January is the time to look ahead. Whether we are eagerly anticipating the end of winter weather, looking forward to spring convocation, or setting personal wellness goals, when that ball drops on New Year’s Eve we are inspired to look ahead to the very best of the year in front of us. For those of us running the Great Colleges To Work For program, it’s no different.

ModernThink is celebrating the 12^th year of the Great Colleges program by implementing some improvements, all in response to feedback we’ve heard from you, our participating institutions:

1. Shorter IQ – Those who have participated in the program previously will note that the ModernThink Institution Questionnaire is half the length it used to be. We are also continuing to pre-populate about one third of the form with data that was submitted in the last two years.
2. ModernThink Online Report Gateway – The Gateway provides users the flexibility to run their own reports for dynamic visual renderings of survey data in multiple formats. This reporting option is particularly appealing to audiences who require more in-depth analysis than the static reports provide. All historical data is included for previous program participants and/or ModernThink clients. You can also export your data to .csv files to be uploaded to other analysis platforms like SPSS or Qualtrics. If purchased, the Gateway can be delivered as early as June. Contact Suzi Schmittlein at sschmittlein@modernthink.com for more information.
3. New Recognition Website – This year recognized institutions will be highlighted on a new section of the Great Colleges website, dedicated to sharing strengths and best practices from the colleges leading the way in employee engagement.
4. Program Logo Licensing – For the first time, all participants will be able to license the Great Colleges logo prior to survey administration to educate about, and promote participation in, the 2019 program. Email greatcolleges@modernthink.com for more information.

Another noteworthy change this year is that The Chronicle of Higher Education is no longer underwriting the program, and ModernThink has assumed all financial responsibility for its administration. ModernThink and The Chronicle have been friends and partners for 11 years, and will continue supporting each other as Great Colleges moves forward. This year’s list of recognized institutions will be printed in a special insert to be distributed as part of the September 20 issue of The Chronicle. There will be no changes to the program beyond what has been captured here – ModernThink has always administered the faculty/staff survey on its proprietary platform, determined the list of recognized institutions, and owned and housed all the benchmarking data for the Great Colleges program, and it will continue to do so.

We at ModernThink share your vision of better workplaces through more engaged faculty and staff, and we look forward to advancing toward that goal together in 2019 and beyond.

Best,

The Great Colleges Team