Find So Many Answers and Resources on nvcc.edu and NOVAnet!

Today’s topic is a note about the many resources available on the NOVA website and NOVAnet SharePoint site.

Each month, I get anonymous questions asking for documents that are within the virtual reach of all NOVA employees. For example, this past month, I again got a question about the College organizational chart, which is updated on a regular basis and posted to the HR website, and about job postings, which are linked to the HR website through the searchable VCCS listing of all current openings across the system, including at NOVA.

The answers to many questions about NOVA data can be found on the Institutional Research site, which includes links to NOVA Fact Books going back to 1999 and interactive dashboards that allow the user to construct searches, a great first step before reaching out to the Office of Strategic Insights with additional queries. And, the website for our new strategic plan, Inspiring Excellence, includes links to detailed data dashboards for each of the five focus areas; these dashboards also have customizable features.

Because of the wealth of information on our NOVAnet intranet site, which includes internal documents and resources useful in our everyday work, most employees’ desktop computers now have NOVAnet as their “home” screens. Employees can also always access the site by logging in with their NOVA credentials using the NOVAnet (SharePoint) link at the very bottom of the NOVA homepage.

I often get questions about the actions and meetings of NOVA’s many committees and working groups. All committees and working groups are expected to post their meeting minutes on NOVAnet: look for them under the “Committees” menu item. For example, you can find the minutes of Administrative Council meetings here, and those for the Provosts’ Working Group here. The goal of the NOVAnet site is, in part, to make College operations as transparent as possible by providing easy access to such documents. In this spirit, the President’s Office site provides links to the recordings of my Zooms, copies of my responses to College Senate Resolutions, and Collegewide reports and Operational Memos that guide NOVA practice in areas where consistency is required.

Finally, I want to put in a plug for the online databases accessible through the NOVA Libraries. VCCS and NOVA have invested in databases with a strong breadth and depth of journal representation that support faculty and staff development and research. Simply by logging in, you can access general interest dailies like the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal; higher education periodicals like the Chronicle of Higher Ed and Times Higher Education; and peer-reviewed journals reflecting every discipline and field of study.

Please know that your monthly anonymous questions about any topic are always welcome and truly appreciated. But there’s no need to wait for an answer when it’s within the click of a mouse on our website and intranet. If you have thoughts about other resources we could make available or ways in which we could better promote the depth of information currently accessible, please let me know by sending an email to PresidentsOffice@nvcc.edu. And thank you for your continued engagement with the monthly office hour Zooms!

Anne