WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.000 So I will address the topic but I did want to actually 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:08.000 start off by giving you a little feel for who I am and my approach and things that I think are important. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:13.000 and then come down to that topic. And then talk a little bit about 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:16.000 how I might fit and connect with Western Oregon. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:19.000 So, we will go ahead. The first thing is, 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:22.000 by necessity I'm going to be talking about me 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:28.000 and so, I and me are in there, but it's not really who I am or how I do my 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:32.000 job. I'm really a we, and us, and everyone person. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:36.000 So, a little disclaimer there that this is more I and me heavy than the 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:39.000 than the real me because of the nature of sort of giving you an idea of my background 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:42.000 Who I am, where I came from, and so forth. 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:47.000 Alright, so to give you a little idea of who I am, 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:52.000 Don't worry I don't have every grade in there. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:56.000 A few of the places I've lived and then you're going to see a list of places that I've 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:60.000 gotten degrees from. Which you just heard about. And then some of the 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.000 job titles, or most of the job titles I've held over the last twenty years or so. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:08.000 So that gives you, in a nutshell, that's the story of my life right there in a nutshell. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:12.000 A little bit about my leadership style, 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:16.000 and things that I value. I won't necessarily read all these 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:19.000 off but these give you an idea of how I do my job, how I see myself 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:23.000 in my leadership role. Paying it forward is a really big for me. 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:28.000 Being positive, seeing the world as a glass half full is important 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:32.000 to me. Allowing voices to be heard, shared governance is important to me. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:36.000 Another piece of my leadership style 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:40.000 Four letter words to me. These are all four letter words to me: boss, 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.000 he/she did it, you can see the theme there. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:48.000 I like to be positive. I like people that I work with 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:52.000 to look at the positive side and work on moving forward. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:57.000 Alright, and then a few last set of words. 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.000 I'm waiting to see if somebody actually read all the way down, because then you should chuckle. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:08.000 Okay. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:12.000 So, humor may be one of those leadership characteristics as well. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:16.000 You'll have to decide that. And we'll actually come back to that one in a little bit. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:20.000 Alright, so this is the question that you just heard. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.000 I'm going to sort of set the scene a little bit and then respond to that question. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:28.000 a little bit and then talk about some of the things that I've done and do 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:31.000 that would help with achieving that 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:36.000 or responding to that. So for me, public comprehensive institution 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:39.000 as you heard I was at Southeast Missouri state for twenty years. It's a very 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:44.000 similar institution to Western Oregon. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:48.000 Slightly larger, but a lot of what I see here 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.000 are things that I saw when I was at Southeast Missouri State. 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:56.000 Small things like having a computer lab in the library available from outside entrance 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:59.000 all kinds of things. Just so similar. And you may think that 00:02:59.000 --> 00:02:64.000 everybody does that but it's so similar to what I've seen today. So, very impressed, but my background 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:08.000 in a very similar institution 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:12.000 these are some of the things that I think are important for an institution like 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:15.000 Southeast Missouri State and like Western Oregon. 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:20.000 Value of a well rounded liberal education, knowing something about everything, everything about something 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:24.000 developing truly educated globally responsible citizens 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:28.000 and delivering a general education, liberal education 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:32.000 that serves 21st century student needs. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:35.000 In the process of implementing a new general education program, 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:40.000 so already aware and already working on that. Alright, a few more components 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:44.000 the size of the university. This is not like 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:48.000 a big R1 institution. It's not like OU, it's not like University of Missouri 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:52.000 or Columbia near where I'm at. Six blocks away actually from where I work. 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:56.000 It's a lot about access to education, providing that access. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:60.000 The career preparation is a component of that, strong liberal arts preparation. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.000 but melded with the appropriate career preparation for students. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:08.000 Experiential learning. Southeast Missouri state we actually 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:12.000 prided ourselves on claiming that every student that graduated had 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:16.000 at least the opportunity for an experiential learning 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:19.000 opportunity. An experiential learning opportunity. 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:24.000 Affordability. Clearly a part of being a state institution is that tax dollars are 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:28.000 paying for at least part of the education. Therefore, it should be 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:32.000 more affordable than a private institution. And the value 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:36.000 To me, that's the quality of what you're doing. The quality of the educational 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:40.000 experience with the cost. And I think 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.000 comprehensive institutions, public comprehensives, are a good place to look for 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:48.000 value in education. That quality, melded with the cost piece. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:52.000 Here are some of the concerns in higher education 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:56.000 in general that are out there, then we'll focus in on the specific 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:60.000 sector here. Affordability, student debt 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.000 we're all aware of that. I have a son in med school 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:08.000 and that debt is already, I don't know how he's going to pay it off in his entire life at this point. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:12.000 but he's already racking up the debt. So affordability, student debt, 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:15.000 accountability. That's about four or five years old now, but this is somebody that 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:20.000 wrote a piece on accountability in higher education and it isn't necessarily 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.000 kind to higher education, but it's a good piece to read because it 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.000 gives you a perspective of the non higher ed public and 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:32.000 view of higher education. The higher education act, reauthorization 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:35.000 that's been hanging for years and years and years. 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:40.000 And there are now actually two good solutions to it. One is called the PROSPER Act, and one is called the 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.000 Aim Higher Act. And guess what, one of them has been 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:48.000 put forth by the democrats and one has been put forth by the republicans 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:52.000 and, without making a political statement, you may be able to guess 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:55.000 where and how that's going to go at this point. 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:59.000 That may be unauthorized for a while longer. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:05:64.000 Financial aid changes, there have been changes to financial aid. Cuts to the process 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:08.000 impacts on the repayment process, 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:12.000 cuts to the department of education. These are all factors that are impacting higher education 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:14.000 both public and private. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:20.000 These issues, these components here are things that a college campus, a university 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.000 institution tends to be a place that there's a lot of conversation 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:28.000 about and a lot of support for 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:32.000 resolving, or achieving, or promoting, or whatever it is 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:36.000 and that is sometimes a public perception of 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:40.000 higher education. I think it's a good one, but this is a piece that 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:44.000 that I think that higher education has some ownership in. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:48.000 Of course, DACA as well. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:52.000 Of course there's uncertainty in D.C. and I won't say anymore than that, but 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:56.000 the access to education is a concern 00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:59.000 the free community college. Now, many states are still having discussions 00:06:59.000 --> 00:06:63.000 about this, clearly Oregon has already made that step. 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:08.000 but it is a pressure on higher education to provide that and then 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:10.000 we have to think of the four year colleges, what are the postives that come out 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:13.000 of that and what are the negatives that come out of that? 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:20.000 Guns on campus. I don't know enough about Oregon. Missouri has an open carry law that you can 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:24.000 carry a gun anywhere you go. You go to a restaurant and there's people 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:28.000 with a gun in a holster. There has recently been 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:31.000 real contentious discussion on allowing guns on campus as a public 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:36.000 institutions now allow guns on campus so a student can come into class 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:40.000 literally with a gun on the belt. Private campuses 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:44.000 have resisted, have managed to hold out on it for the moment 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:48.000 but it's an ongoing discussion. More pressure concerning completion rates 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:51.000 our students actually graduating from college. Is it a waste of their time 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:55.000 or are they getting something for it. 00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:60.000 Activism, as you're aware, higher education campuses are sometimes seen as 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.000 centers of activism. That's not always positively 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:08.000 seen by some people. Technology, is it getting 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:12.000 used properly, is it getting used effectively, is it productive. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:16.000 And the shrinking world. Any student in the country can go to 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:19.000 dozens and dozens and dozens of colleges without ever 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:24.000 leaving their room, without ever stepping out of their house with online 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:27.000 so it's really changed the world. 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:32.000 This is the pressure in higher education we face. The competition is now come in 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:36.000 to the dorm through online, potentially. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:40.000 Higher education hasn't just rolled over and not done anything, 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:44.000 there's accreditation which is quality control measures 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:48.000 there are more direct quality control measures, 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:52.000 quality matters for online courses, tech supported courses, the definition of the 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:56.000 hour. These are things that higher education has done to validate 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:60.000 higher education. That assessment piece 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:03.000 effective technology use, open educational resources. 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:07.000 I've actually been asked twice today about open education resources. 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:13.000 So, free materials online instead of outrageously priced text books and periodicals. 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:17.000 Initiatives on readiness, retention, completion 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:20.000 things like prior learning assessment for adult learners 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.000 what have they already experienced and learned in the world that they've been in 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:28.000 and can we test for that and then start them in their educational 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:31.000 stream at the appropriate place and not have them learn things that they've already learned. 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:36.000 So, prior learning assessment. Competency based education. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:40.000 I think it's got places that it's a good solution, and places that it's not such a good solution. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:43.000 This is students working on their own at their own pace 00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:49.000 where achieving competency in the material is actually the driving force 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:52.000 rather than just the time that it takes to get there. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:57.000 Of course, delivery formats online and blended, synchronous, asynchronous. 00:09:59.000 --> 00:09:64.000 And lastly, opportunities, the swirling, lots of students, we see this at Columbia college 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:08.000 lots of students go to the local community college and take classes clearly with the Oregon 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:12.000 promise you would see that because they're cheaper, they're perceived to be 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:16.000 easier in some cases. You transfer those courses back. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:20.000 Lots and lots of students have a degree from an institution that is a component of 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.000 courses taken at two, three, four, five different institutions. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:28.000 Alright, now you can correct me if I'm misreading any 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:32.000 thing here. This is what I saw when I looked 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:36.000 and spent some time researching higher education in Oregon. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:42.000 The HEC and at least one person today has said "I don't know what the heck they were doing." 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:47.000 I'm sure you've heard this constantly, but a fairly new advocate 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:52.000 and facilitator for education. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:56.000 One of the goals being funding, increasing funding for public higher education 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:58.000 The Oregon Promise, the free community college. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:10:64.000 State funding increases. Depending on what I read, it looks like 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:06.000 there are state funding increases, but I think that's partly because of 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:11.000 the funds that are going to the Oregon Promise, which makes it look like increases. 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:15.000 I don't see, and somebody please tell me if I'm not reading that right, I'm not 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:20.000 seeing the dire budget cuts that some states have done in higher education. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.000 Missouri, for instance, for two years running when you average the two years 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:28.000 was the lowest funded, was the state 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:32.000 doing the lowest funding of public higher education in the country. 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:36.000 Nobody is contending that statement. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:40.000 High school graduation demographics 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.000 I see mixed messages on that as well. I think the bottom line is that 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:48.000 probably they're fairly stable over the upcoming years. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:51.000 Some slight increases and decreases. 00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:56.000 Missouri they're in fairly dire straights because the expected graduation rates of 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:60.000 high school students is dropping fairly rapidly. That means there's less students 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.000 to be competed for just in the service regions for the public institutions. 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:07.000 I don't see that as being as bad in Oregon, 00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:11.000 but again somebody can correct me. 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:18.000 Higher ed enrollment trends also seem to be reasonably healthy in Oregon. 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:21.000 Some slight decreases, ok, now somebody is going to disagree with me 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:24.000 so some decreases this past year, past couple years 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:29.000 decreases here but decreases across all the four year public institutions 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:33.000 but what I, the feeling I got is that they seem to be blips. 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:37.000 That they don't seem to be trends. Am I not reading that right? 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:40.000 No? 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.000 A downward trend. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:48.000 Comment off screen. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:56.000 So, here's some of the, again, I've been at a regional comprehensive 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:60.000 at Southeast Missouri State so this question is not new to me, 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:03.000 it's things that we talked about. I don't know the specific 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:08.000 context of Oregon and Western Oregon University so it's a more generalized answer. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:12.000 But the size of the institution and 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:16.000 that's the size of the student body. I had a, and I keep mentioning this 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:20.000 to people, I had a tour with a young lady this morning that walked me around campus 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.000 she said "hi" to everybody we passed, and they pretty much all knew her name 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:28.000 and said "Hi" back. That doesn't happen at University of Missouri, 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:31.000 Columbia, OU, or USC or places like that. 00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:36.000 I think that's a selling point. I think that's something that comprehensives should be talking about 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:40.000 and talking to students about. I met some students at lunch today, they 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.000 were very aware of this. They realize what they are getting for being at the size 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:48.000 campus that they're at and wishing they could tell their friends "don't go to OU, come here instead. " 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:52.000 Because of that intimate, connected atmosphere that you would have. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:56.000 The affordability, I think that's something to be played upon. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:60.000 Even comparing this with the R1 institutions. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.000 I think that affordability is a place that can play in that value that I mentioned. 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:08.000 The location, where you are, how close you are to students. 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:12.000 The partnerships that you can make. 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:14.000 I mentioned a couple times today, we have, when I was at 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:18.000 Columbia College we developed partnerships with the local health care industry, 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:24.000 the local hospitals, to provide certificates for staff there that allowed them to 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:28.000 earn credentials to move up to a different jog. Particularly from 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:32.000 hospitality and custodial and moving into positions interacting with patients. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:36.000 Fifteen hour certificates, that's very easy to do. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:39.000 But this was a place that we had a niche, that the big university in town wouldn't do, 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:42.000 that the community colleges weren't doing. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:48.000 This was Columbia College, that this is a place that a regional comprehensive has opportunity. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:52.000 Customized programs, the certificates that we developed 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:56.000 were actually very specific to those staff and their backgrounds 00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:60.000 and very customized to their needs. So we built the program around 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.000 exactly what the hospitals told us they wanted those staff 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:08.000 members, those students if you will, to learn and achieve. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:12.000 Connection to high schools. Again, this was Columbia College 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:16.000 but this works well for comprehensive as well. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:20.000 This is offering credit through the high schools. Dual credit opportunities. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.000 Dual enrollment, by dual enrollment I mean high school students taking college classes. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:28.000 Providing these opportunities, connecting those students to 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:32.000 college, giving them college credit for your institution, 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:36.000 it's a recruitment strategy. 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:40.000 It's a name branding strategy. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.000 These are things that I see that can be 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:48.000 done at a regional comprehensive to help it thrive. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:52.000 That ease of access, the online, the blended, the remote locations, 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:56.000 ease of completion, badging, credentials, things like that. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:60.000 Attracting a diversity of learners, adult learners, 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.000 Question off screen 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:08.000 Yes, I hear you. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:20.000 So, the question is with a specific, customized fifteen 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.000 hour certificate that I was referring to, who is paying for those? 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:28.000 The hospitals were paying for those. So those staff members 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:32.000 those students weren't paying a dime. It was to the hospital's interest to pay 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:36.000 for those certificates and the productivity they got 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:40.000 out of their employees. In that case, the 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.000 hospitals were paying for that. We filled the 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:48.000 cohorts of those the first semester that we offered them and decided to open them up to 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:52.000 people outside of the hospitals as well and then they would be paying regular prices for those. 00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.000 Embracing diversity, creating a safe environment, the marketing, getting the message out 00:16:59.000 --> 00:16:62.000 telling people what's to offer. Again, the students at lunch today saying 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:07.000 we only wish our classmates in high school knew the value that we were getting, 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:11.000 knew the intimate connection we have to Western Oregon. 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:15.000 And they're down at University of Oregon and they're going to football games 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:20.000 but they're not getting a quality education. We wish that they knew somehow. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:21.000 We need to figure out how to market, how to get that message out. 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:26.000 And finding the things that are unique and distinctive, and talking about those 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:29.000 and marketing those, and telling others about that. What is the niche? 00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:35.000 What is the particular thing that you do that makes you different or better than somebody else? 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.000 Comprehensives can do that. I know that Southeast Missouri State, 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:44.000 when I was leaving there in 2015, drones were just becoming a big thing 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:48.000 I had a student come into the library one day and say I flew my drone 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:51.000 on the roof, could you go get it for me. So I went out actually in the snow 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:56.000 and climbed a ladder, risked my neck, and discovered that the drone was actually sitting on 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:60.000 the library right across from the women's dormitory. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:05.000 I realized what clever college students were doing with drones. 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.000 So immediately we started having conversations about restrictions on drones 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:11.000 but the upcoming president said I have a better idea 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:16.000 let's offer a program in drone technology and drones. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:20.000 A unique, distinctive thing. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.000 Any questions about any of these, or comments? 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:28.000 Any disagreements with what I'm thinking? And I know these are generalized statements. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:36.000 So, a little about my experiences and maybe how they match what I 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:40.000 just talked about. The liberal arts, the traditional, the adult 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.000 online learning, I've been involved in all. Focus on diversity, 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:46.000 twenty years at a very similar institution. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:51.000 Nineteen years of administrative experience from directors, to deans, to provost, 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:56.000 to vice president over combined academic and student affairs. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:60.000 A little bit more about my style. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:05.000 Regional accreditation, I've reorganized academic and student affairs, both independently. 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:08.000 That internationalization component, my wife is 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:12.000 from another country and had been a strong proponent 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:16.000 of internationalized curriculum, study abroad opportunities, international students. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:20.000 I think the world is shrinking in those ways. I think every student should have an 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.000 opportunity to experience other cultures and countries, either by going 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:28.000 there or at minimum having international students that they sit and eat lunch with 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:32.000 and cook some meals for them and so forth. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:35.000 New program development I've been involved with. Expanding program offerings 00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:40.000 A lot of professional development support. Identifying new professional development 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:43.000 dollars for faculty. A proponent of the teacher scholar model. 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:48.000 The role that research plays in enhancing the classroom experience 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:50.000 and providing experiential learning opportunities. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:55.000 And a strong commitment to shared governance. I really believe in 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.000 making sure that everyone is involved and everyone has a voice. If I put together 00:19:59.000 --> 00:19:63.000 a committee or a task force, one of the first things I do is make sure that the stake holders 00:20:03.000 --> 00:20:08.000 that are impacted by decisions, that committee is going to have a voice in those decisions. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:12.000 That often means I'm looking for a student to serve on a committee, or a trustee, 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:16.000 or a community member, an alumnus. 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:19.000 Now we'll come back to this humor piece. 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:24.000 a dean, a chair, and a faculty member walk into a bar. I don't have a joke there. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:28.000 I've brought this up with other people and said well that actually would never happen. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:33.000 I don't know who it is that wouldn't join the other two. 00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:37.000 The other piece, as I mentioned, was 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:40.000 my doctorate was on avocado fruit ripening 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.000 my post doctorate was on tomato fruit ripening. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:49.000 Trying to find the way to make a vine ripe, tomato or, 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:52.000 when you buy an avocado you're paying for two: the one you took home and the one 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:56.000 that rotted on the shelf in the super market. How do you control avocado ripening. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:58.000 That means I make a mean guacamole recipe. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:20:63.000 I was actually going to tell you, I would give it to you only if you hire me. 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:07.000 It turns out somebody today has already found it online. 00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:12.000 It was printed in the Southeast Missouri so I've lost that bargaining chip. 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:18.000 A couple more slides and then I really want to give you a chance to talk with me and to talk with you. 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:23.000 Why WOU? 00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:28.000 Experiences match, the location, the sector, the higher ed, 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:31.000 sorry, the size and scope, institutional priorities. 00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:34.000 I like all of these things. I think they're great. What I've seen today is a campus 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:38.000 that really knows where it's going, and doing a lot of the right things, 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:44.000 and shares a lot of the values that I have for higher education. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:48.000 Last slide, you saw, if you paid attention, that there was me 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:51.000 at two years old with a pair of binoculars in my hand. 00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:56.000 I actually inherited the gene for wanting to do bird watching 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:60.000 from my father. I'm a bird watcher and a really dedicated 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.000 bird watcher keeps a life list. 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:06.000 On that life list, you check off every bird you've ever seen. 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:10.000 I've seen over 600 in the US and 1500 around the world. 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.000 I'm always thinking, where can I find a bird I've never seen before? 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:19.000 It turns out, in Oregon, that there's a bird I have not seen before. 00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:23.000 Now I'm really excited about the position. 00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:27.000 It's called a Northern Saw-whet, anybody know what that is? 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:32.000 Now, tell me that isn't a bird everyone would want to see. That's a real bird. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:34.000 That's a real picture. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:40.000 It actually turns out you have a lot of birds I've never seen before. 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:48.000 Comment off screen 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:56.000 Alright, we need to talk. I didn't bring my binoculars, though. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:61.000 One small problem with owls, you have to see them at night and there's no light at night. 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:04.000 comment off screen 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:10.000 Hopefully I addressed the question of how a regional comprehensive 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:15.000 can thrive under those conditions, give you a little idea and background about me. 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:18.000 But I would really love the opportunity to have a conversation with you 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:22.000 and not just be talking at you. That's the end of my prepared presentation. 00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:31.000 In summary, if I can, the question is about a goal of moving to an hispanic serving institution, 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:36.000 and what the provost role in that could be or might be. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:39.000 I think that, you mentioned the faculty development piece 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:43.000 when you were phrasing the question at the beginning. 00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:46.000 I think that's important. What does that mean? 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:49.000 What does that mean for us as faculty? What does that mean for the 00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:55.000 curriculum and the programs that we offer in the classroom as well as out of the classroom. 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.000 Certainly there are other institutions that are hispanic serving, 00:23:59.000 --> 00:23:64.000 other institutions that have made the move. I have found that in situations like that 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:07.000 it's actually worth having conversations with people. What did you do when you made that move? 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:10.000 What did you go through? What were the pitfalls? What should we watch out for? 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:15.000 I would actually look at having conversations through professional organizations 00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:20.000 bringing a speaker in, visiting a campus, things like that, to get a clue what those are 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.000 because to be honest I don't know what those road blocks might be or those speed bumps might be that are there. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:28.000 I think facilitating the conversations, 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:32.000 I think it's important, when you're making a change like that 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:36.000 that people are comfortable with it, and comfortable with why you're making the move. 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:39.000 I think important conversations to have on campus are, 00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:43.000 here's a goal that we have, here's why we want to go there, and have conversations 00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:48.000 about that and what it means, what the implications are, what the benefits are 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:52.000 and get people comfortable with it so you really have some sort of ownership 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:55.000 and shared commitment to making that move. 00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:60.000 So the question is, how might I envision and help the campus think about 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.000 expanding graduate offerings as a public, regional comprehensive. 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:08.000 I think there's actually 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:12.000 I think there's a lot of opportunities in graduate programs. 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:16.000 Again, it's Columbia College, it wasn't a regional comprehensive but it still pertains here. 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:20.000 We saw that there were students that were graduating 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:23.000 with degrees that, in themselves, like a social work degree, 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:27.000 that in themselves had value. But if they could add the credentialing 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:32.000 that would occur by getting a certified graduate level degree they could do 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:36.000 a lot more with it, and a strong demand for that. 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:39.000 As an aside, I'll come back to this, 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:44.000 I had a committee that reported to me that I established 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:47.000 it was a think tank committee, it had the deans of each of the three schools, 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:52.000 a faculty member from each school, somebody from admissions, and marketing, and online, and remote campus 00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:56.000 and advising. Anybody that was in a situation, in a 00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:59.000 unit or department that was interacting with students. 00:25:59.000 --> 00:25:63.000 Because they're the ones that are hearing about 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:09.000 Or my friend would have come to WOU if you only had that." 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:14.000 At Columbia, we need to be hearing about this. We would meet once a semester 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:19.000 in a big room with a big computer and a program on it. 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:22.000 We would sort of almost literally, but figuratively, throw ideas arond 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:26.000 and see what sounded good. See what other people were saying, yeah I heard that one too. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:29.000 Then turn to the deans and the faculty in the room and say 00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:31.000 what would we need, are these possible, what's the feasibility. 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:34.000 Go talk about these and see if we could do those. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:37.000 We came up with about a dozen programs. 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:40.000 The certificates that we mentioned arose out of a similar discussion 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:46.000 with that and building partnerships. But interestingly, more than half of those were graduate degrees. 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:49.000 Or more than half of those were graduate level. 00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:54.000 One of the things that we saw, was that badging and credentialing, stackable badges 00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:58.000 Where you do a fifteen hour certificate in that, a fifteen hour certificate in this, 00:26:58.000 --> 00:26:62.000 and then a fifteen hour certificate over there, suddenly you've got a degree. 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:06.000 Starting to work on things like that. 00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:12.000 Those are attractive to students. Those help students move to the next 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:16.000 job, the next career opportunity, or up in the career opportunity that they currently have. 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:20.000 I think there's a lot of opportunity there 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.000 but it does take figuring out what does it, 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:26.000 what's needed, what are students needing? 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:30.000 What would be most important for those students to be successful? what do they want? 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:36.000 The question was about experiential learning, and that I've been on a campus that promoted 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:40.000 and claimed that every student had at least the opportunity to have experiential learning. 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.000 And then, what my role might be, what my belief and support would be for that. 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:47.000 I think that's very important. 00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:55.000 To me, liberal education is really enhanced by practicing and trying it out along the way. 00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:57.000 And that can be in the liberal education component, 00:27:57.000 --> 00:27:61.000 but of course it could be in the career pieces as well, the actual major that you go into. 00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:06.000 The teacher scholar model is something that I believe pretty strongly in. 00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:11.000 And that's that, that appropriate mix and balance of scholarship by faculty, 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:13.000 and the teaching evironment. 00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:17.000 And really what you think about is that a faculty member that is doing scholarly work 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:20.000 now has more, is generating new knowledge, 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:23.000 has more knowledge that helps them in the classroom 00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:28.000 but enhances the classroom knowledge and discussions, 00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:32.000 but importantly provides research opportunities or 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:35.000 as a scientist, I'm thinking of research, 00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:40.000 but whatever the experiential opportunity or experiential learning looks like in a particular discipline, 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.000 having scholarship occurring that, it's providing those opportunities for students, 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:48.000 whether they're working directly with a faculty member or the faculty member knows the local 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:52.000 dance troupe you could do some set building with or whatever it might be. 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:56.000 So I'm a strong proponent, I'm a strong believer in the teacher-scholar model. 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:60.000 Strong believer in the value of experiencing what you're doing. 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.000 I think there's a number of pieces to the value, and one of them is 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:06.000 that if students are thinking about careers they want to go into, 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:10.000 let them have an internship, let them have an opportunity to try one out. 00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.000 My oldest son was really into neurobiology. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:17.000 He wanted to figure out the answer - he wanted to cure Alzheimer's. 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:19.000 And so he got all excited about this, 00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:22.000 and I said, "Do a rotation in a lab." 00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:28.000 So he did a rotation in a microbiology lab. He's now a political science person. [Laughter] 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:30.000 Oh, well. I tried. 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:32.000 But that's because he got the chance to try it out 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:34.000 He got to do some work in a lab and realize 00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:37.000 oh, it sounded great, but the work to do it is not what I like doing, 00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:38.000 and I want to do something else. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:43.000 I think that's great. I think it's a retention tool in that sense. 00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:48.000 I, I think it's really important. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:52.000 So, so the question was the place of 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:56.000 sponsor research in a regional, comprehensive institution. 00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:57.000 Yes, ok. 00:29:57.000 --> 00:29:61.000 Woman: Just thinking about what are the tradeoffs that come with that. 00:30:01.000 --> 00:30:08.000 What are the tradeoffs, what are the advantages? Ok. 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:13.000 Easy to think, well, research is an R1 function, and 00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:16.000 that we can't do research if we're not an R1 institution. 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:20.000 That's, I know faculty that have told me that. 00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.000 Or particularly that grant opportunities that are not there unless you're at a research 1 institution. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:28.000 And I don't think that's true. And I have found that not to be true. 00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:32.000 There are grants like strengthening institutions grants 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:35.000 federal grants, Title 3 grants. 00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:37.000 Those are multimillion dollar grants. 00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:39.000 When I was at Southeast Missouri, we obtained one of those grants. 00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:43.000 and we found an NSF grant that matched another grant, 00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:46.000 so we doubled our money from federal dollars. 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:52.000 Because we had Title 4, we were in essence federally funded institution as a public institution. 00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:54.000 We had to write to compete for those. 00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:60.000 That's much easier to get than competing against the University of Oregon for a 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.000 R1 level research level grant from the USDA, the NSH, NIH, 00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:05.000 whatever it might be. 00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:06.000 And we were successful in that. 00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:11.000 And we used - that was many millions of dollars, remodeled every classroom in the science building. 00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:15.000 Some completely remodeled, some with layers of remodeling, 00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:18.000 some with new equipment, new microscopes, all of this came out of that. 00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:21.000 That was a function of the sponsored programs person there. 00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:26.000 The director of that program there found that grants, found the rules, 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:32.000 and got us involved with the pre-grant and all that stuff. I think there's a great value in that. 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:36.000 There are lots of smaller grants. You don't have to always shoot for $2 million, either. 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:40.000 We found at Southeast Missouri State that 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:43.000 the humanities council gave out a lot of money, but 00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:45.000 but in $75,000 chunks. 00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.000 When you add those up, and it's still significant dollars. 00:31:49.000 --> 00:31:53.000 So, at Southeast Missouri State, the sponsored program person worked with us 00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:60.000 and found these humanities grants and bought a - anybody here work in the library? 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.000 Ok, good, so I won't sound so dumb when I don't know what I'm talking about here. 00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:08.000 But a giant scanner that was for archival purposes. 00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:12.000 It's like a huge piece of glass with a table, and you put 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:16.000 the Constitution or Declaration of Independence down, and it does 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:20.000 a bunch of things and takes a picture of it. You're digitally archiving it. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.000 And we got one of those with a humanities grant, and it 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:28.000 made the Southeast Missouri State a center of archival scanning 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:29.000 in the region from that. 00:32:29.000 --> 00:32:33.000 So I, when you say tradeoffs, I'm not sure what a tradeoff might be. 00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:35.000 I see it as a positive. 00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.000 Again, Columbia College was not a regional comprehensive, but in some ways 00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:44.000 similar in function here. We had a faculty member who was 00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:48.000 serving in the sponsored programs role there. 00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:52.000 On release time, she was teaching, she was a plant, she was a birder in fact, a bird watcher, 00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:56.000 but a plant - I'm sorry, a biologist. She missed a deadline on a 00:32:56.000 --> 00:32:60.000 Title 3 grant. Multimillion dollars that we had missed out on the opportunity. 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:02.000 She felt so bad, she walked into my office and said, 00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:12.000 And so I had nobody doing sponsored programs or grant writing or grant seeking. 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:14.000 The University of Missouri, Columbia was just right down the street. 00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:18.000 They have a huge office with lots of people seeking grants. 00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:24.000 And there was a young lady in there who felt she was just another number at a big university 00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:28.000 to help them get a bunch of grants for R1, and I hired her 00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:32.000 as the inaugural grants writing sponsor program person at Columbia College. 00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:36.000 I promised the president - I said, "She'll pay for herself in the first two years." 00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:40.000 And she did. She brought in a lot. She found grants that were appropriate 00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.000 to implementing the teacher-scholar model, the experiential learning, those types of grants. 00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:48.000 They're out there, and she had the connections and the knowledge and the conferences 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:52.000 to go to, so I'm very big on it. I'm very positive about it. 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:56.000 I see an important role there. I think it pays for itself. 00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:60.000 So how advising fits is part of the theme 00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.000 of personalized support. 00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:08.000 My opinion of that, yeah. So the caveat is that it is my opinion. 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:12.000 And I don't know the context and what and how WO does, WOU does things, 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:16.000 so I don't want to sort of be making a campaign promise type thing. 00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:20.000 But actually both institutions I was at 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.000 in the roles I was in, I was responsible for looking at 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:29.000 academic advising and trying to improve it. 00:34:29.000 --> 00:34:32.000 And at Southeast Missouri State, we had a 00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:36.000 professional advisor in each of the colleges, and there were 5 of them, 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:40.000 and then a professional advisor that reported to me as dean of the 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.000 education program that was for the undeclared/undecided students, which was 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:49.000 the largest major for incoming students at Southeast Missouri State was undecided. 00:34:49.000 --> 00:34:52.000 We labeled them "exploratory" to sound more positive. 00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:56.000 Biggest retention issue with students is that set of students. 00:34:56.000 --> 00:34:60.000 The undecided and the undeclares. We knew that there were some 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.000 issues with advising. We heard from students that there was 00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:06.000 a lot of differences in the advising process. 00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:11.000 And so we brought in some consultants, and they gave us some suggestions. 00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:16.000 And one of the suggestions was to move to a system where 00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:20.000 all first year students 00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.000 are advised by a professional advisor, not a faculty member, with a 00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:28.000 couple of exceptions where needed because there are some degrees that you need to be talking 00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:32.000 to a faculty member on day one: education, nursing, a few where you need to be planning 00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:34.000 that far ahead. 00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:36.000 Back and forth conversations about it. 00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:40.000 The faculty finally got comfortable with it because was changing their advising load. 00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.000 And they're talking more to students who are already set and moving down a career path, 00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:48.000 where they can have the greatest input, not when they're still deciding and choosing as much. 00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:52.000 That worked really well. And when I left there 00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:56.000 in 2015, they had moved to that model. 00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:60.000 The other piece was looking at a centralized advising office. 00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.000 It did not go to that place, but we had lots of discussions about 00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:07.000 the value of all the professional advisors being in one place, 00:36:07.000 --> 00:36:12.000 working with first year students saying, "Well, it doesn't sound like you really want to do history after all, 00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:16.000 but the nursing advisor's over here. Maybe you should talk to her" kind of thing. 00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:20.000 At Columbia College, we had a similar situation 00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.000 where there was a lot of complaints about advising, a lot of 00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:28.000 variety in the quality of advising that was happening at the faculty level. 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:32.000 And it's not a criticism on my part, it's just a reality 00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:36.000 that different people have different ownership and different input, different experiences 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:40.000 doing advising. I actually talked to the president 00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.000 and I said, "I think we could actually do a lot better job if had professional advisors." 00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:47.000 advising the first year. I implemented that same model there. 00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:52.000 So we hired three professional advisors, brought them in, they would do the initial advising 00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:56.000 where students were still figuring out, in some ways the most needy students 00:36:56.000 --> 00:36:60.000 early on in the process. Then handing them off to faculty only when they really 00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:02.000 knew which direction they were going, and faculty could play that role. 00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:05.000 Faculty actually really appreciated that because they weren't spending a lot of time 00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.000 with students who weren't necessarily going into those careers. 00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:13.000 They were able to focus more of their time on the students that were more committed and decided in the process. 00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:19.000 The professional advisors then became a contact point for those students. 00:37:19.000 --> 00:37:22.000 And the plan was that they would be a contact point throughout their career. 00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:25.000 So anytime in that four years, if a student had a basic advising question, 00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.000 they could contact a professional advisor rather than the faculty member. 00:37:29.000 --> 00:37:35.000 The professional advisor has some tools and knowledge at their disposal they could instantly work with the students on. 00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.000 I have seen that work well in the two institutions I've been at. 00:37:39.000 --> 00:37:42.000 So as a philosophy I think that's an approach I like. 00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:47.000 But, I don't necessarily mean that is the way to go hear because I don't know enough 00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:51.000 about how things are done, what's been tried, where things are going, etc. here. 00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:56.000 We did some training sessions and identified the faculty that were known 00:37:56.000 --> 00:37:60.000 by students and known on campus as being really effective advisors. 00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.000 He was actually the microbiologist that my son worked for 00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:06.000 and decided to become a political scientist. But he was actually great. 00:38:06.000 --> 00:38:12.000 He developed an advising kit. He literally had it in one of those colored things that you put on 00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:15.000 your shelf that is cut off at an angle to put papers and stuff in. 00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:20.000 He would hand one of those to every faculty member with all of the advising materials 00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:22.000 and do a forty five minutes presentation on effective advising. 00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:28.000 It was really well liked by faculty because they had never had training in advising 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:31.000 before and there were things they had just never thought of. He had a checklist 00:38:31.000 --> 00:38:35.000 as a scientist, very quantitative, very organized, methodical. 00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:41.000 And, as a faculty member, he had credibility 00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:44.000 with faculty and leading the workshops and he would have 00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:48.000 discussions with faculty on how to do effective advising. 00:38:48.000 --> 00:38:52.000 Now, again, caveat, because I don't know how things work here 00:38:52.000 --> 00:38:56.000 but one of the things I realized at Columbia College was that 00:38:56.000 --> 00:38:60.000 there was a real, that disparity in advising, some advisors were doing 00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.000 a great job, they would spend an hour and a half talking with a student and working through 00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:08.000 hashing things out, helping them figure out where they wanted to go, building relationships 00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:10.000 and then seeing them a few months later. 00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.000 And there were other faculty who said "This is the course you need to take if you want to do this major. 00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:18.000 Let me know if you can't get registered." That was the extent of the conversation. 00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:22.000 And clearly the quality of those experiences was varied. 00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:26.000 The president said to me, "How are you going to make those faculty advise better?" 00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:34.000 I said, "I'm not. They don't want to do that. It's not their personality, not their style." 00:39:34.000 --> 00:39:36.000 I can't force somebody to be a good people person like that. 00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:40.000 What I would rather do instead is have them advise nobody, 00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.000 and do something else to meet their service component 00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:48.000 like overseeing the curricula at the online and the remote campuses 00:39:48.000 --> 00:39:52.000 and let somebody down the hall who enjoys advising not have to oversee 00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:56.000 the curricula and the online campus, but instead pick up a few more advisees. 00:39:56.000 --> 00:39:60.000 And that's the route that we went is not forcing everybody to be equal but 00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:03.000 playing to the strengths and the desires of the faculty. 00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:06.000 No promise, I don't know the context and how things work here 00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:10.000 but it's something that worked really well at Columbia. 00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:15.000 The question I think is, in looking at a centralized student support function 00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:20.000 that might include lots of different things including the tutoring type functions. 00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:25.000 Again, I have to be really careful because I don't want to be making a promise 00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.000 but to me I think that makes sense. 00:40:29.000 --> 00:40:33.000 Actually, in the library at Southeast Missouri State, 00:40:33.000 --> 00:40:36.000 we were working on that when I left there to become a provost. 00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:42.000 Which, the writing center was upstairs, there as a math center across campus 00:40:42.000 --> 00:40:44.000 there was some tutoring support 00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:50.000 and student services in the administration building located right between those two places. 00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:53.000 and students were getting directed to go here and there 00:40:53.000 --> 00:40:56.000 and it was uphill in both directions, and so forth. 00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:59.000 They didn't like that kind of run around when it came to the student support, 00:40:59.000 --> 00:40:64.000 so we really worked on that one stop shop concept. 00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:08.000 That included the student support services, and we were trying to bring all of those components 00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:13.000 into the library. The library had the space to do it in that situation because 00:41:13.000 --> 00:41:19.000 If you've thought about a college library, I was dean of the library so I learned these things, 00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.000 it turns out that of all the books in the library, probably 3/4 of them have never 00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:26.000 been touched since they've been bought. 00:41:26.000 --> 00:41:29.000 Or have not been touched in ten or twenty years. 00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:33.000 A lot of periodicals are never getting unshelved or touched and you're paying 00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:44.000 I know some of you are not going to agree with me, there are a lot of musty books sitting on shelves. 00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:48.000 not getting used, and if we 00:41:48.000 --> 00:41:52.000 found a new home for those books and periodicals or stopped paying for the subscriptions 00:41:52.000 --> 00:41:56.000 and found appropriate homes for them, we created space to create tutoring centers. 00:41:56.000 --> 00:41:60.000 We actually looked at, as I was leaving, putting the math tutoring in there. 00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:05.000 Actually, it turns out that you can take the old books and turn them into a wall. 00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:10.000 They're pretty structurally sound, you use rebar and put them into a wall. 00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.000 I know, stab the book with a rebar, but 00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:17.000 important in there was getting faculty buy in. 00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:20.000 so we would create a list of the books in each area 00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:26.000 each number of the catalog and go to faculty and see if any of these are critical books 00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:30.000 that we can't get rid of. Missouri has a lending program where 00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:40.000 lend books on a 24 hour turn around. Do we really need this book here 00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.000 when the University of Missouri has it six blocks south of us. 00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:48.000 Creating that space, trying to centralize, so 00:42:48.000 --> 00:42:52.000 my ethos is that it makes sense to have those all together. 00:42:52.000 --> 00:42:59.000 The question is, my thoughts on the value of this research institute 00:42:59.000 --> 00:42:63.000 on soft money that is providing services that are not really directly 00:43:04.000 --> 00:43:08.000 serving WOU students, but are serving the community 00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:12.000 the state, the nation, whatever it might be. 00:43:12.000 --> 00:43:16.000 As a human being, absolutely yes. I totally agree with that. 00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:19.000 As a provost, I think there's value in that. 00:43:19.000 --> 00:43:23.000 Certainly you have to weigh some cost benefits to that. 00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:28.000 To me, that's part of a public institution of higher education is providing services. 00:43:28.000 --> 00:43:32.000 You talk about the teacher scholar model in development of new knowledge, that's a role. 00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:36.000 But serving the community, engaging in the community 00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:40.000 serving students, serving those needs, I think those are important functions. 00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:42.000 Again, there's the caveat of how it fits in, and how you fund, 00:43:42.000 --> 00:43:47.000 and how it relates to mission, and things like that, but I think there's value in that. 00:43:47.000 --> 00:43:52.000 It turns out the guacamole recipe is online if you want to find it. 00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:56.000 I was going to say you have to hire me to get it but it is online. 00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.000 Other questions or comments? 00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:11.000 applause