; Sandra Louvier, Houston Community College in Texas; Amy Schulz, Feather River College in California; Richard Warner, Lehigh Carbon Community College in Pennsylvania; and Carlene Cassidy, Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland.
Each of the ambassadors has been granted a stipend to help offset time spent on the project, Mittan said. Team members were selected based on their successes as entrepreneurship educators, experience within the NACCE community and commitment to helping other members.
Funding for the project is provided by the Coleman Foundation.
The NACCE member ambassador program aims to connect, educate and develop the NACCE community by growing and nurturing membership throughout the country. By connecting members with thought leaders, providing resources and celebrating and recognizing the achievements of fellow NACCE members, ambassadors will increase awareness of the value of NACCE to a national audience of community college presidents, administrators, faculty, directors, and staff.
The NACCE ambassador program is designed to help members take full advantage of the resources available to them as individuals and as an institution. The ultimate goal is for the experienced members to welcome new members and become an ally for existing members, to be there as a resource and help guide them as they seek out opportunities to learn, network and leverage their membership to advance entrepreneurship education. Ambassadors will play a visible and integral role in NACCE. Anticipated outcomes include increased value and benefit to members and what the organization believes will ultimately lead to higher retention rates.