| John W. Bardo, Chancellor
State of the University Address
Liston B. Ramsey Regional Activity Center
Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, NC 28723
January 29, 2004
Jbardo@wcu.edu
Thank you for being here today and for taking time out of
your busy schedules. This address represents something of
an unusual occurrence on campus. I hear this may be the first
"State of the University" talk in more than two
decades. In fact, it may be one of the few ever given on campus.
So, while I don't think this is an historic event, it certainly
is unusual.
I called this meeting today and invited all members of the
University community to attend because we as a University
have reached a new level of development and it is time for
us to jointly take stock. This level of development was not
achieved over night; it is the result of a long, involved,
and sometimes painful process. It has been realized not so
much because of anything that I personally have accomplished
but because of the hard work that so many hundreds of you
have done. Quite simply, you have collectively and individually
changed Western's position in higher education in North Carolina,
and you are on your way to changing how this University is
viewed nationally. For so many years, Western was perceived
as a follower in education; today, because of your work, we
can rightly claim to be a leader in 21st century higher education.
I hope you are proud of what you have accomplished, because
I certainly am.
I want to return to this theme in a minute, but first I'd
like you to focus on the screen behind me. In this great part
of the state, we are all familiar with rivers. Sometimes there
are placid pools with drifting, lazy currents; a perfect place
to spend an afternoon swimming or catching some sun. Sometimes
there are rapids with boiling white water that can literally
take your breath away. Occasionally there are beautiful, but
dangerous, waterfalls. Further down, the river may again become
a placid pool.
Most of us recognize that along its course a river may take
many forms, but it is still the same river. The river might
be a useful metaphor for explaining what is happening to our
University. We are still Western Carolina University. We still
have the same goals, traditions, and directions. But, at various
places along its course, the University has taken on different
looks. Just as the river manifests itself differently as a
pool, rapids, or waterfall, so too the University manifests
itself differently at different points along its course.
When I arrived at Western in 1995, the Board of Trustees,
President Spangler, and other important constituencies gave
me a clear sense of direction: 1) improve the quality of the
University; 2) grow its enrollment; and 3) help advance the
region. Those instructions set the course over which the University
has been traveling since February of 1996. Let's take a look
at some core indicators that highlight how far we have come.
I think you will find them interesting and useful.
Like all indirect measures, they say nothing about all the
hard work that went in to making these improvements. But it
is the hard work that faculty, staff, and administrators have
done together, that gives me such a sense of pride in what
we accomplished. We have further to go, but the improvements
you have made are, quite honestly, staggering.
These core data are particularly significant because when
I first came to Western there were many people -- both on-campus
and off-campus -- who didn't believe what we have done together
could be done. But once I had a chance to meet you and to
see your quality, I never doubted that you would make it happen.
First, let's look at enrollment. Early on, it became clear
that increases in our enrollment would most likely follow
enhanced academic quality. Quality had to be "Job One"
since quality is the foundation on which all University accomplishments
must be built. This was the infamous "raise the bar"
strategy, a phrase that became overworked but one that proved
to represent a very useful approach.
The best aspect of the "raise the bar" strategy
was that it was effective. Across campus, standards and expectations
were raised. We can see the results now in our academic policies,
in improved curricula, and in the quality of students who
are choosing to come to Western. Behind me is a chart I showed
the faculty at the first meeting of the academic year. Notice
what has happened to average SAT scores of entering freshmen
since fall 1995. They have risen from 965 to 1023. This fall
we anticipate a still higher SAT.
During this same period, we simultaneously improved the academic
quality of our programs and increased admissions standards.
The road was sometimes rocky. This combination of higher quality
and higher admission standards resulted in a temporary decline
in enrollment among our traditional population of students.
Then better students began to recognize what was happening
here. Last year we had a very large freshman class, and next
year we anticipate an even larger class.
In recent years we have seen some increase in transfer students,
but there is still a great deal of potential in that area
with the number of North Carolinians who are choosing to start
their college education in community colleges. Transfer students
should become an increasingly important source of our enrollment.
We have seen impressive increases in enrollment at the graduate
level. This growth is somewhat under-stated because a number
of programs that previously were offered for traditional resident
credit have been moved to distance education to better serve
the population of students who need graduate level education.
Because of this and other reasons, the number of students
enrolled in distance education has more than doubled. Later
I want to focus on some trends that are emerging with regard
to both distance and graduate education. I anticipate that
distance education will become more important as we go forward.
We have found an outstanding leader, Dr. Patricia Brown, who
will join us as Dean of Distance and Continuing Education
on March 1 and help us capitalize on growing opportunities.
One of the few areas in which we have not seen consistent
improvement is student retention. While many universities
nationally would love to have our retention rate, by North
Carolina standards we are not yet where we need to be. We
are, however, making very significant progress in working
through some of the most difficult issues that affect retention.
Most students who transferred from Western went to a wide
array of community colleges or other four-year colleges. From
preliminary reviews, it appears that many transferred to schools
near their homes. This suggests that a number of students
-- aside from career decisions and family circumstances --
transferred because they did not become integrated into the
life of our University. I will speak to this issue again later.
Another important indicator of the continuously rising excellence
of the University is the residential Honors College. This
college started in 1996 with 77 students; today it has more
than 830. While great strides obviously have been made, some
very important developments within this college remain to
be implemented. As elsewhere, opportunities for growth are
significant.
Turning to other indicators, in 1995 Western had no fully-funded
endowed professorships. Today we have nine, and we anticipate
another -- perhaps two -- by the end of the academic year
if all goes well. These nine professorships represent millions
of dollars that people who believe in the future of Western
Carolina University have chosen to invest from their own private
wealth. Endowed professorships allow us to make quantum leaps
in our academic programs by bringing proven players to campus
to complement our already fine faculty.
Endowed professorships are but one indicator of escalating
support for Western during these last eight years. For example,
in the summer of 1995, Western's endowments totaled $5.2 million.
Today, our endowments exceed $26.2 million -- approximately
a five-fold increase. Extramural support is an important indirect
indicator of how the University is viewed by alumni and supporters.
Obviously, people who care about the University are responding
to and supporting academic excellence and educational opportunities
offered here.
Another important core area for the University is grants
and contracts. While Western is primarily a teaching university,
research, sponsored service to students, and contracts with
other agencies and businesses are an important component of
our work. In 1995-1996, active grants totaled $2.5 million
in value. Today, active grants total almost $12.8 million,
4 ½ times the level of 8 years ago. Moreover, the number
of active grants increased from 53 to 93. Clearly, the University
is increasingly competitive in seeking extramural funding,
reflecting the growing excellence of our faculty and the breadth
of their contribution to the knowledge base of higher education.
Such activities are both critical to our operations and are
key indicators of the willingness of government agencies and
private businesses to support our work.
I will not discuss construction in any detail today since
all of you live with it every day. (The printed version of
this address will include a construction summary.) Suffice
it to say that the value of capital projects underway or recently
completed totals more than $180 million. This represents a
very significant increase in the replacement value of the
campus and speaks well to the support of North Carolinians
for their University.
I would be remiss if I did not mention the changes in athletics.
We have four fundamental goals for our athletics program:
1) concentrate on student welfare; 2) ensure that every student
has an opportunity to graduate; 3) ensure that student-athletes
are good campus and community citizens; and 4) give every
student athlete a chance to compete for a championship. We
are not where we want to be in achieving each of these goals,
but think about the major improvements that have been made
in our programs. Our current athletics administration, coaches,
and student athletes represent this University very well and
their collective actions make us proud. By the way, 11 of
our student athletes had a perfect 4.0 GPA in the fall semester.
Once again the academic grades of our student athletes averaged
significantly higher than that of our student body as a whole.
As I travel around the state, I find renewed pride across
the board among our alumni in what you are accomplishing here.
Alumni recognize the quality changes, and are vocal about
them! You -- faculty, staff, students, and alumni -- are changing
the image of Western by your hard work and your willingness
to share the news about what is happening here with your friends
and colleagues.
Although you may not be aware, what you are accomplishing
has been tried by only a few, and even fewer have succeeded.
There are so many more accomplishments by this campus that
I could spend the rest of our time together focusing on just
those things. However, a State of the University address needs
to focus not just on our past, but on our future as well.
Let's try to look down stream a bit; an area of some turbulence,
if you will. Let's start with a look at dominant trends that
most likely will impact the University, then turn to specific
expectations for Western's future.
External Influences
I think most of you know my academic training is in sociology
and economics. My particular subject matter interests have
been in issues associated with community development and planning
as well as regional development. There is a great deal of
literature in my specialization on what was called the "Great
Transition." The Great Transition referred to the Industrial
Revolution and the tremendous upheaval that occurred in society
as a result of rapid mechanization of labor, increasing urbanization,
and the shift from craft to factory production. This social
upheaval also spurred the development of higher education
in the United States. Many of the disciplines that we take
as givens in the University today really are products of the
Industrial Revolution. Many of our social sciences, social
work, and even some of our natural sciences did not exist
in recognizable form prior to the Industrial Revolution. Likewise,
many of our most cherished academic traditions -- as well
as both funding and public regulation of higher education
-- can be traced to this same era. Much of what we have taken
as "received wisdom" in higher education stems from
a confluence of historical events and inventions of the 19th
century.
We are all aware that we are currently living through a second
"Great Transition" in Western civilization. The
knowledge explosion is resulting in entirely new disciplines
emerging just as they did in the 1800s. Such fields as photonics,
genomics, proteomics, nanotechnology, biotechnology, forensic
science, among many others, have emerged from traditional
disciplines that, themselves, were products of the Industrial
Revolution.
So, the first trend we see that has real impact on Western
and its future is this:
We can expect the array of academic programs and disciplines
to continue to change rapidly for the foreseeable future.
We will continue to see evolution in our academic program
mix.
Second, internationalization will continue to affect us in
many, many ways. Internationalization involves cultural contact,
social issues, and very significant shifts in the economy.
So,
We can expect the future of the University to
be increasingly affected by international trends.
Third, there was a time when scholars believed that many
countries in the world would never develop economically. I
recall an old book The Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich. Ehrlich
argued that there were a number of "never to be developed"
countries in the world because of increasing world population.
What we see now, however, is that internationalization of
production coupled with national policies promoting development
in such countries as China, India, Indonesia, Viet Nam, Mexico,
and Brazil are changing the landscape significantly. In fact,
we are seeing the transfer off-shore of not just manufacturing
jobs, but, increasingly, white-collar and professional jobs
as well. Recently, I talked with a Western alumnus who heads
a software company in Atlanta. He is hiring computer programmers
in Brazil to write code in English for use in the United States.
This, then, leads to the third trend:
Because of differential labor costs, we can expect
increasing competition for jobs and employment at all levels
from workers in other parts of the world.
Due to the changing nature of knowledge, most growth is
in technology-related and science-based disciplines. It is
not that other disciplines are stagnant, but significant expansion
is occurring in both the number of science and technology
disciplines and the amount of change that they are undergoing.
What is particularly interesting is that while we still tend
to award academic degrees in Industrial Revolution - based
disciplines and organize ourselves into discrete departments
in higher education, what we actually see happening is a confluence
of many of the sciences, technology disciplines, and areas
of mathematics. Some very clear examples can be found on our
own campus. Our genomics lab is housed in the department of
chemistry. Biochemistry is developing more toward bio-applications
(including genomics and proteomics) and biology is increasingly
requiring very high level biochemistry to understand the nature
of living things. That would be confusing in its own right
if all the processes employed in analyses of these data were
not based in electrically engineered technologies on complex
multi-processor computers developed and studied by computer
scientists using techniques created by computational and applied
mathematicians. Goodness, I think I'm lost, but you probably
get the drift! Classroom studies -- and new careers -- are
increasingly interdisciplinary.
I want to spend just a minute more on the issue of knowledge,
information, and the economy because that relationship is
so profound in terms of our future as a University. For the
foreseeable future, the economy of North Carolina will be
in transition and will face increasingly stiff competition
from outside the United States, not just from other areas
within the country. If internationalization is at the core
of this transition in world history and if we in higher education
expect to have a healthy University, we must respond to that
transition and assure our constituencies that we are actively
pursuing ways to help North Carolinians maintain employment
and prosper at levels to which they aspire.
Situation in the State and Region
First, let's look at economic projections for growth. The
United States is experiencing some growth, but North Carolina's
economic growth is in the bottom 20% of the fifty states.
Projections are that North Carolina will continue to lag behind
the nation's growth rate -- unless something happens to change
the situation. North Carolinians should not be subjected to
substandard development. The people of the State are looking
to the University of North Carolina to help solve what has
become their most critical problem. I believe that both by
mission and ethical responsibility it is our duty at Western
Carolina University to help them. We are fundamentally a regional
university and have a particular responsibility to western
North Carolina.
The situation within this region is very complex. We serve
an area with a strong indigenous people, the Cherokee, and
a traditional population made up primarily of descendants
of northern European migrants. We are starting to experience
massive in-migration to the region and there is no indication
that it will stop. This in-migration is leading to two dominant
trends. First, it is increasing the diversity of the population
in many, many ways. The most visible change is in the number
of Hispanic migrants, but we also are seeing diversity in
the form of region of origin, lifestyle, and other forms of
ethnicity. As a university, our most rapidly increasing ethnic
category of students is "other." Students are increasingly
recognizing ethnic differences but they are not defining themselves
necessarily by traditional categories. Second, western North
Carolina can expect to see a rapid increase in the number
of retirees. Henderson County already is becoming a nationally
recognized center for retirement, but we can expect the trend
to affect all of us -- especially in Jackson, Macon, Clay,
and Haywood counties.
In addition to diversity, the region's economy is changing
rapidly, and not necessarily for the better. Traditional manufacturing
jobs are being eliminated in record numbers throughout our
entire core service area. We need to be clear that many counties
in our region can only compare the economic situation they
are now experiencing to the Great Depression. It is equally
clear that the people of North Carolina are looking to us
to help them solve what are real, human problems.
One can make this argument so abstract that it seems like
an academic discussion of a proposed new program or the wording
of a mission statement. But, what we are talking about here
are real, human tragedies that affect whole families and communities.
A recent UNC-TV program reported the record number of home
foreclosures that people in the state are experiencing. The
majority of these result from jobs lost due to plant closures
and permanent business downsizing.
Homes are being lost and lives are being disrupted, but the
tragedies of poverty and unemployment go even deeper. UNC
system Vice President Alan Mabe has presented data that give
an even clearer picture. North Carolina ranks among the worst
of the 50 states in the number of children born with low birth-weight,
infant mortality, and teen birth rate. The percentage of teens
who are not in school and who are not working is only a bit
better. In 2001, the unemployment rate in our region was 5.6
percent; in November of 2003, the unemployment rate was 5.7%
For more than 200 years the people of North Carolina have
had a love affair with their University. Now they are looking
to us -- as never before -- to help them create bright futures
for themselves and their children.
University Response
It is very clear that the future of the region and the state
will require a much closer integration of the University with
the region's people, businesses, governmental entities, and
non-governmental organizations. This is not a short-term trend;
it represents a changed expectation for the future of universities,
not just in North Carolina, but nationally. For us to truly
serve our mission, we will need to stand shoulder-to-shoulder
with the people of the state as we -- together -- engage to
solve the problems we face.
Engagement will take many forms: Our business, technology,
and science faculty will increasingly need to link their activities
to the career needs of our people. Western is already making
great headway in this regard, but we can expect increasing
demands to be placed on faculty with skills that can improve
business competitiveness and employment. Likewise, "technology
transfer" will become an increasingly important component
of work for faculty in technology-related fields. Technology
transfer involves bringing academic ideas to market. It is
through technology transfer that we can most actively participate
in creating jobs for the people who have supported this University
for so many years and who continue to do so to the best of
their ability.
But job creation is only one form of engagement. We also
can expect our social scientists, health care professionals,
historians, and tourism professionals to be increasingly called
on by business, NGOs, and governmental agencies for training
and support.
Because knowledge plays a critical role in creating a vibrant
economy and because diversity is rapidly growing in the work
force, we can expect the demands on our education faculty
to increase as well. The shortage of qualified teachers coupled
with increased federal regulation can be expected to put pressure
on our faculty to produce more teachers and to mentor them
more effectively in their schools.
Whether it is preserving the past, assisting a business,
or supporting development of a program or activity for the
elderly, engagement can, and should, define Western's relationships
with its region. What are the key disciplines for engagement?
Although it is often easier to see linkages with business,
technology, education and health, really all disciplines can
engage with the community.
It will be increasingly critical that our policies, curricula,
and relationships with the peoples of the region reflect these
overarching trends. At the same time, we know that linkages
between our faculty and students and potential employers in
the region will have primacy for the foreseeable future. We
must help put the people of North Carolina back to work --
it is our duty. It is the expectation of the Governor, legislature
and the President of the system; and as ethical members of
the academy we must give a very high priority to that responsibility.
I fully understand that this is not a new subject; many of
you are working on these issues. What I am saying is that
we must continue to follow this course -- through the calm,
through the rapids, and even over the occasional falls --
and improve our effectiveness and scope of outreach and development.
From discussions with Newt Smith, the chair of the faculty,
I know that he, too, is concerned about how these demands
on our talents and time will be rewarded and how they will
count within the faculty workload.
Now, in the interest of time I want to turn to some very
important internal directions.
First, there have been discussions across the campus regarding
our enrollment growth and how enrollment growth funds will
be distributed. On the academic side, funds will be allocated
to handle enrollment growth and to further the University's
strategic direction. Enrollment growth will necessitate expanding
the number of faculty who teach liberal studies since much
of the growth can be expected to come from freshmen. Once
these positions are allocated, other positions will be available
to further the University's strategic positioning. Academic
departments now should be completing their strategic plans
and forwarding them to the deans. I am asking the college
deans to prioritize their needs based on: 1) current enrollment
growth; 2) future enrollment growth and 3) engagement. Each
dean will be asked to present his or her priorities and to
discuss them in a budget meeting this spring. As soon as we
know the number of positions resulting from enrollment growth
during the upcoming legislative session, we will allocate
them.
Please also be aware that a substantial number of these positions
will be generated from distance education. Enrollment growth
in distance education will be the determining factor in allocating
these positions. I would anticipate that the distance education
positions will be primarily for tenure-track faculty members.
Let's turn for just a second to our enrollment projections.
The target enrollment for Western -- assigned by the Board
of Governors and the President -- is now 10,200 by 2012. We
should expect to see steady increases in traditional undergraduate
and graduate students, and a more rapid increase in non-traditional
and distance education students. Much of this growth will
be in Cullowhee, but, increasingly, we will need to provide
service to students in distant locations and in a manner not
restricted by time or space. If the Board of Governors approves
the approach to off-campus fees that was forwarded by Western's
Board of Trustees, we can expect to significantly increase
our educational presence in all counties within our service
region.
Why should you care about enrollment growth? What does it
mean to you? Given the North Carolina legislature's funding
model, enrollment growth is critical to institutional enhancement.
If you are a faculty member, and if your department is growing,
enrollment growth means more operating budget, more ability
to replace equipment, and more colleagues with whom you share
academic interests. Enrollment growth also means that courses
cancelled due to low enrollment in past years could be restored.
Growth provides the opportunity for you to teach exciting
and interesting areas of your discipline that currently are
not available.
Growth brings, at a minimum, employment stability for University
staff. It protects your job. A growing university is increasingly
complex. There are more tasks to be accomplished, more people
to be supervised, and more opportunities for promotion.
Growth provides funding to help us address some of the most
pressing inequity and salary issues for all employees. All
long-term employees are aware of how difficult it is to deal
with these issues in a low-growth situation.
As important as these issues are, it is the students who
benefit most from enrollment growth. More students means more
educational options and the ability to more fully explore
academic areas that interest them. Because so many non-class-related
activities are paid by student fees, growth means more money
to support a vibrant student life. Growth involves new residence
halls with more diverse living options, more food options,
and a wider range of dining facilities. Overall, support that
can be provided to students in all areas of the institution
increases with enrollment growth.
I know students are rightfully concerned about the size of
classes. Western is committed to keeping our average class
size low. Increasing the number of faculty members to accommodate
a larger student body is a North Carolina tradition. There
are no signs the state's political leaders plan to abandon
that tradition.
What does enrollment growth mean to you if you are a member
of the broader community? If you are an alum, it means we
will have the resources to continue to improve the academic
excellence of your alma mater. Your degree will become more
valuable as a result. If you are in the county or the region,
student body growth means more jobs, more people buying products
from your stores, and more people eating in your restaurant.
It means that Western will have more resources to help you
address critical regional needs.
Most importantly, enrollment growth will allow us to continue
working to keep our promise: that we will do everything in
our power to help make it possible for children from this
region to remain in the mountains, with rewarding careers
and an excellent quality of life. The best way to preserve
our mountain culture is to assure that our children do not
have to leave to support their families.
This discussion of growth leads to a second issue: the role
of distance education in the future of the University. From
what I am hearing, there is some confusion on this issue.
Does the University really need to be engaged in distance
education? To answer this question, let's step back a minute
and recall the nature of our current Great Transition. It
is clear that change will be on-going and that knowledge will
be at the core of prosperity for any future that we can see.
We regularly discuss the importance of "lifelong"
learning. I don't think that anyone who works in higher education
believes that serious learning should stop when you earn your
degree. In a world in which continuous learning is critical
to career success, people will need access to information
and education in ways that fit their work schedules and other
aspects of their daily lives. Distance education is the only
way many -- make that most-- people will be able to access
advanced education. I believe we would be failing in core
mission and, in fact, be acting unethically, if we do not
meet our constituents' needs for lifelong educational opportunities.
Distance education and other forms of education for more mature
students increasingly will be a core function of successful
universities as we move through the 21st century.
We need to improve our support for faculty and departments
willing to take on distance education functions. That is why
we have hired an experienced leader as dean in this area.
It also is why we are going to allocate tenure-track positions.
Now, let's turn for a minute to our traditional students.
Western is a focused growth institution. We are mandated to
grow by Board of Governor's policy. And, we have been provided
resources to help us grow. Projected on the screen is the
expected growth in North Carolina high school graduates; data
presented by Vice President Mabe to the Board of Governors.
For the next decade, the number of high school graduates is
expected to increase significantly, and then, all other things
being equal, the number will begin to level off or decline.
During this growth period, Western is expected to take significant
-- and increasing -- numbers of new students. After that time
period, it is possible that our enrollment could decline --
all other things being equal. Demographic projections are
based on assumptions of "all things being equal,"
and, of course, they never are equal. If we can affect the
quality of the economy of the state, because North Carolina
has such a high general quality of life, we should see an
increase in in-migration that could invalidate current demographic
projections.
However, you also have been taking some very significant
actions to reposition Western as a University of choice in
North Carolina. Your work on quality of education, new and
revised academic programs, and increased attention to the
individual student has the potential to change our position
within the panoply of competing institutions. These actions,
coupled with the increasing role that career-based education
is playing across both the liberal arts and professional disciplines,
should make Western very competitive. So, if there is a decline
in the potential number of traditional aged students, our
commitments to increasing quality and focusing our academic
and support programs on student needs should allow us to maintain
our new, higher enrollment at that time.
What does all this mean? For faculty, it means "stay
the course." Continue to "raise the bar" academically.
You are doing the right things. It also means that we must
be committed to keeping our class sizes small. We offer --
and must continue to offer -- a personalized education where
students are known as real people rather than as numbers.
We must expand our options for engagement, active student
learning, and student and faculty research. We made good headway
a few years ago in undergraduate research and we need to renew
our commitment.
Since 1995, faculty members have created many significant
new programs -- most of these programs are growing very well,
some smoothly, some rapidly. At the same time, departments
in all colleges have examined their curricula and improved
the ways they teach traditional majors. This is making a difference
in many, many programs. On the screen is a list of new programs
that have been developed since 1995. They reflect exciting
additions to our curriculum.
What is also interesting is that, as we continue to build
the University, we see some shifts and trends in the stream
of programs that students declare as majors. Remember that
these data only include people who actually have declared
a major by entering that information on our database. The
data also reflect only those students who are enrolled this
semester. There may be departments that are advising students
as if they were majors, but if those students are not entered
in the Student Information System, they are not officially
recognized as majoring in that field.
What we are seeing is that a significant number of disciplines
-- more than twenty-five -- have large to moderate increases
in the number of students choosing to major in those disciplines.
Obviously, staffing and facilities limit growth in some majors,
so demand for our programs is even higher than is reflected
in this list. The greatest one-year increase was in electronics
technology, which went from 36 to 112 declared majors this
year. We also see a mix of traditional disciplines and new
programs that are growing. Is there a common pattern? Only
one that I can see: faculty members in these rapidly growing
programs are excited about what they are doing and are increasingly
focusing their curricula, courses, and advising on the interests
and needs of students. How exciting this is for the University!
It really reflects the rapidly increasing academic quality
that can be found across the institution! All of you who are
making such important contributions should be very proud.
This also was the year when the advising model that we have
been building began to be fully implemented and I want to
thank Allen Lomax and his staff for all their hard work. We
need to continue to refine the model, but our transition programming
is beginning to focus on the right types of issues. This year,
our staff from career counseling met with incoming students
to begin discussions of relationships between their educational
choices and possible careers. This is a very important discussion
because it helps students understand that they can major in
areas that interest them -- from philosophy or English to
engineering or education -- and build skills that will contribute
to their careers.
At the same time, all in-coming freshmen were assigned a
personal advisor. This link between a student and a particular
advisor is a key part of the model. The advisor gets to know
the student and the student knows a person who can help and
who cares. This was also the first time that the advisors
began to link with the colleges and departments, enabling
a clear exchange of information.
Toward the end of the semester we instituted a "safety
net" approach to registration. At the end of pre-registration
this past fall, hundreds of students still had not pre-registered,
including nearly 500 freshmen. The advising center worked
to contact each student -- regardless of class level -- to
help them register. As a result, we have seen a significant
increase in undergraduate enrollment in the spring semester
and our freshman retention rate for spring is up 1.3 percentage
points. The literature will tell you that an increase of half
a percent in any given year is a good result. In fact, in
terms of total undergraduates, we are up 365 students year
to year. I want to personally thank everyone who contributed
their efforts to make this happen.
We need to continue to develop the model. The next move will
be to hire orientation leaders who will be closely linked
to the advising center and who will also serve as resident
assistants in halls that accommodate large numbers of freshmen.
We will also need to continue to improve the linkages between
the academic departments and advisors. But we have made many
significant improvements and this should be another point
of pride for you and the University.
In this address I have purposely not discussed expectations
for individual areas of the institution, but I think it is
important to mention one: the fine and performing arts. We
have a major new center that is being developed to serve both
the campus and the region. Arts, especially the performing
arts and, increasingly, artistic crafts, will represent a
defining characteristic of this University. Please know that
I think the arts are important in their own right, but the
performing arts, especially, are critical components of an
area's quality of life, so they have very significant economic
and cultural impact. This is sometimes lost in discussions
of regional development, but the arts are very important to
the future of our region.
Now, I want to turn for a minute on other areas in which
we are working. During my focus group meetings with faculty
members, I heard a great deal about the desire to have students
in their majors as early as possible. This year 52% of first-time
freshmen had declared a major by the beginning of spring semester,
compared to 32% last year. Last semester also taught us that
we do not have consistent advising activities within academic
departments and it is not clear that we evaluate advising
well. Many departments have done excellent work in advising,
but we need to assure all students that they will be well-advised.
Therefore, I am asking Newt Smith to assure that we have an
adequate advising evaluation system in place. Fred Hinson,
Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, is in the
process of implementing such a system for our Advising Center.
A more general, consistent process is needed. We know that
advising is an important basic function, and we need to look
more closely at it. We have made great progress, but the directions
outlined here represent logical next steps.
Before turning to other areas of the institution, there are
two more academic areas I want to discuss for a minute: the
Honors College and graduate education. The Honors College
has succeeded even more quickly than I expected. Our numbers
indicate that it was the right thing to do for the people
of the region and state. It is time, however, for us to assess
next steps. We began this year really taking pre-professional
advising seriously, and I think that is a great step. At the
same time, some of the programs that are needed in order to
improve this college have not yet been implemented. It is
time.
There are several items on the Honors College agenda that
we need to demonstrably implement over the next two years:
1. Increased linkages between the academic departments and
the college are needed. All departments must have ownership
of the honors curricula.
2. We need a strategy to continue to grow the college in
both numbers and quality. I would like to see this college
with more than 1,100 students and an average SAT approaching
1300. What do we need to do to make that happen over the next
five or so years?
3. We need to better integrate international experiences
with our honors curricula. Many students can benefit from
an international experience, but this is especially true for
honors students. I can tell you that my experience studying
in England changed the direction of my life.
4. We need increasingly to encourage our honors students
to apply to graduate and professional school. We need to actively
advise them on graduate education from their first semester
and we need a plan to make that happen.
5. Finally, many of our students could qualify for prestigious
fellowships and scholarships such as Rhodes, Truman, and Goldwater.
We need to implement a system that assures that several students
are ready to compete for each of these scholarships every
year. Also, we need to build a system for our students to
compete for Fulbrights. These are important external indicators
of academic quality, but more than that, these are the types
of experiences that change a student's life, and we need to
make those experiences available.
Because of the importance of this college to the future of
the University, I am asking Bob Vartabedian, Dean of the College
of Arts and Sciences, to chair a committee of honors faculty,
administrators, and students to systematically review our
current status and to recommend specific actions to expedite
achievement of our institutional goals for this college.
Turning to graduate education, we are seeing real growth
in graduate enrollments, but we have not yet focused our efforts
to really serve the needs of the region. I am particularly
referring to adult education. It is increasingly clear that
working adults will be the backbone of most of our graduate
programs. This is true for nearly all universities of our
type nationally. We need to examine ways to make sure our
programs are accessible to adult learners. Weekend programs,
alternative schedules, and alternative locations all increase
the potential for adult learners to register and to obtain
the degrees they need.
We know this approach requires a lot more work than the standard
semester-long program that we teach on campus, so we must
determine how we can reward people who make this extra effort.
It is also increasingly clear that to serve our rural population,
we will need to use "hybrid" delivery systems involving
both live teaching and distance education.
This approach, too, will need to be examined to assure that
we are rewarding people appropriately for their work. Michael
Dougherty, Dean of the College of Education and Allied Professions,
has particular interest in this issue, so I have asked him
to bring back recommendations on how to develop an appropriate
reward system for this type of work.
There has been some discussion on campus regarding the appropriate
program mix in graduate education --especially with regard
to possible additional doctoral programs at Western. This
discussion seems to take two tracks. One track being that
if we were to implement other doctoral programs, they would
take resources from the undergraduate program. A second is
that if several of these programs were implemented, we would
become a "research university" and our basic mission
would change.
I firmly believe that there are a great many issues to be
discussed regarding any new program or area, but these are
probably not the salient issues. With regard to the first
issue, North Carolina has a funding model for enrollment that
is based on a differential in the cost of programs by discipline
and level. This model is displayed on the screen behind me.
Under this model, the cost of offering a program is recovered
from funds generated by projected enrollments and student
productivity in that program. So, it is no longer necessary
for an institution to offer large undergraduate classes to
underwrite graduate education.
Second, the mission of the University will not change, we
are flowing down the same course. We are committed to excellence
in teaching, dealing with the needs of each student, improving
academic quality, and engaging with our region. That will
not change. Some assume our mission would change if our Carnegie
Classification changed. That is not so. The Carnegie Classification
system is a post-hoc heuristic device that is applied to an
institution's program mix in an effort to generally classify
institutions. It is not a mission. Like the river I mentioned
in the first part of this talk, our mission is not changing.
Our mission has to be to serve the people of this region and
the state, and to offer the mix of programs using appropriate
delivery systems that address their needs. The specific program
array may vary, but the University's direction will remain
constant.
What does this mean to you, as individual faculty members?
If you are involved in a doctoral program, your workload will
need to reflect that involvement. If not, your workload needs
to reflect the specific program in which you are located.
That will not change.
All of this said, please understand that I am not pushing
for a large number of doctoral programs. What I am saying
is that we need to be true to our core mission. Let's not
worry about our classification in some heuristic scheme, and
let's offer the programs that support the people who have
supported us for so many years -- and who continue to support
us -- and let us make what we do offer of the highest quality
possible.
Now, I want to shift topics a bit and focus on the non-academic
side of the institution. I particularly want to focus on Student
Affairs since staff in this division play such key roles in
creating and maintaining a strong sense of community. Over
the last several years this area has made very significant
strides, but we as an institution have a big agenda for this
area. First, we must better integrate all areas of student
life and increase our program options, especially on weekends.
Relationships between residential living, recreation, and
student life functions need to be seamless. Again, we have
made great progress, but there is more to do. I am convinced
that we now have the leadership in key areas to make this
happen.
Second, one of our major issues in retention involves students'
experiences in residence halls. As I noted at the beginning
of the fall semester, we have excellent leadership in this
area, and they have made major advances in improving students'
experiences. But there are critical issues that we must solve.
* A few years ago there was great pressure from students
to allow "24-hour" visitation. We have experimented
with that program in a couple of halls and, overall, it has
worked for most people. It is time to request that the Board
of Trustees allow expansion of that program.
*At the same time, we must accommodate other lifestyles more
effectively. We are increasingly hearing of students who are
transferring from Western because the residence halls are
too noisy or because they have a roommate with a different
-- what I might call "more experimental" -- lifestyle.
We need to accommodate the interests of students who want
a quieter hall and one that operates more traditionally.
*We want students of all ethnic backgrounds and all faiths
to feel comfortable here. Some religious people -- be they
Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Bahai, or other -- have residential
interests that are more conservative. They need to be accommodated
if we are to be a public university truly open to all qualified
individuals. Our strength is in our diversity and we must
be able to accommodate students whose lifestyles differ from
our own.
*We need to more firmly link our resident assistants, orientation
program, Counseling Center, and academic advisors. Creating
a strong social support system for undergraduate students
is a critical component of our development.
*We need to give students a greater say in the ways they
live. Keith Corzine and Elizabeth Shelley, Director and Assistant
Director of Residential Living, are working on models that
can help us make strides in creating responsible student living
options.
*We need to better accommodate married students with children.
We have not explored this option fully, and it is now time
that we do so.
*If we are to attract international students, we must have
residence halls that can be opened early and that do not close
over semester breaks. While we are growing, it is time for
us to consider a residence hall that can accommodate these
students and that can become the basis for an "International
House" to promote internationalism among our traditional
students.
Shifting the focus to external affairs, there are several
key areas that require further development.
1. We need to continue to integrate the Center for Regional
Development with the academic program to improve outreach
and engagement with the region. We are searching for a leader
who understands technology transfer and economic development
and who can plan and support broader programs in survey research,
grant writing, and training both for government officials
and non-government organizations. In the last year, we created
the first joint appointments for faculty with this program,
and we need to expand the relationship between academic programming,
student involvement, and regional outreach.
2. The Public Policy Institute has developed a tradition
of bringing people of the region and state together to discuss
issues of moment; this is important work that should be continued.
3. Helping this region preserve and develop the local cultures
while supporting the retirement community and tourism is a
major challenge. I have approached the county with a proposal
to link our Mountain Heritage Center with a community desire
to develop a local museum at the old Court House, but much
more needs to be done.
4. A few years ago we moved to establish a tourism research
center, but it has not made significant progress. It is time
to focus resources on assisting this important segment of
the community.
5. Increasing numbers of retirees will stress the health
systems in this region and as the dominant player in health-related
education, we need to respond. Faculty members are working
on various gerontology-related proposals that will help us
reach out to both the older population and service providers.
We also need to increase the number of nurses we produce and
explore the viability of other disciplines, such as occupational
therapy, to address the needs of the tens of thousands of
older North Carolinians in our region. At the same time, the
concentration of elderly in this region opens potential avenues
for re-invigorating manufacturing related to medical and adaptive
devices. We need to move forward with the faculty proposal
to create a center for adaptive device research and to find
funds to link our rapid prototyping capacities to medical
implement manufacturing.
6. Western North Carolina cannot afford to focus on low-wage
jobs. We need the best and brightest people from the region
to be able to remain in Appalachia and build bright futures.
This will require that we find new and exciting ways to reach
out to the Cherokee, other indigenous people, and the new
migrants to promote economic, social, and cultural vitality
in the area.
7. One of the critical new developments in Cherokee, which
also fits with significant other activities in this region,
is the possibility of creating a community college to educate
native people in traditional Cherokee crafts and culture.
We need to support development of that college by creating
our own program in artistic crafts and link that program to
Cherokee, the Kellogg Center, Handmade in America, the John
C. Campbell Folk School at Brasstown, and the Penland School.
8. All of this will take the support of the UNC system, the
legislature, alumni, donors and other external constituencies.
So, we must continue to improve our public relations, fundraising,
and development efforts. Linking fundraising to the colleges
will be a very important step in this process.
For all of these efforts to take hold over the next five
to ten years, we will need to assure that all our employees
are appropriately compensated. We initiated this process several
years ago when we began taking monies held in reserve to affect
the salaries of our lowest paid SPA employees. Western had
comparatively fewer SPA employees who qualified for the Governor's
funds that were just released because we had acted earlier
to try to address the most critical problems in years past.
This year we also started to address faculty salary issues
by reallocating $300,000 to begin to move faculty salaries
to the average for institutions in our mission class. Faculty
should see these funds in their paychecks tomorrow. And, although
I do not philosophically like institutionally initiated tuition,
and I believe that the people of North Carolina have benefited
greatly from low-cost, accessible education, the current economic
situation has required us to ask for a local tuition increase.
We cannot serve the people if our service providers -- our
faculty, administrators, and staff -- cannot support their
families. We also cannot afford to continue to lose our best
faculty and staff to other institutions or jobs. So, I have
requested, and the Board of Trustees has approved, a local
tuition proposal that, if accepted by the Board of Governors,
will allow us to address faculty and EPA administrator salaries.
It also will provide a pool of funds to allow us to do in-range
adjustments and promotions for our SPA employees in line with
state personnel policies. We must assure that we can hire
and retain the best people who are committed to educating
our students, increasing quality, and helping return North
Carolina to prosperity.
As we deal with compensation issues, we need to assure that
our formal organization supports development of the institution.
Western has outgrown an old tradition; too many decisions
have to be made by the Chancellor to allow the smooth functioning
of this emerging University. Moreover, because of Western's
increasing reputation and opportunities, I am being called
upon to spend much more time representing you and your interests
in Raleigh, Asheville, Washington, and other venues across
the state and region. For example, I am increasingly being
called to work with the legislature and with our congressional
representatives. I also attend Board of Governors' meetings
and serve on the Arboretum Board of Trustees, the Southern
Conference President's Council, the MCNC Board of Directors,
the e-NC Authority Board of Directors, the Advantage West
Heritage Area Board of Directors, chair the Educational and
Research Consortium, and co-chair the legislatively-mandated
Economic Development Task Force for Advantage West. Additionally,
because of the importance of regional engagement, I am meeting
with education, business, and community leaders in all counties
from Cherokee to Rutherford, Catawba, and Mitchell.
As the University develops, the Chancellor, regardless of
the person in the role, will need to be increasingly the external
voice of the campus. This is a normal transition that is typical
of higher education institutions. This means that we need
an internal structure that promotes and assures that decisions
can be made in the absence of the chancellor and that has
clear lines of authority on which people can rely to get their
jobs done. Typically, this is accomplished by the institution
appointing a Provost. The Provost is the chief academic officer
and the senior vice chancellor, and is authorized to act for
the Chancellor in the Chancellor's absence. Most of the other
UNC campuses have already adopted this structure and it is
clearly now time for us to do so. This is the first step in
assuring that we have appropriately allocated responsibility
and authority across the institution. We will begin a national
search for a Provost immediately and upon his/her appointment,
we will combine the position of academic vice chancellor with
that of Provost.
Many of us who have spent years at Western have come to believe
that our formal structure is a "given." That is,
we see it as the right way to do business. Like rivers, formal
organizations change and if change is done the right way,
the formal organization supports achievement of the University's
mission. There is no one right way to organize. For example,
Noelle Kehrberg, Dean of the College of Applied Sciences and
Duane Dunlap, Department Head for Engineering Technology,
are recommending that we reorganize the Department of Engineering
Technology because it now has so many majors, so many programs,
that it is much too complex to be managed as a single department.
They have proposed that we create a School of Technology under
the College of Applied Sciences and that we have divisions
within the school that, over time, might evolve into distinct
departments. This organizational structure makes a great deal
of sense and I am very supportive of their proposal. I do
not have other organizational changes in mind at this time,
but we should expect that the University's organizational
flow will increasingly reflect our mission and goals.
Finally, I want to mention the Millennium Campus. I had hoped
that we would have closed on the property by this time, but
we have not. This campus will be very important for the future
of the University and region. It will provide us interesting
and exciting opportunities to support regional development,
faculty research, and enhance the education of our students.
Because we had a half-day program and presentation on the
potential of this campus last semester, I will not go into
detail here. But this is a very important development for
Western, and you should follow its evolution.
This has been a long talk and I am bringing it to a close.
I hope that I have highlighted some of the most important
elements in Western's future course as well as appropriately
celebrated the wonderful accomplishments of its recent past.
The river that is Western will continue to flow along its
course. As we have turned each bend, the river has become
more beautiful and exciting, and we eagerly look forward to
exploring each new opportunity it presents to serve those
who count on us.
I hope you leave today with a strong sense of pride in what
you have accomplished. You are truly a "national class"
assembly of public servants, and you make all of us proud.
As one evaluator who came to campus last summer said, "Western's
best days are ahead of it." You are the ones who are
making that possible -- every day, with every action -- and
I want to thank you and conclude with a paraphrase of my favorite
poet -- Robert Frost.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and
[You]-
[You] took the one less traveled by.
And that has made all the difference.
Thank you very much for being here today, and more importantly,
thank you for what you have helped Western Carolina University
to become.
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