FIDM - The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising - Just for Educators

 
About Us - The OCEA - Office of Community & Educational Affairs  
OCEA/ Office of Community and Educational Affairs

The OCEA/ Office of Community & Educational Affairs is a primary division of FIDM/Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. Founded in 1970, the OCEA serves the State of California, the nation, and the international educational communities.

 

The OCEA is committed to providing public and professional services to high school and college educators, administrators, counselors, and students, thereby enhancing and enriching their own educational, cultural, and social advancement. This is accomplished by contributing financial and academic advocacy to and for our principal constituencies—educators and students.

 

We partner with individuals and educational institutions to empower them to reach beyond the confines of their classrooms to expand their creative disciplines’ knowledge base. More specifically, we achieve this by working with and providing support and services for education professionals as they participate in furthering the personal and career aspirations of their students.

 

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Value Statement

As FIDM enters the 21st century, the OCEA/Office of Community & Education Affairs Department is mindful of the key role our college plays in the development of productive citizens and future professionals, of the contributions of our faculty and students to the Fashion, Interiors Design and Entertainment industries, and of our impact on multiple levels of the community and society. In an era when information empowers and when ideas and innovation are the raw materials of the information economy, the OCEA is dedicated to partnering with the high school and college communities to further the relevance and value of the creative endeavors of all students.

 

The OCEA/Office of Community and Education Affairs is fully committed to the dynamic process of involvement. That involvement includes, but is not limited to, involvement in the needs of academic organizations and their students, businesses, industries, and governmental agencies; involvement in the nurturing of inquisitive, innovative, and creative minds; and involvement in the transfer of ideas from the campus to the marketplace.

 

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Our Mandates

Mandates are the issues we address as we work toward our mission to service the high school and college communities. These are the primary functions that the OCEA is dedicated to providing to educators:

  • Personal & Professional Development
  • Curriculum Enhancement
  • Professional Forums, Activities, & Programs
  • Academic Collaboration & Support
  • Multi-cultural Knowledge & Enrichment
  • Community Service

 

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Values Statement

The purpose of our Values Statement is to answer three key questions:

  • How do we want to relate to the people we serve?
  • What is important in our relationship with them?
  • How do we want to conduct our business?

Simply put, what is important to us? This process resulted in the development of a list of seven concepts that we deem to be of the utmost importance and value. We then defined those words as they pertain to our operation:

 

  1. Education: The creative industries’ knowledge base beyond the classroom

  2. Growth: The continuing education and intellectual development of our primary constituency--educators

  3. Involvement: The commitment to the discovery of knowledge and the enhancement of creative and innovative intellectual capital

  4. Support: The affirmation and endorsement of the personal and professional development of educators

  5. Teamwork: The principle that we will plan with, and not for, educators as we work to accomplish our mission and their goals

  6. Service: The optimization of our partnership with the K-12 and college communities

  7. Innovation: A results-oriented outreach program that integrates research, resources, instruction, services, activities, and educational programs

 

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Summary

In summary, our goals are to …

  • Assist educators
  • Actuate the role of the educator as the most important professional in a teenager’s and young adult’s life
  • Affiliate with secondary and post-secondary educational institutions
  • Augment the secondary school curriculum
  • Accelerate the creative and innovative endeavors of college bound students
  • Address the fundamentals of preparing students to lead extraordinary lives
  • Achieve the goals enacted in the overall educational community
  • Affirm our position as a higher education leader

 

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