Innovation Achievement Award Past Recipients
Funded by the Martin D. Levine Endowment
Virginia Tech Newspaper Earns 2008 Innovation Award
Virginia Tech Services, Inc., an independent, nonprofit corporation comprising retail stores and outlying support facilities in and around the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute (more commonly known as Virginia Tech) is the 2008 NACS Foundation Innovation Achievement Award recipient.
Virginia Tech published a 56-page newspaper called What's In Store, to be used as a marketing tool to "unify the store, customers, vendors, the university, and the community both near and far."
Virginia Tech was chosen for the innovation award because of its efforts with the newspaper, which includes letters from administrators, the retail operation's history and store services (including specific information about textbooks, computers, supplies, general books, clothing, and gifts), facts about the history of Virginia Tech, articles about support services (campus police, parking, library), and pieces on the school's athletics. The store considers the newspaper "one-stop shopping for all the campus and community information one might need." The paper is funded completely through advertising.
View Virginia Tech Services, Inc. award-winning presentation (PDF | 55.3 KB)
For more information about this program, contact Donald Williams at (540) 231-5991 or e-mail donw@bookstore.vt.edu.
Honorable Mentions
Earning honorable mentions for the Innovation Achievement Award were Gonzaga University Bookstore, Spokane, WA, and Houghton College Campus Store, Houghton, NY.
For their proposal, the staff at the Gonzaga store came up with a computer program they hope will help college stores regain a competitive edge against online-only booksellers. For more information about this program, contact Scott Franz at (509) 995-9695 or e-mail franz@gonzaga.edu.
View Gonzaga University Bookstore's entry (PDF | 17.7 KB)
Houghton sells handmade products from both foreign countries and the local community. The store makes sure, with some checks and balances, that a portion of the profits goes back to the people making the products, who are usually from impoverished countries or organizations in need. The practice also has been a good selling point to students. For more information about this program, contact Elaine Tooley at (585) 567-9620 or e-mail elaine.tooley@houghton.edu.
View Houghton College Campus Store's entry (PDF | 935 KB)
San Mateo County Community College District Bookstores Wins the Inaugural 2007 Innovation Achievement Award
The first NACS Foundation Innovation Achievement Award funded by the Martin D. Levine Endowment was presented during CAMEX 2007 to the San Mateo County Community College District Bookstores (SMCCCD) in California for its Textbook Rental Program. The SMCCCD includes Cañada College in Redwood City; Skyline College in San Bruno; and the College of San Mateo in San Mateo.
Tom Bauer, CCR, director of auxiliary services for SMCCCD, accepted the award and trophy on behalf of the bookstores at CAMEX 2007 held in Orlando, FL, March 23-27. "We're very excited and proud to receive his honor," said Bauer. "We feel it validates our efforts to help reduce costs for students at our schools."
The SMCCCD rental program has been heralded throughout California and used as a model for others in the college store industry looking for ways to help students reduce the cost of textbooks. A notable part of the district's efforts has been its solicitations of private donations to help keep the program operating for nearly last two years. The SMCCCD rental program allows students to rent any of approximately 125 different textbooks at about one-third the price of new books. Rental books are due back at the end of final exams. Since August 2005, more than 7,000 students at Cañada College and Skyline College have rented textbooks that, if purchased new, would have cost more than $448,000. Students rented those textbooks for just over $112,000.
The district will receive $5,000 as part of the award, and Bauer said plans are to use the money to purchase more textbooks to enhance the program. View the "San Mateo County Community College District Funded Textbook Rental Program" presentation (PPT). For more information about this award-winning entry, contact Tom Bauer at (650) 358-6782 or
bauert@smccd.edu.
View the 2006/07 honorable mentions for the Innovation Achievement Award. (PDF)