2009 Award Winners
Retail Alliance (RA)
"Codifying Business Processes into a Common Software Program"
Contact: Richard McDaniel, President, http://www.retailalliance.org/
The Retail Alliance is a coalition of 52 independent college stores committed to developing and deploying best business practices. It was founded in 1999 by bookstores at five colleges: Cornell University, University of Connecticut, University of California San Diego, Brigham Young University, and University of Colorado Boulder.
Key Strategies:
- Best practice partnerships: Negotiates with major industry suppliers to lower business costs and facilitate supply channel integration.
- Best practice systems: Owns RATEX Business Solutions and develops VisualRATEX™, the leading comprehensive, business management system for collegiate retailers, used by most Retail Alliance members.
- Best practice incubation: Core group of 16 large stores sets priorities and develops operational prototypes (such as e-commerce and CRM) for broader deployment.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Delta Program in Research, Teaching and Learning: Preparing Faculty to be Excellent Researchers and Superb Teachers
Contact: Robert D. Mathieu, http://www.delta.wisc.edu/
Developing a national faculty in natural and social sciences, mathematics, and engineering committed to implementing and advancing effective teaching practices for diverse student audiences. 
- Over 1600 graduate students, post-docs, faculty and staff from 124 departments since 2003.
- Grad student and post doctoral participants are being hired as faculty at a diverse array of institutions around the nation.
- A major longitudinal study is underway to study their career trajectories and their impact on undergraduate learning.
- Delta participants draw upon the diversity of their students to enhance and enrich the learning of all.
- Delta participants have enhanced research success in a national funding environment requiring broader impact.
- Thousands of UW undergraduates are learning more due to research-based improvements in teaching practices.
- The Delta Program was initiated with funding from the National Science Foundation, and is now institutionalized.
- Expanding to 6 major research universities. (cirtlcafe.net)
