ST. PHILIP’S COLLEGE DEAN RECOGNIZED FOR PAPER ON COLLEGE ADMISSIONS

Dr. Christopher Pate recipient of award from Clute Institute for Academic Research

SAN ANTONIO (April 22, 2009) --- An Alamo Colleges --- St. Philip’s College Administrator is the recipient of a 2009 Best Paper Award from the members of the Clute Institute for Academic Research. Ideas generated from his paper are being considered for collegewide use as a decision-making tool.

The author of the paper is St. Philip’s College Dean of Health Sciences Dr. Christopher Pate. Dr. Pate received an award for his paper Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to Improve the Admissions Process in Health Sciences Education: Formative and Substantive Aspects of a Structured Decision-Making Methodology. Dr. Pate’s award was presented in March in San Antonio during the international organization’s annual academic conference, where Pate was Session Chair.

“His colleagues were there at the conference review and they voted his paper to be the best, which is very commendable,” said institute founding director Ronald C. Clute, Ph.D. “The Best Paper Award is the most difficult to obtain,” Klute said. “The review that takes place at the conference with a board of peers is a pretty thorough review, if there’s anything wrong, you find out right away,” said Klute.

“It’s an honor to receive recognition from the Institute, and even more exciting to see the ideas being considered for use in the Alamo Colleges,” said Dr. Pate.

The institute presents awards for papers in the academic and corporate realms. Pate’s paper has equal application in both. He presents a way of making decisions such as college admissions or corporate hiring based on a scientific model that employs weighed values to answer such questions as “Is community service in an applicant’s history more important than other experiences?” Pate assesses numerical values to the weighted variables.

“The ideas in Dr. Pate’s paper can apply to many things in life,” said college Radiography Technology program director Donna Laird. “Dr. Pate provides tools his Health Sciences team can use to more objectively promote one out of several great candidates,” said Laird. “In our MRI program, we recently selected 15 of 32 applicants,” Laird said. “We can also use Dr. Pate’s principals to conduct our admissions process even more objectively,” said Laird.

The Clute Institute for Academic Research is a 24-year-old organization founded to disseminate fresh scientific research on topics related to business, economics, college-level teaching and administration. Pate’s research may be published in one of the institute’s 11 annual academic journals. Photo (Image by Dianne Moffett)

Websites related to this story include:

1)Alamo Colleges-St. Philip’s College; 2) Clute Institute for Academic Research.

About St. Philip’s: Bishop James Steptoe Johnston of the St. Philip’s Episcopal Church of the West Texas Diocese founded Alamo Colleges—St. Philip’s College in 1898. Today, Alamo Colleges—St. Philip’s College is a multi-campus institution of the Alamo Colleges and serves a semester enrollment of nearly 10,000 credit and more than 6,000 continuing education students. Alamo Colleges—St. Philip’s is a Historically Black College and Hispanic Serving Institution and is the only college in the nation that carries this dual designation. As “A Point of Pride in the Community,” Alamo Colleges—St. Philip’s College is among the oldest and most diverse community colleges in the United States.