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Presidential Address to the University Community
May 7, 2007
Thank you, Chairman Browning. And thanks to everyone for being here today.
My talk with you today has one crucial message. It's a message that is critically important to the future of our great university.
My heartfelt appeal to you today is for you to join me in creating a climate of positive change in the university community and in working together to build on our historic commitment to Ohio University's academic mission and core values.
I've spent this year visiting every academic department, every school, and the regional campuses.
I've carefully listened to what our faculty has to say.
I've talked to our Trustees and to our alumni. I've spent considerable time with our students and staff.
What you've told me is how much you cherish this institution and how much the distinctive academic mission of Ohio University matters to you.
I've reflected on where this great university stands at this moment in its history, and after all that listening, and all that reflection, I'm convinced that now is the time for bold action.
I'm passionate about the need for positive change not just because the black and gold sign on my door says "President." I'm passionate because the green and white essence of my being says "Bobcat."
Most of you know that I'm a proud graduate of this university. I enrolled here because OU was a bright beacon of hope and learning. Now, as the leader of this institution, my daily aim is to keep that same beacon beaming for this generation and those yet to come.
Around Ohio and throughout the nation, OU means "Ohio University." But in Athens, and to everyone who wears the green and white, OU means our university.
Our university is a strong institution. Our university is a place we can all be proud of.
And our university is blessed in many ways.
We're blessed with the legacy of our Revolutionary War founders -- a beautiful campus, a wealth of traditions, a commitment to equal opportunity, and a spirit of tolerance.
We're blessed with a talented and dedicated faculty and staff. Our strength is in our people and every one of you is a building block in our firm foundation.
We're blessed with students who earn national and international awards in record numbers. These bright, ambitious young people seek out our university because they know we're respected -- and they long to become Bobcats.
We're blessed with high-ranking academic programs.
And we're blessed with loyal alumni. None more supportive. None prouder.
But despite these advantages and countless others, we simply cannot rely on them to secure a brighter future for those we are pledged to serve.
Change is upon us. And unless we seek to control it, it will surely control us.
I spent part of my career in Florida. And one thing people there learn quickly is that when a hurricane is on the horizon, standing around and complaining about the change in the weather doesn't help much. In fact, it can be downright deadly.
The same is true for impending changes in higher education. The winds of change are blowing through every campus in America. Demographic changes, social changes, even generational changes will affect all we do. But the biggest change is driven by Ohio's faltering economy.
And those of you in this room, who -- like me -- have to manage a budget with factors outside your control, know exactly what I'm talking about.
We face difficult challenges that require new ways of thinking and new ways of doing business. And I'm convinced that the best way to face these challenges is for all of us to stand together and work together to resolve our problems.
In my three years as president, I've come to recognize just how deeply you cherish this great tradition of working in partnership.
We need to continue this partnership in order to address the changes that must be made.
I stand before you today to underscore my commitment to collaborate with the faculty, staff, students, trustees and alumni to build a brighter future for our university. Today, I ask you to join with me in this important work.
Make no mistake: we're in the midst of a challenging financial environment. This makes it harder for us to advance our shared priorities and goals.
We've seen repeated and substantial declines in state support over the last decade. Just 10 years ago, the State provided almost half of our annual budget. Today, it's just 30 percent. Since the year 2001, state support for Ohio University has fallen by nearly 20 million dollars.
This reduction has forced us to make deep and increasingly difficult budget cuts. These cuts have concerned and frustrated us all, since many are unanticipated. And they are not unique to us -- our colleagues at every public university in Ohio have felt the same frustration and the same disappointment.
I said last year that if we realigned the budget, we could create a pool of funds to re-invest. Unfortunately, we didn't meet our enrollment targets for transfer and continuing students, so we won't be able to do everything we'd hoped to do with these funds.
We will keep our promise to use some of these funds to improve faculty salaries, but we may have to use most of the remaining funds to help close the gap in next year's budget.
Looking back, realigning the budget last year to create this pool of funds was important. It will certainly lessen the blow next year. It will help us stave off deeper cuts in our core academic programs and help us to protect essential services for our students.
I had hoped that the budget realignment we made last year would end the cycle of having to continually divert money to fill annual budget gaps. I know many of you shared that hope. And I know you are as saddened as I am that we haven't yet succeeded in breaking the cycle of annual budget cuts.
I apologize for raising those expectations -- and I want you to know that I and the other leaders of this institution will work even harder to strengthen the university's financial footing.
Since 2000, financial pressure on our university has made already-difficult decisions even more difficult. We've been forced to make tough choices among many worthy priorities. And we've been forced to shift a greater share of the cost of education onto our students and their families.
We do so with reluctance, because we know the burden that it brings. The changes we've faced since 2000 have been significant. And more changes are coming our way. The pool of college-aged students is about to grow smaller. While we have maintained our standards, other institutions have worked to improve theirs. They are now starting to attract the high-caliber students who traditionally have selected Ohio University.
And while we've been working to respond to this changing landscape, our university has faced several daunting challenges.
From data security breaches, to cases of academic dishonesty, to student behavioral issues; these incidents reflected poorly on all of us. But those of us in this room should know that these challenges are no different from those faced by other major universities.
We've faced up to our problems honestly.
We've shared information openly.
And we've tackled these problems with the can-do spirit that makes us a great university.
I want you to know that your work in overcoming our challenges is making a difference.
As we work through our challenges, we must remain patient and optimistic. We must remember that we're all human and we all make mistakes at times.
Even Bobcats are subject to the human condition.
We must not let our few failures discourage us. That's not the OU spirit.
Our university is bursting with caring people who think big thoughts and dream big dreams.
People who gladly roll up their sleeves when there's work to be done.
People who aim high -- and if they fall short, admit it and try even harder.
I knew this about Ohio University before I returned to campus three years ago. And today, I know it even more deeply.
It reminds me once again why this is such an extraordinary place with such a powerful sense of community.
I'm an optimist about Ohio University. I know we'll get through these tough times, and I know they'll ultimately make us stronger and wiser.
The measure of a great institution is not whether it has challenges. The measure of a great institution is how it resolves those challenges.
And I'm proud to say we've taken bold steps to do just that.
We're starting to achieve real, measurable results, and our actions are a model for other schools facing the same kinds of challenges. And we've done this together. As a result, we continue to be well regarded in Ohio and across America.
To maintain this progress, we must adapt ourselves to the new economic and educational realities we face.
We must affirm the primacy of our academic mission.
We must amplify the voices of those who lead our academic programs.
And we must draw upon our core strength – a quality, residential undergraduate education.
As president, I welcome and embrace the change that's coming. The opportunities it provides will make us stronger. These opportunities will forge our future.
And that future has promise. The news from Columbus is improving. Governor Strickland and Speaker Husted are making real efforts to improve funding for higher education.
Ohio's top leaders are now proposing 100 million dollars in new scholarships for students and 224 million dollars in new support for public colleges and universities over the next two years.
For us, this could mean an additional 2 million dollars in subsidy this July and an extra 10 million dollars more next July. This is a change from just two months ago and gives us all a reason to be hopeful.
If we do get more money from Columbus, we'll invest the majority of it where it matters most -- our academic programs.
We'll go back to the proposals you put forward in the academic planning process -- and we'll fund the ones you identified as most promising.
In addition to investing resources in our academic programs, I've decided to strengthen our academic mission by reorganizing the administrative structure of our university.
I've pondered this over the entire academic year and now that higher education is becoming more of a priority for state government, it's clear to me that now is the right time for this important move.
In my first three years, I concentrated on the mission the Board of Trustees gave me when I was hired in 2004.
As I promised in my inaugural address, I focused on helping our university form deeper partnerships and attract the resources needed to support the work of the faculty. I'm pleased that our external partners have supported our academic programs to help us build a much-needed research and teaching facility, and support the work of the faculty and staff in stimulating the economic growth of Appalachian Ohio.
Over the past three years, I've gotten to know the diverse strengths of our unique institution.
I've opened up channels of communication with faculty, staff, students, alumni and the community. I've initiated a strategic planning process. I've built relationships with Ohio University's many friends and supporters.
Now, with those internal efforts well underway, it's time for me to turn more of my time and energy toward the university's most crucial external task: planning, advocating, and raising funds for our academic mission.
In other words, I'll do more to connect with our alumni, make friends for the institution, and tell our story in Columbus and Washington.
But in order to achieve our external goals and still make progress on our most important academic priorities, we need a plan of action – and an organizational structure – that will make it possible to attain our internal and external goals.
Here are the highlights of my plan, which will go into effect immediately.
I'm pleased to announce that Provost Kathy Krendl will take on the new title of "Executive Vice President and Provost." I'll rely on her to achieve detailed and ambitious new goals for our academic work, goals that are consistent with our strategic priorities. She's a talented leader, and she'll work tirelessly to move the academic mission to the forefront.
Dr. Krendl will continue to serve as chief academic officer.
In addition, I've asked her to bring more coherence to our academic mission by overseeing the Office of Research, the Office of University Outreach, the Office of Equity and Diversity, and our regional campuses.
This restructuring will closely align these important functions with our academic mission. Dr. Krendl will work closely with the Athens deans and the executive dean of the regional campuses. This collaborative team will advise her on key decisions such as:
- reviewing and recommending academic budgets,
- establishing priorities for growth or reduction in undergraduate and graduate programs,
- working with the Faculty Senate on academic policies,
- and setting enrollment targets.
With these changes, the entire academic enterprise will report to Dr. Krendl, and she, in turn, will continue to report to me.
I'm confident in the ability of Dr. Krendl and the deans to advance our academic mission. They are experienced and motivated. They continue to teach and engage in scholarship. All have come from the ranks of the faculty here or at other fine universities.
I'll work closely with our academic leaders to see that they have the tools to achieve success.
These leaders respect the traditional role faculty members play in the academic decision-making process. I'm confident that they'll work in close cooperation with the Faculty Senate and their own faculties.
Dr. Krendl and the deans view students as the center of focus at our university. They will consult regularly with the undergraduate and graduate student senates and listen to the voices of our regional campus students.
First and foremost, they will advance the academic mission of this institution and inspire us all to work continuously to improve the quality of our academic experience.
We will ask them to look carefully at how we are using our resources and concentrate those resources on the programs and activities that will do the most good for students.
And we'll ask them to always be mindful of the growing competition that all universities face and lead us in such a way that we're best positioned to succeed.
In order to strengthen our academic mission, I'm charging Dr. Krendl to work with the deans on six specific objectives.
These objectives are squarely in step with the university mission statement we've all been working to implement.
First - Improve enrollment management. Dr. Krendl and the deans will work with the faculty and staff to implement a comprehensive, university-wide enrollment management approach for Athens and the regional campuses.
The approach must be state of the art, data-driven, and responsive to our unique situation. It must serve to draw the best and the brightest young people to us from throughout Ohio, across the nation and around the world. It must provide a solid basis for financial planning.
Second - Improve student success. Dr. Krendl and the deans will work with our faculty and staff to increase freshman-to-sophomore retention by one full percentage point each year for the next five years.
Dr. Krendl has already begun working on this goal, so I know she and her team can find a way to achieve it -- with the help and support of all of us.
Third - Streamline the transfer process. Dr. Krendl will work with the deans, the faculty and the staff to make transferring here a seamless process.
By the end of the next academic year, they'll establish clear articulation agreements with our feeder schools, examine the role of our regional campuses, and make recommendations for how to optimize this entire process.
Fourth - Enhance our academic research, scholarship and creative activity. Dr. Krendl and the deans will work with the faculty to carefully assess our research strengths and identify where the opportunities are for selective investment. They'll also develop a realistic research funding goal given the nature of the institution and the level of our resources.
I look forward to receiving their recommendations during the next academic year.
Fifth - Diversify our institution. Dr. Krendl and the deans will work with faculty and staff to build on OU's tradition as a place where people from all backgrounds can live and learn in harmony. They'll develop and implement innovative and successful approaches to increasing both student and faculty diversity. This is an objective that we will review during the next academic year because it's so important to our entire community.
And finally . . .
Take full charge of the academic plan. Dr. Krendl and the deans will work closely with the faculty to prioritize the objectives, and to develop and implement specific action steps to achieve the goals of the all-important academic plan. They care as much about this plan as I do, and the passion I've seen from them will be well-directed to this crucial element. Shaping and directing the academic plan is well within their grasp, and I'm confident they will work hard to achieve concrete results.
And there's another change to be implemented. Dr. Krendl and the other senior administrative officers will work closely with me to support our academic leaders as they carry out these important academic goals, and I'll change the name "president's cabinet" to the more descriptive title "the executive staff."
I'm confident that the academic and administrative leaders of Ohio University will help us to reach our ultimate goals.
Some may ask "what is the overall purpose of the changes we propose?" The answer is clear: we make these changes because we must re-focus our institution on its core academic mission and on all that it entails, including improving academic quality and making wise use of limited resources.
And we must institute these reforms so we can credibly make our case for support to those outside our university. They must know that we've done all we can to adapt to a changing environment, and that we continue to merit the resources we need to meet our mission.
So, my friends and colleagues -- change is upon us. Some changes come to us from Columbus, and some from Washington. Other changes spring from the rapid transformations we're witnessing in American society and the global economy.
And some change comes from your president.
I'm heartened and inspired by a message from Abraham Lincoln, who adapted to change and inspired others to join him.
Just before announcing the great Emancipation Proclamation, Mr. Lincoln reminded those whom he led that they should join him in his bold embrace of change. He said:
"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew."
Now, here at the Ohio University, let us come together in that spirit.
View the video archive of the Presidential Address
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