Transforming lives - one client, one participant at a time.
Testimonials
As the former Dean of the Whitney M. Young, Jr. School of Social Work at Clark Atlanta University, I cannot help but think of the work produced by Dr. Alicia Barbara Harvey-Smith, when I think back about my most challenging task of leading the faculty toward a self-study report required for submission prior to re-affirmation of accreditation. Dr. Harvey-Smith’s expertise in student professional development proved to be invaluable. Her assessment of our admissions procedures, course offerings, advisement process, student termination criteria, method of student performance, and adherence to student rights was a contributing factor to the School’s re-accreditation until 2014.
Dr. Alicia Harvey-Smith is a gifted consultant and a true change agent. In her groundbreaking book, The Seventh Learning College Principle, she uncovers the true secret to successful organizational transformation and change. Her research is cutting edge and will help improve the bottom line in any business.
Dr. Alicia Harvey-Smith is a gifted consultant and a true change agent. In her groundbreaking book, The Seventh Learning College Principle, she uncovers the true secret to successful organizational transformation and change. Her research is cutting edge and will help improve the bottom line in any business.
I highly recommend the consulting and presentation services of Dr. Alicia Harvey-Smith. As co-chair of West Virginia Community College Association 2005 Annual Conference, I invited Dr. Harvey-Smith to serve as keynote and to facilitate a series of workshops. She encouraged participants to direct renewed attention to the heart of the institution – its people and to establish cultures that are open and responsive to change and learning – to promote student success. She further engaged us to create cultures of CARE by embracing compassion, appreciation, respect and empowerment for all learners. Her nine-stage model for authentic change and sustainability was amazing. She motivated my faculty and staff to come together in new ways to improve learning. As a result, her words and models became the starting point for revamping college retention committees, college retention plans, and classroom and office initiatives.
Dr. Harvey-Smith did and does an excellent job for the Maryland State Highway Administration as a consultant, workshop facilitator and presenter. She has conducted several leadership development sessions and our managers love her. Her expertise has allowed her to work with diverse teams of managers and engineers on leadership enhancement, coaching, team building, humor in the workplace, interpersonal negotiations and trust-building skills. She has also served as the requested graduation speaker for our ALP and LEAD teams. I am very pleased with her work, expertise and professionalism. As a learning organization the Maryland State Highway Administration is looking forward to a long and productive relationship with Dr. Alicia Harvey-Smith an extraordinary leader.
“Drawing on her research at the University of Maryland, College Park, Dr. Harvey-Smith has even created a seventh principle” of the learning college: Create and nurture an organizational culture that is open and responsive to change and learning. Harvey-Smith’s principle transcends the six principles of the original learning college idea, bringing an organizing focus that adds heft and ballast to the evolving concepts. As a result, I am pleased to endorse the seventh learning college principle as a significant contribution to the concept of the learning college and encourage its adoption, as it has tremendous implications for transformation in learning organizations.” From Foreword: The Seventh Learning College Principle: A Framework for Transformational Change, NASPA 2005.
Dr. Harvey-Smith’s contributions have provided a foundation for our organization and enhanced our national capability to address the diverse needs of students around the country.
I was so impressed with Dr. Harvey-Smith’s knowledge-base and her compassion for learning and engaging institutional leaders that I invited her to St. Petersburg College. She engaged faculty, counselors/advisors, college administrators and staff regarding “Aligning Practice with Learning-Centered Principles”, through this work, she helped us ameliorate our advising model as we begin to take advising to the next level.
Dr. Harvey-Smith was invited to serve as a presenter and consultant for the Advanced Leadership Placement Team. The presentation was very well received by my ALP team members. The consensus of the group was that “Humor in the Workplace” is a topic that is often over looked by leadership training professionals, despite its importance. We felt that the mixture of levity and real life personal/professional benefits was very well done and made people take another look at this often forgotten management approach. I was also very impressed by Dr. Harvey-Smith’s ability to research and create a training session from scratch in a relatively short amount of time, that really pulled people in and had folks talking. So thank you, Dr. Harvey-Smith for a job well done and you really saved me on this one.
Dr. Harvey-Smith visited our campus as a consultant and made a presentation to the ESS staff focused on exploring learning outcomes and assessment practices. We had just begun our journey of identifying our role in the learning process and had faced some challenges with staff understanding our responsibility for producing learning in students. With her unique style of presenting and engaging in a non threatening manner, Dr. Harvey-Smith enabled staff to see ESS as an equal partner in the learning process. In the weeks to follow Dr. Harvey-Smith’s work with us, we took a course of action that has culminated in developing learning outcomes and assessment processes, and we are working collaboratively and sharing information with other units.
The mark of a true visionary leader is one that is able to articulate vision with forward thinking that appeals to the head but captures the heart. Dr. Harvey-Smith is that visionary leader and it is obvious that she values her work and counts it a privilege to serve. Student success and learning is at the heart of everything that we do and hope to achieve as educators and Dr. Harvey-Smith, raises the bar for all of us.