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November 1999
by Dr. John W. Bardo -- jbardo@wcu.edu
This is the first update of the academic year, and already
we have had significant changes in the University associated
with the Liberal Studies curriculum. In this update, I will
focus on Liberal Studies, undergraduate enrollment, and some
significant issues that will affect our graduate programs.
The next update will deal with Mel Lockhart's work on our
undergraduate curriculum. Her final report is available on
the Web (http://www.wcu.edu/stratplan/Paulien/cover_page.htm).
Many of you heard her report when she presented it to an open
forum of faculty members. If you were unable to attend, I
would highly recommend that you read it since it has very
important recommendations regarding our academic program direction.
LIBERAL STUDIES
The Liberal Studies proposal was passed by a vote of 25 to
7 with three abstentions at the September meeting of the Faculty
Senate. This was a very important action by the Senate, and
it represents the culmination of three years of very hard
and serious work. I would like to take this opportunity to
congratulate all members of the General Education Review Committee
and every faculty member who took part in this review. This
was an outstanding effort on everyone's part. I expect that
the program will be implemented with care, and the quality
of the proposal will be reflected in the program as it is
implemented.
I also want to briefly reflect on the process. General education
review is one of the most difficult issues that a university
faces on a periodic basis. To be sure, it has impact on every
student's education and on the distribution of resources in
the University, but what is more important is that it causes
each of us to confront our most cherished assumptions regarding
the value of our own discipline, our commitment to that discipline,
and our understanding of how our work is seen "reflected
in the eyes of others." In this regard, general education
is not only at the core of the University's education, it
also has very personal implications for our definitions of
who we are as professional educators. Because of these broader
questions, I believe it is very easy to slip from professional
debate of educational issues on which professionals truly
disagree to the murky realm of personal vilification of those
who oppose our views. This vilification is very often the
outcome of general education review, and it creates wounds
in a university that take years to heal. With very few exceptions,
that did not happen here. The public debate never strayed
from professional issues, nor did it take on a stridency of
tone that is the precursor to anger.
As we begin the implementation process, you should be proud
of your work in creating a very professional and forward-looking
general education program for all of our students. But I also
hope that you will take a few minutes to congratulate yourselves
on the process that you used to create the program. You have
made several monumental shifts in this University's core approach
to education over the last several years: "raising the
bar," mentored undergraduate research, liberal education,
the computer admissions standard, enhanced use of technology
across the curriculum, integrated summer reading program,
learning communities, learning contracts, integrated blocked
schedules for freshmen, and the Honors College. And while
there is a great deal more to do, you can begin to see the
outcomes both in the quality of education and the changing
perceptions of Western. Congratulations!
UNDERGRADUATE ENROLLMENT AND ENROLLMENT PLANNING
This fall's enrollment has moved in the right direction.
Our total student head count has moved from 6,287 to 6,360.
The number of freshmen increased from 1,089 to 1,165. We were
required to modify the way in which we reported the average
SAT, so our SAT did not change significantly. With current
reporting standards, it stayed at 995. The average high school
GPA for students increased from 3.11 to 3.14. The greatest
changes were seen in the Honors College. There were 150 honors
freshmen with an average high school GPA of 4.02 and an average
SAT of 1220. Before the college was founded we had 77 honors
students; today we have 510 (using the same standards). In
this class, there are six high school valedictorians, four
National Merit Finalists, and 24 North Carolina Teaching Fellows.
Retention rates also have increased, which reflects both
your efforts on retention programming and the higher admissions
standards of the University. Generally, a change of 0.75 to
1.0 percent in retention rates is considered a "major
change." Our freshman-to-sophomore retention rate moved
from 67.4 percent to 69.5 percent and our sophomore-to-junior
rate from 55.8 percent to 58.5 percent. These are very significant
changes, and they suggest that as we fully implement an integrated
retention program and the new approach to Liberal Studies,
we can have a much better-than-average retention rate.
The leader in retention is the Honors College. Before its
founding, we retained approximately 80 percent of students
that we brought in on scholarship from their freshman to their
sophomore years. This year we retained 91 percent. According
to the Pappas Group, this rate is better than most prestigious,
private, liberal arts colleges. These data, I believe, have
some very significant implications for our other students.
One way of looking at the Honors College is to consider it
a "thematic program" designed to meet the specific
needs of high-achieving students. Another way to consider
it is to look at its social structure (I'm still a sociologist,
so bear with me). What Brian Railsback, the faculty of the
college, and the students have created is a very integrated
program in which the students, faculty, and administration
work together to solve problems and meet the students' needs.
Not only do students provide informal direction, they also
have a formal mechanism for addressing their own needs-especially
with regard to their lives in Reynolds and Buchanan halls.
We have the opportunity at Western to generalize much of
the success of the Honors College to meet the needs of other
students. Bob Caruso, Rick Collings, and I have had ongoing
conversation about generalizing many of the lessons of the
Honors College to other residential settings. There are many
models available, but one that I have asked them to consider
is to experiment with creating a "residential house."
Many Ivy League schools have "house" structures
that have worked well for centuries. And, while I am not proposing
that we totally recreate those structures (we probably could
not afford them), we may be able to take many of the most
critical core elements and apply them here. In a house structure,
students would be admitted both to the University and to a
house. Learning communities would be assigned to the house,
not to a freshman residence hall. Over time, then, the house
would become a "community of communities."
Many students find moving out of the freshman residence hall
to be disruptive and difficult. Under the house model, they
would not be required to leave the hall at the end of a year.
Students would remain in the residence hall so long as they
lived on campus. At the same time, if they did not like the
house, they could be moved to another.
What seems to be most critical about the house structure
is that it assists the student in developing a social network
and sense of belonging that can help with retention. Designed
properly, a house also can develop a culture that is academically
based, as well as socially oriented. A number of faculty members
already volunteer time to work with students in residential
settings. This could become an important, systematized part
of the house experience.
Another important component of a house is an elected student
house council that works with professional staff and faculty
to help meet the needs of the students in the house. This
council could have a very significant role in allocating house
funds and in developing group-related recreational opportunities.
And, within general University guidelines, it also could have
a significant influence on the rules of the house. Thus, students
become more clearly partners in their education and not just
consumers of it. (I think that this is one of the most important
lessons of the Honors College.) To be sure, there are many
difficult questions to answer. Should we have academic theme
houses (arts and humanities, business, education, etc.) or
should they be academically mixed? Should all houses be required
to have "quiet hours" for studying? What happens
if the University grows to a point that it cannot accommodate
all students who desire to live on campus or to stay in a
house? How do commuter students become integrated into the
house structures?
This is a major issue involving the Student Affairs staff,
the faculty, and academic administrators. It appears to be
worth exploring. If any of you are interested in participating
in the conversation and a possible beta test of the concept,
please let me know.
GRADUATE EDUCATION
In addition to increased undergraduate enrollment, we have
record enrollment in the Graduate School. This fall, more
than 1,000 students (1,008) have registered for graduate education,
the largest enrollment in our history. Trends show a significant
increase in part-time students and something of a decline
in the number of full-time students. The increase in part-time
graduate enrollment holds both in Cullowhee and at the Asheville
Graduate Center on UNCA's campus. Our experience seems to
fit well with national trends. Traditional graduate enrollments
are expected to stagnate, and part-time, adult-based graduate
education is expected to be the major growth area.
Because of expectations of growth, there is a significant
movement of new providers into graduate education. We should
expect to see the University of Phoenix (or similar schools),
the British Open University, consortia of Ivy League colleges,
book publishers, software manufacturers, and others providing
alternative degrees both through distance education and on
site in North Carolina. All of these providers will be in
direct competition with the traditional regional approach
to graduate education, and all can have a strong negative
impact on Western's enrollment.
Since we are facing a very changed situation in graduate
education, we are taking some important steps of which you
need to be aware. First, we are focusing attention on the
needs of the adult learner. Adults tend to be very motivated
to complete a graduate degree. Their educational work needs
to fit within the broader contexts of their lives that involve
jobs, family, and community responsibilities. Because of the
complexities in their lives, they often find the traditional
academic calendar and approaches to scheduling to be dysfunctional.
Competitive institutions are offering programs in cohorts,
on weekends, in "half-terms," and on a variety of
sites. There are currently only one or two alternative education
providers for adults in this region, but they are drawing
hundreds of students to programs that cost a great deal more
than Western's.
Second, a "Western Growth Triangle" is emerging
in Western North Carolina from Interstate 40 in Asheville,
south to Hendersonville and Brevard. Economic development
in North Carolina and growth in the retirement community are
fueling this Western Triangle, but the major engine of development
is the changing nature of South Carolina's upstate region.
There is reason to expect, therefore, that this Western Triangle
will become increasingly important to our graduate program.
To respond to this major change in our environment, Oak Winters,
Abdul Turay, Patsy Miller, and Tom McClure have formed a team
to develop alternative resident-credit teaching sites. Those
of you who teach in Asheville undoubtedly realize that enrollment
growth will soon outstrip the available space in the Graduate
Center. We are looking for permanent space for adult education
in the middle of the Western Triangle along Interstate 26.
This semester we also are using Roberson High School to offer
a half-term class for teachers, and we are exploring the possibility
of offering graduate professional courses in downtown Asheville
both before and after normal working hours. Because of increasing
needs for multiple site programs, we are negotiating with
A-B Tech regarding a "joint use" distance-education
facility. We also are exploring how we might better integrate
with A-B Tech to provide additional technical, health-related,
and professional education at its site. Since the 1970s, Western
has received residential credit for courses taught in Buncombe
County and on the Qualla Boundary. These courses affect our
base budget and the number of faculty positions in the same
way they would if they were taught in Cullowhee. Therefore,
improving our service to adult learners in the Western Triangle
can help us meet not only our own needs for faculty, but also
our enrollment target of 9,400 by 2008. It also can help us
ensure that new providers are dissuaded from coming to the
area because of the quality of the education and service that
we already provide.
You may recall that last year the Legislature changed the
way in which extension education was funded. Now we receive
faculty allocations for extension education at the same rate
as we do for residential credit. Extension education used
to be an "add on" that had to pay its own way. Now
it is an important part of the means by which we generate
faculty positions. Most departments have not yet responded
to this change in a meaningful way. It is now possible, for
example, for a faculty member to teach three-quarters time
in residential credit-bearing courses (traditional classes)
and one-quarter time in extension education. It is very important
that we take advantage of this opportunity to offer educational
programs beyond our traditional sites in Jackson and Buncombe
counties and on the Qualla Boundary.
This is a very long Update, but we are all in the middle
of reconceptualizing this University. Your work is exciting
and I continue to marvel at the strides you are taking to
provide an increasingly "world class" education
for our students. As you have seen, others are beginning to
take your work very seriously. Your work is becoming more
widely noted in the press (e.g. Delta Sky Magazine and the
Apple Computer Education Customer Profile), and other academic
institutions are looking closely at what you are doing (Radford,
Appalachian, North Carolina Central, Eastern Kentucky, and
Northern Michigan, to name just a few). You are taking Western
to a new level of excellence. I look forward to continuing
to work with you.
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