Caroline Mills Receives Tri-County's Staff Excellence Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 8/15/2002
(By Lisa Garrett)

PENDLETON --- Tri-County Technical College's library director was honored Thursday (August 15) with the highest award given for staff excellence at the College.

Caroline Mills, of Easley, received the Presidential Medallion for Staff Excellence at the annual faculty/staff breakfast. The medallion goes to a person who has demonstrated over and over a strong belief in the purpose and mission of the College.

Mrs. Mills joined Tri-County in 1995 as the College's information literacy librarian and was promoted the next year to her current position. She holds a bachelor's degree from Wofford College and a master's degree in Information and Library Science from the University of South Carolina. Her professional experience includes working as a technical service librarian at Presbyterian and Wofford Colleges and as a reference librarian at Converse College.

"Caroline has established a level of library services that cannot be matched in the technical college system," said Dr. Steve Walter, dean of Academic Support Services at the College. She began her work at Tri-County as administrator for the three-year Funds for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) grant for a project to integrate information literacy into the technical college curriculum. As library director, she has been the driving force behind the successful development of this Information Literacy Program.

She also has established the College-wide access to online information resources for both students and faculty and a permanent collection of 15,000 e-books," Dr. Walter added.

"Since taking over the library, she had raised the academic caliber of the library by focusing on the collection of books, journals and electronic resources that support the College's unique curricula and by innovative services that meet the needs of an increasingly diversified population," said Sarah Shumpert, instructional support department head. "She has proactively anticipated future needs and sought out the technology and funding to serve students with disabilities and students taking courses via distance learning," added Mrs. Shumpert.

Mrs. Mills chaired the South Carolina Information Library System technical college library consortium from 1998 – 2001 during which time the consortium grew from four Upstate colleges to 10 colleges across the state. She recognized the need for S.C. technical colleges to maximize services to students by sharing resources and staying current with the latest e-based services. Through her leadership of the Library Directors Peer Group and the SCILS library consortium, she has raised the bar for excellence in library services for all libraries at the state. Recently, she spearheaded the successful bid for $100,000 of Innovative Technical Training funds to upgrade the library automation system in the 16 technical colleges. She will chair the Library Director Peer Group for 2002 – 2004.

She regularly participates in faculty/staff development activities, both as a member and as a session leader. She was accepted as one of a very limited number of participants in the Information Literacy Total Immersion Conference in Colorado last month.

In addition, she has presented at the National Conference for the Adult Learner and the International Community College Workforce Development Conference.

She serves on the board of directors of AppNet and on the By-Laws Committee of the S.C. Library Association. She is a member of the Piedmont Library Association.

She was instrumental in developing an annual conference, Libris, the only one in the state devoted to paraprofessional library staff.

"As a manager, she encourages her staff to participate in professional development activities as well, and encourages them to develop individually and to creatively solve problems," said Mrs. Shumpert.

At Tri-County, she serves as chair of the College's Planning Work Group for 2000 – 2005 Strategic Plan and has been a member of the Instructional Affairs Committee for seven years. She will serve as chair elect of the Institutional Effectiveness Committee during 2002 – 2003.

Several years ago she served as grant director of the "Library Services to Distance Learners" grant awarded by the State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education. She served as grant director in 1997 for the South Carolina Assistive Technology project funded by the University of South Carolina School of Medicine.

In 1999 Mrs. Mills was selected as the College's nominee for outstanding support staff for the South Carolina Technical Education Association's (SCTEA) outstanding educators of the year.

"Everyone who deals with Caroline respects her personal and professional integrity. She promotes relationship of trust and mutual respect based on her personal dependability and honesty," said Dr. Walter.

"She is deserving of the medallion because she most fervently believes in, and upholds, the vision and mission of the College with an open heart. She never forgets that it's all about meeting students' needs. She is never too busy to drop everything to help a student – whether it is to answer a reference question, check out a book, help with the photocopy machine, or give directions," said Mrs. Shumpert.

Mrs. Mills and her husband, Paul, live in Easley.
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