During the Global Leadership Institute Conference (GLIC) in late April, the Global Leadership Institute at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) presented awards to co-authors of a submission in aρετή (Arete): Journal of Excellence in Global Leadership, the College’s academic journal of excellence. Each year, the journal awards the Contribution of Excellence Award (COE) to one submission.
A selection committee was formed to choose a winner based on criteria that included global impact, cross-disciplinary, relevance, thought-provoking, innovativeness, cultural awareness and diversity.
Jennie Mitchell, Ph.D., chief editor of aρετή (Arete): Journal of Excellence in Global Leadership, presented the Contribution of Excellence Awards (COE) to Nicole Potts ’07, ’22G, and William Michels for their article ‘SLOTT: Student Learning Outcomes Tracing Tool.’
In presenting the awards, Mitchell shared comments from one of the journal reviewers. “All of the articles were thought-provoking and worthy of merit, making the choice difficult. This article meets the criteria because it is global in that the tool can be applied to any university, anywhere, that wishes to track cultural competencies. It is relevant due to its focus on cultural competencies and the barriers to this construct which has growing importance in our global society. The article is thought-provoking. It is innovative, to say the least, given the creation of a new tool to trace cultural competency and its extensive Excel usage and the video demonstrating the SLOTT tool was quite helpful. And, of course, cultural awareness and diversity are both at the core of the article. I selected the Potts and Michels research article because it met many of the award criteria.”
Potts received her undergraduate degree from SMWC in 2007, earned her doctorate degree in organic chemistry from Northern Illinois University in 2013 and her Master’s in Leadership Development (MLD) degree at SMWC in 2022. She is now enrolled in the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program at The Woods. Potts is an Associate Professor of Chemistry and Chair of the Assessment Committee at Kishwaukee College.
Michels is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Teaching Chair for Assessment at Kishwaukee College. He earned a master’s in pure mathematics from Northern Illinois University.
Learn more about the College’s academic journal, aρετή (Arete): Journal of Excellence in Global Leadership.