I hope that you have had a great start to the semester.  Last week, I had the opportunity to brief the Board of Trustees about a number of important activities at the state level that have occurred since my opening address.  I would like to share those items with you, as well as their possible implications for WCU.  They will affect all campuses, but they have impact on specific actions that we have set in motion here. 

Scholarship

During my opening address, I expressed a need for us to focus on helping the people of the state get back to work.  Some people on campus have interpreted this statement as a reduction in support for faculty scholarship.   That is not what I intended.  Many individuals on campus have scholarly skills that can help the state and the region.  Even if this is not a faculty member’s normal focus, it is important that he or she consider how to assist those around us.  Some faculty members' scholarship does not lend itself well to this effort--that is to be expected—and their scholarship should be rewarded.  At the same time, “helping put people back to work” does not imply focusing solely on business.   What is sometimes called “public scholarship” that focuses on community issues, the environment, and the like also can be of great benefit.   The issue involves the needs of the taxpayers who fund us and on whose behalf we work.  To the extent that we can help them in this time of great distress, we should.  It seems to be the only ethical thing to do.  But it also has implications that go beyond the current situation.

If you follow the press, you will note that there is growing pressure at the state level to increase both faculty teaching loads and class sizes.  These pressures are part of the move to increase efficiency, but they also reflect significant concern regarding the impact of the economy on the availability of state funding.  It is very important that we effectively and efficiently utilize the public's money, but it is equally important that we not create permanent changes in the workload of faculty that unduly affect their scholarly development since scholarship is the base for all other activities.   Therefore, it is essential that we make every effort to maintain a balance in workload that allows increasing efficiency and increasing quality.  That will be easier achieved if the pressures on the state's budget are reduced.  We do need to be serious about efficiency and we also need to assure quality of educational experience and practice.

Please understand, I remain very strongly committed to supporting and rewarding faculty scholarship.  As a very high priority even in these budget times, I am fully funding the Chancellor’s Faculty Travel Award to promote faculty members presenting scholarly work at professional meetings.  The Boyer model also makes much more clear the nature and range of scholarship that can be supported.  Nothing I said in my opening address was intended in any way to move us away from being an institution based on the broad foundation of scholarship.

Changes in External Conditions and Impact on WCU Planning

As all of you are aware, the external environment affects greatly what can--or should--be accomplished internally in any university.  This is most especially true in difficult economic times.  Since my opening address, there have been major changes in the environment in which we operate, and that has led me to modify the program of development for the university for this year and most likely the next.  If you are following the news, you are aware that President Bowles announced a firm agenda for the remainder of his time as President.  If you have not read the interview with him in the Raleigh News and Observer, you should.  The link is:

UNC restructuring will come before Bowles retires, Raleigh News & Observer, 9-2-2009

Of particular note with regard to our internal activities are the initiatives involving pre- and post-testing of college students as a form of institutional assessment and the impact of budget cuts on faculty teaching loads across the system.  We already are focused on increasing admissions standards and our retention efforts are having impact, but these items also could have impact on WCU. 

I would anticipate that discussions regarding testing will be far-reaching and, depending on the specific outcomes, might have impact on how we choose to address such issues as general education.  Regardless of specific outcome, it also is clear that these discussions will take a significant amount of time and effort.  And, implementing any Board of Governors' approved testing structure will take time and funding. 

Based on discussions at General Administration and the summary of the President's agenda, I met with Provost Carter and with the deans to consider how this agenda should affect our own work plan.  It was consensus that we should pare back our internal activities so that we do not ask people to be involved in work that might well need to be modified based on the outcomes of these system-wide discussions.  Therefore, after consulting with the deans there was concurrence on the following items:

·         A full scale review of general education should await conclusion of the testing discussions at the Board of Governors level so that we can gauge the impact of any tests required on our curriculum and approaches to general education.  Any changes that faculty feel are needed in the current Liberal Studies program should follow normal procedures.

·         Because the QEP is so critical to our future, any strategic program analyses should focus on effectively implementing the QEP.  Normal program review processes required by SACS will, of course, continue as currently implemented.

·         Any consideration of possibly restructuring the colleges will be suspended given the importance and implications of the other discussions at the state level and the work on the QEP.  After listening to people on campus, it also is clear that any possible models for college restructuring are not likely to achieve consensus.  Therefore, if these discussions are to be taken up at a future date, the process should be re-started with a broader consideration of the changing nature of universities in general and the re-structuring of knowledge in the modern age.  I am asking that the final report of the taskforce on science and technology be received and its results considered with special regard to assuring appropriate working relationships among the disciplines, possible joint research and research grant development, and appropriate scheduling of courses.

Aside from the QEP, the other area that is of great importance and that should not be put off is development of more effective mechanisms for faculty to express their voices in the colleges and the Kimmel School.  As we mature as a university, this level of conversation will become increasingly important, and, therefore, it should remain on our agenda.

Fall Enrollment

The official enrollment file was frozen on Friday.  And, while the data will be cleaned and validated over the next several weeks, the current information should not change materially.  WCU has a fall enrollment of 9,429.  Last year, total headcount enrollment was 9,050.  The freshman class is 1,552, up from 1,224 last academic year.  The average SAT did decline by six points but the average high school GPA is up a bit to 3.48 vs. 3.44.  Transfer enrollments and graduate enrollments are both up slightly (15 and 59 students respectively).  For the first time in a number of years, resident credit enrollment growth outstripped distance education enrollment growth by a substantial amount (4,860 vs. 1,153 sch).

The major news of the report is that the freshman to sophomore retention rate increased from 71.2 percent to 75.9 percent.  This represents a major shift in retention.  And, according to Board of Governors' data (2008), the national average for our type of institution is 75.3 percent.  This is a very important change and it is critical to our future.  I want to thank everyone who was involved in making these improvements.

Overall, this enrollment report is very positive, and the enrollment increase should bring us to our budgeted credit hours and make it possible for us to seek enrollment funding increases in the next budget cycle.  The only issue in the report was the reduction in SAT.  This seems to have occurred because of the massive changes in the number of applicants, the very poor economy, and concern about possible under-enrollment during a time of significant budget reductions.  That is, continuing to under-enroll might have increased the magnitude of the budget cuts next year.  With the expected significant increase in applications next year, we should see an increase in SAT and possibly another increase in GPA.  Obviously, the economy can still have a significant impact if it has not begun to improve.

In closing, I wish you a very productive and positive semester.  I also want to thank everyone who offered support during Deborah's surgery.  She is recovering nicely and she and I both appreciate your kind thoughts.